Readers who have been following the Review Conference are most likely aware that the delegates adopted by consensus seven "understandings" concerning aggression in addition to a definition of the crime, the conditions of jurisdiction of the crime, and the elements of the crime. I believe that those understandings have no actual force and should be ignored by the judges when...
According to news reports, Oklahoma voters will consider a proposed amendment to their state constitution this fall that would ban "an local courts from considering Shariah or other international law in their rulings." I have little doubt it will pass, and that (since it is an amendment to the OK Constitution) it is constitutional. But it is really unnecessary and overbroad....
Someone should tell Mr. Netanyahu that he is supposed to wait until after the inquiry to announce its predetermined findings: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at the start of Monday's cabinet meeting that the main goal of the Gaza flotilla probe is to prove to the world that the Israel Navy operation on the Gaza-bound aid ship was...
The following is a guest post by Greg Gordon, Associate Professor of Law and Director of the Center for Human Rights and Genocide Studies at the University of North Dakota. He attended the Review Conference on behalf of the International League for Human Rights. A VIEW OF THE AGGRESSION AMENDMENTS FROM KAMPALA Having been on the ground in Kampala, my take on...
It is worth also considering the views of those critical of the entire ICC effort to the define aggression and bring it within the ICC Statute. Brett Schaefer at Heritage offers this final take, which he calls the U.S. effort a qualified success due to its ability to delay implementation and to insert "understandings" into the ICC Statute. [T]he U.S. was...
Having called her out a few hours ago not knowing she was on her way back from Uganda, I thought I should excerpt Joanna Harrington's final post on the Review Conference, where she offers another great account of the final negotiations. She also offers this final take, which is more positive than Kevin's take: For some, it will undoubtedly seem self-defeating to define...
I've long supported providing the ICC with jurisdiction over the crime of aggression. Call me old-fashioned, but I believe there is a great deal of truth to the IMT's insistence that "[t]o initiate a war of aggression...
It looks like the ICC Review Conference has reached consensus on a definition of the "crime of aggression" and the mechanisms governing the ICC Prosecutor's jurisdiction over such a crime. According to the AFP, the new amendment to the Rome Statute provides: [T]hat the UN Security Council will hold primary responsibility for determining whether an act of aggression has occurred. But where...
Over at AidWatch (William Easterly's blog), guest blogger Moussa P. Blimpo puts up a post on the role of universities in development in poor countries, in Africa and elsewhere. There are a lot of tradeoffs, explicit and implied - should universal primary education take precedence over university education, for example. What is the role of universities in poor countries in...
John Bellinger has a nice op-ed today pointing out that the 112th Congress is on course to set a record for the fewest treaties ratified during a single session of Congress. Despite the presence of 59 Democrats, the Senate has approved only one treaty (a tax agreement with France) during the 112th Congress. The Obama administration must make more vigorous efforts...
The news out of The Hague today is the genocide convictions of Popovic and Beara, both of whom the ICTY trial chamber found to be key leaders of the Srbrenica massacre of 1995. Each was sentenced to life imprisonment, among the longest sentences for the ICTY. Lesser convictions and sentences were handed down to five other former Bosnian Serb officials....
I haven't had enough time to blog about Philip Alston's excellent report on drone warfare, but interested readers should check out today's conversation between Scott Horton and Alston at Harpers.com. Here's a taste of one of Alston's answers: Of course, calling something a war crime doesn’t make it so–the question is whether it is recognized as such under international ...
