In association with the International Commission of Jurists

Topics

20 Nov

Over at Lawfare, I have posted a brief review of three books on international law, war, and counterterrorism, with a particular focus on the changing shape of counterterrorism through drone warfare and targeted killing.  These are all excellent books and I commend them to the scholarly community. Noam Lubell, Extraterritorial Use of Force Against Non-State Actors (Oxford 2010) Kimberley N. Trapp, State Responsibility for...

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18 Nov

Suzanne Nossel, who was until recently a Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for International Organizations and is currently a Visiting Senior Fellow for Global Governance at the Council of Foreign Relations, has been named the new Executive Director of Amnesty International USA. (I should note that Suzanne is an old friend.)  Here's part of what the Amnesty press release said: Most...

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17 Nov

Here is a nice example of how international organizations and international lawyers can conspire to make international law seem ridiculous. Bus and subway workers had a right to strike in 2005 and their leader was wrongly jailed, a United Nations agency has found. The International Labor Organization said the state’s Taylor Law, which makes it illegal for public workers in New York...

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17 Nov

Professor Sean Murphy of GW Law has been elected to the ILC. The press release from GW begins: Today, Professor Sean Murphy was elected by the United Nations General Assembly to the International Law Commission (ILC). The Commission consists of 34 distinguished legal scholars, practitioners, and government officials from around the world who are elected to serve for five-year terms. Created...

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17 Nov

[Note from ed.: This is the final commentary on Kevin Heller's book,The Nuremberg Military Tribunals and the Origins of International Criminal Law. Earlier commentaries can be found under the "related posts" link below and at the companion discussion of the book at EJIL: Talk!] Jurists, legal scholars and historians – groups that often find much to disagree about – appear unified...

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17 Nov

According to AFP, the ICTY has issued an "arrest warrant" for Florence Hartmann for failing to pay the fine she received for her 2009 contempt conviction: The UN Yugoslav war crimes court issued an arrest warrant Wednesday against a former spokeswoman for the tribunal's chief prosecutor for refusing to pay a 7,000-euro ($10,000) fine. Florence Hartmann, a French national, was...

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16 Nov

We want to thank the participants in the symposium once again for their fantastic comments on our article. We have really enjoyed watching the discussion unfold. Here we offer a few words in response. In his post, Peter Spiro suggests that we are operating from a “sovereigntist premise.” If what Peter means by this is that we...

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16 Nov

Outcasting is an important contribution to international legal theory and an engaging read.  But I wonder if the theory isn't limited by its assumption that sovereignty continues to be foundational to international law.  The article closes with this: It is impossible to overemphasize the importance of state sovereignty in international law. The international legal system is both created by and creates...

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16 Nov

Profs. Hathaway and Shapiro’s article, “Outcasting: Enforcement in Domestic and International Law,” is a very provocative and original piece of scholarship. Outcasting as a central mode international law enforcement has not received such a sustained and systematic study as they have. I am delighted to add a few thoughts to this discussion with thanks to Prof. Hollis for the opportunity. As...

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13 Nov

Readers know all too well where my sympathies lie regarding WikiLeaks and Julian Assange.  But I have to admit, I'm baffled by the paranoid reaction my fellow WikiSupporters are exhibiting in the wake of Assange's latest failure to block his extradition to Sweden to face sexual-assault charges.  Exhibit A, from the usually invaluable WL Central: The possibility of criminal charges against...

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13 Nov

Starting this coming Tuesday, Opinio Juris is pleased to host a joint symposium with the Yale Law Journal on a new article by Oona Hathaway and Scott Shapiro, Outcasting: Enforcement in Domestic and International Law. Here's the abstract: This Article offers a new way to understand the enforcement of domestic and international law that we call “outcasting.” Unlike the distinctive method...

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13 Nov

As readers may know, Israel's Knesset is currently considering two laws designed to prevent foreign governments and international organizations from funding progressive Israel human-rights groups: one that drastically limits the amount of funding such groups could receive, and one that imposes a tax of nearly 50% on foreign funds received by human-rights groups that do not receive Israeli funding (i.e.,...

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