Things are not going well for Ukraine these days as Russia has managed to solidify its control over Crimea and is continuing support for breakaway regions in Eastern Ukraine. It is very hard to justify the legality of Russia’s actions, so it is not surprising that Ukraine is looking for any and all international fora to sue Russia. As usual, the...
I haven't had time to comment on the collapse of the ICC Kenyatta prosecution last week. But friend of blog and Northwestern University law professor Eugene Kontorovich has some interesting thoughts over at National Review. Read the whole thing, but suffice to say, Eugene thinks this is pretty big body blow to the whole idea that the ICC can be an effective...
Your weekly selection of international law and international relations headlines from around the world: Africa The International Criminal Court has withdrawn charges of crimes against humanity against Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, a decision met with mixed reaction. Suspected rebels stabbed and hacked to death at least a dozen people in a village in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo on Saturday, a local government...
This week on Opinio Juris, Roger commented on Joel Trachtman's article on customary international law, which attracted a lot of debate from our readers in the comments. Kevin lamented US Courts' insufficient understanding of IHL and wondered if Paddington would prefer Australia's Christmas Island. He also responded to Ryan Vogel's post on Lawfare on the OTP's Afghanistan's investigation. Julian explained why he does not fully agree with...
Way back in 2010, the U.S. Court of Appeals in the Second Circuit held that corporations cannot be held liable under customary international law in ATS lawsuits. That decision, which was the original basis for the Supreme Court's consideration of the Kiobel case, has remained the law of the Second Circuit (New York, Connecticut, Vermont) though no other circuit court...
As a number of commentators have recently noted, the latest report on the OTP's preliminary-examination activities indicates that the OTP is specifically considering whether US forces are responsible for war crimes relating to detainee treatment in Afghanistan -- something it only hinted at in its 2013 report. Here are the relevant statements (pp. 22-23): 94. The Office has been assessing available information relating to...
[I posted this last week, or I thought I did, but somehow it ended up staying hidden in the bowels of OJ's archives. So although it is a little late, I am posting this again today. -Julian] As is his wont, U. Chicago law professor Eric Posner has hit a nerve with his recent Chronicle of Higher Education essay criticizing...
I'm sure most of us will go see the live-action movie version of PADDINGTON, which recently hit the big screen. And we will do so, of course, because we are interested in what Paddington's residence status says about the UK's harsh immigration laws. Fortunately, Colin Yeo has prepared a nice primer for us at the Free Movement blog, run by...
Your weekly selection of international law and international relations headlines from around the world: Africa Gambia's foreign minister said the West African country would sever all dialogue with the European Union and rejected what he said were attempts by the bloc to use its aid budget to force Gambia to revoke a tough new law against homosexuality. A peacekeeping force in Darfur had...
While researching an essay on the use of analogy in IHL, I had the misfortune of reading Al Warafi v. Obama, a recent habeas case involving an alleged member of the Taliban. Al Warafi argued that even if he was a member of the Taliban -- which he denied -- he was entitled to be treated in detention as permanent...
That's the provocative conclusion of the latest research by Joel Trachtman. Trachtman's articles are typically succinct and seductive, so you owe it to yourself to read the short article (and skim the long appendix). Trachtman examined 300 different CIL rules and found that only 13 (4.33%) have not been either incorporated in treaties or codified. Trachtman argues that the...
This Thanksgiving week saw several posts of note on Opinio Juris. We hosted a Mini-Symposium on the latest article by James G. Stewart, The Turn to Corporate Criminal Liability for International Crimes: Transcending the Alien Tort Statute. First, Samuel Moyn discussed the ambitious past of corporate regulation, to which Stewart responded in hopes that the ideas set forth by both would...
