Search: Symposium on the Functional Approach to the Law of Occupation
16 Sep Colombia’s Special Jurisdiction for Peace Bends the Law to Dub Paramilitaries as State Officials: The Time For Critique is Now
...However, the Chamber failed to explain why in its decision. In a couple of footnotes (para. 148), the Chamber merely held that international humanitarian law (“IHL”) permits the incorporation of auxiliary forces into the military and that international tribunals have developed different tests “to determine whether certain private groups – some of a paramilitary nature – act under the state’s command and are, therefore, its organs.” The Chamber’s approach reveals a flawed understanding of the law. Firstly, article 4 of the III Geneva Convention may allow for the incorporation of...
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...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 Feb Memorandum on the Common Heritage of Mankind and Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (Part I)
[Ríán Derrig is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the WMU-Sasakawa Global Ocean Institute of the World Maritime University.Arnulf Becker Lorca is Research Professor at Pontifical Catholic University of Valparaíso and Visiting Researcher at Harvard Law School.] This two-part post is the text of a memorandum prepared for delegates in advance of the resumption of the fifth session of the Intergovernmental Conference on an international legally binding instrument under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond...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...01 May NY State Court Rejects DSK’s Immunity Claim
is limited under an annex to that agreement by the Bretton Woods Agreement and IMF Articles, which specifically limit immunity only to official acts. DSK is not entitled to this official acts/functional immunity (as Chimene Keitner argued earlier here), since he was not carrying out official duties during his visit to the Sofitel. The judge did not shy from the customary international law question here, i.e.,DSK’s argument that the Specialized Agency agreement has ripened to a customary norm through which absolute immunity is extended to all international agency heads. Citing...
16 Jul Symposium on PMSCs: AI Broke the Code – The International Code of Conduct for Private Security Service Providers and Emerging Technologies
attempt to impose normative order on a chaotic sector. Its seventy provisions addressed the conduct of personnel, the use of force and firearms, detention practices, incident reporting, and internal grievance procedures—grounding much of its orders in the language of both human rights law and humanitarian law. But the ICoC was more than a checklist of operational safeguards. It marked an attempt to reassert law’s relevance in a space where contractual relationships had long displaced public obligations. Cedric Ryngaert once described the Code as an experiment in “the re-entry of the...
25 Mar Smoke and Mirrors: The Art of Misdirection in Claiming Diplomatic Immunity
[Moisés Montiel is a lawyer advising individuals, companies, and States on matters of international law, human rights, and other international areas at Lotus Soluciones Legales . @moisesmontielm] Alex Saab, a Colombian national and businessman, decided to throw his lot in with the Maduro administration in Venezuela and is currently awaiting a decision by the Supreme Court of Cabo Verde on whether or not he’ll be extradited to the US to face prosecution on charges of alleged money laundering. Saab’s defense team has built its arguments around the notion that he...
17 Feb Increasing the Odds for Jockeys Riding Three-Legged Horses: A Way to Strengthen the Effectiveness of the Elected Members on the UN Security Council
...member(s) siding with taking action. Probably most importantly, working together in this way would diminish the “veto threat”, which in its many subtle forms is applied to discourage elected members from even considering coming together and pursuing Council action. The Council working in this way would make clear that it is not our system of collective security that is ineffective. It is made ineffective when permanent members overstep their privileges under international law. Practically speaking, such collective action would require some changes in how elected members approach working on the...