Search: Symposium on the Functional Approach to the Law of Occupation
02 Nov The ICC, the Monetary Gold Principle and the Determination of the Territory of Palestine
[Álvaro Rueda Rodríguez-Vila is a graduate in law (Bachelor, UNED) and in human rights (LL.M., Maastricht University).] In an article published on June 16, 2020, Dapo Akande argued that, assuming that Palestine is a state, the Monetary Gold principle is applicable to the International Criminal Court (ICC or the Court) in the situation of Palestine as to the determination of the Palestine territory because of the territorial dispute between Palestine and Israel. In his words “A judicial determination by the ICC as to whether particular territory in dispute falls under...
08 Oct Symposium on Gender Representation: Women in the Administration of Justice
[Diego Garcia-Sayán is the Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers as of December 2016. Mr. García-Sayán was a judge of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights for two consecutive terms. He has broad experience working for multilateral organizations such as the UN and the OAS.] As is well known, several international instruments recognize the basic human right to gender equality, the prohibition of gender-based discrimination, and women’s right to a life free of violence, as well as States’ obligation to prevent, address, investigate, punish, and redress all...06 Apr Book Symposium: Is there Existential Interpretation in International Law?
operates within every nook and cranny of the field. As for my own chapter (which is still up on SSRN, although you should really buy the book), its inspiration lay in one other aspect of the conventional approach to interpretation — defining interpretation simply as a process of giving meaning to treaty texts. I’ve always thought that this approach under-claimed the functions interpretation can serve. Certainly, interpretation has an expository function where its processes help interpreters ascertain what meaning to assign some treaty provision or other aspect of international law....24 Oct Remedying UN Abuses by Forcing the Host State’s Hand: Current Case Calls for the Haitian Government to Trigger a Standing Claims Commission
[Frédéric Mégret is an Associate Professor of Law at McGill University Faculty of Law.] On the 26th September, a group of diligent Haitian lawyers headed by human rights defender Patrice Florvilus requested an emergency injunction (“en référé”) before the Tribunal de Première Instance de Port-au-Prince against the State of Haiti, that would compel it to trigger the creation of the standing claims commission, as anticipated by the Status of Forces Agreement in effect with the United Nations since the creation of MINUSTAH in 2004. The goal of triggering such a...08 Jun Three Quick Thoughts on Zivotofsky
...power as dicta. In a world that is ever more compressed and interdependent, it is essential the congressional role in foreign affairs be understood and respected. For it is Congress that makes laws, and in countless ways its laws will and should shape the Nation’s course. The Executive is not free from the ordinary controls and checks of Congress merely because foreign affairs are at issue. See, e.g., Medellín v. Texas, 552 U. S. 491, 523–532 (2008); Youngstown, 343 U. S., at 589; Little v. Barreme, 2 Cranch 170, 177–179...
18 Dec Meaningful Human Control over Autonomous Weapon Systems: An (International) Criminal Law Account
of the IHL principles of distinction and proportionality potentially amounting to war crimes. Criminal responsibility for unlawful attacks against protected persons (e.g. civilians) or objects is one kind of responsibility that could arise in this scenario. In light of possible responsibility gaps and the cardinal notion of ‘control’ in criminal law, meaningful human control must be shaped so that individual criminal responsibility for unlawful attacks amounting to war crimes can be attributed. Amoroso and Tamburrini rightly speak of meaningful human control as ‘responsibility attractor’. As I have previously argued ‘the...
26 Jun The Problem with Independence in Torture Prevention
[Marie Steinbrecher is currently a teaching fellow at UCL’s Department of Political Science while completing her PhD at Royal Holloway’s School of Law.] The Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture (OPCAT) obliges State Parties to designate a National Preventive Mechanism (NPM). NPMs are mandated to visit all places of deprivation of liberty to prevent torture and ill-treatment. To date, 90 States have ratified OPCAT and must allow independent oversight of their detention facilities. In this post, I discuss the concept of independent oversight, and why independence is important yet...06 Oct More on Releasing the Awlaki OLC Opinion
had as to whether to release the OLC opinion, redacted, or the preparation of a separate document that addresses the general legal theories as such. (I also agree with Jack Goldsmith, btw, that the real issues are domestic law authorities. I share Jack’s doubt that there’s much more to say about the international law behind this. One either buys the basic approach as a plausible line in international law or one doesn’t. One’s position in this turns on deep priors about the nature and sources of international law.) I realize...03 Mar A Small (But Important!) Win for the OPCD
...OPCD, the Chamber has the power to order that they “be immediately retumed to the Defence, and all copies should be destroyed”25 since this “falls squarely within the Chamber’s powers under Article 57(3)(b) and (c) of the Statute” and “[t]he duty to return such documentation also inheres in Libya’s obligation to respect the functional immunity of the Defence as required by Article 48 of the Statute” . Libya, not surprisingly, opposed the request. Again as summarized by the Pre-Trial Chamber: 21. With regard to the OPCD request to retum and...
24 Aug Symposium on The Sentimental Life of International Law: Review
passim); shared experience (‘Among international lawyers, one becomes a type of international lawyer… Among strangers, one becomes merely an international lawyer: the Ambassador for Customary International Law’ (120)), and even direct address (‘you, dear reader…’ (28)). Thus encouraged, it almost feels possible to throw instrumentality to the wind and challenge Gerry for the honour of writing ‘the most useless book in the history of international law’ (6). But Gerry is a luxury professor, as he himself recognises (188). Acknowledging that ‘young scholars, especially’ struggle in an academy that demands Stakhanovian...