In association with the International Commission of Jurists

Game Changer? Philippines Seeks UNCLOS Arbitration with China Over the South China Sea

22 Jan

In a potentially huge development, the Government of the Philippines announced earlier today that it has filed for arbitration with China under the UN Convention for the Law of the Sea. The Philippines' claim places China's controversial sovereignty claim over the South China Sea (see right) squarely before an international arbitral tribunal convened under Article 287 of UNCLOS.  According to the...

|
22 Jan

As a gauge of the temperature of the American foreign policy establishment, it is hard to do better than the Council on Foreign Relations.  And that uber-establishment organization has recently released a pretty hard-hitting critique of the Administration's drone strike policy.  It is not a knee-jerk attack, but a substantive policy critique, part of which is that existing laws aren't quite...

|
20 Jan

A few days ago, I criticized Judge Pohl's rejection of al-Nashiri's claim that there was no armed conflict between the US and al-Qaeda at the time of the acts alleged in his indictment — such as the attack on the USS Cole in 2000 – thereby depriving the military commission of jurisdiction over those acts.  Judge Pohl's decision relied almost exclusively...

|
20 Jan

Upcoming Events The tenth edition of the Young International Lawyers Research Forum will be held on January 24-25, 2013, at the University of Catania with the theme of A Lackland Law? Territory, Effectiveness and Jurisdiction in International and European Law" / "Un Diritto Senza Terra? Funzioni e Limiti del Principio Di Territorialità nel Diritto Internazionale e Dell’unione Europea. The program is available here. The Santa Clara Journal of International Law will...

|
17 Jan

[Başak Çalı is Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) in Human Rights at the University College London] This post is the second in a series of three. Last week I suggested that comparing the Von Hannover (2) Case of 2012 and the Fatullayev Case of 2010, both of which concern reviews of freedom of expression decisions given by supreme domestic courts, is a good way of understanding the variable standard of judicial review developed by the European Court of Human Rights.

The Von Hannover Cases (1) and (2)

The Von Hannover (2) Case was the second appearance of Princess Caroline of Monaco before the Strasbourg Court, arguing that the German press had violated her right to privacy. In the first Von Hannover Case of 2004, Princess Caroline advanced the argument that given that she does not hold a public office or have any public functions, the continuous publication of pictures depicting her private life in the German press violated her right to privacy, and the German Courts had failed to protect her. In the first case, the Strasbourg Court found a violation. In the second case it did not. From Princess Caroline’s perspective, this outcome is odd. The explanation lies in how the Strasbourg Court defines its standard of judicial review of domestic courts. 
|
16 Jan

Okay, I'm exaggerating.  But only slightly.  As Wells Bennett notes today at Lawfare, Judge Pohl has rejected al-Nashiri's contention that the US and al-Qaeda were not engaged in hostilities (an armed conflict in IHL terms) at the time of the acts alleged in his indictment -- primarily the attack on the USS Cole in 2000 -- thereby depriving the military commission...

|
15 Jan

As Peggy noted a couple of weeks ago, the international-law blogosphere lost one of its most important collective voices when IntLawGrrls closed up shop.  Fortunately, one of the most important individual voices within IntLawGrrls is back blogging -- Diane Marie Amann, who holds the Emily & Ernest Woodruff Chair in International Law at my former academic home, the University of...

|
15 Jan

I argued yesterday that the Security Council cannot refer a situation to the ICC under Art. 13(b) of the Rome Statute while exempting nationals of non-States Parties from the Court's jurisdiction.  Jennifer Trahan disagrees: I primarily disagree with Kevin’s first point.  While it may be objectionable to have an exemption of nationals of non-States Parties, I actually think that the UN...

|
14 Jan

[Jennifer Trahan is associate clinical professor at the Center for Global Affairs at the NYU School of Continuing and Professional Studies (NYU-SCPS). She is also chair of the American Branch of the International Law Association International Criminal Court Committee and was a member of the American Bar Association’s 2010 International Criminal Court Task Force.] Today, January 14, 57 U.N. Member States from...

|
14 Jan

[Peter Margulies is a Professor of Law at the Roger Williams University School of Law focusing on the balance of liberty, equality and security in counter-terrorism, and author of Law's Detour: Justice Displaced in the Bush Administration (NYU Press 2010).] The days of Donald Rumsfeld chiding “Old Europe” are gone, but targeted killing has renewed debate on counter-terrorism strategies between the US and...

|
13 Jan

Calls for Papers Applications are due this week on January 15 for a workshop on European and transnational rulemaking in Amsterdam between July 1-5, 2013. More information can be found here. The Committee of Non-State Actors of the International Law Association (ILA), The Institute for Transborder Studies (ITS) at Kwantlen Polytechnic University, the Leuven Centre for Global Governance Studies, Oxford Brookes University, in collaboration with the...

|