Search: Symposium on the Functional Approach to the Law of Occupation

...quick and successful removal of Saddam’s government would have sent the most powerful of messages to the other “rogue” nations: don’t even think of going nuclear. It was a logical game plan deeply rooted in our national security. The “failure” that I mentioned above occurred after the invasion was successfully completed. We had absolutely no idea how to go about pacifying Iraq. Our idiotic blunders of occupation were painfully evident as they were being committed, and I lack the incentive to try to recount them here. Suffice it to say...

[Julia Emtseva is a Research Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law.] The recent developments in Afghanistan shocked the whole world. With the US withdrawal from the country, the Taliban rapidly swept across Afghanistan and took over Kabul. With no clear prospects of the country’s development, the issues of justice are acute as never before. After the failure of past attempts to transitional justice (TJ) in Afghanistan, the delivery of justice cannot be again postponed in the name of peace and stability. Yet, with...

of war against a military adversary. Lawfare critics complain that self-proclaimed “humanitarians” are really engaged in the partisan and political abuse of lawlawfare. This paper turns the mirror on lawfare critics themselves, and argues that the critique of lawfare is no less abusive and political than the alleged lawfare it attacks. Radical lawfare critics view humanitarian law with suspicion, as nothing more than an instrument used by weak adversaries against strong military powers. Casting suspicion on humanitarian law by attacking the motives of humanitarian lawyers, they undermine disinterested...

[Dire Tladi is a Professor of International Law, at the University of Pretoria, a member of UN International Law Commission and its Special Rapporteur on Peremptory Norms of General International Law (Jus Cogens).] Given the scourge of the Corona pandemic, the timing for this post is perhaps awkward at best. But still, I was very pleased when requested to provide some thoughts on Kamari Clarke’s new book Affective Justice: The International Criminal Justice and the Pan-Africanist Pushback. I was pleased not only because I count Kamari as a friend, but...

...the Nazi occupation. “Everybody knew who we were. Nobody would even have thought of denouncing us” to the Nazis, said the tiny 76-year-old Silver Spring resident. “These people deserve every respect anybody can give them.” I don’t know where that young boy is today, but I’m confident that he would have lit a candle with the Jews and the Muslims at the ceremony. That’s the power of empathy: once experienced, it can never be forgotten or destroyed. To all my co-bloggers and beloved readers: Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah, and Happy...

the WTO. Tanzania has asked Malawi to halt oil and gas exploration in the disputed Lake Malawi until a border dispute between the two countries is resolved. The South African Constitutional Court has denied extradition of two individuals to Botswana as they might face the death penalty. And speaking of extradition, Julian Assange’s mother claims that the US is bent on extraditing him from the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, where he awaits a decision on asylum. In more extradition news, Slovakia is seeking extradition of the 97-year-old Hungarian man arrested...

...In the words of Chilean jurist, Edmundo Vargas Carreño: “Concerning the measures that States can adopt regarding those States that seriously violate the human rights of the individuals under their jurisdiction, provided said actions are in conformity with other concepts of international law, they cannot be considered unlawful interventions” (my translation). The question in the minds of many Latin American diplomats, therefore, is what exactly counts as an action in conformity with international law, from a Latin American, non-interventionist perspective. The answer, one might venture, has changed through time, adapting...

litigated exclusively on domestic law, especially the Trust Land Act, which in Section 69 refers to tribal rights to land by virtue of African customary law (para. 100). The plaintiffs, who are nomadic pastoralists, claimed ancestral and customary rights (para. 101) that were conferred to the community as a whole to be enjoyed severally or individually. The Court confirmed their locus standi as affected tribes based on these rights (para. 105). The Court did notably not revert to international legal sources, although the plaintiffs referred to them. More specifically, the...

...defense (self or otherwise) at all, but rather in the partial armed occupation of another country – which is, without putting too fine a point on it here, the opposite of a recognized incident of force under international law. So what about finding a relevant implied authority in the AUMF under other principles of statutory interpretation? Ignore international law for a moment – could the AUMF be read based on its text, context or legislative history to authorize the military operations we’ve carried out against Syria and Iran on behalf...

we believe in the rule of law, no law can possibly be construed to restrain us. And, by extension, if a law be so construed, just enact a new law to remove the constraint. David Golove Julian -- I'm perplexed by what you find "effective" in Posner's piece. In fact, as far as I can tell, it contains no argument at all, and, if anything, better supports the opposite conclusion from the one with which it begins. Posner is repeating his general view that states only comply with international law...

...law reform sections, that:   Acknowledge that SVC is a serious crime under international law;   Prohibit amnesties;   Establish arrangements to ensure victims and witnesses can report these crimes and testify in prosecutions or truth-seeking bodies; and   Ensure reparations for victims.    The UN’s OSRSG on CRSV can deploy its Team of Experts on the Rule of Law and Sexual Violence in Conflict to strengthen domestic institutional safeguards against impunity, and build the technical capacity of police, prosecutors, and judiciary at the national level.  A good example of a victim-centered approach to transitional...

...Vietnam: They must see Americans as strange liberators. The Vietnamese people proclaimed their own independence in 1945 after a combined French and Japanese occupation, and before the Communist revolution in China. They were led by Ho Chi Minh. Even though they quoted the American Declaration of Independence in their own document of freedom, we refused to recognize them. Instead, we decided to support France in its reconquest of her former colony. Our government felt then that the Vietnamese people were not “ready” for independence, and we again fell victim to...