In association with the International Commission of Jurists

Topics

28 Dec

The US and the UN have raised security alerts in the Central African Republic and the US has now decided to close its embassy in response to the security risks posed by the rebels advancing to the capital. A spokesperson for the new Japanese government has refused to confirm that the new PM would uphold the 1993 apology to women used as sex slaves...

|
27 Dec

The Commander of Syria's Military Policy has announced his defection from the regime over YouTube. Meanwhile, Special Envoy Brahimi will travel to Russia on Saturday for talks on the situation in Syria, after Syrian representatives had discussions at the Russian Foreign Ministry earlier today. Russia's Upper House has unanimously approved the ban on adoptions to the US, in retaliation for the US Magnitsky Act....

|
26 Dec

Israel has approved 1200 additional settlement units around Jerusalem, and with the election looming in less than a month, pressure is reportedly building on PM Netanyahu to drop the two state solution. Turkey is hopeful that progress will be made on its EU membership negotiations during the Ireland's turn at the helm of the Union in the first six months of 2013. The new Egyptian Constitution was...

|
25 Dec

Human Rights Watch has accused Palestinian military units in Gaza of violating laws of war by firing rockets into populated areas of Israel. At least five people were killed in two drone strikes in south Yemen in what security and local officials said were attacks on suspected al Qaeda-linked insurgents. An Internet virus attacked computers at industrial sites in southern Iran in an apparent...

|
24 Dec

[Jelia Sane is studying for the English Bar at City University, London. She holds an LLM in Public International Law from University College London and has previously interned at the ICC, the Centre for Justice and International Law, and the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia.] The unanimous acquittal and subsequent release of Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui by Trial Chamber II of the International Criminal...

|
24 Dec

Four more nominations for the post of WTO Director-General have been received in the past few days: Herminio Blanco (Mexico), Ahmad Hindawi (Jordan), Amina Mohamed (Kenya) and Tim Groser (New Zealand). Russia's Foreign Minister has stated that the Syrian government is unlikely to deploy chemical weapons as it would amount to political suicide. An Afghan policewoman has killed a NATO military adviser in Kabul. Islamists in Mali have destroyed more of the historic Timbuktu mausoleums. The...

|
22 Dec

In the comments to my first post on the ICC and retroactive jurisdiction, Johnboy4546 suggested that the Palestinians might self-refer only the situation in the West Bank to the Court.  Such a referral would have two clear advantages for the Palestinians: (1) it would prevent the OTP from investigating Hamas's rocket attacks, which are almost always launched from Gaza, as well...

|
22 Dec

This week on Opinio Juris, Kristen Boon followed up on her discussion last week about changes towards more transparency and fairness in the UN's Al Qaida sanctions regime. Craig Allen contributed a guest post on the ITLOS' interim order for the release by Ghana of Argentina's ARA Libertad. UNCLOS was also central to Duncan Hollis' post on China's submission to the Continental Shelf...

|
22 Dec

This statement, coming from the Acting Director of the CIA, is perhaps even more remarkable than the Senators'. The press release is posted on the CIA website and is reprinted below. Statement to Employees from Acting Director Michael Morell: "Zero Dark Thirty" December 21, 2012 ________________________________________ I would not normally comment on a Hollywood film, but I think it important to put Zero Dark...

|
21 Dec

[Samantha Besson is a Professor of Public International Law and European Law, University of Fribourg and Fellow of the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin] I would like to start by thanking Dov Jacobs and the Leiden Journal of International Law for organizing this on-line symposium on my extraterritoriality piece, and, of course, for agreeing to publish the article in the first place. Many thanks also to Professor Marko Milanovic and Professor Cedric Ryngaert for their generous comments and not least for taking the time to deliver them at this busy time of the year. In this brief reply note, I will start with Professor Ryngaert’s comments and then turn to Professor Milanovic’s. Professor Ryngaert’s main critique is that the normative dimension of jurisdiction as I understand it is difficult to pin down (see also Professor Milanovic on its “vagueness”) and in particular to distinguish from mere coercion. I agree that it is a difficult element to grasp, but not less difficult than the concept of jurisdiction itself. Reducing jurisdiction to coercion by virtue of the sheer complexity of its normative dimension amounts not only to choosing the easy route but, as I have argued, a misguided approach to authority and hence to the normative relationship that underlies any human right. In fact, Ryngaert’s own work on the issue makes me believe he agrees with this normative understanding of jurisdiction. Further, the examples given by Ryngaert in order to show how difficult the distinction between coercion and authority is actually dilute the normative test by not focusing on the normative subjects of the laws enforced (and on human rights-holders as a result) and hence by avoiding the reasons that apply to them and not to others. Of course, Ryngaert is right: there will inevitably be a human rights protection gap and it is frustrating, but we know that gap in the context of democratic accountability for international action as well. As a matter of fact, I argue in the article that the tension this gap creates between international or European and domestic human rights law has proven beneficial –slowly certainly, but surely. 
|