Search: Symposium on the Functional Approach to the Law of Occupation
18 Jul Symposium on PMSCs: From Contract to Combat – Individual Criminal Liability of PMSC Personnel and Its Integration into Emerging Treaty Frameworks
Articles 86 and 87 of the Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions), and may be specified and detailed in contractual obligations and domestic guidelines. For instance, the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) Law of War Program, under DoD Directive 2311.01E, mandates that contractors must adhere to policies preventing violations of the laws of war, including appropriate training and dissemination of relevant regulations. Violations of these obligations should be reported as “suspected violations of the law of war.” However, it must be emphasized that domestic law, and even less private...05 May Jus Post Bellum Symposium: What’s in a Name? The Great Definitional Debate over Jus Post Bellum
...the justice of post-war settlements and reconstruction, and I focus exclusively on non-consensual interventions. Others in the volume, in contrast, argue for interpretive and functional definitions, which are classified as newer approaches to the field. While these approaches certainly merit exploration, I continue to defend, and see greater value in a narrow but deep definition of jus post bellum. One reason is that to the extent that jus post bellum can and will serve a regulatory function, perhaps one day even evolving into a new Geneva Convention, there needs to...
12 May Invoicing Russia for Ukraine’s Recovery: The Complexities of Repurposing Frozen Russian Assets
[Dr. Paul R. Wil liams is the Founder of the Public International Law & Policy Group (PILPG), the Rebecca I. Grazier Professor in Law and International Relations at American University, and a world-renowned peace negotiation lawyer who has assisted over two dozen parties in major international peace negotiations.] [Alexandra Koch is Co-Chair of the Policy Planning Initiative at the Public International Law & Policy Group (PILPG) and previously worked at the International Criminal Court in The Hague. She graduated Stanford University Phi Beta Kappa with a B.A. in International Relations...08 Nov The Oxford Guide to Treaties Symposium: Validity of Reservations Revisited
[Marko Milanovic is Lecturer at the University of Nottingham School of Law] I am grateful to Duncan for inviting me to contribute to this conversation, inspired by his important new book. Let me continue where David Stewart and Harold Koh left off, namely with the issue of the validity of reservations and the innovations in that regard in the ILC’s freshly minted Guide to Practice. I would disagee with Professor Koh that the approach ultimately adopted by the ILC ‘makes little sense and smacks of unfairness’. On the contrary –...16 Jun Latest on War Powers and Libya: Resurrecting the WPR? (Probably Not)
the terms of a United Nations Security Council Resolution that authorizes the use of force..." in certain respects. A NEW point -- a reporter "told" me by email that when Harold Koh, for example, was asked whether it would be a "war" crime if a drone operator deliberately targeted civilian, the answer was yes because under int'l law the laws of war apply to this U.S. use of force. Don't we use such international law as background for interpreting a federal statute (or joint resolution)? The Charming Betsy, U.S. 1804....17 Oct Treaty Interpretation 101
...Convention and US law. Certainly, Article 32 would seem to owe much to the rule of English common law relaxed in Pepper v. Hart, viz. the rule against the use of Hansard in statutory interpretation. I take it that such a rule has never existed in US law? Also, Lord McNair would certainly not have been talking about similarities to American law (in the passage I seem to remember). This would, of course, raise the question of how English law has come to influence international law quite so much, if...
12 Aug Reimagining Climate Finance for Africa: A Legal Imperative for Decentralised Approaches Post-COP29
[Vieviene Antifon is a UK-based legal academic and socio-legal researcher specialising in climate finance, energy law, and international environmental law with a focus on Africa] As the dust settles on COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, Africa’s urgent need for climate finance remains a critical issue in international environmental law. The conference, which concluded in November 2024, saw some progress but fell short of meeting Africa’s climate finance needs. This post argues that the state-centric climate finance model not only falls short in practice but may violate core principles of international environmental...06 Nov CIA’s Approach to Drones?
Jordan Exactly, and JAG officers are also more likely to be better equipped to make proper choices and provide proper legal advice with respect to the law of self-defense -- the other paradigm used over the years by the Executive as an alternative legal basis for targetings and captures. Additionally, if CIA persons are doing the targeting, they would not have "combatant immunity" as "combatants" under the laws of war unless a particular CIA person happens to alse be a member of the regular armed forces of the United States...
18 Sep Setting Sail: Tales of an Academic Nomad
...project, contextualising its resonance on possible futures for international law, for purposes of this blogpost, I wish to comment on something more intimate. Alongside Malcolm X, Samir Amin, and CLR James, Ibn Battuta is one of the scholars who has most shaped my academic trajectory and guided my next career move. * * * Like many critical idealists before me, I have found myself both drawn to the potential of international law and disillusioned by its reality. From my formative years in law school, it was evident the global legal...
29 Jul Ecocide: Environmental Crime of Crimes or Ill-Conceived Concept?
...by the IEP – or a pure negligence standard, as Heller offers. The “Unlawful” Requirement What exactly is unlawful environmental destruction? The IEP elaborates that “the qualifier ‘unlawful’ captures environmentally harmful acts that are already prohibited in law.” Finding the term “unlawful under international law” too narrow, they considered that “[i]nternational environmental law contains obligations for States in treaties and customary international law but relatively few absolute prohibitions, and leaves the bulk of the protection to be formulated at the national level, through national laws.” The IEP’s core legal text...