[Paul B. Dean is Attorney-Adviser, Office of the Legal Adviser, at the U.S. Department of State] Thanks to Opinio Juris and VJIL for hosting this discussion and thanks of course to Professor Guymon for raising this interesting topic. I'm happy to provide what I hope will be a constructive response. I must emphasize that any views expressed herein are my own and not necessarily...
The Public Editor of The New York Times has a nice piece today criticizing the newspaper's "seriously flawed and greatly overplayed" front-page article “1 in 7 Detainees Rejoined Jihad, Pentagon Finds.” Others have thoroughly debunked similar Pentagon reports -- see here, for example. I just want to call attention to the following paragraph from the Public Editor's article, which is...
I begin by thanking Ryszard Piotrowicz and Jean Allain for agreeing to take on the somewhat delicate task of commenting on my critique of James Hathaway’s article. I am sure they will not be offended by my expressing sincere regret that Professor Hathaway himself declined to participate in this symposium. Neither respondent challenges (or seriously interrogates) my central conclusions: (i) Hathaway...
[Ryszard Piotrowicz is a Professor of Law at Aberystwyth University] I would like to make three points in relation to the articles by Prof. Hathaway and Dr Gallagher. First, It seems to me that Dr Gallagher effectively refutes the basic argument of Prof. Hathaway, that the developments in trafficking in human beings (THB) have served to distract attention from what is asserted...
[Dr. Jean Allain is a Reader in Public International Law at the School of Law, Queen’s University Belfast and author of The Slavery Conventions: The Travaux Préparatoires of the 1926 League of Nations Convention and the 1956 United Nations Convention (2008) and “The Definition of Slavery in International Law” 52 Howard Law Journal 239 (2009)] There is nothing like a ‘response’...
I'm not a comparative constitutional-law scholar, but I find it interesting that, pursuant to Section 44(iii) of the Constitution of Australia, no one can serve in Parliament who "[i]s an undischarged bankrupt or insolvent." The solvency requirement harkens back to the bad old days of U.S. history, when most States prohibited individuals who did not own property from voting. But...
I loathe anonymous blogging and anonymous commenting. I think that, in the absence of a compelling reason to remain anonymous, people who take provocative positions and vehemently criticize others should have the courage to do so openly, under their own name. That's why I respect someone like David Bernstein, no matter how much I disagree with him. That said, I understand...
In various posts on OJ about Predator drones, targeted killing, and such topics, I've made reference to a book chapter I've been drafting for Benjamin Wittes's forthcoming edited volume of policy essays, Legislating the War on Terror: An Agenda for Reform (Brookings Institution Press 2009). I'm pleased to say that my chapter, Targeted Killing in US Counterterrorism Strategy and Law,...
There's an important roundtable in the May/June issue of Boston Review on the subject. (Who else finds Boston Review to be more interesting than the New York Review of Books these days?) It includes a lead-off piece making the case by University of Toronto political theorist Joseph Carens, with responses from Alex Aleinikoff, Linda Bosniak, Gerry Neuman, Peter Schuck, and...
I am not actually going to try and answer that question, but leave it to you. However, I did not want to let the occasion go by without marking it. The day it happened in 1989, I was actually at a human rights retreat organized by Henry Steiner and Philip Alston, a remarkable private meeting of human rights organizations, from...
Last month, the Obama Administration informed the Senate of its treaty priorities via a letter from the State Department (you can access it here). The letter lists 17 treaties for which the Administration seeks Senate advice and consent "at this time," including (as predicted here and here) CTBT, CEDAW, and UNCLOS. It also lists 12 treaties "on which...
I'm on the fly, but quickly wanted to post this update to my earlier posts on targeted killings and Predator strikes. The UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial execution, Philip Alston, has called for an investigation into US Predator drone attacks. Here is a quick news story on it. I think the press account somewhat overstates matters - I would characterize...
