A new feature this week on Opinio Juris is the Weekday News Wrap. The latest edition, with links to the earlier ones, can be found here. At the beginning of the week, we continued last week’s roundtable discussion of the ICC’s Lubanga Judgment. Cecile Aptel discussed the split between the judges on whether the charge of using children “to participate actively...
We hope you enjoyed this first Opinio Juris/LJIL Online Symposium. For those who want to prolong these debates in real life, while waiting for the next online symposium, the Leiden Journal of International Law (LJIL) will celebrate its 25th anniversary on 30 March 2012 during the American Society of International Law's Annual Meeting. The journal will host a casual roundtable...
The International Court of Justice issued two press releases about upcoming hearings in both the Frontier Dispute (Burkina Faso/Niger), scheduled for October 8-17, 2012; and the Maritime Dispute (Peru v. Chile), scheduled for December 3-14, 2012. Reuters reports a three-way scramble for the upcoming World Bank presidential elections, with American economist Jeffrey Sachs registered as a candidate. African finance ministers have...
A few months ago, I mentioned here on Opinio Juris a new feature of the ASIL Annual Meeting that we’re introducing this year: ASIL IDEAS: Idea, Direction, Engagement, Action, Solutions. These shorter talks, about 20 minutes long, will feature innovative ideas international lawyers will want to think about from people you might not otherwise hear. Speakers will be drawn from a broad...
Jhesus-Maria, King of England, and you, Duke of Bedford, who call yourself regent of the Kingdom of France, you, Guillaume de la Poule, count of Suffort, Jean, sire of Talbot, and you, Thomas, sire of Scales, who call yourselves lieutenants of the Duke of Bedford, acknowledge the summons of the King of Heaven. Render to the Maid here sent by...
In a military coup, soldiers have claimed to have overthrown the president of Mali, Amadou Toumani Toure. Libya resists ICC’s custody claims in cases against Seif al-Islam el-Qaddafi and Abdullah Senussi. Al-Qaeda has taken responsibility for dozens of bombings across Iraq, which have killed at least 52, leading up to the Arab League summit in Baghdad. China’s Justice Ministry has ordered all lawyers...
Mauritania has agreed to extradite ex-Libyan chief-of-intelligence Abdullah al-Senussi to Libya. The Economist outlines the world’s biggest arms exporters based on a new report from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. US President Barack Obama is slated to visit the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea today ahead of his upcoming visit with South Korean president, Lee Meyung-Bak. Western powers diluted the...
Amnesty International says that NATO failed in its obligation to investigate or provide compensation for deaths in Lybia during its seven-month operation last year. A court in Zimbabwe convicted six activists of trying to unseat Robert Mugabe through Arab Spring-like protests. The convicted men face up to 10 years in prison. India may follow China's example and ask its airlines not to...
[Dov Jacobs is an Assistant Professor of International Law at Leiden University] This first part of the symposium will provide an opportunity to discuss some aspects of what is considered to be one of the key judgments of the ICJ, some 25 years after it was issued. The two comments you will read today, from John Dugard and André Nollkaemper are in...
[Mark Kersten is a PhD student in International Relations at the London School of Economics] International lawyers will undoubtedly pour over the landmark verdict handed down this week by the International Criminal Court, in which Thomas Lubanga Dyilo was found guilty of conscripting, enlisting and using child soldiers in the long-standing and brutal conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The...
[Mark A. Drumbl is the Class of 1975 Alumni Professor at Washington and Lee University and author of Reimagining Child Soldiers (OUP, 2012).] A long time in coming, to be sure, and slightly anticlimactic, the Lubanga judgment nonetheless represents a watershed – a first, in any event, for the ICC. What might the legacies of the Lubanga judgment be? I...
In addition to its recently introduced Weekend Roundup, Opinio Juris is pleased to offer you the Weekday News Wrap. This Monday-through-Friday feature aims to offer a selection of news items from around the world related to many topics of interest on the blog. As usual, feedback is very welcome and we wish you happy reading! The first ITLOS judgment on maritime delimitation was...
