Search: Symposium on the Functional Approach to the Law of Occupation
02 Dec When a Preliminary Examination Closes, a New Era Opens: The OTP’s Innovative Support for Transitional Justice in Colombia
...Prosecutor Khan stressed the importance of the principle of complementarity. He thus sent a clear message to states: during his mandate, he would defer to genuine domestic proceedings and stand ready to engage with national authorities in “novel and imaginative ways”, wherever possible, to make inroads in the fight against impunity within situation countries. Following through on his approach, Prosecutor Khan subsequently found that “complementarity is working today in Colombia”. Hence, he decided to conclude the lengthiest Preliminary Examination (“PE”) in the history of the ICC. This decision may have...
27 Apr The Scope of the (Aborted) Afghanistan Investigation
...jurisprudence. Most obviously, it is much narrower than the approach PTC III took in the Burundi situation. The Burundi PTC — which included Judge Mindua! — explicitly held that the OTP could investigate any crime that fell within the authorization request’s temporal parameters: 193. With regard to the material scope of the authorized investigation, the Chamber authorizes the commencement of an investigation of any crime within the jurisdiction of the Court committed between 26 April 2015 and 26 October 2017, subject to what is said in the previous paragraph on...
28 Sep Symposium on the Current Crisis in Myanmar: Post-coup Violations Should be Investigated as Crimes against Humanity
...to be considered widespread it would need to be shown that the violent acts did not occur in a limited number of confrontations. In addition, in cases where the protests have taken place in several regions throughout a country like in Myanmar, the Prosecution’s approach considers whether the alleged crimes did not occur only in a limited number of them [OTP Report 2015]. According to the Prosecution’s approach, the number of the victims needs to be weighed against the size of the targeted population and the timespan [OTP Honduras Report]....
13 Feb Counting the Cost of Climate Change: Hits, Misses and the Future of Environmental Compensation After the ICJ’s Advisory Opinion
of responsibility. The law of State responsibility provides different mechanisms for addressing situations involving multiple contributing States but how these apply in the context of climate change remains unclear in many respects (see, e.g., de Arcos Tejerizo), particularly where a State or several States may have repeatedly emitted harmful greenhouse gasses at both lawful and unlawful levels over a period of time. Judge Nolte expressed scepticism at the role that composite (or continuing) acts could play (Declaration, para. 28) in the appraisal of individual States. While the Guiding Principles on...
29 Aug Climate Change: A Threat to International Peace & Security?
[Mark Nevitt is an Associate Professor at Syracuse University College of Law and affiliated faculty with Syracuse University’s Institute for Security Policy & Law and a former lawyer in the United States Navy.] Is the climate-security century upon us? If so, what are the implications for international legal governance and institutions? In his recent Opinio Juris essay, based on his provocative and meticulously researched article, Atmospheric Intervention , Professor Martin argues that the climate change crisis may well exert pressure for change on the governing jus ad bellum regime....
22 Dec Between Sovereignty and Universality: Iran’s Draft Bill on International Crimes in Comparative Perspective
of existing customary norms. Against this backdrop, Iran’s legislative initiative represents a significant step in aligning domestic law with international obligations. It also reflects constitutional commitments under Article 158 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran (1979), which empowers the judiciary to draft bills concerning criminal law, and broader global trends towards the domestication of ICL. The obligation to criminalise international crimes domestically is therefore grounded in customary international law, treaty law, and constitutional law, underscoring the necessity of Iran’s Draft Bill. This post offers a critical overview...
17 Jul Ensuring Respect for the Geneva Conventions: A More Common Approach to Article 1
[Verity Robson is the Legal Counsellor at the Permanent Mission of the United Kingdom to the United Nations and other International Organisations in Geneva. A longer version of this article first appeared in the Journal for Conflict and Security Law, Volume 25 Issue 1.] With last month’s publication online of the ICRC’s impressive new Commentary on the Third Geneva Convention, it’s worth revisiting initial reactions to the volumes published in 2016 and 2017, and reviewing how the updated Commentary has accommodated those. All three of the revised Commentaries put forward...14 Aug Should the U.S. Government Change Its Approach to Zero-Day Exploits?
...exploits.” The U.S. is already a big player in this market, purchasing exploits for use by its intelligence and law-enforcement agencies. Rather than informing producers, purchasers, or users of the software of the flaws, the U.S. government (and other governments that participate in the exploits market) allegedly require non-disclosure agreements from the hackers who sell exploits so that the holes will stay open as long as possible. This has been called a strategy of offense: trying to maximize intelligence gathering capabilities. Geer paraphrases a former senior NSA official: If we...
19 Apr Symposium on International Conflict and Security Law: A Research Handbook – Human Rights: Between Universalism and Relativism
selected issues such as the use of force, international criminal law, law of armed conflict etc. Thus, the handbook adopts a different approach and includes a wide array of topics. With sixty-four chapters divided sectionally into six parts, the handbook boasts of a vast coverage of relevant themes. The five themes identified for the sectional division of the chapters are: Protected values, Law, Institutions, Challenges and Crimes. The sixth and the last part features case studies. The first part on ‘protected values’ features contributions on the fundamental values upon which...11 Mar YCS Applications of the New Haven School: Professional Scholarship
Levit put it, “International law is not always a matter of deliberate, reflective choice.” Levit recommended shifting the gaze of international law away from high-level diplomacy in order to take account of the unofficial practices and behaviors of epistemic communities that affect the lawmaking process. While Levit recognized the democratic legitimacy challenges presented by this “bottom up” approach and admitted that this is not necessarily the preferable or desirable approach, she emphasized the approach’s value in revealing the mythological quality of many traditional international law stories. She also saw value...