Assuming there really was authorization from the Iraqi government, I don't have any doubt that the U.S. has the right under the international law to launch new airstrikes in Iraq. But the domestic authority for the U.S. airstrikes is much more murky, and, as Ilya Somin argues here, Congress might need to authorize continuing military action. Jack Goldsmith goes through the domestic legal bases...
Philippe Sands is well-known as a scholar and as a practicing attorney. Now let's add spoken word artist: October 1946, Nuremberg. Human rights lawyer Philippe Sands narrates an original piece that offers new insights into the lives of three men at the heart of the trial, with the music that crossed the courtroom to connect prosecutor and defendant. A personal exploration of the...
Africa The United States will announce nearly $1bn in business deals, increase funding for peacekeeping and commit billions of dollars to expanding food and power programs in Africa during a summit this week, officials said. Little action has been taken to clean up pollution caused by oil production in Nigeria's Niger Delta region, either by the government or Shell Oil, Amnesty International and other groups have said. Health...
This week on Opinio Juris, we had some vigorous debate on the legality of Israel's "Operation Protective Edge" in Gaza. Kevin opened the week with the question whether Israel can cut off water and electricity to Gaza, and Janina Dill raised two concerns with the IDF's practice of using warnings. Julian commented on the Joint Declaration on the Gaza Offensive signed by over 140...
Under any view, the privilege of combatancy is key to the basic architecture of the law of war. It stands at the fault line between domestic criminal law and International Humanitarian Law, between impermissible killing and lawful belligerency. Simply put, the privilege of combatancy transforms, almost magically, what would otherwise be an unlawful act of murder into a lawful killing...
Since the recent al Bahlul en banc decision before the D.C. Circuit, I have been thinking a lot about the Common Law of War. As others have already analyzed in detail (Steve, Peter, Jonathan, Marty & Steve), the D.C. Circuit upheld Bahlul’s conviction for conspiracy but threw out his conviction for material support for terrorism and solicitation. Material support and solicitation...
Your weekly selection of international law and international relations headlines from around the world: Africa The Liberian government has closed most of the West African nation's border crossings and introduced stringent health measures to curb the spread of the deadly Ebola virus that has killed at least 660 people across the region. Nigerian Boko Haram militants kidnapped the wife of Cameroon's vice prime...
This week on Opinio Juris, our Emerging Voices symposium continued with a post by François Delerue on cyber operations and the prohibition on the threat of force, a comparison by Otto Spijkers of the Nuhanović and Mothers of Srebrenica cases, and Arpita Goswami's analysis of the PCA's recent Bay of Bengal Maritime Arbitration Case between India and Bangladesh. We also welcomed Jens Ohlin...
[Charles Kels is a major in the U.S. Air Force Reserve and an attorney for the Department of Homeland Security. He is writing in his personal capacity and his contribution is not meant to represent the views of the Department of Homeland Security, Air Force or Defense.] Group Captain Henderson and Squadron Leader Cavanagh’s series of posts comparing and contrasting the...
A background paper for a High Level Review of Sanctions currently underway at the UN raises some important and interesting questions about the increasing "jurisdictional overlap" between individuals designated on targeted sanctions lists and international criminal courts. In relevant part, the paper states: Increasingly, the reach of sanctions has gone beyond those responsible for initiating and supporting threats to, or breaches...
In two decisions (here and here) handed down this morning, the European Court of Human Rights has found that Poland violated its obligations under the European Convention of Human Rights for its complicity in the United States' running of a CIA black site and high-value detainees program on Polish territory. One of the cases involved al-Nashiri, who was prosecuted before a U.S. military...
The recent downing of Malaysian Airlines Flight 17, apparently by an anti-aircraft missile fired from within rebel-controlled territory in the Ukraine, has raised the specter that Russia is covertly (or not so covertly) supplying arms and assistance to the pro-Russian separatists operating within eastern Ukraine. Obviously, the facts here are somewhat contested and I have no insider or independent information...
