Let me thank Mark Drumbl once again for taking the time to provide his thoughtful response to my Article. As Mark and I agree on many points, I will focus on what appears to be the clearest point of difference between us: our respective answers to the practical question of how the ICC should instantiate its complementarity principle. Absent contrary guidance...
[Mark A. Drumbl is a Professor at Washington and Lee University School of Law] In Complementarity in Crisis: Uganda, Alternative Justice, and the International Criminal Court, Professor Alexander Greenawalt strikes a cautionary note. He underscores that the ICC cannot on its own effectively serve transitional justice interests. It needs help. In the end, Sasha concludes that "the Ugandan peace process reveals...
[Daniel Bodansky, University of Georgia School of Law and OJ guest blogger, sends this dispatch on the state of the Climate Change talks leading up to the Copenhagen Conference. Professor Bodansky will also be blogging from Copenhagen here at Opinio Juris in December.] Barcelona, 4 November 2009 The UN climate change negotiations resumed on Monday in Barcelona, after only a three week...
My favorite line of today's hearing in the Karadzic trial, courtesy of one of the prosecutors: "If necessary, force can be used to secure his presence in the courtroom," Uertz-Retzlaff said. Because nothing says "fair trial" quite like a defendant in restraints....
As both Julian and Ken (at VC) have indicated that they believe Arar was rightly decided by the Second Circuit, it's worth noting that Guido Calabresi -- hardly a flaming liberal -- is dissenting in the case, describing the majority's decision as "extraordinary judicial activism." Scott Horton discusses Calabresi's dissent -- and notes that the majority decision is based on...
Niamh Hayes, a PhD candidate the Irish Centre for Human Rights and an intern on the Karadzic case, has a very useful guest post at the International Law Bureau about how the Trial Chamber might respond to Dr. Karadzic's boycott. The entire post is well worth a read, but I was particularly struck by Niamh's suggestion that Dr. Karadzic's actions...
Maher Arar, a Canadian who was detained by the U.S. and the subject of an "extraordinary rendition" to Syria, has lost his bid to maintain his lawsuit in U.S. courts. By a 7-4 vote, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, sitting en banc, has voted to dismiss his suit against U.S. government officials for alleged violations of...
Okey-dokey: The political bureau officer at the NCP Mandoor Al-Mahdi also accused the International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo of standing behind the hybrid court proposal. “After Ocampo failed in furthering his agenda through the ICC he now wants to find another entry though the so-called hybrid court” Al-Mahdi said. This week the ICC prosecutor hailed the special tribunal proposal made by...
This isn't going to help the Panel's credibility: The African Union (AU) high level panel on Darfur wanted to find a way out for Sudanese president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir from the International Criminal Court (ICC) indictment, one of the commission members said today in an interview. This week the AU Peace and Security Council (PSC) endorsed a report prepared by an eight-member...
If you are going to be around the DC area this upcoming Tuesday morning, and are interested in the current discussion over the issues of the torture memos, my colleagues in the WCL program on law and government have organized a terrific program. Tuesday, November 3, 2009, at Washington College of Law: “The Torture Memos: Lawyers, Ethics, and the Rule of...
From the Sudan Tribune: The Sudanese government today reiterated its rejection the proposal set of an African Union (AU) to setup hybrid tribunals to try Darfur war crimes suspects. Speaking to reporters in Cairo the Sudanese presidential adviser Mustafa Osman Ismail said that Khartoum accepts the AU report “in its generalities” and the “African solution for the Darfur crisis”. Asked about the hybrid...
Clinton seems like she's been a relatively competent Secretary of State, but her take on the news that Abdullah Abdullah will not participate in Afghanistan's runoff election is truly priceless: Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, traveling in Abu Dhabi, gave the administration’s only comment. “We see that happen in our own country where, for whatever combination of reasons, one of...
