In association with the International Commission of Jurists

Upcoming Events: August 5, 2012

05 Aug

Call for Papers The University of Liverpool is hosting a conference December 6-7, 2012, on Critical Approaches to International Criminal Law and is seeking abstract submissions of maximum 500 words before September 1, 2012. The University of Amsterdam's Center for International Law has issued a call for papers for a two-day seminar on Interfaces between International and National Legal Orders: An International Rule...

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04 Aug

I have just uploaded a new essay to SSRN, entitled "The International Commission of Inquiry on Libya: A Critical Analysis."  The essay is a chapter of a book on international commissions of inquiry that is being edited by the LSE's Jens Meierhenrich.  Here is the introduction: This chapter provides a critical assessment of the International Commission of Inquiry on Libya, established...

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03 Aug

When I wrote my account of Melinda Taylor and her team's detention, I somehow missed this gem in the OPCD's response: 381.  The inability of the particular prosecution authorities assigned to the case of Mr. Gaddafi to conduct credible or effective investigations and prosecutions is amply demonstrated by the fact that these same prosecution authorities claimed that an ordinary swatch watch...

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02 Aug

Of all my writing, my article on the relationship between national due process and the Rome Statute's principle of complementarity is almost certainly the most unpopular. (Except in the OTP.)  My thesis is a simple one: the failure of a national investigation or prosecution to live up to international standards of due process does not make a case admissible before...

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30 Jul

Add another name to the list of scientists that understand global warming is both real and the product of human activity.  Come on down Richard A. Muller: CALL me a converted skeptic. Three years ago I identified problems in previous climate studies that, in my mind, threw doubt on the very existence of global warming. Last year, following an intensive research...

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29 Jul

Call for Papers Transnational Dispute Management's call for papers for a forthcoming (January 2013) special issue on Corruption and Arbitration closes on Tuesday July 31. Melbourne Law School has issued a call for papers for its Fifth Annual Melbourne Doctoral Forum on Legal Theory, taking place in Melbourne on December 6-8, 2012. Abstracts of max. 500 words and biographies of 100 words should be...

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27 Jul

[Annie Gell is the Leonard H. Sandler fellow in the International Justice Program at Human Rights Watch] report coverYesterday, Human Rights Watch released the report “Even a ‘Big Man’ Must Face Justice”: Lessons from the Trial of Charles Taylor. It examines the conduct of Taylor’s trial at the Special Court for Sierra Leone (“SCSL”), the court’s efforts to make its proceedings accessible to affected communities, and perceptions and initial impact of the trial in Sierra Leone and Liberia. The aim of the report is to draw lessons to promote the best possible trials of high-level suspects who are implicated in genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. It is based on interviews in The Hague, London, Washington, DC, New York, Sierra Leone, and Liberia, as well as review of expert commentary, trial transcripts, and daily reports produced by trial observers. This post focuses on Human Rights Watch’s analysis of the trial’s conduct and lessons learned for future proceedings.

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26 Jul

According to the Washington Post, Phakiso Mochochoko, the head of the Jurisdiction, Complementarity and Cooperation Division in the Office of the Prosecutor at the ICC, said the following in response to Stephen Rapp's recent comments about the potential criminal liability of the Rwandan government for its support of Bosco Ntaganda's M23 in the Congo (emphasis added): The International Criminal Court is...

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25 Jul

Although clearly a step up from its genocidal predecessor, Kagame's government in Rwanda is anything but progressive. According to the State Department, the government is responsible for -- inter alia -- illegal detention, torture, enforced disappearance, attempted assassinations of political opponents, restrictions on the freedom of speech and press, violence toward journalists and human rights advocates, discrimination against women/children/gays and...

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24 Jul

[Solon Solomon is a Former Member of the Knesset (Israeli Parliament) Legal Department in charge of international and constitutional issues] Traditionally, the law of occupation envisions the continuation and preservation of the status quo ante. Yet, in cases of prolonged occupations, it has been conceded that the occupying power can alter legal or factual reality if this is for the betterment of the local occupied population’s life. The question is though if in such instances, alongside a dynamic interpretation of the law of occupation, the factual and normative status quo can be subject to a change in order to meet the needs not of the local population but of the occupying power. One way to reach an affirmative answer is to broadly interpret existing notions in the law of occupation, such as that of “military necessity.” This is the path traditionally chosen by Israel’s Supreme Court which has consistently ruled that “military necessity” covers also the wider security needs of the occupying power’s civilians. Alternatively, someone can opt to render a dynamic note to the law of occupation and interpret it accordingly. No longer does occupation remain a static, historical fact, but it adapts to the advent of time. The question is if such adaptation is only factual or also legal. Two recent examples from the two classical prolonged occupations in the Middle East bring to the frontline this de facto and de jure transformation the law of occupation undergoes or aspires to undergo.
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