In the comments to my first post on the ICC and retroactive jurisdiction, Johnboy4546 suggested that the Palestinians might self-refer only the situation in the West Bank to the Court. Such a referral would have two clear advantages for the Palestinians: (1) it would prevent the OTP from investigating Hamas's rocket attacks, which are almost always launched from Gaza, as well...
I'm gearing up for a Spring Semester teaching at Temple's Tokyo campus. As part of my preparations, I've begun to read-into some of the maritime boundary disputes between China and Japan that have caused so much friction between the two nations of late. Recent news reports have emphasized (i) China's moves by air and sea to challenge Japanese control over waters...
[Craig H. Allen is the Judson Falknor Professor of Law at the University of Washington in Seattle.] On December 15, 2012, one phase of the dispute between the Argentine Republic and the Republic of Ghana over the “seizure” of the Argentine frigate ARA Libertad while in a Ghanaian port came to an end, when the International Tribunal for the Law of...
I had an interesting -- and respectful -- disagreement with André de Hoogh last week concerning the right of non-states parties to retroactively accept the jurisdiction of the Court pursuant to Article 12(3) of the Rome Statute. I argued in my post that Palestine could accept the Court's jurisdiction retroactive to whenever it became a state under international law. Andre challenged...
Upcoming Events The American Society of International Law's Domestic Courts Interest Group is hosting its annual workshop December 10, 2012, at Duke University School of Law. More information can be found here. On December 18, at 5:30pm, the Center on the United States and Europe at Brookings will host the 9th Annual Raymond Aron Lecture, a talk on “The Internationalization of Law” by Collège de...
According to Enough!, the OTP is investigating the actions of M23 and "other parties" in the DRC: In the aftermath of the March 23 Movement, or M23, seizure of Goma, the International Criminal Court, or ICC,Chief Prosecutor Fatoua Bensouda announced that her office is investigating "allegations of ICC crimes by members and leaders of M23, and by other parties taking advantage of the chaos...
In my essay on signature strikes, I criticize (and I'm not alone) the U.S. practice of considering military-age males in an area of known terrorist activity to be lawful targets. That signature, however, pales in comparison to the possibility that the U.S. is targeting "children with potential hostile intent," as well: The US military is facing fresh questions over its targeting policy in Afghanistan after...
A number of commentators have challenged my claim that Articles 11(2) and 12(3) of the Rome Statute would permit Palestine to accept the ICC's jurisdiction retroactively, whether as a member-state or on an ad hoc basis. Here, for example, is what my friend Jennifer Trahan wrote yesterday at IntLawGrrls: Even if an entity becomes a "state," should there be jurisdiction that...
A recent meeting of the International Commission on the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna (ICCAT) has been heralded by environmental groups as a win for science in the management and conversation of scarce resources on the high seas. One of the species within ICCAT’s jurisdiction is the Bluefin Tuna, a species that has famously declined, and some would claim, collapsed in...
Today is Argentina Day here at Opinio Juris! (OK, it is Bash-Argentina Day). In any event, it is worth highlighting that while Argentina has escaped for now a NY federal court ruling that would have forced it to pay holdout creditors next month, it is also battling Ghana at the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea. The request...
I have a Forbes.com op-ed today providing a fuller version of my critique of Argentina's legal arguments over the ARA Libertad. (It's worth noting that Argentina is actually heading toward yet another financial crisis spurred by a recent New York court decision, which I didn't have time to incorporate into this piece.) Last month, a court in Ghana detained the ARA Libertad, an Argentine...
I've been meaning to discuss the AP's recent claim that an obviously fraudulent graph provided to it by an unnamed country (almost certainly Israel) proves that Iran is trying to build a nuclear weapon. As is often the case, however, Glenn Greenwald beat me to it. If the AP were capable of shame, it would immediately retract the...
