I tread warily into the debate over the Israeli commando raid on the Gaza flotilla. There has been no shortage of commentary and reactions abroad (here in the U.S., it seems most folks are unmoved by the whole incident). Of course, most of the facts are hotly disputed and, frankly, will remain hotly disputed. Still, let me start by advising...
Detained U.S. lawprof Peter Erlinder was hospitalized in Rwanda over the weekend after five hours of questioning. A St. Paul attorney jailed in Rwanda was hospitalized with high blood pressure today after being interrogated, according to his daughter and an attorney. Peter Erlinder, who is charged with promoting genocidal ideology, is expected to be kept in the hospital overnight and returned to jail...
My friend and colleague Gerry Simpson has, along with other international-law luminaries, just published an open letter in The Guardian defending Judge Garzon's actions. Here it is (emphasis mine): As teachers and practitioners of international law we note that the validity and effect of an amnesty granted by national law in respect of international crimes has been addressed by ...
Winning Afghani hearts and minds, one dead civilian at a time: In the civilian deaths case, attack helicopters fired missiles and rockets into the convoy on a main road near Khod village, where U.S. Special Forces and Afghan troops were battling militants at the time, a summary of the investigation said. Commanders judged that the convoy contained...
I do have a question for Ken. As his post indicates, he believes that the US's right to "self-defense" justifies drone strikes against designated terrorists outside of armed conflict -- strikes that are governed by human-rights law, not international humanitarian law. Indeed, he writes that "if one takes the US’s independent self-defense view, then curiously, the CIA is on...
Like Ken, I plan on discussing Phillip Alston's report on drone strikes when it's released. Alston was just at Melbourne Law School last week, talking about his role as rapporteur. He's a remarkable person. With regard to drone strikes in armed conflict, Ken quite rightly points out that CIA operators cannot lawfully be attacked by a terrorist group even if they...
Skytrax has released its annual list of the world's 10 best airlines. Here they are, from #1 down: Asiana Airlines Singapore Airlines Qatar Airways Cathay Pacific Air New Zealand Etihad Airways Qantas Emirates Thai Airways Malaysia Airlines Two things stand out. First, Asian and Australia/New Zealand dominate. I fly Air New Zealand and Qantas regularly, and think both are excellent. (Air New Zealand is better, as the ratings indicate.) I also...
[The following is a guest-post by Lt. Col. Jenks, the Chief of the International Law Branch in the Army's Office of the Judge Advocate General -- KJH] At a workshop held in Beirut earlier this month, officials from the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) attempted to explain the basis for the tribunal's in absentia provisions. At the same time, Judge...
The news coming out of China of ten suicide deaths at Foxconn industrial park is terribly distressing. All of the workers who committed suicide were recent high school or vocational training school graduates aged between 18 to 24. One of the fatalities, Sun Danyong, jumped to his death after being interrogated over a missing iPhone prototype. Foxconn,...
Do we have an emerging consensus that the ICC States-Parties should refrain from adding the crime of aggression to the ICC Statute at its upcoming conference in Kampala? Michael Glennon, the CFR, Harold Koh, David Kaye, and now Richard Goldstone have all come out against adding the crime of aggression. Here is Goldstone: Based on my experience as an international prosecutor,...
A couple of years ago, I blogged about how Salim Hamdan was prosecuted in a military commission for conspiring to commit the non-existent war crime "murder in violation of the law of war." Hamdan was acquitted on that count, but the crime is starring again in the unconscionable prosecution of child-soldier Omar Khadr. That's unfortunate in itself -- but what...
At the recent Northwestern Law School conference on the Israeli-Arab Dispute and International Law I had the good fortune to address one of the few bright spots in current Arab-Israeli relations. Most international law scholars of the Arab-Israeli conflict seem to know little about international trade, and focus almost exclusively on the laws of war in their discussion of Middle East...
