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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...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...24 Feb St. John’s Law School Search: Assistant Dean for Graduate Studies
St. John’s University School of Law in New York City is conducting a search for a new Assistant Dean for Graduate Studies to head up our LLM programs and other international non-JD programs and initiatives. Here is the formal announcement with key contact information, but feel free to reach out to me directly if you are interested in learning more about it. St. John’s Law School is now looking for an Assistant or Associate Dean for Graduate Studies, who will be the senior administrator responsible for the development and management...
22 Jun An Opportunity to End Years of Impunity: Enforced Disappearance as a Continuous Gender-Based Crime
adopted Guiding Principles for the Search for Disappeared Persons, affirms that ‘the search should be conducted under the presumption that the disappeared person is alive, regardless of the circumstances of the disappearance, the date on which the disappearance began and when the search is launched’. Principle 7 adds that the search is a continuing obligation. The fact that the relevant jurisprudence is by no means unanimous makes the communication against Spain pending before the CCPR the perfect opportunity to specify the precise legal consequences of the continuous nature of enforced...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”...
14 Feb Are We at War with the Environment?
Further, the threshold of “widespread, long-term and severe effects” adds an ambiguous proportionality standard coupled with a very high threshold to hold an attack as impermissible. First, these terms are not defined appropriately making the provisions susceptible to be misused by powerful states. The attacking state can justify almost any environmental harm as long as it does not have a “widespread, long-term or severe” effect. This framework fails to account for the incremental and cumulative environmental damage caused by conflict, which, though not immediately catastrophic, can lead to long-term ecological...18 Feb Translation Issues at the ICTR
...way with them.” The Chamber notes that in this instance the term used, babafata ku ngufu, is the term which of the four terms identified in the paragraph above is the term most closely connected to the concept of force. Having reviewed in detail with the official trial interpreters the references to “rape” in the transcript, the Chamber is satisfied that the Kinyarwanda expressions have been accurately translated. In this situation, the tribunal was most likely correct. Translation problems, however, continue to haunt the ICTR – and, if anything, will...
23 Jul Uncertain Commitments: The US-Ukraine Rare Minerals Agreement and the Limits of Treaty Law
...could be unenforceable under international law. If Ukraine joins the European Union, the EU’s exclusive competence over trade and investment policy (Article 207 TFEU) could supersede or require renegotiation of the Agreement to align with EU law. This raises additional uncertainty about the Agreement’s long-term enforceability and Ukraine’s ability to unilaterally manage its mineral resources under EU trade regulations. Rather than securing Ukraine’s long-term development, the US–Ukraine Framework Agreement on Rare Minerals reflects the extractive opportunism of purported allies who have undeniably contributed to Ukraine’s current condition. By locking Kyiv...