I'm a bit pressed for time, but wanted to offer a brief post calling readers' attention to a US Supreme Court case that came down today -- Lozano v. Montoya Alvarez. In it, a unanimous Court interprets the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction to not allow equitable tolling of the requirement that a child be automatically...
[Charles Blanchard served as General Counsel of the U.S. Air Force from 2009-2013, and General Counsel of the Army from1999-2001, is currently a partner at Arnold & Porter LLP. He was a panelist at a Chatham House conference on autonomous weapons.] In the past year, proposals for an autonomous weapons ban have gone from a fringe notion to an agenda item for the Convention on...
Calls for Papers The Center of Excellence “PluriCourts” at the University of Oslo, Faculty of Law, is organizing an international symposium on the Legitimate Role(s) of Human Rights Courts and Tribunals in Adjudicating Environmental Disputes in Oslo, 8 and 9 September 2014. Please send your abstract (word limit 500 words) to christina.voigt@jus.uio.no. Deadline is 1 May 2014. Notification of acceptance will...
I'm getting more and more nervous about events in Ukraine, and particularly in the Crimea. Things are spinning (almost) out of control, and it is worth noting that international legal principles are not helping lead toward a resolution. Instead of working out a negotiated transition, the new leaders of Ukraine have adopted a maximalist position by seizing power and then seeking...
Susanne Mueller, who works at Boston University's African Studies Center, has published a very interesting essay on the relationship between Kenya and the ICC. I want to bring it to our readers' attention, because it's published in the Journal of East African Studies, which many international-law folk may not normally read. Here is the abstract: Kenya's 2013 election was supremely important,...
In a legal wrinkle to the ever-worsening Sino-Japanese relationship, the Chinese government has now publicly backed a lawsuit filed in Beijing courts against Japanese companies that used Chinese citizens as forced laborers during World War II. The lawsuit names Mitsubishi Materials Corporation and Mitsui Mining and Smelting as defendants and asks for compensation of 1 million yuan ($163,000) for each defendant...
As China continues to offend or at least alarm its neighbors in East and Southeast Asia with its expansive territorial and maritime claims, it is worth noting there is one important Asian player who wholeheartedly supports each and everyone one of China's sovereignty claims: Taiwan. (Taiwan's government even supports China's sovereignty claim over Taiwan, just disputing which government is "China".) In...
According to VOA News, the Ukrainian Parliament would like the ICC to investigate recently-deposed President Yanukovych: Ukraine’s parliament voted on Tuesday to send fugitive President Viktor Yanukovych to be tried for ‘serious crimes’ by the International Criminal Court once he has been captured. A resolution, overwhelmingly supported by the assembly, linked Yanukovych, who was ousted on Saturday and is now on the...
Opinio Juris readers who are based in London may be interested in coming to a lecture I'll be giving for the ILA at University College London next week. Here is the relevant information: International Law Association (British Branch) Lecture What is an international crime? Wednesday 5 March 2014, 6-7pm Speaker: Professor Kevin Jon Heller (Prof. of Criminal Law, SOAS) Chair: Dr Kimberley Trapp (UCL) Venue: UCL Faculty of Laws Admission: Free...
Reprieve, the excellent British human-rights organisation, has submitted a communication to the ICC asking it to investigate NATO personnel involved in CIA drone strikes in Pakistan. Here is Reprieve's press release: Drone victims are today lodging a complaint with the International Criminal Court (ICC) accusing NATO member states of war crimes over their role in facilitating the US’s covert drone programme in Pakistan. It...
Calls for Papers TDM is calling for papers for a special issue on "The Pacific Rim and International Economic Law: Opportunities and Risks of the Pacific Century". The formidable scale and pace of economic and legal development in the Pacific Rim region offers considerable opportunities, but also carries certain risks. The forthcoming Pacific Rim TDM Special Issue will collect views of experienced...
[Rogier Bartels is a Legal Officer (Chambers) at the International Criminal Court and a research-fellow at the Netherlands Defence Academy. The views below are the author’s alone.] The first part of this post discussed that a non-international armed conflict (NIAC) ends when the NIAC-criteria (a certain level of organisation of the parties groups, and a certain intensity of the armed violence)...
