So the ICJ ruled today (14-2) that the Court does have jurisdiction to hear Bolivia's claim that Chile has violated its legal obligation to negotiate "sovereign access to the sea" despite a 1904 Treaty that had settled the borders between the two countries. I have been super-critical of Bolivia's claim, going so far as to suggest there was a slam-dunk...
[Dr. Başak Çalı is Director for the Center of Global Public Law and Associate Professor of International Law at Koç University, Turkey. She the secretary general of the European Society of International Law. The following is written in her personal capacity.] It is a rare event for international lawyers to overwhelmingly agree on the content, scope and interpretation of international law....
Wishing Jews a happy Yom Kippur -- good. Doing so over an image of the yellow star Jews were forced to wear by the Nazis -- not so much: Not surprisingly, WGN Chicago has since apologized....
Thanks to Kevin Govern and Duncan Hollis for providing the two previous posts (here and here) in this book symposium on Cyber War: Law and Ethics for Virtual Conflicts. In my post, I want to explore the difficulties arising from causal investigations in cyber attacks. Everyone knows that the increasing threat of cyber attacks will place immense pressure on the operational capacities for...
Back in 2012, I was pleased to receive an invitation to a conference that Jens, Kevin Govern, and Claire Finkelstein were hosting on the law and ethics of cyberwar. It was a great conversation; so great, in fact, that Jens and his colleagues were inspired to use it as the launching pad for this volume -- Cyberwar: Law and Ethics...
The ICC has always had a legitimacy problem in Uganda. In particular, as Mark Kersten ably explained earlier this year, the Court is widely viewed by Ugandans as partial to Museveni, despite the fact that the OTP is supposedly investigating both the government and the LRA: From the outset, the ICC showcased a bias towards the Government of Yoweri Museveni. In 2004 and following months...
If you haven’t seen it yet, the US recently filed its amicus brief in the Haiti Cholera appeal - it is available here: Haiti US amicus 2nd Circ. Predictably, the brief makes the case for absolute external UN immunity, and advances largely the same arguments put forward in prior filings. And yet, there are a number of powerful counterarguments to the position...
Latin America is a trendy place for ICJ litigation these days with Colombia, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Chile and Bolivia all currently embroiled in ICJ cases. Indeed, it seems like Nicaragua alone is generating almost half of the ICJ's current docket. On Thursday (September 24), the ICJ will (finally) issue its ruling on Chile's preliminary objections to its jurisdiction over Bolivia's demand...
U.S. and Chinese negotiators are apparently very close to working out an agreement to limit the use of cyberweapons against each other. There is talk that this agreement will be concluded before Chinese President Xi Jinping's state visit to the U.S. next week. The agreement will be pretty narrow in scope and apparently would not address the acts of cyber-theft and espionage...
Your weekly selection of international law and international relations headlines from around the world: Africa Three blasts struck the northeastern Nigerian city of Maiduguri, a military spokesman said on Sunday, a day after a new audio message purportedly from Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau accused the army of lying about successes against the militants. More than 1,500 people have been quarantined in Sierra...
I want to thank Alexandre Skander Galand for his interesting post last week on the continuing controversy over President al-Bashir's non-arrest during his recent visit to South Africa. The post reignited a long-standing debate in the comments section. My own views are too long for posting in the comments section. I write now to expand a bit on my previous arguments regarding the role...
I thank Professors Ackerman and Golove for taking the time to respond to my earlier post on whether a future President could unilaterally withdraw from the Iran Nuclear Deal. But I remain unconvinced by the claims they made in their original Atlantic essay that a future President's unilateral withdrawal from the Iran Deal would be "lawless". Here's why I still think they...
