In association with the International Commission of Jurists

General

02 Feb

Your weekly selection of international law and international relations headlines from around the world: Africa Malian rebels fought pro-government militia in the northern village of Kano overnight, three security sources said, firing rockets and briefly kidnapping at least 20 people in the latest spike of violence between armed groups. Chadian forces have killed 120 militants from Boko Haram in a battle in the...

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31 Jan

This week on Opinio Juris saw Deborah note the publication of current Guantanamo detainee Mohammedou Slahi's diary and her review that appeared in the Washington Post about it. Peter offered further commentary on his first post on John Boehner’s invitation to Benjamin Netanyahu to address the US Congress, specifically in terms of what the invitation says about constitutional change. Though he never met him in...

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30 Jan

Today, the ICTY Appeals Chamber affirmed genocide convictions in the Srebrenica case, Prosecutor v. Popović et al. The full Appeals Chamber judgment is here.  The PDF document is 792 pages (including a few short dissents), which is long-ish but certainly not extraordinary by ICTY judgment standards. In my opinion, the most critical part of the judgment relates to the connection between the defendants, their Joint...

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30 Jan

Ian Henderson may be mad at me.  He asked for fewer posts on foreign relations.  But he also asked for more posts on treaties.  I have a new paper up that tackles both topics -- An Intersubjective Treaty Power.  For those of you who are interested in such things, here's the abstract: Does the Constitution require that U.S. treaties address matters...

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29 Jan

News reports indicate that Jordan is engaged in frantic negotiations with the Islamic State (ISIS) over a proposed hostage swap. Jordan is apparently willing to turn over a prisoner, would-be suicide bomber Sajida al-Rishawi, in exchange for ISIS releasing both a Jordanian air force pilot and a Japanese captive. For reasons that aren't entirely clear, the deal appears to have collapsed. Earlier...

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29 Jan

I never met the late Luke T. Lee, but his work, Consular Law and Practice, was one of the first treatises on "practical" international law I ever encountered. As a young student intern in the U.S. State Department, I remember going to his book again and again as I tried to figure out exactly what would happen to a U.S....

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26 Jan

Your weekly selection of international law and international relations headlines from around the world: Africa Top Ugandan rebel commander Dominic Ongwen is due to make his first appearance at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague today to face war crimes charges. United Nations experts warned that Sudan's remote western territories could become a breeding ground for radical Islamists as violence in the...

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25 Jan

While I've no insights into why the government finally permitted current Guantanamo detainee Mohammedou Slahi to publish the diary he hand wrote in English back in 2005, several years into his captivity, published it now is, subject to relatively minor redaction. The diary is a remarkable read in many respects; my longer take and a summary of Slahi's account...

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24 Jan

This week on Opinio Juris, we hosted a symposium on International Law as Behavior, following a workshop at the University of Georgia in late 2014. Elena Baylis discussed the methodological, theoretical and conceptual questions that need to be grappled with when studying international law as behavior, while Galit Sarfaty provided insights from anthropology for the study of international law behavior. More specific...

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22 Jan

John Boehner has invited Bibi Netanyahu to address Congress. There's a modern tradition of foreign leaders appearing before the legislature (list here). I'm willing to bet that every single one of those appearances was pre-cleared with the State Department or White House in advance. I'm no student of Middle East politics, but it's seems pretty clear that the the White House...

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21 Jan

It looks like a big showdown is brewing between the President and Congress over Cuba policy (Here comes 2016 presidential candidate Rubio!).  Some legal commentators have argued, however, that President Obama already has the legal authority to lift all or most of the Cuba embargo without any further action by Congress.  Robert Muse, a lawyer whose practice is all about Cuba sanctions...

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