It's always exciting when the media pays attention to expert reports on international law. Unfortunately, the media all too often gets international law wrong -- and recent reporting on the Tallinn Manual on International Law Applicable to Cyber Warfare is no exception. There has been a spate of articles in the past couple of days that breathlessly claim the Tallinn Manual...
It should be no surprise that there is an amicus brief in support of striking down the Defense of Marriage Act from a global angle, charting an international trend towards recognition of same-sex marriages. (The brief is on behalf of a select lawprof group - Harold Koh, Sarah Cleveland, Larry Helfer, and Ryan Goodman, part of a trend toward elite,...
This week on Opinio Juris, CIA drone strikes remained in the spotlight. Continuing on last week's post, Kevin tried to get to the bottom of the CIA's involvement in drone strikes and whether it is sufficient to trigger criminal liability, which sparked a long discussion in the comments with John C. Dehn. Deborah welcomed news reports about a possible transfer of the...
Ben Emmerson, counsel for al-Senussi, has asked the Pre-Trial Chamber to refer Libya to the Security Council for ignoring its February 6 decision ordering Libya to transfer al-Senussi to the Court. Here are the key paragraphs: 3. It has been almost six weeks since the Chamber‟s Order of 6 February, and Libya has failed to comply with every one of these...
Italy has promised India that the two Italian marines facing murder charges over the killing of two Indian fishermen mistaken for pirates will return to India today, after promises were made that the special court set up to rule on their case will respect their fundamental rights. Ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to Russia, President Putin has said that the two...
Jhesus-Maria, King of England, and you, Duke of Bedford, who call yourself regent of the Kingdom of France, you, Guillaume de la Poule, count of Suffort, Jean, sire of Talbot, and you, Thomas, sire of Scales, who call yourselves lieutenants of the Duke of Bedford, acknowledge the summons of the King of Heaven. Render to the Maid here sent by...
NATO and the Afghan government have reached an agreement on the phased withdrawal of US special forces from Wardak province, near Kabul. A Zimbabwean court has denied bail to a high profile human rights lawyer arrested over the weekend on charges of obstruction of justice during police searches. After reaffirming ties with Israel, US President Barack Obama faced Palestinian discontent while visiting the occupied West Bank,...
For those of you who are trying to decide where to publish your article during this submission cycle, my friend and former colleague Rob Anderson has identified an interesting Google metric for measuring the most-cited international law journals. As he notes: "The rankings are based on Jorge Hirsch's "h-index," which is an alternative to impact factor as a...
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...
