24
May
How Does a Hybrid Tribunal for Iraq and Afghanistan Sound?
Colum Lynch reports today at FP.com that the United States is pushing for the creation of a hybrid international criminal tribunal for Syria by...
International Human Rights Law
24
May
ICRC Customary Study Online
Just a reminder to readers: the ICRC's phenomenal database of customary international humanitarian law is available for free online -- and includes a great deal of information that is not available in the two printed volumes. Here is the ICRC's description: Today, the ICRC has made available on its online, free of charge Customary IHL database an update of State practice...
22
May
Guest Post: Rona on Mohammed v. Ministry of Defence and Detention in NIAC
[Gabor Rona is the International Legal Director of Human Rights First.] What is the source of the power to detain in an armed conflict that is not between states (non-international armed conflict, or NIAC)? Where is the relevant law on grounds and procedures for such detention found? Torture and drones aside, this is probably the most vexing, most controversial, and most...
22
May
Quote of the Day — Katanga Dissent
Germain Katanga will be sentenced tomorrow, having been convicted of crimes on the basis of an uncharged, unlitigated mode of participation that the Pre-Trial Chamber assured the defence would not be at issue in the trial and that the Trial Chamber first mentioned more than six months after the 30-month trial ended. The Trial Judgment is a horrorshow, replete with statements...
20
May
Ukraine Parliament to Amend Constitution Re: the Rome Statute
As I've noted before, Ukraine's Constitutional Court has held that the Ukraine cannot ratify the Rome Statute because -- in the words of the ICRC -- "the administration of justice is the exclusive competence of the courts and...
16
May
Guest Post: Detention in NIACs: A Pledge in Favour of the Application of IHL
[Ezequiel Heffes holds an LL.M., Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights and is a lawyer, University of Buenos Aires, School of Law.] Recently, the High Court of England and Wales delivered a judgement in Serdar Mohammed v. Ministry of Defence [2014] EWHC 1369 (QB) holding, among other things (see here for an explanation of the whole case), that the...
12
May
The Security Council Won’t Even Go Dutch with the ICC on Syria
There are many reasons to be skeptical of the Security Council referring the situation in Syria to the ICC, not the least of which is that an ICC investigation is unlikely to accomplish anything given the ongoing conflict. (One that Assad is almost certainly going to win.) But just in case that's not enough, take a gander at this provision...
09
May
Jus Post Bellum Symposium: Jus Post Bellum and the Ethics of Care
[Carsten Stahn is Professor of International Criminal Law and Global Justice at Leiden University, and Programme Director of the Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies.] Jus post bellum comes in many forms and variations. One of the main shortcomings in existing discourse is the lack of engagement with the interplay between law and morality. Like the laws of war, and the...
09
May
Jus Post Bellum Symposium: The Responsibility to Protect, Jus Post Bellum, and the Duty to Rebuild After War
[James Pattison is a Senior Lecturer in Politics, University of Manchester.] It’s often been claimed that there exists a responsibility to rebuild after war on behalf of the international community in cases such as Afghanistan, Iraq, Kosovo, Somalia, and so on. For instance, this was one of the key tenets of the report by the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty...
09
May
Jus Post Bellum Symposium: Navigating the Unilateral/Multilateral Divide
[Gregory H. Fox is a Professor of Law and Director of the Program for International Legal Studies at Wayne State University Law School.] How should the idea of a jus post bellum be integrated into existing international law? A wide array of norms now applies to post-conflict states: international humanitarian law, jus ad bellum, human rights law, the law of international...
08
May
Jus Post Bellum Symposium: In Defense of a Central Role for Sovereignty in the Jus Post Bellum Conversation
[Dov Jacobs is an Assistant Professor of International Law at the Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies, Leiden University and comments on international law issues at Spreading the Jam.] Carsten Stahn, Jennifer Easterday and Jens Iverson have edited a comprehensive and rich volume on the law applicable in the aftermath of conflict, also known as Jus Post Bellum. This book covers...
07
May
Jus Post Bellum Symposium: The Norm of Environmental Integrity in Post-Conflict Legal Regimes
[Cymie R. Payne is Assistant Professor in the Department of Human Ecology at Rutgers University and the School of Law - Camden.] In my contribution to Jus Post Bellum: Mapping the Normative Foundations, I claim that: Existing treaty law prohibits some infliction of environmental damage, but only if it is “widespread, long-term and/or severe.” There is evidence of state practice recognizing the importance...