The BBC charts the latest back-and-forth between China, the U.S. over the Spratly Islands and, especially, navigation in the South China Sea. Much of the discussion of this issue has focused on the increased pace of China construction and land reclamation on series of islands and reefs, changing the “facts on the ground” to bolster its territorial and maritime claims....
Your weekly selection of international law and international relations headlines from around the world: Africa South Africa plans to leave the International Criminal Court (ICC), a deputy minister said on Sunday, as the government faces criticism for ignoring a court order to arrest Sudan's president earlier this year. Thirty-eight people, including five attackers, were killed and another 51 were wounded on Saturday in...
Announcements A student writing competition is being organized in conjunction with the annual symposium convened by the Center for the Study of Dispute Resolution at the University of Missouri School of Law. This year’s symposium is convened by Prof. Carli Conklin and is entitled “Beyond the FAA: Arbitration Procedure, Practice, and Policy in Historical Perspective.” The symposium features Professor James Oldham, the St....
The Compendium of the 2014 UN High Level Review of Sanctions, including its 150 recommendations, is now available here on the UN Website. The Document number is A/69/941 - S/2015/432. The review, sponsored by Australia, Finland, Germany, Greece and Sweden, took place from May - November 2014, and involved a series of meetings between Member States, the Secretariat as well...
Your weekly selection of international law and international relations headlines from around the world: Africa Somalia last week deposited its instrument of ratification of the United Nations’ Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), leaving the United States as the world’s only country that has not done so. Militants claiming loyalty to Islamic State said they were behind suicide bombings near the...
Your weekly selection of international law and international relations headlines from around the world: Africa At least 21 people were killed in the capital of Central African Republic on Saturday and around 100 others were wounded as Muslims attacked a mainly Christian neighborhood, senior hospital officials and a government spokesman said.. A Norwegian-flagged ship that was held in Kenya for more than a...
[Dr. Başak Çalı is Director for the Center of Global Public Law and Associate Professor of International Law at Koç University, Turkey. She the secretary general of the European Society of International Law. The following is written in her personal capacity.] It is a rare event for international lawyers to overwhelmingly agree on the content, scope and interpretation of international law....
Wishing Jews a happy Yom Kippur -- good. Doing so over an image of the yellow star Jews were forced to wear by the Nazis -- not so much: Not surprisingly, WGN Chicago has since apologized....
Thanks to Kevin Govern and Duncan Hollis for providing the two previous posts (here and here) in this book symposium on Cyber War: Law and Ethics for Virtual Conflicts. In my post, I want to explore the difficulties arising from causal investigations in cyber attacks. Everyone knows that the increasing threat of cyber attacks will place immense pressure on the operational capacities for...
Back in 2012, I was pleased to receive an invitation to a conference that Jens, Kevin Govern, and Claire Finkelstein were hosting on the law and ethics of cyberwar. It was a great conversation; so great, in fact, that Jens and his colleagues were inspired to use it as the launching pad for this volume -- Cyberwar: Law and Ethics...
If you haven’t seen it yet, the US recently filed its amicus brief in the Haiti Cholera appeal - it is available here: Haiti US amicus 2nd Circ. Predictably, the brief makes the case for absolute external UN immunity, and advances largely the same arguments put forward in prior filings. And yet, there are a number of powerful counterarguments to the position...
Your weekly selection of international law and international relations headlines from around the world: Africa Three blasts struck the northeastern Nigerian city of Maiduguri, a military spokesman said on Sunday, a day after a new audio message purportedly from Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau accused the army of lying about successes against the militants. More than 1,500 people have been quarantined in Sierra...
