In association with the International Commission of Jurists

Sixth Annual Junior Faculty Forum for International Law

20 Sep

UNIVERSITY OF NOTTINGHAM: MAY 8, 9 and 10, 2017 Earlier today, Dino Kritsiotis (Univ. of Nottingham), Anne Orford (Univ. of Melbourne) and JHH Weiler (NYU) launched the Sixth Annual Junior Faculty Forum for International Law, which will be held at the University of Nottingham in May 2017. All details regarding the Forum procedure and process are available here: http://annualjuniorfacultyforumil.org/...

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17 Sep

The headline is almost a generic one, applicable to dozens of Israeli actions. I'm using it now specifically in connection with Israel denying entrance to my SOAS colleague Dr. Adam Hanieh, who was scheduled to give a series of lectures at Birzeit University: Dr. Hanieh, a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Development Studies at the School of Oriental and African...

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17 Sep

After months (or even years) of threats, Ukraine finally filed an arbitration claim against Russia under Annex VII of the UN Convention of the Law of the Sea.  According to this statement from the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign of Affairs, the claim will focus on Russia's actions in the maritime zones bordering Crimea. Since the Russian Federation’s illegal acts of aggression in...

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16 Sep

I love the Guardian. It's generally a great paper. But its unwillingness to correct even the most basic mistakes constantly amazes me. In an otherwise interesting article about the ICC and environmental crimes, John Vidal and Owen Bowcott -- the Guardian's environment editor and legal affairs correspondent, respectively -- say this (emphasis mine): The ICC can take action if the crime happens...

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14 Sep

I have posted the essay on SSRN. Here is the abstract: The question “what is an international crime?” has two aspects. First, it asks us to identify which acts qualify as international crimes. Second, and more fundamentally, it asks us to identify what is distinctive about an international crime – what makes an international crime different from a transnational crime or...

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09 Sep

[Ralph Mamiya is team leader for the Protection of Civilians Team in the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations but writes here in a purely personal capacity, and the views expressed do not represent official positions of his Department or the United Nations. This post is the concluding post of the Protection of Civilians Symposium.] This week’s symposium on the protection of civilians highlighted...

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08 Sep

[Kjetil Mujezinović Larsen is Professor of Law, Director of Research, and Deputy Director, at the Norwegian Centre for Human Rights at the University of Oslo. He is the author of «The Human Rights Treaty Obligations of Peacekeepers» (Cambridge, 2012). This post is a part of the Protection of Civilians Symposium.] By way of introduction, let me state that I agree with Marten’s...

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08 Sep

[Marten Zwanenburg is legal counsel at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands. The views expressed herein are his own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands.This post is a part of the Protection of Civilians Symposium.] In this post, I will focus on Mona’s chapter in “Protection of Civilians”, in...

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07 Sep

[Marten Zwanenburg is legal counsel at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands. The views expressed herein are his own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands.This post is a part of the Protection of Civilians Symposium.] Let me start by saying that the publication of “Protection of Civilians” is very...

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07 Sep

[Ray Murphy is a Professor at the Irish Centre for Human Rights, School of Law, National University of Ireland Galway. This post is a part of the Protection of Civilians Symposium.] Although there have been many pronouncements and reports on the need to protect civilians, it is debatable if this has translated into increased security on the ground. The emphasis seems...

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06 Sep

[Siobhán Wills is a Professor of Law at the Transitional Justice Institute, Ulster University, Northern Ireland. This post is a part of the Protection of Civilians Symposium.] In 2014 the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services published an ‘evaluation of the implementation and results of Protection of Civilians mandates in United Nations peacekeeping operations’ which: noted a persistent pattern of peacekeeping operations...

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