In association with the International Commission of Jurists

General

04 Dec

The US has criticized Israel's decision to expand settlements in the E1 area, following the UNGA's decision to grant Palestine non-member state status. Five European countries (France, Denmark, Sweden, the UK and Spain) and the Australian government has also summoned the Israeli ambassador in protest. Despite the criticism, Israel plans to move ahead with the settlement construction. More analysis about the effect of...

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03 Dec

The phenomenon of land grabbing involves powerful transnational economic actors, including corporations, national governments, sovereign wealth funds, and private equity funds, that have searched for empty lands in distant countries that can serve as sites for fuel and food production in the event of future price spikes. Typically, the foreign investors enter long-term leases with national governments for 25 or 50...

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03 Dec

Syrian forces have pounded rebel-held areas of Damascus, trying to keep them away from the airport so flights can resume. After last Thursday's decision from the ICTY Appeals Chamber, acquitting former Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj and two others, Kosovo’s government has demanded an investigation into the actions of the lead prosecutor, Carla del Ponte, accusing her of abuse of power and filing unfounded...

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02 Dec

Look much beyond the blogosphere and you’ll be hard pressed to find many headlines about Jeh Johnson’s important speech at Oxford last week. But important it was. Here are three more of the reasons why I think so. 1. It is difficult to overstate the depth of the scholarly consensus that existed (before last week) around the view that when Congress...

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02 Dec

Upcoming Events The next session of the Joint International Humanitarian Law Forum takes place on December 5, 2012 at the IDC Radzyner School of Law. Dr. Ben Clarke will discuss his new article "Beyond the Call of Duty: Integration of International Humanitarian Law in Video Games and Battlefield Training Simulators". More information can be found here. Calls for Papers The International Community Law...

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01 Dec

This week on Opinio Juris, Kevin Jon Heller wrote about Niger's offer to extradite Saadi Gaddafi to the ICC, should this be requested. Kevin also discussed the conditions attached by the UK for a vote in favour of Palestine's "non-member state" bid in the UN General Assembly. The requirement that the Palestinian authority does not apply for ICC or ICJ membership...

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30 Nov

Thanks to Ken for posting the link to Jeh Johnson’s important speech below, and bravo to Jeh Johnson for saying it aloud. In addition to the central passage Ken highlights, I might add this from Johnson’s speech (to reiterate, Johnson is General Counsel to the U.S. Department of Defense). “War” must be regarded as a finite, extraordinary and unnatural state of...

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30 Nov

If you haven’t already seen it, it’s worth taking a look at this morning’s editorial in the New York Times about the Administration’s targeted killing program. The editorial follows on a series of articles in recent weeks, including the Times’ own report that the Administration was in a scramble pre-election to codify (in some form) internal processes for deciding...

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30 Nov

As expected, the UN General Assembly Resolution granting non-member state status to Palestine passed on Thursday. Israel's UN ambassador has called it a "reward for terrorism". This article compares the votes of the European nations on Palestine's UNESCO membership last year, and this year's vote, and concludes that European support shifted towards the Palestinian authority. Private Bradley Manning took the stand...

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29 Nov

The UNGA is expected to recognize Palestine as a "non-member" state during a vote today. Following massive protests earlier this week in Cairo, the Assembly drafting the new Egyptian Constitution has vowed to publish, and vote on, a draft today. The US is considering options to intervene more strongly in the Syrian conflict, while the EU has renewed its sanctions for another...

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28 Nov

In Syria, rebel forces have for the first time downed a government helicopter using a surface-to-air missile they acquired during the recent capture of an army base. The EU is reviewing its sanctions on Syria, and the UK, with France's backing, is arguing for a review every three months to make it easier to arm the opposition. The head of the Palestinian...

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