Search: Syria Insta-Symposium
21 Aug President Obama Adopts the Bush Doctrine in Threatening Force Against Syria
used to threaten it, is a key part of the Bush Doctrine. It is fascinating, and telling, that there is no concern in President Obama’s comments, or in the article, about the tenuous international legal basis for such an action against Syria. Certainly, there would be no UNSC authorization in this case. And yet I doubt there will be much grousing about legality in the NYT or Washington Post if there was an intervention in Syria. Which suggests that there might be an emerging bipartisan consensus here in the US...07 Sep Obama’s Bizarre New Theory of Customary International Law
As readers of the blog no doubt know, Syria is is one of seven states that have not ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC). (The others are Angola, Egypt, Israel, Myanmar, North Korea, and South Sudan.) To consider Syria’s use of chemical weapons as a rationale for attacking the country, the USG obviously needs to assume that the use of such weapons is prohibited by customary international law. I have no doubt that they are; after all, the CWC has been ratified by 96% of the world’s states, and nearly...07 Mar Co-Opting Universal Jurisdiction? A Gendered Critique of the Prosecutorial Strategy of the German Federal Public Prosecutor in Response to the Return of Female ISIL Members: Part I
...held in detention facilities in Iraq and Syria. The lack of a coherent and appropriate policy, one reflective with respect to the gender dimensions of the response to returning fighters, is especially pressing when it comes women and children. Four per cent of all recorded returnees from Iraq and Syria are women and these women constitute only five per cent of women who travelled to the conflict zones, meaning the majority are not returning. In Northeast Syria alone, the Autonomous Administration is holding 790 foreign ISIL fighters, 584 women and...
07 May Reassuring the Inviolability of Diplomatic Premises: Worrying Trends from Ecuador to Syria
...intentional commission of a “violent attack upon the official premises, the private accommodation or the means of transport of an internationally protected person likely to endanger his person or liberty,” regardless of where that attack takes place. Despite the presence of objectionable characters therein, the consular building which Israel hit housed the residence of Iran’s ambassador to Syria on its top two floors. A nonconsensual Israeli air strike on Syrian territory also contravenes the UN Charter’s Article 2(4) prohibition on the use of force in interstate relations, subject to Security...07 Dec Would Syria’s Use of Chemical Weapons Change the Legality of U.S. Intervention?
The U.S. government has been making all sorts of official and unofficial threats to act if the Syrian government uses chemical weapons in its ongoing civil war. (CBS News) Whether the U.S. enters the war in Syria appears to be up to the dictator Bashir al-Assad. On Monday, CBS News reported the Assad regime had given orders to prepare chemical weapons for possible use to put down the revolt that has been raging for more than a year and a half. President Obama said use of these weapons of mass...24 Aug President Obama Cites International Law as Limitation on U.S. Response to Syria’s Chemical Weapons Attack
As regular readers may recall, I am skeptical that the use of chemical weapons, by itself, can justify the use of military force under current international law absent authorization from the U.N. Security Council. Of course, I wouldn’t oppose the use of military force by the U.S. to stop the use of chemical weapons in Syria, I just doubt its legality under international law. More importantly, so does President Obama. Although reports are out suggesting the U.S. is preparing to launch cruise missiles into Syria, President Obama also told CNN...
01 Oct Unlocking the Road to Justice in Syria
allowed domestic courts in a number of countries hosting Syrian refugees to prosecute crimes committed in Syria. These efforts led to, for instance, the conviction of two former Syrian intelligence officials in the first ever trial on Syrian state torture, the al-Khatib trial, in Koblenz, Germany. This created a strong momentum for international criminal justice efforts. While highlighting the horror of the Syrian prison system or gulag, it has also triggered vivid debates within Syria’s civil society about the meaning and limits of prosecuting and trying a handful of midlevel...01 Apr A Response to Alonso Gurmendi: The ICJ Must Consider Israel’s Legal Rights to the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem
...for Palestine, whose primary object was the reconstitution of the Jewish national home in that territory. The Lausanne Treaty did not include provisions on Palestine, Syria and Mesopotamia as these articles had become moot in the interim. France had been selected as Mandatory for Syria and Lebanon, and Great Britain the Mandatory for Mesopotamia, with the Mandates coming into force in September 1923. The draft Mandate for Palestine was submitted for League of Nation’s approval in December 1920, approved in July 1922, and came into force in September 1923. The...
08 Jan Three Lingering Questions about the Legality of Withdrawal from Syria: Part II – Duty to Ensure Respect & Releasing ISIS Detainees
Obligations End? Prior to the U.S.’ decision to withdraw its forces from Syria, commentators, including the UN Human Rights Council’s Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic, had observed that under Common Article 1 of the Geneva Conventions, States had a “duty to ensure respect for IHL” by the non-State actors with whom they were collaborating. At least one commentator noted as much in the context of U.S. collaboration with Kurdish forces in the fight against ISIS specifically. As a result of this relationship, the U.S. was...
24 Jun Addressing the Islamic State’s Genocide Against the Yezidi at the Belgian Parliament
Syria” (“ISIS”), the “Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant” (“ISIL”), “Da’esh,” and “Daesh”) has committed genocide against the Yezidis (also sometimes spelled “Yazidis”). The Islamic State’s atrocity crimes against the Yezidis are summarized in the Belgian Parliament’s resolution and well-documented in numerous reports by: UN agencies (including the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic and the UN Investigative Team to Promote Accountability for Crimes Committed by Da’esh/Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant), NGOs (including Human Rights Watch here, here, here, here, here, here, here,...