In association with the International Commission of Jurists

General

13 Nov

On 11 November 2019, The Gambia filed an application at the International Court of Justice against Myanmar, alleging violation of obligations under the Genocide Convention.  This legal step has been in the works for some time now, with the announcement by the Gambian Minister of Justice that instructions had been given to counsel in October to file the application. As a result, the application has been...

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06 Nov

At the International Conclave on Justice and Accountability for the Rohingya organized by the Centre for Peace and Justice (BRAC University), the Asia Justice Coalition and the International Institute of Social Studies on 18 October 2019, the Minister of Justice for The Gambia announced that he had instructed counsel on 4 October to proceed to file an application at the International Court of Justice (ICJ)...

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04 Nov

[Prabhash Ranjan is a Senior Assistant Professor, Faculty of Legal Studies, South Asian University, India.] Reportedly, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Cooperation (RCEP) – a free trade and investment agreement comprising of 16 big Asian and Australian economies - will not have an investor-State dispute settlement (ISDS) mechanism. This is a huge decision and is consistent with the backlash that one has been witnessing against...

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25 Oct

[Nicolás Carrillo-Santarelli is a Colombian lawyer. He works as a researcher and lecturer of Public International Law at the La Sabana University, Colombia.] The morning of the 20th of October, Colombian media informed that the State of Colombia submitted an advisory opinion request to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights – which is not available in the webpage of the Court yet....

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24 Oct

[Nicolás Zambrana-Tévar is Professor of Law at KIMEP University in Almaty, Kazakhstan, where he specializes in International Law.] The trial of the century What has been labelled as the most crucial trial of Spanish democracy has ended with convictions for several members of the autonomous Government of Catalonia (Spain) and other separatist leaders for sedition, contempt of court and/or embezzlement. However, after having spent...

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23 Oct

[Ralph Janik teaches international law at the University of Vienna, Webster University Vienna, and the University of Rostock. He specializes in the interplay of international law and international relations. Twitter: @RalphJanik] A couple of days ago the research services of Germany’s parliament (the Bundestag) published an expert opinion on the legal aspects of Turkey’s Syria invasion. Its principal findings are clear: “Operation Peace Spring”...

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21 Oct

[Vito Todeschini is an Associate Legal Adviser at the International Commission of Jurists’ MENA Programme] On 9 October 2019, Turkey launched operation “Peace Spring” in the territory known as Rojava, in north-east Syria. The operation aimed at driving the Kurdish-led People’s Protection Units (YPG) and Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) out of a number of towns close to the Turkish border and to create a “safe zone” where...

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18 Oct

In this final contribution to the symposium, I will discuss compensation practices by national militaries and their link to accountability.  It is perhaps not surprising that creative remedial responses to claims by individuals and other third parties against IOs have not emerged in the context of mass torts. The stakes are high, and there is a tendency to reign in precedent-setting gestures of good will. ...

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17 Oct

[August Reinisch is Professor of International and European Law at the University of Vienna and Member of the International Law Commission. Clemens Treichl is an associate in the international arbitration group at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP. The views and opinions expressed in this post are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the position of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP or any of its affiliates.] On February 27,...

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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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