In association with the International Commission of Jurists

Topics

29 Mar

Abstract The questions asked by the organizers of this symposium on recent challenges facing public international law—whether international law is “too weak to make a difference” or whether its institutions are “invasive to the point of being undemocratic”— and the specific challenges mentioned by way of example (“terrorism, hegemony, illegitimacy”) all converge in the topic of this paper: an inquiry into...

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29 Mar

Abstract This Article explores whether and when rules of customary international law (CIL) can be expected to be efficient. Customary rules are often regarded as desirable because in certain circumstances, they promote the welfare of the group in which they arise. Unless these circumstances apply among states, the efficiency arguments for the legalization of customary norms do not apply. The Article...

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29 Mar

Abstract This thought piece will focus on the following question: What are the implications of conceptualizing of climate change litigation as pluralist legal dialogue? Part II provides the conceptual framework of the article by introducing and interweaving law and geography, judicial dialogue, and legal pluralism. Part III of the paper uses the example of California’s role in climate change...

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29 Mar

The first day of the annual meeting of the American Society of International Law began with a morning session on the future of arbitration involving states. This "pre-meeting" event is co-sponsored by the ASIL and the Institute for Transnational Arbitration and was chaired by Professor Catherine Rogers and yours truly. Details are available here. It included great...

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29 Mar

The Yemeni Parliament ratified the Rome Statute yesterday, following what has been described as the most intense debate in the institution's history. Yemen is the 105th member of the ICC, and the fourth member from the League of Arab States, joining Jordan, Djibouti, and the Comoros. ...

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28 Mar

As March draws to a close, I thought it would be helpful to recap some of the great blogging that has been going on at OJ. Some of these represent new directions for the blog, and it would be great to hear from our readership what you like and what you would like to see more of in the future. We...

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28 Mar

I encourage readers in the Boston area to attend a terrific event taking place tomorrow at the John F. Kennedy Library: The Elizabeth Neuffer Forum on Human Rights and Journalism, sponsored by the International Women's Media Foundation (IWMF). The program tomorrow focuses on women in Islam and reporting. Here are the details: Date: Thursday, March 29 Time: 10:30am – 1:00pm Location: Smith...

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28 Mar

Quite a bit actually. Notwithstanding Kevin's recent complaints, I’ve posted a book chapter on SSRN--Disaggregating Devils Lake: Can Non-State Actors, Hegemony, or Principal-Agent Theory Explain the Boundary Waters Treaty? (you can download it here) It's forthcoming in CCIL’s Responsibility of Individuals, States and Organizations. Although focused on exploring how well international relations theories--especially principal-agent theory and Karen...

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28 Mar

Last October, the Lancet released a report by the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health that estimated 655,000 Iraqis had died as a result of the Iraq war. Right-wingers immediately denounced the report, calling it a "fraud," and even lefty types suggested that the report's methodology was flawed, leading to inflated figures. Politicians — particularly those with a...

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27 Mar

On Monday, Canada began its first prosecution under the Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act 2000, which gives Canadian courts conditional universal jurisdiction -- jurisdiction predicated on the perpetrator being present in Canada -- over war crimes, crimes against humanity, and acts of genocide committed anywhere in the world:A war crimes trial is underway in Canada for the first...

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27 Mar

The BBC reports that the U.S. district court in D.C. has dismissed a lawsuit (Ali v. Rumsfeld) by former U.S. military detainees in Afghanistan and Iraq alleging torture and other severe abuses. Apparently, Chief Judge Thomas Hogan dismissed the lawsuit against Rumsfeld on immunity grounds, but a copy of the opinion is not yet on the D.D.C.'s website. When...

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