In association with the International Commission of Jurists

PTC: Information Regarding an Admissibility Challenge Cannot Be Confidential

20 Jul

As part of my research on international corruption in a forthcoming article in the Ohio State Law Journal, I came across some interesting studies on the relationship between corruption and democracies. One would think that democratic regimes are less corrupt than autocratic regimes because in democracies public officials are subject to political accountability. But the evidence suggests otherwise....

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19 Jul

[Sari Bashi is the executive director of Gisha, an Israeli human rights organization protecting the right to freedom of movement in the occupied Palestinian territory] Last week, a committee appointed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to recommend disposition of about 100 Israeli outposts in the West Bank established in violation of Israeli military zoning laws released its conclusions (English summary...

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18 Jul

It looks increasingly likely.  Mali has formally self-referred the situation in the country to the ICC and the OTP has already opened a formal preliminary investigation.  Here is yesterday's statement from Fatou Bensouda: Today I received a delegation from the Government of Mali led by the Minister of Justice, H.E. Malick Coulibaly. The delegation transmitted a letter by which the Government...

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18 Jul

I want to call readers' attention to David Frakt's excellent essay on direct participation in hostilities as a war crime.  Here is the abstract: This article addresses, in part, the question of what to do with civilian direct participants in hostilities who are not killed by opposing armed forces, but are captured. Specifically, the article address the potential criminal prosecution of...

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16 Jul

It's official. US ratification of UNCLOS is dead (at least for this year).  And, perhaps more significantly, the treaty was sunk by two senators, Robert Portman and Kelly Ayotte, both of whom appear to be on Republican nominee Mitt Romney's vice-presidential short list.  Their announcements, in a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, brings the number of announced U.S....

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16 Jul

Two quick research-related items.  First, I'm pleased to report that the 2011 Digest of United States Practice is now available on the State Department website.  Here's the description from today's press release: The digest provides the public with a record of the views and practice of the Government of the United States in public and private international law. The official edition...

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15 Jul

Conferences & events The Brookings Institution will host Translating Human Rights into Practice: A Conversation on the United Nations Human Rights Council: Wednesday, July 11, 2012, 2:00 — 3:30 pm in Washington, D.C. Washington College of Law Center for Human Rights and Humanitarian Law along with ASIL will host Human Rights Implications of SCOTUS Decisions in the 2012 Term: Wed., July 18, 2012, from 4:00-5:30...

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13 Jul

A recurring criticism of the ICC is that it has little to show for its first 10 years -- just one conviction -- and has cost an inordinate amount of money.  Here, for example, are the opening paragraphs of Eric Posner's recent attack on the Court in the Wall Street Journal, entitled "The Absurd International Criminal Court": Ten years ago, on...

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11 Jul

The Independent has the story: European governments, including Britain's, have received legal opinion from a leading international counsel who argues they would be fully within their rights to ban trade with Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. The formal opinion from James Crawford, professor of international law at Cambridge University, is likely to inject fresh momentum into campaigns in the United...

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10 Jul

Thomas Lubanga Dyilo, the first person convicted at the ICC, has been sentenced to fourteen years in prison.  From the Court's press release: Today, Trial Chamber I of the International Criminal Court (ICC) sentenced Thomas Lubanga Dyilo to a total period of 14 years of imprisonment. The Chamber, composed of Judge Adrian Fulford, Judge Elizabeth Odio Benito and Judge René Blattmann,...

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08 Jul

Conferences & events On Wednesday July 11, the Brookings Institution is organizing Translating Human Rights into Practice: A Conversation on the United Nations Human Rights Council in the Saul/Zilkha Rooms, 1775 Massachusetts Ave, NW, Washington, DC. For more information and registration, please click here. On July 18, the Center for Human Rights and Humanitarian Law at American University, Washington College of Law, is organizing...

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