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13 Mar A Response to Goodman About the (Supposed) Duty to Capture
...Review of the Red Cross 98 (1994). Not only does Meyrowitz support my reading of Article 35(2): he directly contradicts Heller’s (and Ohlin’s). Recall that Heller notes, in a passing reference to the Commentaries, that Article 35 incorporated the French expression “maux superflus.” But Heller doesn’t say anything about the significance of that textual development. If he did, Heller would be hard-pressed to explain his notion that “superfluous injury” excludes death. According to Meyrowitz, the French term, which was first used at Saint Petersburg in1868, specifically concerned unnecessary fatalities: The...
21 Nov What Zeman’s Comments Mean in Kosovo’s Quest for International Recognition
...whether it should matter that a small country with little relevance to Kosovo, like the Czech Republic, might no longer recognize Kosovo. In the immediate term, it does not matter. The Czech Republic is not going to convince the US or the majority of the EU to no longer recognize Kosovo. Having 107 nations recognize Kosovo as opposed to 108 nations does not doom Kosovo’s mission for statehood. However, long-term if the Czech Republic rescinded its recognition, it could further divide Europe over Kosovo, which would hinder Europe’s ability to...17 May A Response to Dianne Otto by Gina Heathcote
Can arguments for preemptive self defence under international law be regarded as a mirroring of feminist arguments for justified self-defence in cases of homicide by individuals who have experienced long-term domestic violence? This is one of the questions Dianne Otto raises in response to my MJIL article, ‘Feminist Reflections on the ‘End’ of the War on Terror’. In the article I argued that preemptive force, or what was known as the Bush Doctrine, mirrors provocation defences in western national legal structures. The core of my argument assumes that, as a...27 Aug Could the Security Council Refer Only Assad’s Use of Chemical Weapons?
...a situation.” There are, of course, ways to avoid the debate between literal and intended meaning. The most obvious would be to rely on Art. 31(4) of the VCLT, which provides that “[a] special meaning shall be given to a term if it is established that the parties so intended.” I would argue that Art. 31(4) applies to the term “situation,” because the drafter of Arts. 13 and 14 of the Rome Statute preferred “situation” to “matter” — the term used in earlier drafts of the Rome Statute — precisely...
11 Jan ICC Preliminary Examinations – Where is the Gender Analysis?
[Indira Rosenthal is a legal consultant in international human rights law and international criminal law, with specialisms in women’s human rights, gender justice, law reform and access to justice. She is currently a PhD candidate in the Faculty of Law, University of Tasmania, Australia, researching possible impacts of (mis)understandings of ‘gender’ on accountability for atrocity crimes at the ICC.] As the ICC ‘s third decade and the term of its third Prosecutor, Karim Khan, get underway, forensic examination of its every move continues unabated. This includes its record on investigation...23 Jun Is Obsessing Over Genocide in Sudan Preventing a Peace Deal?
...that genocide is not an accurate description, President Obama continues to use that weighted term. Indeed, it is striking that President Obama, who is pretty cautious (perhaps way too cautious) in criticizing human rights practices of certain regimes he wants to make a deal with, like Iran, has no problem casually referring to Sudan as an ongoing genocide. It probably reflects the fact that he has relatively little interest in getting involved in Sudan. 2) The US position that there is an ongoing genocide is undermining efforts to reach a...
02 Oct Symposium on Advisory Opinion AO-32/25 on the Climate Emergency and Human Rights: Climate Justice on Trial – Using the Opinion to Advance Criminal Accountability
[Laura Baron-Mendoza is a legal consultant to the Office of the Prosecutor and is part of the core team responsible for drafting the upcoming policy paper on environmental crimes under the Rome Statute. She is also an international law consultant and PhD candidate at McGill University] The Inter-American Court of Human Rights’ recent Advisory Opinion on Climate Emergency and Human Rights (AO-32/25) marks a milestone in consolidating the link between environmental protection and fundamental rights. The Court affirms in unequivocal terms that humanity faces a genuine climate emergency requiring an urgent,...
12 Feb Foreign Legal Policy in Practice: Assessing Global South Narratives in ITLOS Advisory Proceedings on Climate Change
South states, their history and the roots of climate change intersect as they can be viewed as products of the political process of colonialization and economic development through capitalist expansion. The term ‘colonially-driven environmental change’ illustrates that the legacy of colonialism is tied to the emergence of the term ‘Global South’ and is closely linked to climate change’s differentiated impacts. Through their submissions, Global South demonstrated an overreaching approach to the climate issue and its intersection with the law of the sea. This revealed nuances in their narratives, which uncovers...