Search: Symposium on the Functional Approach to the Law of Occupation
16 Dec Gaza, Genocide, and the UN General Assembly (Part 2)
law (jus cogens) Mr. Dire Tladi (73rd session of the International Law Commission (2022) (2022 ILC Report) suggests that action pursuant to a UNGA resolution on genocide is collective, but that states still must comply with law on countermeasures. Conclusion 19 recognises an obligation on all states to bring to an end ‘serious breaches’ of international law. A ‘serious’ breach of a jus cogens norm is one that involves a ‘gross or systemic failure by the responsible state to fulfil that obligation’. The 2022 ILC Report provides (p. 72): international law...
08 May The Legal Consequences of the End of the Israel-Gaza War
[Noam Kozlov is a research fellow and lecturer in the Faculty of Law and Criminology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He previously received a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics and Philosophy and an LLB from the Hebrew University.] After six months of intensive fighting, the Israel-Gaza war is no more. While political forces – both in Israel and abroad – continue to stress otherwise, the on-the-ground reality has become unambiguous. For a month now the IDF has kept only one operational brigade in the Gaza Strip, stationed in primarily defensive...
31 Jan Hanging Hippocrates: Criminal Doctors from Nuremberg to Homs
[Merlina Herbach holds an LLM in International Law from the University of Edinburgh, has worked at the International Nuremberg Principles Academy and is currently a Legal Fellow with the Syria Justice and Accountability Centre (SJAC).] A medical doctor practicing in Germany was discovered to have tortured his patients in Syria at the behest of the Syrian government, turning his back on that most sacred of oaths taken by all doctors, the Hippocratic Oath to do no harm. The allegations against the former Syrian doctor, Alaa M., whose trial is to...
14 Jul Intervention in Civil Wars Symposium: Representatives of their Own Peoples–From National Liberation Movements to Opposition Groups
[Laura Íñigo Álvarez is a postdoctoral researcher and a lecturer in international law at Nova School of Law (Universidade Nova de Lisboa). She is the author of Towards a Regime of Responsibility of Armed Groups in International Law (Intersentia, 2020)]. Dr. Redaelli’s book, Intervention in Civil Wars: Effectiveness, Legitimacy and Human Rights, constitutes one of the most comprehensive studies on the question about intervention in civil wars or also called non-international armed conflicts. Her ultimate purpose is to examine how human rights have affected foreign interventions in internal conflicts. The...
16 Dec Reviewing Afghan Evacuation and Resettlement
and resettle Afghan partners. This is true despite nuanced domestic court rulings in the Netherlands and Italy that ordered resettlement of Afghan plaintiffs after they served with those governments. New Zealand’s High Court ruled differently, and in a way that seems more generally accepted, holding that its Government should consider Afghan partners for resettlement under domestic processes, but is not required to admit them under international law. Similarly, legal obligations do not arise from principles of jus post bellum, the emerging branch of international law that seeks to regulate post-conflict...06 Dec Events and Announcements: 5 December 2020
at the time of submission may be nominated for this prize. Works that have already been considered for this prize may not be re-submitted. Entries may address topics such as the use of force in international law, the conduct of hostilities during international and non‑international armed conflicts, protected persons and objects under the law of armed conflict, the law of weapons, operational law, rules of engagement, occupation law, peace operations, counter‑terrorist operations, and humanitarian assistance. Other topics bearing on the application of international law during armed conflict or other military...28 May The Nature and Scope of the War in Afghanistan
...feel bound by widely accepted IHL. They have drafted their own body of rules governing their warfare - the so called Layha – which they claim to be based on Islamic law. However, Muhammad Munir in this article https://www.icrc.org/eng/assets/files/review/2011/irrc-881-munir.pdf argues that their principles not only violate international humanitarian law, but do not even confirm with Islamic law. Regarding the other discussions I believe we have to distinguish between two different issues: whether the conflict is international or non-international and which actors can be considered (non-) state actors. First of all,...
25 Oct Framing Critique, on Celluloid and Paper
...“noble savages” in the Americas. As Anghie recalls, international law’s traditional approaches “characterize Vitoria as extending and applying existing juridical doctrines developed in Europe to determine the legal status of the Indians.” Thus, through colonialism, international law allegedly created a common language for Western and non-Western communities to speak to each other. As stated in the 2012 (!!) edition of Ian Brownlie’s Principles, international law “travelled with the colonizers to the Americas, to Asia, to Africa and eventually to Oceania.” In this story, the system “gradually came to incorporate other...
20 Mar De-Christianizing International Law: US Politics and the Evangelical Legacy
[Ilias Bantekas is Professor of Law at Hamad bin Khalifa University (Qatar Foundation) and Adjunct Professor of Law at Georgetown University, Edmund A Walsh School of Foreign Service Andrew Dahdal is an Associate Professor at the College of Law and Legal Advisor in the Office of General Counsel at the College of Law, Qatar University] Modern international law is an outgrowth of the Westphalian system and European geopolitics. Through the West, international law is imbued with certain ideals stemming from the Christian faith and tradition. Notions such as ‘Blessed are...
27 Dec Access to Freshwater and Accountability Issues in the Israel-Hamas Armed Conflict
is the external dimension of the obligation to ensure respect by other actors, its customary law status, and whether common Article 1 imposes any obligation on third parties. This external dimension has evolved over time. In its Wall Advisory Opinion, the ICJ emphasized that states, both occupying powers and third states, have a responsibility to ensure respect for Geneva Convention IV (ICJ’s Advisory Opinion on Wall (2004), para. 158) and ‘all the States parties to the Convention ‘are under an obligation, while respecting the United Nations Charter and international law,...