Violent clashes in China's western Xinjiang province, home to the Uighur minority, have killed 27 people. President Obama gave his long-awaited speech on climate change yesterday, but it fell short of environmentalists' expectations. During his visit to the Middle East, US Secretary of State Kerry has been pressed by Saudi leaders to respond to the "genocide" in Syria. US officials are hoping...
The Taleban has claimed responsibility for an attack on the compound that houses the Presidential Palace and the CIA Headquarters in Kabul. US Secretary of State Kerry has meanwhile assured Afghanistan's neighbours that the US will maintain a military presence even after next year's withdrawal of combat troops. The mystery surrounding Edward Snowden's whereabouts continues, as does the diplomatic fallout. In his...
Edward Snowden has left Hong Kong for Moscow, a first stop on his way to Ecuador via Cuba and Venezuela. The NYTimes' blog reports that the final call to let Snowden leave was made by China. Israel has carried out air strikes in the Gaza strip after rockets were fired into Israel overnight. The Emir of Qatar is expected to announce today...
This week on Opinio Juris, Kevin flagged three problems with the PTC's decision on Libya's obligation to surrender al-Senussi to the ICC. He also discussed Libya's admissibility challenge: he criticized the defence's response to the challenge for adopting the due process thesis and he argued why the President's refusal to excuse one of the Appeals Chamber judges is erroneous. Kevin also turned his...
After a over a week of negotiations, Mali has reached a ceasefire agreement with the Tuareg rebels who have occupied the northern city of Kidal. The UK Supreme Court has held that sanctions imposed on the Iranian Bank Mellat are invalid because they were imposed through a secret court. The US Treasure Department has strongly criticized the decision. Britain's attempt to include...
“Of course our opinions do not coincide. But all of us have the intention to stop the violence in Syria,” President Putin said after meeting with President Obama at the G8 summit. A neat summary of the dilemma of responsibility to protect—everyone wants an end to violence, but responsibility does not suggest how it should be done. Responsibility to protect emphasizes...
President Obama is in Berlin today where he will give a speech arguing for sharp reductions in nuclear warheads and more cooperation on other important challenges such as climate change and democracy. The US will start negotiations with the Taleban in Qatar later this week. Meanwhile, Afghanistan's President Karzai has suspended negotiations with the US on a security pact, accusing the...
In my last post, I introduced my recent article rethinking the concept of responsibility to protect. Today, I consider how the discussion of R2P often obscures the reality of how states go about choosing to intervene by speaking of duties and responsibilities. Some commentators have expressed concern about the selective nature of R2P or about the disappointment of R2P in...
ICJ Judge Giorgio Gaja (who was also the special rapporteur on the International Law Commission for the Responsibility of International Organizations) has made the case that International Organizations have a duty to prevent. The context was a talk he gave at the University of Amsterdam in April 2013 on the European Union and the ILC's Articles on the Responsibility of International Organizations. If one takes...
Brazil is experiencing its biggest wave of protests in decades over a wide variety of grievances, ahead of a range of high-profile international events in the next few years. Russia and Iran have warned against intervention in Syria and oppose the arming of Syrian rebels. Syrian President Assad has warned Europe that it will pay the price for arming the rebels in...
The members of the G8 are meeting in Northern Ireland this week. The meeting takes place amidst revelations that US and UK intelligence agencies spied on their allies during G20 meetings in London in 2009. The latest round of climate change talks concluded in Bonn on Friday. Earth Negotiations Bulletin has a detailed summary here. The Armed Groups and International Law Blog...
This week on Opinio Juris, there was a lot of news to cover with NSA leak and the US administration's decision to arm Syrian rebels. On the first, Julian thought Hong Kong was a dumb choice of refuge for the NSA leaker. Chris dug deeper into domestic data-mining with earlier stories about the NSA's activities. Peter addressed the position of expat...
