In association with the International Commission of Jurists

Search: {search_term_string}

16 Feb

...applying this law in a string of little-noticed decisions have completely upended this understanding. Armed with criminal law principles from their own domestic systems, often civil law jurisdictions, prosecutors, judges and even scholars have progressively redefined what it means to “intentionally” target a civilian population. In particular, these accounts rely on the civil law notion of dolus eventualis, a mental state akin to common law recklessness that differs in at least one crucial respect: it classifies risk-taking behavior as a species of intent. This problem represents a clash of legal...
16.02.13 | |

02 May

[Gamze Erdem Türkelli is an assistant research professor in international law, human rights and sustainable development at the Law and Development Research Group, University of Antwerp, the principal investigator of the ERC Starting Grant 2023 funded GENESIS project and a member of the Academic Circle on the Right to Development of the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Development.] In the latest of the growing string of climate change litigation against corporations, Hugues Falys, a Belgian farmer is taking TotalEnergies, the number one refiner and distributor of fossil fuels...
02.05.24 | |

09 Feb

President Bush has often insisted that “if you harbor a terrorist, you’re equally as guilty as the terrorists.” In that regard, it’s instructive to consider the ongoing extradition battle between Venezuela and the United States over Luis Posada Carriles, who is currently being held in federal detention in Texas. By any definition, Posada richly deserves the description “terrorist,” yet the Bush administration continues to protect him. Here are a few highlights of his long and varied career, most culled from declassified CIA documents: In October, 1976, Posada masterminded the bombing...
09.02.06 | |

30 May

I originally thought it was a story in The Onion, but once again truth is stranger than fiction: Top international prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo, best known for pursuing war criminals, has been nominated as chief investigator at FIFA, soccer’s scandal-plagued governing body, with a brief to probe match-fixing and corruption. FIFA’s executive committee is due to discuss the appointment of a chief investigator within the next few weeks as part of a proposed clean-up following a string of graft cases. In March, FIFA’s executive approved plans to split the ethics committee,...
30.05.12 | |

11 Jun

Extending its string of decisions applying the political question doctrine to U.S. foreign policy, the U.S Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit Friday dismissed another lawsuit by a group fo Chileans alleging that former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger was responsible for their torture, imprisonment, and abuse during the coup that brought Pinochet to power. The court’s decision in Gonzalez-Vera v. Kissinger here pretty much follows its earlier 2005 decision dismissing similar lawsuits against Kissinger. In those cases, the D.C. Circuit applied the political question to alleged actions...
11.06.06 | |

19 Oct

...Province of Jurisprudence Determined, spoke about a “sovereign” as being the electorate; in this case, indeed can the “sovereign” be seen as majority of UK people who voted for Brexit in the 2015 Referendum instead of the UK Parliament? However Chambers goes on to say that the electorate may be the political sovereign and not the legal sovereign even in Austin’s terminology- the latter which remains the UK Parliament. There have been a string of other legal cases of course in the past which have examined the dance between Parliament...
19.10.16 | |

01 May

At least from the text, John Brennan seems to have positioned the speech that he delivered yesterday at the Wilson Center (that Marty linked to) as the capstone of the Obama Administration’s transparency campaign on drones and targeted killings in the conflict with al Qaeda. He made a point of referencing the string of other Administration figures that have addressed various aspects of this issue (Koh, Johnson, Holder and Preston) before expanding (albeit marginally) upon what had gone before. There was little truly new in this speech, but it did...
01.05.12 | |

09 Jun

...Syrian President Bashar al-Assad announced a wide-ranging amnesty on Monday, less than a week after he was re-elected to another seven-year term in the midst of civil war. Hassan Rouhani, the Iranian president, has said Turkey and Iran are determined to stand against violence and extremism in the Middle East during a trip to Ankara. Americas Colombia’s government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) have agreed to set up a truth commission that addresses the deaths of thousands of people in five decades of the country’s conflict. The...
09.06.14 | |

15 Jun

...in terms of the legal framework restricting US intervention in Syria. Neomi Rao contributed a guest post on the implications of the Syria crisis for the R2P doctrine. As announced by Julian here, Neomi will continue to blog on R2P next week, so stay tuned! Other internationally relevant news can be found in the weekday news wraps. First in string of guest posts, Michael Lewis argued that Pakistan has withdrawn its consent to US drone strikes in its territory . James Stewart then responded to Kevin’s defence last week of...
15.06.13 | |

06 Jun

This is priceless — and uncannily insightful about the demonization of anyone who has the temerity to question the Bush administration’s policies: WASHINGTON, DC — Breaking a 211-year media silence, retired Army Gen. George Washington appeared on NBC’s Meet the Press Sunday to speak out against many aspects of the way the Iraq war has been waged. Washington, whose appearance marked the first time the military leader and statesman had spoken publicly since his 1796 farewell address in Philadelphia, is the latest in a string of retired generals stepping forward...
06.06.07 | |

11 Jul

...posted online. Oceania At least four countries (New Zealand, U.A.E., Bahrain and the Bahamas) have warned their citizens to stay on guard when visiting U.S. cities rocked by sometimes violent protests that erupted after a string of police shootings of black Americans. UN/World The Overseas Development Institute (ODI) warned in a report that slow implementation of the U.N.’s global goals, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), would stall advances against rising global inequality. Candidates for the United Nation’s top job will for the first time in the organisation’s history hold a...
11.07.16 | |

27 Feb

It won’t save his job, for reasons Julian mentioned a week or so ago, but it’s still good news: Spain’s top court acquitted renowned judge Baltasar Garzon on Monday of abuse of power by trying to investigate Franco-era atrocities, in a case that exposed deep wounds dating back to the civil war. Six members of the seven-strong Supreme Court panel came out in favour of acquitting the 56-year-old, clearing a major obstacle in Garzon’s efforts to revive a career which has been stalled by a string of court cases. Garzon...
27.02.12 | |