In association with the International Commission of Jurists

General

05 Jun

Here's something you don't see very often. U.S. federal prosecutors in Sacramento have charged 7 individuals with conspiring to overthrow the Laos government. Not just weapons violations, etc, but, with violating 18 U.S.C. 960, the Neutrality Act. According to the complaint, the defendants are being charged with "providing and preparing a means for furnishing the money of and taking part in...

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04 Jun

The G-8 Summit is scheduled to get underway on Wednesday, and with the summit will come protesters — as many as 100,000, according to estimates. Those intending to protest have already been tarred by the violent clashes between anarchists and the police last week at a pre-summit protest in Rostock; police in Heiligendamm are gearing up for similar protests...

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04 Jun

One of great perqs of teaching international law is the opportunity to participate in study abroad programs. I have done so almost every year since I started teaching, and this year I will be headed to Sweden to teach International Trade at Suffolk Law School's program in Lund. There is virtually no limit to the choices you have if you...

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03 Jun

That's at the center of this interesting piece from Adam Liptak in today's NY Times, on an Alien Tort Statute claim alleging the enslavement of child jockeys in the camel-racing business. The case was brought by the class-action firm Motley Rice against two camel owners who also happen to be high-ranking officials of the United Arab Emirates. (Isn't...

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03 Jun

Charles Taylor's trial before the Special Court for Sierra Leone is set to begin on Monday. The trial, which is expected to last between 12 and 18 months, may not be the trial of the century, but it is certainly a landmark: Taylor is the first president of an African country to be tried for serious international crimes by...

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02 Jun

Speaking of "unpeaceful" nations, the U.S. Navy has apparently bombarded a remote, mountainous village in Somalia where Islamic militants had set up a base. As an international legal matter, I believe the U.S. intervention is unproblematic because it was made in cooperation with Somali authorities (this assumes that the "Somali authorities" in question are actually in charge). But maybe I'm wrong...

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01 Jun

The Economist Intelligence Unit has released its new "Global Peace Index," which ranks 120 nations according to their relative peacefulness. The organization based the rankings on 24 peacefulness indicators, divided into three categories: (1) measures of ongoing domestic and international conflict, such as the number of external and internal conflicts fought between 2000 and 2005, the estimated number of...

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01 Jun

"War is only a regrettable expedient for asserting one's rights by force within a state of nature, where no court of justice is available to judge with legal authority." Immanuel Kant Perpetual Peace: A Philosophical Sketch Do you agree or disagree with Kant's statement about war?I agreeI disagreeDon't know  Free polls from Pollhost.com ...

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31 May

The discovery of underseas treasure a few weeks ago would have made a great movie, or at least a Discovery Channel documentary. But, inevitably, the story has moved into the real world and that means: litigation. The government of Spain filed a lawsuit yesterday in U.S. federal court in Florida seeking to assert its ownership rights over the...

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31 May

In case anyone is interested, I have posted to SSRN an essay that is part of a written symposium in honor of Father Robert Drinan and his book Can God and Caesar Coexist? The symposium also includes essays by professors Elizabeth Defeis and Mark Janis, as well as a responsive essay by Father Drinan, one of his last published pieces....

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31 May

The U.N. Security Council has narrowly approved the creation of an international criminal tribunal to investigate the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. According to the BBC, Lebanon has until June 10 to ratify the tribunal. If there is no ratification by Lebanon, the the tribunal will be created. I have to say I haven't been following...

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30 May

Well, not much, but even though we don’t often utter the word “law” in the same sentence as “World Bank President,” doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t. Especially during a transition in leadership. The World Bank affects the rule of law through its governance initiatives at the domestic level and the web of borrower agreements at the international level. Clinton-era Bank President...

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