Africa African leaders meeting in Tanzania on Sunday to discuss a political crisis in Burundi triggered by the president's plan to run for a third term called for the postponement of elections by at least a month and a half. The United Nations human rights chief on Saturday urged several countries to intensify their investigations of alleged sexual abuse of young children...
Over the last two weeks at Opinio Juris, we've seen several contributions. Our regular bloggers covered a number of recent developments such as Deborah's recent post, cross-posted on Just Security, on the D.C. district court's considering the habeas petition of Guantanamo detainee Mukhtar Yahia Naji al Warafi, and the concept of "active hostilities." On a related note, Jens covered the nature and scope...
Cross-posted at Just Security As Marty Lederman’s earlier post explains, a D.C. district court is now considering the habeas petition of Guantanamo detainee Mukhtar Yahia Naji al Warafi, found in an earlier habeas case to be a member of the Taliban’s armed forces, who argues that because “hostilities” between the United States and the Taliban have ceased, the domestic statute (the...
On May 27, 2015 Mr. Dire Tladi of South Africa was appointed Special Rapporteur for a new topic on the International Law Commission's agenda: jus cogens. The progressive development and codification of jus cogens principles marks a significant step forward. For many years it was considered, as Ian Brownlie once quipped, "like the car that never left the garage." The ILC's...
Two recent court filings bring to light important questions about the scope and nature of the armed conflict in Afghanistan. Who would have thought that so many years after 9/11 we would still be asking important questions about the nature of the hostilities there. First, on May 20, 1995, counsel for detainee Al Warafi filed a reply brief in his habeas...
The Argentina sovereign debt mess is still not resolved, but already folks are debating its larger consequences for international economic governance. In particular, there continue to be calls for a new international sovereign debt mechanism to prevent another Argentina-style U.S. litigation. But although I agree that there are decent arguments for some sort of international treaty-based mechanism for sovereign debt...
Africa Fighting in south Somalia between al Shabaab militants and government forces killed at least 24 people, while a rebel attack in the capital killed three Transport Ministry workers and a lawmaker, officials and the group said on Saturday. An unidentified gunman on Wednesday shot at United Nations vehicles in Mali's capital Bamako and targeted a house where U.N. staff were staying,...
There are two important new reports up on the International Law Commission's website. First, Sean Murphy’s First Report on Crimes Against Humanity is now available. The UN Doc symbol is A/CN.4/680; link to the report here. The report is a terrific overview of the current gaps in the international legal architecture, and maps out steps towards a future convention. The report also proposes...
This week on Opinio Juris, Duncan posted his thoughts on the fog of technology and international law with respect to drone strikes and Kevin defended (!) Jeb Bush for his somewhat botched answer to Fox News' Megyn Kelly about the Iraq war. We had three great guest posts. The first, garnering a large amount of discussion, was from Eugene Kontorovich on Iran's...
Africa Since Nigeria's army began clearing large areas of the country's northeast from Boko Haram, some of the 1.5 million internally displaced people have started returning home. But thousands could now face severe food shortages as reconstruction lags behind. Rival armed groups in Central African Republic agreed on Sunday to a peace accord requiring them to disarm and potentially face justice for...
The blog saw quite some discussion over the last two weeks. As Julian was avoiding grading exams, he posted about Helmerich & Payne v. Venezuela, where the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit held that "domestic takings" can violate international law. He also covered the Sea Shepherd petition for certiorari with the U.S. Supreme Court and how Russia, in lecturing the EU...
I have not been surprised by the swelling opposition in the U.S. (mostly from the progressive left) against proposed trade agreements with Pacific and European nations (TPP and TTIP). But I am mildly surprised by the way in which TPP and TTIP opponents have zeroed in on the inclusion of investor-state arbitration mechanisms as a rallying point for their opposition....
