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08 Aug Emerging Voices: Reasonableness at the European Court of Human Rights
...introduce the issues raised by the use of the concept in Article 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights through a focus on the term “reasonable suspicion” in Article 5 § 1 (c) and what it reveals about the challenges in ascribing content to the term “reasonable” on the international plane. An exploration of reasonableness and the manner in which the Court operationalises the concept is crucial in determining the extent to which many other Convention rights are being protected, including: the right of access to a lawyer under...
15 Nov Ten Recommendations to Prosecutor Karim Khan to Improve his Relationship with Civil Society during Preliminary Examinations: Perspectives from the Situation Countries
[Amanda Ghahremani is a lawyer and consultant specialising in international criminal law, corporate accountability, and universal jurisdiction. Raquel Vazquez Llorente is the Permanent Representative to the International Criminal Court for FIDH (International Federation for Human Rights).] In June 2021, Karim Khan started his nine-year mandate as the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC). To commemorate the occasion, the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) has been conducting an evaluation of several aspects of Prosecutor Bensouda’s term. In a recent publication, we take stock of the work of the Office...
14 Aug Promoting Cultural Heritage to Strengthen Syrian National Identity and Overcome Ethnic and Religious Fragmentation
...hatreds. Although the Ba’athist regime under Hafez and Bashar al-Assad presented itself as a guardian of minority rights, its consolidation of power was rooted in sectarian patronage, most notably through the advancement of the Alawite minority within Syria’s military and intelligence institutions. This approach sowed long-term mistrust and division, fracturing national identity along ethnic and religious lines. The last 13 years of revolution and civil war, along with atrocities committed by both the regime and non-state armed groups, have deepened sectarian divisions and exposed the fragile nature of Syrian national...24 Mar Treaties’ End
...First, the conversation has raised questions about the meaning of the term “lawmaking” in the context of international law. The subtitle of the article is, “The Past, Present, and Future of International Lawmaking in the United States.” Duncan Hollis asks whether the term is really correctly applied to international treaties. Duncan is right that the use of the term in this context is not standard. As I explain in the article, the terminology is quite deliberate–and part of my effort to reframe the debate. I refer to treaties and congressional-executive...
24 May Russian “Special Military Operation” and the Language of Empire
Russia has not chosen to name its war in this way randomly. The language it uses is not of a mere academic interest; paying attention to it may reveal a lot in terms of Russian political long-term aims and plans. These plans, of course, have nothing to do with prevention of genocide or protection of Russian-speaking population in Ukraine (which suffers most from this war). Russia is trying to rebuild its empire, and the language of “special military operation” is a reflection of this goal. The language and logic of...
23 Jul Scholasticide in Gaza: A Need for Recognition of Systematic Educational Destruction as Genocidal
...exposes a fundamental weakness of the current IHRL framework: its effectiveness diminishes when states are able to avoid accountability through legal interpretation without concrete repercussions. Israel’s position might reflect what Cohen terms ‘interpretive denial’–where through euphemisms and technical language and interpretation, an action’s meaning can be reframed and reclassified. In light of this, and given Israel’s apparent determination to avoid its human rights obligations regarding education, through interpretive denial, it might be left to third states to hold Israel accountable. Indeed, powerful states can shape international law by influencing other...13 Sep Forced Relationships: Prosecutorial Discretion as a Pathway to Survivor-Centric Justice
...expressly considering the survivors’ stance. In establishing the elements of the crime of other inhumane acts, the Appeals Chamber noted that being labelled a “forced wife” by perpetrators subjected survivors to mental trauma (para 193), but did not contemplate any long-term consequences of their judicial determination to the same effect. Along similar lines, the ICC found the “imposition, regardless of the will of the victim, of duties that are associated with marriage, as well as of a social status of the perpetrator’s ‘wife’” determinative (Ongwen CoC para 93), rather than...
08 Dec Symposium on Forensic and Counter-Forensic Approaches to International Law: The New Geometries of International Law – Deploying Self-Reflexive Inquiry to Re-Build the Discipline
...term. Furthermore, the Anatomy of Genocide engages a sense of sight when it vividly describes the plight of Palestinians, mentioning ‘near-constant carpet-bombing, along with draconian evacuation’ (para. 37) and ‘digging through the rubble, often with bare hands, searching for loved ones’ (para. 32). The Cartography of Genocide works with the senses of vision and touch (spatial awareness) by documenting and representing, in an interactive manner, the scale of Israel’s assault on Gaza. The unique feature of the project is its engagement with multiple datapoints to solidify evidentiary patterns that can...
01 Oct Open Letter to UN Secretary-General António Guterres: Supporting the Call for a Global Study on the Crime of Apartheid and for its Inclusive Definition
...protected from discrimination, has defined them as social constructs. The understanding of these terms alone, however, is not at issue with apartheid’s legal definition. It is the understanding of protected “groups” under international criminal law that is at issue and will impact who is recognized as victims of apartheid. International criminal law prohibits persecution, apartheid and genocide against enumerated protected groups. The term “racial group” under international criminal law has been interpreted using an outdated definition that dates back to World War II. The jurisprudence and the travaux preparatoires for,...
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Kirby Anwar, Wendy Isaack, Artemis Akbary, Zahra Mousawy, Randa Siniora, Yifat Susskind and Maria Sjödin
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30 Apr Guest Post: Landmark Sovereign Debt Restructuring Award
...the term “loans,” others to “long term loans,” others to loans “connected to an investment”, whilst others exclude the term “loan” altogether. (para 292) Accordingly, the Tribunal underlined the importance of the principle of effective treaty interpretation as follows: The list of examples provided by the Slovakia-Greece BIT must, thus, be considered in the context of the treaty and be given some meaning together. Otherwise, if the interpretation stops by simply indicating that any asset is an investment, the examples will be unnecessary, redundant or useless. […] The Tribunal was...