In association with the International Commission of Jurists

International Human Rights Law

21 Jan

The proposed anti-homosexuality legislation introduced by Ugandan parliament back-bencher David Bahati is creating an international outcry. The bill--introduced as a private member's bill without government support--would impose the death penalty for "aggravated homosexuality," defined as "sex with a minor or a disabled person, where the offender is HIV-positive, a parent or a person in authority over the victim, or...

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24 Dec

The Trial Chamber has -- completely unsurprisingly -- rejected Dr. Karadzic's motion challenging Richard Harvey's appointment as stand-by counsel.  As I explained in a previous post, that challenge was based on three grounds: (1) Harvey's appointment violates Article 21(4) of the ICTY Statute, which provides that a defendant has the right “to communicate with counsel of his own choosing” and...

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13 Dec

One of my favorite issues of the New York Times Magazine is its "year in ideas" issue, which comes annually in December.  Because OJ is a repository of things related to battlefield robotics and law and ethics, I wanted to flag for your attention the item by Dara Kerr, "Guilty Robots." [I]magine robots that obey injunctions like Immanuel Kant's categorical imperative...

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03 Dec

[This is a guest post by Professor Greg Gordon of the University of North Dakota.  Professor Gordon is the Director of the UND Center for Human Rights and Genocide Studies, an expert on international criminal law and a past guest blogger at Opinio Juris.] Earlier this week, Spanish National Court Judge Balthazar Garzon initiated money laundering proceedings against the widow...

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30 Nov

The just-released CFR web publication "Public Opinion on Global Issues" offers one-stop shopping for those looking for public opinion surveys across a range of transnational policy issues.  The overview explains how CFR and the Univ. of Maryland consolidated all publicly available opinion polls and provides a few significant findings: The international community confronts a daunting array of transnational threats and challenges...

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27 Nov

I criticize the Registry regularly, so it's important to acknowledge when it does something right.  I blogged a couple of weeks ago about the Registry's indefensible position that Dr. Karadzic's trial had not started, so the defence team was not entitled to any funding until the trial "began" in March.  The Registry has now reversed its decision and approved 250...

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23 Nov

The Nation has just published an extensive article documenting the "secret war" Blackwater employees have been conducting in Pakistan.  The opening grafs: At a covert forward operating base run by the US Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) in the Pakistani port city of Karachi, members of an elite division of Blackwater are at the center of a secret program in which...

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23 Nov

As I note in my post above, Change.org has launched an ambitious new blog, War and Peace.  A sampling of recent posts, to give readers a taste of what the blog -- which obviously has a broad mandate! -- covers: "IRA Splinter Faction Nostalgic for the Old Belfast"; "Hey, Russian Media, There Is No 'Number War' in Bosnia-Herzegovina"; "Is the...

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23 Nov

Give the Trial Chamber credit, it has at least has stopped pretending that its decisions make any legal sense whatsoever: It said on Monday that Karadzic's appeal request was too vague and premature because at the time of his application, no counsel had been appointed to him. "Granting the application now, and then potentially again on 1 March, 2010 ...

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21 Nov

It is becoming increasingly clear that the Registry made no attempt to comply with the Appeals Chamber's decision in Seselj.  I have now learned that the Registry arranged for Dr. Karadzic to meet with five defence barristers, including Mr. Harvey.  Dr. Karadzic was then given a deadline to choose one.  Instead, citing Seselj, Dr. Karadzic asked for a copy of...

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