Lawyers take note: science fiction is become less fiction and more science every day. In the last year we have witnessed the launch of the first commercially built capsule to resupply the International Space Station (ISS), the announcement of significant private ventures aimed at eventually mining asteroids (1, 2, see also this), the announcement of a plan to send two people on a...
The US has added Joseph Kony to its war crimes rewards programme and offered a US$5 million reward for his capture, after the recent coup in the Central African Republic forced the suspension of the manhunt for him. The US has moved missile defenses to Guam to respond to North Korea's nuclear threat, which Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel labeled a "real and clear danger" to the US...
Armed Private Security Companies (APSC) doing business with the UN are now subject to a new set of practices and protocols that contain a multi-stakeholder monitoring and complaints mechanism. These practices and protocols are set forth in the International Code of Conduct for Private Security Providers (“Code”), which the UN incorporates via its new Guidelines on the Use of Armed...
As many of our readers may know, ASIL's 107th Annual Meeting with the theme of International Law in a Multipolar World is taking place in Washington D.C. at the Marriott Renaissance Hotel today through Saturday. Select highlights of the meeting include: The Grotius Lecture, with Emilio Álvarez Icaza, Executive Secretary, Inter-American Commission on Human Rights as the Speaker and W. Michael Reisman, Yale...
As Julian already noted, the UN General Assembly passed the first-ever Arms Trade Treaty with a total of 154 states in favor, 23 abstaining and 3 (Iran, North Korea and Syria) opposing. North Korea has blocked access for South Korean workers to the joint-Korean Kaesong complex because of increasing tensions on the peninsula. Israel launched air strikes on the Gaza Strip today,...
In response to an escalating tensions on the Korean Peninsula, the US has deployed a warship to the region to shield against any ballistic missile attacks against South Korea. South Korea's President has ordered the military to respond strongly and immediately to any attack. North Korea has meanwhile pledged to restart the reactors at its biggest nuclear plant. EJIL: Talk! asks...
Kenya's Supreme Court has upheld Uhuru Kenyatta's election as president. Although there were some riots over the weekend and five were killed, the situation in Kenya is described as calm but tense. North Korea has described its nuclear weapons program as the nation's life, and has vowed to continue it despite the international sanctions. South Korea, meanwhile, has vowed a swift response to any...
This week on Opinio Juris, Peter wrote about the unlikely advocates of international law in amicus briefs submitted in the gay marriage cases before the Supreme Court this week. Julian was disappointed that despite all the reporting on the Amanda Knox retrial, nobody in the media had bothered to read the US-Italy extradition treaty. Kevin also took aim at the media's lack of...
North Korea has put its rocket units on standby aimed at the US air force bases in South Korea and the Pacific after the US flew two nuclear stealth bombers over the Korean Peninsula yesterday. Iran, North Korea and Syria have blocked the adoption of the UN Arms Trade Treaty, though the expectation is that with the text of the treaty...
A depressingly large number of U.S. media outlets are covering the Italian Supreme Court's decision to order a new trial in the case against Amanda Knox, the American exchange student charged with murdering her British roommate in Italy. Knox was convicted in trial court, but that conviction was overturned on appeal. I say depressing because this is hardly the most significant...
Thailand has started peace negotiations with the Muslim separatists in its southern provinces. UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon has argued that Mali needs an 11,000-strong peacekeeping force and a parallel force for combat and counter-terrorism operations. Bush v. Gore in Africa? Kenya's Supreme Court has started hearing evidence to resolve the disputed presidential elections earlier this month. Theresa May, the UK's Home Secretary, has lost the appeal against a decision...
[James Hathaway is the James E. and Sarah A. Degan Professor of Law and the Director, Program in Refugee and Asylum Law at the University of Michigan Law School] Finally, a break-through on the conundrum of Refugee Convention supervision! The UN Refugee Convention has languished for more than 60 years without any formal mechanism to provide arms-length international oversight of treaty obligations. While state...
