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14 Jul Welcome to the New Opinio Juris!
...and post this comment, I see there is an unannounced policy change prohibiting 'guest' commentary. The previous policy of allowing anonymous posting had been debated openly, with no evidence provided of any real problem here at Opinio Juris. And now as I even try to search for these past debates, using both the ‘search’ button and independent search engines, I also discover that the past has been aggressively scrubbed and deleted. You may have noticed, as have I, that 'prestigious' organizations tend to have little appetite for risk (whether they...
05 Aug Greece Boat Disaster: Questions of International Law
...presents flaws that undermine its ability to determine the facts, and does not cover the examination of the criminal responsibility of the Greek Coast Guard. Issues regarding the involvement of Frontex Frontex’s mandate mainly covers border surveillance and return operations. However, a search and rescue situation may arise in the context of Frontex border surveillance operations at sea. In this case, relevant issues may arise with respect to its own legal obligations. The role of Frontex is complementary to that of the host member state, which has the main responsibility...
11 May Another Perspective on Search & Rescue in the Mediterranean Sea
...is whether a duty to open ports to foreign-flagged vessels can be inferred from the duty to save life at sea. It is often assumed that the answer is in the affirmative and that the duty falls on the closest port. The law does not support these propositions (see Neri, here). While both the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) and the International Convention on Maritime Search and Rescue (SAR) provide that the natural outcome of a rescue operation is disembarkation, the Conventions do not indicate...05 Feb AJIL Symposium: Is the Vienna Convention Hostile to Drafting History? A Response to Julian Davis Mortenson, Part 1
...of Sweden, the environment, and the exercise of jurisdiction over continental shelf resources. In the interpretation of terms that can be used as generically referring expressions, first of all, the interpreting agent often has to decide whether parties intended to use it to refer generically or not. The problem is, of course, that many languages allow us to use terms both as single or general referring expressions and as generically referring expressions. Take the term “the King of Sweden”, for instance; it can be used to refer to the present...07 Apr The U.S. Embargo on Cuba Should Be Lifted, But It is Not a Blockade, and Perfectly Legal
...another a “blockade” is an insult to any reasonable definition of the term (or actual blockades). The Cuban government knows that U.S. is not imposing a blockade, but it is useful for it to keep using the term at the U.N. and even win support from other nations for its characterization of the embargo. The U.S. doesn’t even bother protesting Cuba’s use of the term anymore, which is a mistake because it grossly mischaracterizes what the U.S. embargo actually is. Moreover, if the U.S. doesn’t fight back against the “blockade”...
25 Nov ‘Lock Them Up and Throw Away the Key!’: Another Step in the ICC’s Pathway toward Retributivism
[Mattia Pinto is a PhD Candidate and teaching assistant in the Law Department at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). His PhD research analyses the role that human rights play in fostering and legitimising penal expansion. Diletta Marchesi is a PhD Fellow for fundamental research of the Research Foundation – Flanders at the KU Leuven Institute of Criminal Law. Her PhD project focuses on the role of international criminal law in safeguarding fundamental procedural human rights through the criminalisation of the denial of fair proceedings rights.] 1. Introduction...