On New Year's Eve, the Trial Chamber overseeing the Al Hassan case referred Hassan's lead defence counsel, Melinda Taylor, to the Registry for violating the Code of Professional Conduct for Counsel. That referral will trigger an investigation by a Disciplinary Commissioner into Taylor's actions. The Trial Chamber's referral stems from a tweet that Taylor posted the day before Christmas concerning her...
A guilty admission: I had not seen Rob in person for the past few years. He was in Birmingham; I was in Amsterdam. He wasn't traveling as much, and our paths didn't cross. I didn't even know how sick he was for a while. Rob wasn't the type to make or want people to feel sorry for him. Fortunately, Rob and...
In my previous post, which was quite critical of the OTP's decision not to seek authorization to investigate British war crimes in Iraq, I made two central points. The first was that, pursuant to the Afghanistan appeals judgment, the OTP would not have needed to present the Pre-Trial Chamber (PTC) with information concerning complementarity and the PTC would not have...
As most readers will know by now, the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) at the ICC has decided for a second time not to investigate war crimes committed in Iraq by British soldiers. There are many posts to write about the OTP's decision, but in this one I want to focus on nine words in the Final Report that explain...
Announcements Francis Lieber Prize 2021: The American Society of International Law's Lieber Society on the Law of Armed Conflict awards the Francis Lieber Prize to the authors of publications that the judges consider to be outstanding in the field of law and armed conflict. Both monographs and articles (including chapters in books of essays) are eligible for consideration — the prize is...
A number of us -- me, Aurel Sari, Eliav Lieblich, Andrew Bell, Sasha Greenawalt, Craig Martin, Ed Swaine -- have been having an interesting discussion on Twitter about two important issues concerning the use of force. The first is when IHL begins to apply in an IAC. The traditional position is that any use of interstate force triggers IHL and...
Events COVID-19 and International Law: The Bocconi University , with the support of the European Society of International Law, is organising a webinar on the theme of 'COVID-19 and International law: Novel Strain or old wine in new test tubes?'. The Webinar will be held on 15 December 2020 at 13.30-18.00. Concept note: As the blogosphere breathlessly attests, the COVID-19 pandemic...
A few days ago, I had the pleasure of giving an online lecture for the Iranian Center for International Criminal Law about the relationship between the US and the ICC. In the lecture, I trace the evolution of the US-ICC relationship and try to predict what that relationship will look like under President Biden. I also speculate about why Trump has...
What does the dean of a law faculty do? I asked myself this question throughout my academic career. Most of the time, they appear both indispensable and irrelevant in equal measure. Deans are quixotic, sometimes even hostile. They do not teach; they produce little research; and many law faculties are acrimonious places, suggesting that organisational leadership is not within their...
I just had the pleasure of a sharp exchange on Twitter with my dear friend Mark Kersten, one of the most insightful commentators on the ICC. The exchange was motivated by the ASP making it "officially official" (Mark's nicely turned phrase) that the process for electing the next Prosecutor will be opened up to include (at a minimum) any longlisted...
[Vanessa Sant'Anna Bonifacio Tavares is a PhD candidate in Interdisciplinary International Studies (IIS) at the Vienna School of International Studies. The views expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect any official position.] In about 90 days, the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) shall enter into force, proscribing nuclear weapons use, threat of use, testing, development, production, possession,...
Announcements The Latest Volume of the Nuremberg Academy Series The Tokyo Tribunal: Perspectives on Law, History and Memory is out now. With the third volume of the Nuremberg Academy Series, the Nuremberg Academy offers a publication on The Tokyo Tribunal: Perspectives on Law, History and Memory, edited by Viviane E. Dittrich, Kerstin von Lingen, Philipp Osten and Jolana Makraiová. This publication combines perspectives from law,...