Search: Syria Insta-Symposium
27 Oct Lafarge on Trial: Cementing Accountability
At its core, the case raises questions of corporate power, double standards, and the pursuit of accountability for those who enable or profit from grave human rights abuses in Syria and beyond. According to the French investigating judges, Lafarge transferred via its subsidiary Lafarge Cement Syria (LCS) more than five million euros to the Islamic State (IS), the al-Nusra Front, and Ahrar al-Sham during 2013 – 2014, in order to continue running its cement factory in northeastern Syria. The upcoming criminal trial represents a turning point in the nine-year-long legal...
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,...
19 Apr Syrian Victims Alter the Justice Landscape
the 2011 uprising started in Syria, both Syrian and international actors advanced the transitional justice paradigm to accompany the hoped-for transition. When the perspective of a transition vanished, Syrian civil society continued to use the paradigm to pursue justice in a situation where impunity increasingly seems the norm. The international community did not only fail to stop the regime’s and Russia’s policies of annihilation, but it also proved to be unsuccessful to open justice avenues to prosecute crimes committed in Syria. Syrian and international civil society organizations have resisted the...25 Jun Syria and International Justice at the LSE
I will be participating in a roundtable about Syria and international justice next Monday night at the LSE. It’s free and open to the public, so I hope at least a few OJ readers will come. You can also send questions to the following hashtag: #LSESyriaICC. We will try to answer at least a few of them! Here are the event details: Syria and International Justice LSE Centre for International Studies Dialogue 30 June 2014 6.30-8pm at LSE Thai Theatre New Academic Building With a draft Security Council resolution to...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...20 May Symposium: The International Rule of Law – Defying Gravity?
of the Charter system and, in particular, the right to veto of the P5 once more. Even outside the Charter rules, prohibitions under customary international law have been weakened. State practice in relation to Libya and Syria suggests that States deviate from established obligations in relation to the prohibition of the use of force, in particular in view of the delivery of arms to Libyan and Syrian rebels. The Paris terror attacks 2015 have perhaps again decisively raised the question whether the state-centred ius ad bellum is fit to deal...