Search: Symposium on the Functional Approach to the Law of Occupation
03 Oct Guest Post: The International Law Case for Democracy in Hong Kong
of the Drafting of the Basic Law 13(2001). On Xiao see Jimmy Cheung, Basic Law ‘Guardian’ Dies at 78, S. China Morning Post (H.K.), Jul. 16, 2004.) Nor does the text of the Basic Law support Qiang’s argument; the Preamble to the Basic Law states that it was enacted “to ensure the implementation of the basic policies of the [PRC] regarding Hong Kong.” The “basic policies” referred to could only be those set out in Article 3 of, and Annex I to, the Joint Declaration. Implications for the Electoral Reform...24 Nov A Super-Practical Question re Administrative Detention and Human Rights Law
...to the facile simplicity of try-or-release – starting with the question of where this simple mandate arises in human rights law except as what those who regard themselves as “owning” this body of law and its interpretation have concluded is the best on-going policy and assert it as law, a sort of blank check drawn upon the categorical imperative: I would be the last to deny the purity of ‘try-or-release’. So far as I could tell, no substantive part of the State Department’s rather reasonable, lawyerly critique showed up in...08 Apr Let’s Call Killing al-Awlaki What It Is — Murder
not apply. The first is that, if al-Awlaki were killed on the battlefield — i.e., during an armed conflict — US criminal law, including 18 USC 1119, would be displaced by international humanitarian law (IHL). That might be the case, for example, if an American CIA operative killed al-Awlaki in Afghanistan, which qualifies as an international armed conflict. Even in such a situation, however, IHL would protect a CIA operative only if he qualified as a lawful combatant. If he qualified as a lawful combatant, he would possess a combatant’s...
25 Feb The Nature and Implications of Israeli Occupation of the Palestinian Territory: Part II
and Syria in 1967, that issue determines whether Israel’s occupation could ever be deemed lawful, as that was the context in which the occupation first arose. If the onset of the occupation in 1967 was not a lawful measure of self-defense, then there is no situation in which the occupation could ever be deemed lawful under the jus ad bellum. By contrast, however, if the onset of the occupation was originally justified as part of a defensive response by Israel to Egyptian and Jordanian aggression, then the legality of the...
03 May Beyond Territoriality: Symposium on Jurisdictional “Hooks” for (Extraterritorial) Human Rights Obligations – Back to the Drawing Board: Debordering Human Rights Law
human rights law, away from Eurocentrism and approaches that mainly serve the Global North, and back to the idea of human rights as truly universal rights, to be realised through solidarity and global obligations, as proposed by Gibney and Skogly, Pribytkova, Salomon and Skogly. Key Principles for Debordering Human Rights Law Five key principles must inform a debordering redraw of human rights law. First of all, a plurality of duty-bearers, beyond the territorial state, needs to be recognized, in particular but not exclusively foreign states. Second, a diversity of duty-bearers,...
22 Apr The Underexplored Obligation under International Human Rights Law to Avert the Risks of War
the law of armed conflicts are deemed violations of international human rights law). This is in line with the ICJ’s Nuclear Weapons Advisory Opinion in 1996 that the content of the right to life in armed conflict should be determined by reference to the law of armed conflicts. Occasionally, one can see commentary that discusses international human rights law also by reference to jus contra bellum (events violating jus contra bellum, i.e. the aggressive use of force, are also deemed violations of international human rights law). This is in line...26 Aug The Legality of a Syrian Military Intervention: Russia, France, and the UK Weigh In
...of civilians (protected by international law and the principles of humanity derived from established customs and the dictates of public conscience) trump the policies of non-intervention or does non-intervention trump the protection of civilians, protected also by international law? In other words; In international law does the rule of law protect states or people first? If it is states then there is no argument against protecting a state for namesake. Or if the answer is the people then there should be no problem intervening for the benefit of the people....
23 Sep The RBG Legacy: Equality and Inspiration
own communities rather than institutions, with undue institutionalisation amounting to disability discrimination. Ginsburg’s experience as a legal researcher and law professor took her to explore other jurisdictions, such as Sweden, China, and Taiwan. Ginsburg was open to looking beyond the US to the laws of other states, and criticised US lawyers for not using foreign or international legal developments in their arguments before the Supreme Court because this lacuna minimised the influence of international and foreign law on Supreme Court decisions. RBG considered that evaluation of foreign and international law...26 Jul International Law in the U.S. Supreme Court: The Antelope and Other Mysteries
It is a pleasure to hold International Law in the U.S. Supreme Court in my hands and flip through its pages. It is a volume that I have long wished for – a comprehensive reference book, in the pages of which one can be confident of finding an intelligent summary all the major Supreme Court cases from any given era. I imagine that any lawyer litigating a case involving international law in the Supreme Court will want it handy in the early stages of briefing. Law student writing research papers...16 Jan Comment on Simon Chesterman, `Asia’s Ambivalence about International Law and Institutions: Past, Present and Futures’
on his separate opinion in Gabcikovo-Nagymaros Project (Hungary/Slovakia) (.pdf)) or on non-state actors in Asia. (For example, see Balakrishnan Rajagopal, `The Role of Law in Counter-hegemonic Globalization and Global Legal Pluralism: Lessons from the Narmada Valley Struggle in India’, Leiden Journal of International Law 18(2005) pp. 345-387 and Prabhakar Singh, `Indian International Law: From a Colonized Apologist to Subaltern Protagonist’, Leiden Journal of International Law, vol 23 (1), March 2010, pp. 79-103.) History suggest that states that wield great power develop imperial tendencies. International law as it is currently configured...