In association with the International Commission of Jurists

General

18 Apr

Next month's issue of Foreign Affairs, a leading journal of highbrow foreign policy in the U.S., features an important article on the United States as "The Once and Future Superpower" (subscription).  Based on their forthcoming book, professors Steven Brooks and William Wohlforth of Dartmouth College argue that China is not going to displace the United States as the world's leading superpower...

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18 Apr

Here’s your weekly selection of international law and international relations headlines from around the world: Africa The death toll from a raid carried out by South Sudanese gunmen in western Ethiopia has risen to 208 people and the assailants kidnapped 108 children, an Ethiopian official said on Sunday. The United Nations on Sunday condemned a government crackdown in Gambia that it said had...

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18 Apr

I had the pleasure about a week ago to discuss Syria with David Remnick for the New Yorker Radio Hour. Most of the questions, not surprisingly, focused on whether I thought there was any realistic prospect that Assad would face justice. (My answer: probably not.) The show went live a couple of days ago -- I was traveling and didn't...

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14 Apr

The Human Rights Advisory Panel has found UNMIK, the UN Mission in Kosovo, responsible for breach of a number of human rights provisions connected with lead poisoning of the Roma population following the 1999 conflict.   Under Section 2 of UNMIK Regulation No. 2006/12, t the Panel has jurisdiction over complaints relating to alleged violations of human rights   “that   had...

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11 Apr

Here’s your weekly selection of international law and international relations headlines from around the world: Africa In Mozambique, despite improvements in education access, many rural children are still pressed into work to supplement family income. The Nigerian government denies reports of $50 million ransom from Boko Haram for release of Chibok girls. As revelations from the Panama papers rock the world of politics and...

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08 Apr

[Matthew Sands is a Legal Advisor with the Geneva based NGO, Association for the Prevention of Torture (APT) the full judgment on this case is available here.] In late January, the UK Supreme Court published its judgment in the case of Youssef. In 2005, Mr. Youssef had been suspected of involvement in terrorist-related activity, and Egypt had requested the UN sanctions committee...

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07 Apr

Importantly, and for the first time, meetings will soon be held with all candidates for the post of UN Secretary General, enabling them to present their candidatures.  Member States will also have the opportunity to ask questions.   Mogen Lykketoft, president of the GA, has publicized his plans for these meetings in letters here and here. A current list of candidates (and...

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06 Apr

[John Heieck is the Lecturer of Public International Law at the University of Kent, Brussels School of International Studies.] On 17 March 2016, US Secretary of State John Kerry announced that ‘Daesh is responsible for genocide against groups in areas under its control, including Yazidis, Christians, and Shia Muslims. Daesh is genocidal by self-proclamation, by ideology, and by actions, in what...

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04 Apr

Here’s your weekly selection of international law and international relations headlines from around the world: Africa The U.N. peacekeeping mission in Democratic Republic of Congo said late on Friday that it has received allegations of sexual abuse against Tanzanian peacekeepers based in Congo's northeast, the latest in a series of such accusations against U.N. forces. The United Nations Security Council asked U.N. Secretary-General...

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29 Mar

Here’s your weekly selection of international law and international relations headlines from around the world: Africa The European Union plans to cut back its funding for Burundi's lucrative peacekeeping contingent in Somalia to try to force President Pierre Nkurunziza into talks with opponents and away from the brink of ethnic conflict, diplomatic sources said. Burundi's ruling party has accused Rwandan president Paul Kagame...

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22 Mar

[Patrick Wall is studying for an LL.M. in International Law at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva, as the Sir Ninian Stephen Menzies Scholar in International Law.] Last Monday, the US House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed—by 392 votes to 3—a resolution ‘[e]xpressing the sense of the Congress condemning the gross violations of international law amounting to war crimes...

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