Search: Syria Insta-Symposium
06 Feb AJIL Symposium: Comment on “The Travaux of Travaux: Is the Vienna Convention Hostile to Drafting History?”
[Richard Gardiner is a Visiting Professor at University College London, Faculty of Laws] The article which this symposium addresses is important, timely, and elegant. It is an important study because it examines one of the most common misunderstandings about the VCLT provisions on the role of preparatory work in treaty interpretation. It lays to rest the mistaken idea that an interpreter may only consider preparatory work if interpretation of a treaty provision by applying the general rule reveals ambiguity or obscurity, or leads to a result which is manifestly absurd...04 Apr HILJ Online Symposium: Hague Peace Conference Courts v. The Universe of International Courts
[Karen J. Alter is a Professor of Political Science and Law at Northwestern University. Alter’s most recent book is The New Terrain of International Law: Courts, Politics, Rights (Princeton University Press, 2014).] This post is part of the HILJ Online Symposium: Volumes 54(2) & 55(1). Other posts in this series can be found in the related posts below. Suzanne Katzenstein’s article is a very welcome systematic investigation of the Hague era and post-Cold War proposals to generate international courts (“ICs”). Katzenstein puts her finger on a serious problem in the...29 May VJIL Symposium: Adil Ahmad Haque Comments on “Moral Judgments & International Crimes”
[Adil Ahmad Haque is an Associate Professor of Law at the Rutgers School of Law-Newark.] This post is part of the Virginia Journal of International Law/Opinio Juris Symposium, Volume 52, Issue 3. Other posts in this series can be found in the related posts below. I want thank Andrew Woods, the Virginia Journal of International Law, and Opinio Juris for the opportunity to respond to such a rich and provocative Article. I could probably write 600 words on any single section of Andrew’s paper, but for present purposes I’ll confine...
15 Sep Transitional Justice Symposium: Giving Politics Its Due–Late Reflections on Ruti Teitel’s Transitional Justice
...ground’. For them, what Max Weber famously called an ‘ethics of responsibility’ – concerned with the consequences of political actions – was a crucial element of the real politics of transitional justice. Teitel’s work – and particularly the book to which this symposium is dedicated – belongs, I would argue, to this (sometimes forgotten) intellectual tradition. While firmly committed to ideals of justice and legality, Ruti’s work is characterised by a sense of political realism that unambiguously recognises and critically engages with the role of politics in constraining, enabling and...09 Oct LJIL Symposium Vol 25-3: Wording in International Law: Not really a ‘hen house’: dynamics of competition amidst fears of oblivion
[ Francesco Messineo is a Lecturer in Law, Kent Law School, Canterbury (UK).] This post is part of the Leiden Journal of International Law Vol 25-3 symposium. Other posts in this series can be found in the related posts below. Unless international lawyers get their act together and agree on the basic meaning of the key terms in their discipline, says Jean d’Aspremont, observers (and, crucially, funders) may suddenly realize that the profession is really no more than an ‘expensive debating club’ – often funded by the taxpayer – ‘in...
25 Aug Rohingya Symposium: The Rohingya Cases before International Courts and the Crime of Genocide
[Melanie O’Brien is Senior Lecturer in International Law at the University of Western Australia, and Second Vice-President of the International Association of Genocide Scholars.] As part of the Opinio Juris symposium, “The impact and implications of International law: Myanmar and the Rohingya”, this post looks at the potential impact and implications of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and International Criminal Court (ICC) cases on the crime of genocide. Is there anything specific about the Rohingya cases in these two courts that may in some way develop the definition of...
23 Aug Symposium on Informers Up Close: Journeys – Engaging with Informers Up Close
...entire project. And now these themes indeed suffuse this symposium in that they resonate through the words of all four commentators Our book bobs and weaves between academic writing and journalistic exposition. Academic hangovers compel us to define and delimit. Halfway through the project, once the empirical research in the archives was complete, and our file-stories drafted, we hit a point of inflection. Should we just stop there? Should we simply publish the file-stories, with modest historical background to situate the reader in Communist Czechoslovakia, and leave the rest unspoken?...21 Oct Book Symposium: The Electronic Silk Road by Anupam Chander
This week, we are pleased to host a symposium on The Electronic Silk Road (Yale University Press) by Anupam Chander (UC Davis). The publisher’s description is: On the ancient Silk Road, treasure-laden caravans made their arduous way through deserts and mountain passes, establishing trade between Asia and the civilizations of Europe and the Mediterranean. Today’s electronic Silk Roads ferry information across continents, enabling individuals and corporations anywhere to provide or receive services without obtaining a visa. But the legal infrastructure for such trade is yet rudimentary and uncertain. If an...
31 Aug Symposium on Myanmar and International Indifference: Rethinking Accountability – Centering Accountability in Asia: Universal Jurisdiction, Grave Breaches, and Cautious Optimism
[Jennifer Keene-McCann is a Senior Legal Fellow at the Asia Justice Coalition and is based in Naarm/Melbourne, Australia. Aakash Chandran is a Fellow at the Asia Justice Coalition and is based in New Delhi, India.] This third Opinio Juris symposium relating to crimes against the Rohingya marks another difficult anniversary. Its theme, ‘Myanmar and International Indifference: Rethinking Accountability’, evokes a call to keep approaches to international justice fresh, creative, and most importantly relevant to the needs of survivors. This includes continually searching and testing new avenues for justice. Over the...29 May VJIL Symposium: Comment – Second Party and Third Party Punishment
[Jonathan Baron is Professor of Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania.] This post is part of the Virginia Journal of International Law/Opinio Juris Symposium, Volume 52, Issue 3. Other posts in this series can be found in the related posts below. Thank you to the Virginia Journal of International Law for inviting me to participate and to Opinio Juris for hosting this discussion. I found this Article to be interesting and informative. It all makes sense to me, and I have no major criticisms. I would like to mention a...