Search: Symposium on the Functional Approach to the Law of Occupation
25 May Alex Ross on Music, Torture, and War
...interrogations. They can withstand “Hip Hop Hooray” and “Enter Sandman. . .” he says, but not country music. Most audiences will laugh at the line, but may check themselves mid-chuckle, wondering what it means that Americans are deploying their favorite music as a way of tormenting people of another culture. But his post went well beyond that, referencing tactics ranging from giving or withholding support from certain German composers during the occupation of Germany from 1945 to 1949, to the blaring of heavy metal at the Papal Nuncio’s residence where...29 Apr Weekday News Wrap: Monday, April 29, 2013
...Wyngaert from the Uhuru Kenyatta trial. Foreign Policy highlights a document uncovering the US’ plans to carry out cyber attacks since the Clinton years. The last of the South Korean workers at the joint industrial complex will withdrawal in the face of North Korea’s escalating nuclear threats. Rebel fighters from Darfur have stormed the Sudanese city of Um Rawaba and have vowed to take Khartoum. In a sign of rising patriotism, Japan celebrated its first “Restoration of Sovereignty” Day on Sunday, to celebrate the end of allied occupation after WWII....
14 May How did the Israeli Supreme Court Legitimise Starvation as a Weapon of War? An Autopsy of a Ruling (Part 2)
[Neve Gordon is a professor at the School of Law, Queen Mary University of London, a Fellow of the British Academy of Social Sciences and the former Chair of the British Society of Middle Eastern Studies’ Committee on Academic Freedom. He is the author of Israel’s Occupation (University of California Press 2008) and co-author of The Human Right to Dominate (Oxford University Press, 2015), Human Shields: A History of People in the Line of Fire (University of California Press, 2020). Muna Haddad is a Palestinian human rights lawyer and a PhD candidate at the School of Law,...23 Mar More Thoughts on the CPT
I couldn’t agree more with Roger about the CPT response. I’m particularly appalled by the verb the CPT uses to describe what happened to the hostages — “released.” Not “rescued.” Not “freed.” “Released” — as if, like Roger says, the Brigades of the Swords of Righteousness simply had a change of heart and let them go. I understand being opposed to the war. (I am.) I understand blaming the kidnappings on the U.S./U.K. occupation. (A strong case can be made.) But to not acknowledge the bravery of the U.S. and...20 Jan Why the Palestinian Authority Should Avoid Arafat’s Death
...Jerusalem for non-payment and instigating lawsuits abroad through its own parastatal agents. Like any other state, Palestine should assert its statehood and international standing in the normal course of events, while pursuing its own claims against Israel's foreign assets in the courts of every single country that has recognized it. There have been reports which indicate the Palestinian Authority has over a billion dollars in frozen accounts around the world as a result of lawsuits. So, it would definitely be in Palestine's best interest to have its own foreign sovereign...08 Nov Saddam News
...violence in Iraq. Leandro Despouy, the UN’s Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers, harshly criticized Saddam’s trial. His primary criticisms: the IHT’s inability to prosecute international crimes committed by non-Iraqi soldiers during the Gulf War and the invasion of Iraq; the Tribunal’s creation during an occupation by a foreign power; the death penalty; the impossibility of holding a fair trial in a climate of violence; the Tribunal’s failure to satisfy international standards of due process. Despouy recommends creating a new international tribunal to deal with the trial....
03 Oct People Make the World: A Conversation with Georges Abi-Saab
...and, as he wrote, “may the personal cost be damned.” This idea resonated deeply with the previous generation of critical Third World international legal scholars, including Mohamed Bedajoui, Taslim Olawale Elias, and, the subject of this essay and podcast, Georges Abi-Saab. Intellectual insurgency—or guerrilla legality as Abi-Saab termed it—is evident throughout his intellectual trajectory, particularly his role in introducing a Third World perspective to the discourse on international law. Indeed, Abi-Saab’s scholarship and praxis reveal the same courage and commitment that Said praised. In a podcast Omar Kamel and I...22 Oct Louis Henkin (1917-2010): The Power of His Ideas Live On
law. He asserted that war “has no significance in international law…. War stands in the way of international law…. [T]he Constitution accepts the word “war” and uses it colloquially[.]” But, squaring the Constitution with the U.N. Charter, Lou acknowledged that while “the word ‘war’ is in the U.S. Constitution, and therefore it binds us… the most important [provision] in the U.N. Charter is Article 2, Section 4 [, which] says, ‘Nations shall not use force.’” As far as Lou was concerned, the U.N. Charter’s exception for self-defense under Article 51...10 May And Now For Something Completely Different: the Arab/ South American Summit
...Order (or “NIEO”) from the 1970’s. Whether such attempts at political coordination actually amounted to significant changes in world politics or international law is another matter. According to some reports, the U.S. is a quite concerned about this summit. The BBC reports that Washington asked to send an envoy with observer status but was rejected. Note to Arab and South American states: When Washington is actually willing to take part in an international conference, you should not shut the door. This just reinforces the view that this conference is about...04 May On the Legality of the Russian Vetoes in the UN Security Council and the Harsh Reality of International Law: A Rejoinder to Professor Jennifer Trahan
Complicity in International Law) Turning now to the question of the legality of Russia’s vetoes, let me put it succinctly: Russia’s veto on April 10, and its previous eleven vetoes on draft resolutions relating to Syria, were lawful. In fact, each of the 203 vetoes (for the full list: see here) cast by the five Permanent Members of the UN Security Council since the veto was first exercised by the Soviet Union on February 16, 1946, were lawful. To explain my position I’m going to identify and engage with the...