The Australian political world is all abuzz at the prospect of Assange running for the Senate in the upcoming federal election, which will be held on September 14. It's not completely clear whom he'll run against, but he will register as a voter in my home state of Victoria and intends to start a new political party, surprisingly entitled the...
Calls for Papers After a successful first edition of Young Researchers Conference on Law, “Hëna e Plotë” Bedër University and University of Tirana are organizing the second edition of the series, Current Issues and Trends in International Law. Several topics will be covered and abstracts are due February 20, 2013. The conference Global Challenges in Public Private Partnerships: Cross-sectoral and Cross-disciplinary Solutions? will be held November...
My friend Jens Ohlin (Cornell) has just posted a very important article on SSRN entitled "Targeting and the Concept of Intent." Here is the abstract: International law generally prohibits military forces from intentionally targeting civilians; this is the principle of distinction. In contrast, unintended collateral damage is permissible unless the anticipated civilian deaths outweigh the expected military advantage of the strike;...
As far as I can tell, the Chinese government continues to pretend as if the Philippines' Law of the Sea arbitration claim doesn't exist. Articles like this one suggest the Philippines government continues to wait for some official or unofficial Chinese response. The February 22 deadline for China to appoint an arbitrator is fast approaching. There are obviously bigger things going...
Okay, I admit it. The ICC is a failure. As Raj Kannappan insightfully notes at the Washington Times, its botched prosecution of Milosevic proves it: Although the International Criminal Court (ICC) was established with the promise of bringing to justice a host of international criminals, the Court has fallen short of delivering on that promise. Eleven years ago, on February 12, 2002, the...
Last May, I offered some critical thoughts on Opinio Juris about Charles Taylor's 50-year sentence at the Special Court for Sierra Leone. I have just finished a short essay (8,000 words) on Taylor's sentence that will appear in an upcoming issue of the Journal of International Criminal Justice; you can find the essay on SSRN. Here is the introduction: On 30 May...
The OTP has weighed in on Libya's ongoing challenge to the admissibility of the case against Saif Gaddafi. In its view, although there are serious questions concerning whether Libya is investigating the same conduct as the OTP, Libya is currently willing and able to conduct a genuine prosecution. Unfortunately, its conclusion regarding ability rests on a very serious legal error....
Apparently, the U.S. conservative policymaking world has made its peace with the ICC. As long as the ICC doesn't bother the US, the US won't bother the ICC. But the US has no plans to join either. That is the bottom line from this report from Colum Lynch. Have U.S. conservatives really lost the war on the International Criminal Court? A decade...
Neither the arbitral tribunal's order demanding Ecuador act to stop enforcement of the $18 Billion judgment against Chevron, nor Ecuador's continued brazen refusal to follow the order is really much a surprise. The Chevron-Ecuador Death Cage Match continues unabated and has gotten so out of control that almost nothing shocks me about this case anymore. A former Ecuadorian judge swearing...
In doing research on Aung San Suu Kyi, I recently came across this wonderful discussion from 2005 on the role of the intellectual in society. It comes in the form of a dialogue with Alan Clements in his book, The Voice of Hope: Aung San Suu Kyi: Conversations with Alan Clements. Clements: I brought with me a...
I know we normally announce call for papers in a group, but I want to highlight a particularly exciting new journal from Oxford University Press, the London Review of International Law. As you'll see, the editors are both distinguished and innovative; I'm sure the journal will prove to be both, as well. I hope readers will consider submitting to it. Call...
Calls for Papers The 21st Annual Conference of the Australian and New Zealand Society of International Law (‘ANZSIL’) will take place from Thursday, 4 July 2013 to Saturday, 6 July 2013 at The Australian National University, Canberra with the theme of "Accountability and International Law" The conference will be hosted by the Centre for International and Public Law, ANU College of Law. The Conference Organizing Committee now invites...
