General

I want to thank Alexandre Skander Galand for his interesting post last week on the continuing controversy over President al-Bashir's non-arrest during his recent visit to South Africa. The post reignited a long-standing debate in the comments section. My own views are too long for posting in the comments section. I write now to expand a bit on my previous arguments regarding the role...

I thank Professors Ackerman and Golove for taking the time to respond to my earlier post on whether a future President could unilaterally withdraw from the Iran Nuclear Deal.  But I remain unconvinced by the claims they made in their original Atlantic essay that a future President's unilateral withdrawal from the Iran Deal would be "lawless". Here's why I still think they...

The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) is hosting its Annual International Open Day on Sunday, 20 September, at the ICTY Main Building in The Hague as part of The Hague International Day. At the Open Day, there will be opportunities to interact with ICTY Judges and other key staff members, view documentaries produced by the ICTY Outreach...

My colleagues at the Diplomacy School have just alerted me to an interesting new opportunity.  All who are interested should apply.  Here is the job ad: The School of Diplomacy and International Relations at Seton Hall University invites applications for a tenure-track assistant professor position in international human rights law to commence in the 2016-2017 academic year. Applicants must possess a...

A few months ago, I participated as a senior faculty member at the Fourth Annual Junior Faculty Forum for International Law in Florence, Italy. It was a fantastic workshop, and the papers presented by the junior faculty were uniformly excellent, including the one by Maria Varaki to which I responded. So I encourage all young scholars to submit abstracts for the Fifth...

Your weekly selection of international law and international relations headlines from around the world: Africa At least nine people were killed in two bomb attacks on Sunday in the northern Cameroon town of Kolofata, according to local officials, in what appeared to be the latest attack by the Boko Haram Islamist militant group from nearby Nigeria. Unidentified attackers ambushed a police post in...

Professors Bruce Ackerman and David Golove argue in this Atlantic essay that the next President cannot withdraw from the Iran agreement because it is a "congressionally authorized executive agreement." They argue that Senator Marco Rubio's pledge to terminate the Iran Deal on day one "would destroy the binding character of America’s commitments to the IMF, the World Bank, NAFTA, and the World...

Your weekly selection of international law and international relations headlines from around the world: Africa Kenya plans to launch a military offensive against Islamist militants who have set up bases in a remote forest at the northern tip of its Indian Ocean coastline bordering Somalia, a police official said on Monday. Middle East and Northern Africa Iran's president has said his country is ready...

[Jennifer Trahan is an Associate Clinical Professor, The Center for Global Affairs, NYU-SPS, and Chair, International Criminal Court Committee, American Branch of the International Law Association.] On July 28, 2015, a domestic court in Libya announced death sentences against Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the son of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, and Abdullah al Senussi, who served as intelligence chief. In total,...

Benjamin Soloway at Foreign Policy magazine thrilled me last week when he called to set up an interview for this story on the worst treaties ever.  Simply put, I love treaties and I love lists.  After all, a few years back I started a discussion on the most important treaties ever.  But, having given a lot of thought to my top...

13 of the 15 members of the UN Security Council met yesterday to address LGBT issues for the first time in a closed session chaired by Chile and the US.     The focus was on persecution of gays in Syria and Iraq.    As an Arria-formula meeting, the discussion was confidential, however news reports after indicate the group discussed the Islamic State’s...

Your weekly selection of international law and international relations headlines from around the world: Africa Suspected Boko Haram militants ambushed a convoy carrying Nigeria's chief of army staff on a tour of towns in troubled Borno state, the army said early on Sunday. Middle East and Northern Africa The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group has blown up a 2,000-year-old temple...