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...06 Nov A Friendly Request for Paul Clement, the Solicitor General, and the Supreme Court — Please read up on what it means to sign a treaty!
...Convention with those who did not sign it. And just when you think the argument’s over and they can’t make any more mistakes, Paul Clement offers up this: Now, the government says you can’t do that because that’s going to mess up what’s going on in Syria. With all due respect, I assume that the issue in Syria is whether or not the nation state of Syria is doing something that would violate the convention if, contrary to fact, they were a signatory to this convention.” (emphasis added) Well, as...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...
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...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...
24 Jan International Law’s Invisible Frames Symposium: A Call for Critical Self-Reflection
Introduction to the Symposium on Andrea Bianchi and Moshe Hirsch (eds), International Law’s Invisible Frames: Social Cognition and Knowledge Production in International Legal Processes (OUP 2021) [Alexandra Hofer is an assistant professor in public international law at Utrecht University and affiliated researcher at the Ghent Rolin-Jaequemyns International Law Institute (GRILI)] In their thought-triggering project, Andrea Bianchi and Moshe Hirsch bring together sixteen chapters that, each in their own way, aspire to reveal international law’s invisible frames. The editors define frames as “mental patterns, such as patterns of attention, language, metaphors,...19 Jun CfP: OJ Symposium on Virtual Learning and Critical Pedagogy
I want to call readers’ attention to an upcoming Opinio Juris symposium that is being organized by two fantastic young critical international law scholars, Mohsen al Attar (Warwick) and Rohini Sen (O.P. Jindal). They are looking for a few more contributions, per the Call for Papers — really a Call for Posts — below. Note that they would like to hear from interested scholars by June 26. The Mode of Delivery is the Message Critical International Legal Pedagogy in a Virtual Learning Climate Critical approaches to international legal pedagogy germinated...
31 Aug Introduction to the Symposium on Visual Investigations: Best Practice in Collaboration and Community-led Approaches
...that Opinio Juris is hosting a symposium on our frontline work over the past year – 2025 – 2026. We curated these articles to reflect upon the emergence of new collaborations and strategies within visual investigations, particularly from the Global Majority. Our symposium consists of a series of blogs authored by WITNESS colleagues, community partners, and collaborators, highlighting the development of tools and techniques that have significantly enhanced community-led approaches to accountability. These approaches include using LLMs for audiovisual analysis, community-based visual investigations, and owned digital archives documenting state violence,...
07 Feb Key Takeaways from the Symposium by GQUAL on CEDAW’s GR40: Charting the Path to Women’s Equal Representation
been an honor to co-organize this symposium with Opinio Juris, guided by our belief that open dialogue and collective reflection are vital to advancing women’s equal leadership. In this concluding post, we aim to highlight key insights from the rich contributions and chart a hopeful path for action. Despite Progress, Gender Equality in International Leadership is Still Several Glass Ceilings Away The symposium makes it undeniable that the underrepresentation of women in international spaces remains a systemic issue across key fields such as international justice, peace and security, climate negotiations,...
19 Oct Joint Symposium with Armed Groups and International Law on Compliance in Armed Conflict
Over the coming week, along with Armed Groups and International Law, we are thrilled to co-host a symposium on Compliance in Armed Conflict: New Avenues to Generate Respect for Humanitarian Norms. Scholars and practitioners who will be weighing in include: Ezequiel Heffes and Ioana Cismas (co-organizers of the symposium), Emiliano Buis, Katharine Fortin, Hyeran Jo, Fiona Terry, Ahmed Al-Dawoody, Jonathan Zaragoza, Yolvi Padilla, Chris Rush, Mohamed Assaleh, Louise Sloan, Ibrahim Salama, Michael Wiener, Nontando Hadebe, Annyssa Bellal, Pascal Bongard, Melina Fidelis-Tzourou, Anki Sjöberg and Anne Schintgen. As this is a co-hosted...