In association with the International Commission of Jurists

Fighting the Good Fight: Litigating Foreign Relations, International Law and Corruption at the Constitutional Level in Guatemala

11 Feb

[Carlos Arturo Villagrán Sandoval is a PhD Candidate at Melbourne Law School. His doctoral thesis considers Comparative Regional Integration with particular emphasis on Central-America. He is currently representing civil society actors in a constitutional injunction against the Presidential decision to denounce the CICIG treaty.] The CICIG is a pioneering international body, created between Guatemala and the UN, with broad reaching effects...

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10 Feb

Call for Papers The Norwegian Centre for Human Rights (NCHR) is organizing a one-day conference on "Protecting Community Interests under International Law: Challenges and Prospects for the 21st Century," which will take place on Monday, 3 June 2019, in Oslo, Norway. This conference aims at providing insights on the role and function of international law in a framework of increased global governance by...

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09 Feb

This week has seen news of potential use of amnesty laws in three countries – the Central African Republic, Guatemala, and Venezuela. Here, nuances are important to highlight. In CAR, with the peace agreement under wraps initially, early news reports indicated the push for a ‘blanket’ amnesty, i.e. exemption from international crimes, including crimes against humanity and war crimes. Other reports...

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08 Feb

[Ralph Janik teaches international law at the University of Vienna, Faculty of Law and Webster Private University Vienna. He specializes in the interplay of international law and international relations.] Guaidó versus Maduro. Virtually every state has had something to say about the political stalemate in the once-third oldest democracy outside of the industrial world. We are once again witnessing a clash...

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07 Feb

[Bashar H. Malkawi is Dean and Professor of Law at the University of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. He holds S.J.D in International Trade Law from American University, Washington College of Law and LL.M in International Trade Law from the University of Arizona.] China’s rising economic preeminence has been stunning, firmly ensconcing China as the second most powerful world economy replacing previously...

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07 Feb

At Lawfire, my friend Charlie Dunlap has a long post arguing that the mission to kill Osama bin Laden was consistent with both the jus ad bellum and the jus in bello -- a response to a recent Stephen Carter op-ed that raises questions about the mission. I agree with much of what Charlie says, particularly about the jus in bello...

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05 Feb

[Fernanda G. Nicola is a Professor of Law at the American University Washington College of Law, the Director of the Program on International Organizations, Law and Diplomacy, and Permanent Visiting Professor at iCourts, University of Copenhagen.] Europe is in turmoil, with European Union leaders struggling to respond to the political and economic fall out of the no-deal Brexit, the threat of...

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04 Feb

As I've noted before, the jurisdictional regime at the ICC for aggression is exceedingly narrow. In essence, the Court will have jurisdiction over an act of aggression only in the following situation: 1. The aggressor is a member of the Court, has ratified the aggression amendments, and has not opted out of the Court's jurisdiction. 2. The victim is a member of...

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03 Feb

Events The Chair for European Law, Public International Law and Public Law (University of Leipzig) is pleased to announce its first edition of the Summer School on "Human Rights in Theory and Practice," which will be held at the University of Leipzig, Germany, from 1-7 September 2019. It welcomes students and professionals from all over the world to analyse and discuss...

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03 Feb

The Appeals Chamber (AC) has decided to conditionally release Gbagbo and Blé Goudé pending its resolution of the OTPs appeal. Gbagbo has already been released, with Belgium agreeing to the AC's conditions. No word on which state, if any, will agree to take Blé Goudé. I'm glad the AC rejected the OTP's argument that Gbagbo and Blé Goudé should remain in detention. But...

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01 Feb

[Nicolás Carrillo-Santarelli is a Colombian lawyer, PhD on international law and international relations. He works as a researcher and lecturer of Public International Law at the La Sabana University, Colombia. This is Part II of a two-part post. Part I can be found here.] The extradition debate Even though there has been a non-international armed conflict in Colombia, under domestic law members of...

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01 Feb

[Nicolás Carrillo-Santarelli is a Colombian lawyer, PhD on international law and international relations. He works as a researcher and lecturer of Public International Law at the La Sabana University, Colombia. This is Part I of a two-part post.] Introduction  In terms of international law, the region of the Americas is going through what the so-called ‘Chinese curse’ would label as interesting times -as...

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