In association with the International Commission of Jurists

Can the ICC Prosecutor Investigate Gaza? ICC Prosecutor Opens the Debate

06 May

Last year, the Palestinian National Authority filed a declaration accepting the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court.  This declaration is controversial, to say the least, because it could potentially give the ICC jurisdiction over Israeli military forces operating in Gaza or the West Bank.  Today, the ICC released a summary of the submissions it has received on whether the Palestinian's...

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05 May

I hadn't been aware of this group, Human Rights at Home, which is seeking to "create a national political culture that supports and advocates for human rights."  In fact, they have some interesting ideas of how to reform U.S. legal infrastructure to implement U.S. international human rights obligations. revitalizing an Interagency Working Group on Human Rights to coordinate the efforts of the...

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04 May

Kudos to Northwestern's Searle Center on Law, Regulation, and Economic Growth for a wonderful conference on ATS litigation last week. The papers by David Scheffer & Caroline Kaeb, John McGinnis & Ilya Somin, Jide Nzelibe, Michael Barsa & David Dana, Anthea Roberts, and Eugene Kontorovich were all outstanding. There are many topics worthy of retelling, but I wanted...

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03 May

Julian entitled a post last week "The ICC Begins to Fade in Importance in Sudan."  Julian might want to have a talk with Bashir about that: On the international summit circuit, no one can clear a room more quickly than Sudan’s president, Omar Hassan al-Bashir. Leaders have maneuvered to stay out of photographs with him, dashed ...

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01 May

David Bernstein calls me out today for "blogging not a word" about The New Republic's recent attack on Human Rights Watch's coverage of Israel.  He also claims that "HRW has not responded" and that "it’s almost as if 'headquarters' has sent out word to ignore the TNR piece in the hopes it will go away."  I'll oblige Bernstein with a...

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30 Apr

Fascinating video  of a Dutch Navy strike team recapturing a German vessel that had been captured by Somali pirates. It shows just how dangerous, expensive, and difficult it is to combat piracy.  It looks cool, but frankly, the Somali pirates have the Dutch and everyone else outnumbered.  There can't be that many of these kinds of strike teams and there...

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29 Apr

This seems like a nice, uncontroversial way to buttress the ICC Prosecutor's Office: ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo today announced the appointment of Professor Jose Alvarez as his Office’s Special Advisor on International Law. “Professor Alvarez is one of the leading academics in international law,” said Prosecutor Moreno-Ocampo. “He has written extensively on the law-making powers of international organisations and on the...

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29 Apr

Our own Ken Anderson joined a number of other law profs, including Prof. David Glazier, in testimony today before the National Security and Foreign Affairs subcommittee of the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform to discuss, what else, the legality of U.S. targeted killings policy. Wired has a nice report summarizing the testimony, and the issues are already...

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28 Apr

Whoops, spoke too soon about the WSJ's anti-ICC editorial.  It does indeed contain a lie -- and its a doozy: What’s more, no amount of reform of the founding treaty will change the ICC’s inherent flaw. The ICC is a child of the doctrine of “universal jurisdiction,” which holds that courts can adjudicate crimes committed anywhere in the...

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28 Apr

The reaction of key countries to the recent Sudan elections electing Sudan's President al-Bashir are in.  The bottom line seems to be- the elections were deeply flawed, but not so much so that they should be denounced or set-aside.  In the meantime, start planning for the all important referendum on Southern Sudan's independence, which will require Bashir's cooperation.  This appears...

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28 Apr

Adding to our already energetic discussion about the ICC and Kampala is the WSJ Editorial Board's contribution today.  I share many of the editorial's skeptical views of the ICC and I think even Kevin would not find any "lies" in this article.  Here is the crux of their critique, which I mostly share: From the Balkans to East Timor to the...

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