In association with the International Commission of Jurists

Public International Law

16 Oct

[Carla Ferstman is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Essex School of Law. She has worked in the human rights field for 25 years, with NGOs, intergovernmental organisations and in private practice.] Where do individuals who suffer harm as a result of the negligence or malfeasance of the UN go to seek redress? Sadly, there is nowhere for them to go. Maybe I...

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15 Oct

I have seen a number of suggestions recently in the media that Turkey's invasion of Syria could lead to NATO being dragged into the conflict as a result of Art. 5 of the NATO treaty. Art. 5 provides, in relevant part, as follows: The Parties agree that an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America...

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15 Oct

[Kristina Daugirdas is a Professor of Law at the University of Michigan Law School.] Absent a contractual relationship, individuals who have been harmed by the acts of international organizations rarely have access to institutions to hear their claims. National courts are often unavailable on account of organizations’ immunities. Some organizations have established alternative mechanisms to resolve such claims. The World Bank Inspection...

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14 Oct

In 2017, Seton Hall Law School hosted a symposium on UN Accountability.  Two years ago, the conversation was largely about the Haiti cholera case against the UN , and other mass torts.  A video of the event, including a powerful Keynote Speech by Philip Alston is available here. After the event, Prof. Fréderic Mégret and I, and a number of other speakers, decided to further...

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13 Oct

In the late hours of 6 October 2019, the White House announced the withdrawal of US forces from northeastern Syria after a telephone call between US President Donald Trump and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The announcement shocked defense and intelligence officials and drew rare criticism from Republican lawmakers, who were not consulted before Trump’s decision and who viewed the withdrawal of US...

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09 Oct

A couple of weeks ago, a group of Yezidi women kidnapped, enslaved, and raped by the Islamic State (IS) lost what could have been a landmark case at the New South Wales Civil and Administrative Tribunal. The women sought damages from an Australian-born IS fighter, Khaled Sharrouf, under the terms of New South Wales' victim compensation scheme. Sharrouf himself is...

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08 Oct

[Madaline George is the Whitney R. Harris World Law Institute Fellow at Washington University School of Law.] More than 70 years after crimes against humanity were defined in Article 6(c) of the London Charter and prosecuted at Nuremberg, the international community may soon have a global convention on crimes against humanity. In Chapter IV of the Report of the International Law Commission on the work of...

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07 Oct

[Odile Ammann is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Zurich, Switzerland.] “Customary international law cannot be interpreted because it’s not written.” I have heard this objection many times, including from the most seasoned international lawyers. While the interpretability of customary international law (CIL) may seem less obvious than that of written laws, I do not think that the written or unwritten character of a legal...

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04 Oct

[Phil Clark is a Professor of International Politics at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) at the University of London. An Australian by nationality but born in Sudan, Dr Clark is a political scientist specialising in conflict and post-conflict issues in Africa, particularly questions of peace, truth, justice and reconciliation. This is the final post in our symposium on...

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03 Oct

[Mark Drumbl is the Class of 1975 Alumni Professor and Director, Transnational Law Institute, Washington and Lee University. This is the latest post in our symposium on Phil Clark’s book, Distant Justice: The Impact of the International Criminal Court on African Politics.] I never thought this day would endI never thought tonight could ever beThis close to me-- The Cure (1985) from the album The Head on the...

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02 Oct

[Xabier Agirre Aranburu is Head of the Investigative Analysis Section at the Investigations Division of the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court. The views expressed herein are those of the author alone, and do not reflect the views of the Office of the Prosecutor. This is the latest post in our symposium on Phil Clark’s book, Distant Justice: The Impact of the International Criminal Court...

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02 Oct

I am quoted in a long article by Ali Younes for Al Jazeera about a new communication to the ICC asking it to investigate the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, which was committed one year ago today. The communication advances two theories for why the Court has or could have jurisdiction over Khashoggi's murder. The article quotes me responding to one:...

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