In a case that is already fueling a debate in Africa, and which may become an example of how local law enforcement in North America and Europe should handle the brutal practice of female genital mutilation, an Ethiopian immigrant in the US state of Georgia was found guilty yesterday of aggrevated assault and child cruelty for cutting his own two-year...
Privacy International, a human-rights organization that was formed in 1990 to track surveillance and privacy invasion by governments and corporations, has released the results of its 2006 international privacy survey. Using primarily quantitative data, the survey scored and ranked 36 countries -- all of the members of the EU and 11 benchmark countries, including the U.S. and New...
I've always believed that one of the least appreciated, but most powerful arguments against torture is that it harms not only the victim, but the torturer, as well. If this story is true -- and there seems to be no indication that it isn't -- the sad case of one of the first women to die in Iraq makes...
Huh? Yes, well, as mentioned in the update to my earlier post, observers thought this battle would come to a draw and a compromise candidate would be needed. After 47 rounds of inconclusive voting, that is indeed the case. Originally there was talk of Mexico as a compromise, but Panama received the consensus support in the end. Actually, the...
I am delighted to have the opportunity to guest blog on Opinio Juris, and look forward to dialoguing with you in the coming days. Many thanks for including me. I want to lead off with a few reflections on international law and geography that seem relevant in our heated pre-election environment. Beginning with Harvard in 1947 and continuing over...
We are pleased to welcome Professor Hari Osofsky as a guest blogger over the next two weeks. Hari teaches at the University of Oregon Law School and is an expert in international environmental law. Her current research focuses on transnational regulation and the intersection between international law and geography. Her SSRN page is here. In addition to...
Thanks to Cesare Romano for some terrific blogging during the last two weeks. (I'd recommend them all, but his last post below is especially entertaining and ambitious.) We'll hope to have Cesare back again soon for another guest stint! ...
As I discussed in a recent post, I was fortunate enough to attend José Alvarez's talk last week in Ottawa at the Canadian Council of International Law's Annual Meeting. José has been kind enough to make the text of his talk available (see here or check out the ASIL President's Page where it will be posted more permanently). ...
One of my favorite Greek mythology stories is the one of Uranus and Cronus. As the ancestor of all gods of the Pantheon, Uranus for a long time had no rivals. He was the personification of the sky and the mate of Gaia (the Earth). Their children were the Titans. Since Uranus was jealous of the future power of his...
To celebrate Halloween, I thought you might find this article by Professor Aaron Schwabach interesting. It is entitled Harry Potter and the Unforgivable Curses: Norm-formation, Inconsistency, and the Rule of Law in the Wizardy World. It already has a following, ranking as the 11th most popular SSRN download relating to international law. The key question is...
Well, it’s a start, I guess. In the absence of President Jed Bartlett ruminating about the legality of assassination on the West Wing, it’s actually this science fiction series that engages issues of international law/ international relations more than any other TV show. Including probably the evening news. On last week’s episode, a sitting President authorized a...
There is one aspect of the Military Commissions Act that appears to have been overlooked by most commentators thus far. It is an extremely important provision as it relates to how the courts will interpret the Geneva Conventions as implemented through the MCA. Section 6 of the MCA includes a number of important interpretive instructions regarding the implementation of the...
