Search: Symposium on the Functional Approach to the Law of Occupation
12 Jul Intervention in Civil Wars Symposium: The Importance (and Limitations) of Legitimacy During Foreign Intervention in Civil Wars
[ John Hursh is a lawyer, writer, and researcher focusing on the use of force, human rights, and international humanitarian law. He served as Director of Research at the Stockton Center for International Law and Editor-in-Chief of International Law Studies at the U.S. Naval War College from 2017 to 2020.] “It can be difficult to write something interesting about something one agrees with.” So wrote Timothy Waters when reviewing Mark Drumbl’s excellent book Atrocity, Punishment, and International Law (CUP, 2007). I find myself reaching the same conclusion after reading Chiara Redaelli’s also...
24 Mar The Potential of Gender Persecution in ICC Case Abd-Al-Rahman: A Twofold Opportunity to Interpret its Customary Status and Intersectional Discrimination
provision. Non-discrimination is, additionally, a fundamental ‘principle’ of international law legally binding for the Court as a source of law (article 21(1)(b)). The importance of non-discrimination in international law is reflected in the place accorded to this principle, recognized in the chapeau of all IHRL instruments (e.g. article 2 of the international covenants, here and here), leaving little doubt about its customary status. As Judge Pikis noted in his separate opinion in Lubanga (para 3), the extent to which a norm is ‘incorporated in international instruments denotes comprehensive assent to...10 Jun Who is the “Sovereign” in Sovereign Debt? – A Response to Tai-Heng Cheng and Mark Weisburd
Taft to decide whether or not the law on the books should be carefully applied to a (dictatorial) government in the same way that it would be applied to a lowly private company. It is unlikely that the Tinoco regime considered itself equally bound by its own laws (or even paid them close attention) in agreeing to this contractual provision. Furthermore, earlier theoretical approaches consider the sovereign government to be ‘above the law,’ even in a law-abiding polity. Had Taft adopted this latter statist or absolutist approach, in which local...18 Feb Sarah Cleveland Defends the “Obama-Clinton” Approach to International Law
I had the good fortune of participating in a symposium last week sponsored by the University of Virginia Law School’s John Bassett Moore Society. Entitled “The Obama Impact”, the symposium explored the impact of the new administration on international law and policy. I have already shared my views on this subject here and I took the opportunity during my visit to rebut the United Nations’ claim to “indispensability.” But the main action at the symposium was the keynote address by Sarah Cleveland, Counselor on International Law in the U.S. State...
02 Apr COVID-19 Symposium: A Time to Kill ‘Business as Usual’–Centring Human Rights in a Frustrated Economy (Part 2)
[ Tara Van Ho is a Lecturer at the School of Law at the University of Essex. ] In the first part, I set out how ‘business as usual’ with regard to shareholder primacy has exacerbated human rights concerns associated with COVID-19. In this post, I want to set out a path forward for a more sustainable and appropriate approach. Before I do, I want to briefly address the title of these posts. Over 21,000 people have died from the COVID-19. Talking about killing anything or anyone during this time...06 Aug Libya’s Flexible Approach to Time
...is moving forward; there is indeed nothing in the Rome Statute that requires a state to put domestic proceedings on hold while it challenges admissibility. The problem is that Libya has made it all too clear that it has no intention of ever turning Al-Senussi over to the ICC — even if the Appeals Chambers orders it to. That said, although I agree with the substance of Libya’s reply, I can’t help but marvel at its rather flexible approach to time. As Libya acknowledges, despite having nearly a month to...
11 Feb The Charter of the Board of Peace: A Dubious Legal Personality and a Regressive Peacebuilding Mandate Unbound by Law
BoP is actually an IO under international law as the Charter claims it to be, or whether it is merely a form of institutionalised cooperation incapable of enjoying legal personality. The question of legal personality is of great significance because the BoP’s Charter sets out a damaging and regressive approach to peacebuilding. To what extent this approach is subject to international law and how responsibility for internationally wrongful acts would accrue depends centrally on whether or not the BoP enjoys international legal personality as an IO. Constituent Instrument: The Charter...11 Jun Does Affiliation with Al Qaeda Make One an “Enemy Combatant”? No, Says U.S. Court of Appeals
...U.S. military has essentially no role to play in detaining alleged terrorists who are within the United States (outside is another matter, but that may be eventually shot down as well). I am beginning to think that the law enforcement approach is more practical and attractive. I don’t think, however, that Congress or the President agree with this approach and I doubt that the law enforcement approach is constitutionally required. *UPDATE: For a more detailed and thoughtful analysis along the same lines as this post, see Orin Kerr’s analysis here....
02 Jul The Use of Benchmarks in the Colombia Situation: An Opportunity for a Victim-Oriented Approach to ICC Complementarity
[Alejandra Muñoz is an International Legal Advisor with a Colombian lawyers’ collective, ”Colectivo de Abogados José Alvear Restrepo (CAJAR)’] In February this year, the long awaited first voluntary statement rendered by Colombian army general Mario Montoya Uribe before the country’s Special Jurisdiction for Peace (SJP) sparked a great deal of frustration and disappointment among victims. After refusing to speak entirely on the first day, his declarations on the second day not only failed to contribute in any manner to establishing the truth on the more than 2000 extrajudicial executions of...
03 Oct The Attack on the MSF Trauma Center in Kunduz and the Limitations of a Risk-based Approach to War Crimes Characterization (Part 2)
[Brian L. Cox is an adjunct professor of law at Cornell Law School, a visiting scholar at Queen’s Law, and a retired U.S. Army judge advocate. This two-part post commemorating the five-year anniversary of the Kunduz strike is part of a larger cross-blog collaboration with Just Security, Lawfire and the Harvard International Law Journal Online. You can find links to the other posts below.] Part 1 of this post focuses on two main Opinio Juris posts that were published soon after the official Kunduz airstrike was released to the public...