For more on M23 leader Bosco Ntaganda's surrender to the US Embassy in Rwanda Monday, the Armed Groups and International Law blog has a background piece here, Justice in Conflict talks about it at length here, the BBC coverage of the ICC's welcoming his surrender is here and Reuters talks about the US' efforts in transferring him to the ICC here. In...
I got my first taste of international law some 25 years ago when I joined my high school's model UN team. So, what does it says that today's high school students have model cyberwar teams? The link's a bit short on details, but, I wonder whether they have a student playing the lawyer on each team? I'd imagine any cyberwar scenario must...
Bosco Ntaganda, the leader of the M23 rebel group in the DRC, turned himself into the US Embassy in Kigali, Rwanda yesterday. Ntaganda is wanted by the ICC for charges including recruiting and using child soldiers, murder, rape and sexual slavery, and persecution. Counsel for Kenyan Uhuru Kenyatta asked the ICC yesterday to drop charges against his client for a lack of...
States parties to the Convention on the Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) voted to list five new commercially valuable shark species under Appendix II last week, notwithstanding an attempt to reopen the discussion in the final plenary by some dissenters. The international trade in oceanic whitetip (Carcharhinus longimanus), scalloped hammerhead (Sphyrma lewini), great hammerhead shark (Sphyrna mokarran), smooth hammerhead shark...
Burma's President is visiting Australia where the government has pledged aid as well as increased defense co-operation. Lawyers for Kenya's President-Elect Uhuru Kenyatta will argue later today at the ICC that charges against their client should be dropped. Also later today, the UN Human Rights Council is slated to discuss the report of its fact-finding commission on Israeli settlements in the West Bank. India's Supreme Court has extended its...
Wells Bennett calls my attention to this statement by Marc Ambinder in a recent article in The Week entitled "Five Truths About the Drone War": The CIA does not "fly" drones. It "owns" drones, but the Air Force flies them. The Air Force coordinates (and deconflicts) their use through the CIA's Office of Military Affairs, which is run by an Air Force...
Our main event this week was a book symposium on Curtis Bradley's new book "International Law in the US Legal System". On the first day, the symposium focused on treaties with comments by David Moore and Jean Galbraith. Attention turned to international delegations on day two. Julian welcomed the book's attention to questions of constitutional structure, but disagreed that accession to...
A couple of weeks ago, I noted that the Pre-Trial Chamber had ordered Libya to return the documents it wrongfully seized from Melinda Taylor during her privileged meeting with Saif Gaddafi. I also predicted that Libya would try to avoid complying with the order by filing various motions challenging the Pre-Trial Chamber’s decision. Guess what? Libya has filed two motions in response,...
French President Hollande has joined the UK's David Cameron in calling on the EU to lift the arms embargo on Syria, to enable them to arm the rebels. Israel's military intelligence chief has warned against arming the rebels and has claimed that Iran is sponsoring a Hezbollah-run "people's army" of 50,000 to fight in Syria on the side of the government forces. The UK's Justice...
This according to a bizarre -- and bizarrely inaccurate -- article in the Jerusalem Post. How many errors can you find? An Israeli law firm on Thursday formally announced its request to the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Fatou Bensada, to open a criminal investigation into violations by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and nine members of Hamas for war...
In testimony to Congress, US groups have complained about protectionist policies in India. The US has asked Ukraine not to renegotiate its WTO commitments, worrying that it might inspire other WTO members to do the same. President Obama has appointed Deborah Jones as the next US ambassador to Libya. India's Supreme Court has issued a notice to Italy's ambassador barring him from leaving India without its permission,...
The US Air Force has stopped releasing statistical data on drone strikes in Afghanistan and has erased previoiusly published statistics from its website. The UK warned Argentina that it would always be ready to defend its citizens on the Falkland Islands after they voted nearly unanimously to remain British. Iran plans to "sue Hollywood" about the Oscar-winning film Argo, which Iran claims...
