I've long supported providing the ICC with jurisdiction over the crime of aggression. Call me old-fashioned, but I believe there is a great deal of truth to the IMT's insistence that "[t]o initiate a war of aggression...
It looks like the ICC Review Conference has reached consensus on a definition of the "crime of aggression" and the mechanisms governing the ICC Prosecutor's jurisdiction over such a crime. According to the AFP, the new amendment to the Rome Statute provides: [T]hat the UN Security Council will hold primary responsibility for determining whether an act of aggression has occurred. But where...
The Jerusalem Post reports that the Turkish government, in collaboration with Hamas, is considering applying to the International Court of Justice over the Gaza Flotilla incident. The agreement to work together against Israel reportedly came in a Thursday telephone conversation between Turkey's justice minister, Sadullah Ergin and his Hamas counterpart, Muhammad Faraj Al-Ghoul. As the article points out, it is far from...
I haven't had enough time to blog about Philip Alston's excellent report on drone warfare, but interested readers should check out today's conversation between Scott Horton and Alston at Harpers.com. Here's a taste of one of Alston's answers: Of course, calling something a war crime doesn’t make it so–the question is whether it is recognized as such under international ...
I couldn't make it to Kampala for the review conference (not that anyone invited me), but luckily, the magic of the internet means I don't have to go to find out how things are going. For two really different takes on the negotiations, I highly recommend you follow EJIL Talk's ongoing coverage here and Brett D. Schaefer (of the Heritage...
A few days ago, I recorded a conversation for Bloggingheads.tv with Mark Leon Goldberg of the invaluable UN Dispatch. It was a wide ranging discussion -- and long, 45 minutes -- covering everything from the Gaza blockade to the definition of aggression to drone attacks. Something tells me, though, that the only thing people will remember is my description of...
I know Ken's busy finishing his book and can't yet reply to Marko's remarkable post. (And personal congrats, Marko, on the lectureship. Nottingham is lucky to have you!) When he does, I hope he'll address the criminal-law aspects of his belief that self-defense justifies targeted killings outside of armed conflict. I have two scenarios in mind, borrowed and adapted from...
Despite the increasingly desperate nature of the attacks on Judge Goldstone, I never thought an academic institution would give in to the hysteria: In response to an enquiry by the Alternative Information Center (AIC) about its reported removal of Judge Richard Goldstone from the Board of Governors, Hebrew University of Jerusalem responded by email that: "The Hebrew University of Jerusalem...
This would be amusing, were the Obama administration not backing Israel's insistence that any investigation into the attack on the flotilla be conducted (read: whitewashed) by Israel itself: When placed under journalistic scrutiny, the IDF is being forced to admit that its claims about the flotilla’s links to international terror are based on innuendo, not facts. On June...
[Peter "Bo" Rutledge is Associate Professor of Law at the University of Georgia Law School and the author, with Gary Born, of International Civil Litigation in United States Courts] I’ve been thinking a lot about Samantar since its release as I expect it’ll occupy an important place in the next edition of Gary’s and my International Civil Litigation (we’re working on...
I'm not about to get into a debate over whether there is a humanitarian crisis in Gaza; you either think there is or you don't, and facts won't matter. So I thought I would simply post the following chart from that notorious left-wing propaganda outlet The Economist and let readers judge for themselves whether the blockade is designed solely to...
In addition to saying kind things about me, which I appreciate, Julian noted in his earlier post that Eric Posner has an editorial in today's Wall Street Journal that uses Lincoln's blockade of the Confederate States of America (CSA) to defend the legality of Israel's blockade of Gaza. I find the editorial very unconvincing, for two reasons. First, it provides...
