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23 Jan Placard? I Don’t See No Stinking Placard!
...negotiations to settle final status issues will lead to this outcome,” Rice said. “Therefore, in our view, any reference to the ‘State of Palestine’ in the United Nations, including the use of the term ‘State of Palestine’ on the placard in the Security Council or the use of the term ‘State of Palestine’ in the invitation to this meeting or other arrangements for participation in this meeting, do not reflect acquiescence that ‘Palestine’ is a state,” she added. Fortunately — though I know this comes as a shock to the...
28 Aug Rohingya Symposium: Some Thoughts about the Role of the International Community
...seen against this background. Ethnic conflicts are mostly found in the border areas and Myanmar has been in the habit of ‘freezing’ them. The term ‘frozen conflict’ describes situations where violence has largely ceased but no peace agreement is in place, leaving the underlying causes of the conflict unresolved. In such situations, peace and stability remain hostage to the parties’ unwillingness or inability to address the political issues that divide them, including negative ethnicity. Rakhine state is an exception: its conflict is active. The state was thrown into chaos after...18 Oct Withdrawal from the International Criminal Court: “Much ado about nothing” at the Philippine Supreme Court? (Part I)
...distill the proceedings based on the focus of the bench on particular issues. The post is divided into two parts – the first deals with the background of the case, the proceedings and context before the Supreme Court, and two areas of argumentation. The second part addresses one legal issue, and presents concluding observations. I. Background The “war on drugs” in the Philippines has unleashed an unprecedented campaign of brutality in the country. From the commencement of the term of the current President, in June 2016, this crackdown has cost...
16 Jun Norway’s Inconsistent Interpretation of the 1920 Treaty of Paris
...not exist in the first place, if it weren’t for such international instruments). The conflicting interpretations as to the geographical scope of the 1920 Treaty of Paris stem from the fact that the Treaty refers only to the term “territorial waters” (probably, equitable with the concept of territorial sea), since that the concept of continental shelf did not exist at the time when the Treaty was drafted. However, nowadays pursuant to article 77(3) of the 1982 UNCLOS, land automatically generates its corresponding continental shelf, and this is also true for...
23 Dec Space-Based Espionage Under International Law: Legal Ambiguities and the Case of Israel
...for other countries. Under this treaty, satellites placed in Earth orbit are considered part of outer space, and their passage over national airspace does not constitute a violation of state sovereignty. The sovereignty of states is limited to their terrestrial territory and airspace up to the Kármán line (approximately 100 kilometers above the Earth’s surface); beyond this boundary, activities are subject to the regime of international space law. Espionage in International Law: Legal Complexities and Substantive Distinctions Espionage has long occupied an ambiguous and intermediate position in international relations. Unlike...
31 Oct Nord Stream Explosions as a Breach of the Peace
...Allies’ critical infrastructure would be met with a united and determined response.’ In many ways, the Nord Stream blasts amount to a perfect example of hybrid warfare – they were conducted in an environment that significantly hampers objective investigation; it may turn out that it is impossible to unanimously point out the responsible actor; and despite the seriousness of the incident, it is difficult to indicate what fundamental norms of international law were breached. This entry examines the explosions from the perspective of international peace and security. To this end,...
22 Dec Governance in the Grip of Debt
...is precisely “to help profitable actors further increase their profits.” In this post, I show how states and governments function within a tightly interlocked global economic system, which determines their conduct and their roles. Within this system, the national governments’ primary allegiance is to the market and the institutions which regulate it, not to their citizens. As the policy decisions imposed on governments impoverish the masses, the role of governance in under-developed states is to maintain order, not ameliorate misery. I will begin by sketching the functioning of this global...09 Apr Will CEDAW Bring A “Radical Transformation of American Law”?
...domestic laws or those covering foreign activities. Further, Benshoof asserted that CEDAW doesn’t allow for any defense based on custom or religion, and that it applies to all private conduct. I guess my (admittedly not expert) reading doesn’t see where the big transformation is. Not to mention the treaty is almost certainly non-self-executing. But this debate may eventually come back to us when (or if) the Obama Administration makes a final push for CEDAW (although that will probably not be until Obama’s second term, if there is a second term)....24 Nov Reponse by Professor Matthew Waxman, “International Standards for Detaining Terrorism Suspects: Moving Beyond the Armed Conflict-Criminal Divide.”
...detention model is underdeveloped and proposes some substantive and procedural standards to help fill it in. But I wonder whether administrative detention is so underdeveloped, or so expansive a concept, that it doesn’t make sense to think of it as a single model at all. Consider the many dimensions along which administrative terrorist detention proposals or examples vary: robust judicial review versus deference to military judgments; short-term versus long-term; one-time challenge versus periodic review; regular civilian judges versus special courts or military panels; right to counsel of choice versus special...