Search: Syria Insta-Symposium
04 Dec UNSC Veto Power Symposium: Reply to Professors Sterio and Clark, and Dr. McDougall
...by the duty (see the Bosnia v. Serbia Case, paras. 430–31). While I largely agree with Dr. McDougall’s statement that: “I do not believe [this duty] would be applicable to the situation in Syria,” that is beside the point. The book expressly notes the allegations of genocide in Syria relate to crimes against the Yazidis (p. 44; Chapter 5.1.3.5). The relevant arguments related to most crimes in Syria are those pertaining to war crimes and crimes against humanity. My book also discusses the situation in Myanmar, where the Genocide Convention...26 Nov Syria Avoids Security Council Sanctions, Agrees to Cooperate in Hariri Investigation
Syria has agreed to comply with the demands of Security Council resolution 1636 and will cooperate with the Hariri investigation by allowing five Syrian government officials to be interviewed in UN offices in Vienna. This ends, for now, the Syrian stalemate with the Council, and avoids a follow on resolution that would likely have slapped sanctions against Syria. The progress of the Mehlis team investigating the Hariri murder and the Security Council’s robust response is significant, fairly rebutting Julian’s view that UN investigations tend to produce “muddy, often useless conclusions.”...
21 Aug Al-Hol Camp: Closure, Security Implications, and the Legal Obligations of States and the International Community
[Fadel Abdulghany is executive director of the Syrian Network for Human Rights and author of The Use of Chemical Weapons in Syria and the Failure of the International Community and Undermining the Independence of the Judiciary in Syria and Pathways to Its Reform.] For six years, Al-Hol camp in northeastern Syria was the world’s largest and most troubled detention site linked to the Islamic State and the most turbulent in the world. At its peak, it held some 73,000 people. By late 2025, the population had fallen to roughly 25,000,...06 Apr Question on 2007 Strike Against Syria and Anticipatory Self-Defense
...that link doesn’t work] — there has been virtual silence from the international community about the 2007 strike on the Syrian nuclear facility at al-Kibar. Is that account accurate? I assume that because Israel has never acknowledged its purported involvement, it has also never offered an international law defense of the operation. (True?) Is it also the case that virtually no other nations have said anything one way or the other about its legality? If so, what, if anything, does the 2007 operation portend for the development of the law...31 May Syria War Crimes Accountability Act — Now Revised!
Last month, I blogged about the Syria War Crimes Accountability Act of 2017, a bipartisan Senate bill “[t]o require a report on, and to authorize technical assistance for, accountability for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide in Syria.” I praised the bill, but pointed out that Section 7(a) was drafted in such a way that it permitted the US to provide technical assistance to entities investigating international crimes committed by pro-Assad forces and “violent extremist groups,” but did not permit the US to support entities investigating international crimes committed...
24 Apr Symposium: The Responsibility to Protect in Libya and Syria–Reflections
[Yasmine Nahlawi is an independent researcher specialising in R2P and its applicability to the Syrian and Libyan conflicts. She holds a PhD in Public International Law from Newcastle University, LLM in International Legal Studies from Newcastle University, and BSc in Political Science from Eastern Michigan University.] I would like to begin my response post by expressing my deepest gratitude to the distinguished reviewers of my book, Shannon Raj Singh, Anjali Manivannan, and Jessica Peake, for bringing in their diverse and insightful perspectives while reviewing ‘The Responsibility to Protect in Libya...10 Mar The Growing Tension Surrounding Humanitarian Intervention in Syria
[Claude Bruderlein is the director of the Harvard Program on Humanitarian Policy and Conflict Research] The deteriorating security situation in Syria has had dramatic consequences on the civilian population. While the international community debates different ways to respond to the violence against civilians and the rising humanitarian needs, a growing tension has emerged around the means and methods to provide humanitarian protection. On the one hand, protagonists of traditional humanitarian access, such as the ICRC, hope to establish consensual arrangements to provide relief to populations in need on the basis...28 Jun That Syria War Power Debate, Continued
Cross-posted at Balkinization If, as I argued earlier this week, the 2001 AUMF passed by Congress cannot be read to authorize the growing set of U.S. military actions against Syrian and Iranian forces in Syria, does the President’s Article II power standing alone support these strikes? The best articulated argument I’ve seen that the President has the Article II power to attack Syrian aircraft (or Iranian drones or any non-ISIS force in Syria) in the interest of defending U.S.-allied Syrian government rebels goes something like this. The President surely has...
28 Jul Transnational ne bis in idem for Corporate Involvement in International Crimes: The Lafarge Proceedings in the U.S. and France
involved in atrocity. In France, the defendant corporation Lafarge and several of its executives are under investigation for criminal charges that include financing of a terrorist enterprise, complicity in crimes against humanity, and endangering the lives of others (‘the French Proceedings’). Meanwhile in the U.S, in a criminal plea deal with the Department of Justice on 18 October 2022, Lafarge and its Syrian subsidiary Lafarge Cement Syria (‘LCS’) admitted to entering into business arrangements with ISIL and ANF. On this basis, Lafarge and LCS agreed to pay a financial penalty...27 Sep HILJ Symposium: Ozan Varol Responds
[Ozan Varol is Assistant Professor of Law at Lewis & Clark Law School.] This post is part of the Harvard International Law Journal Volume 53(2) symposium. Other posts in this series can be found in the related posts below. I would like to thank David Landau, William Partlett, Brad Roth, and Joel Colón-Ríos for their kind words and insightful comments about my article, The Democratic Coup d’Etat, 53 Harv. Int’l L.J. 291 (2012). These scholars have been instrumental in enhancing our knowledge of constitutional transitions, and I very much appreciate...