Search: Syria Insta-Symposium
17 Apr Kiobel Insta-Symposium: An Extraterritorial Cause of Action
[Anthony J. Colangelo is Associate Professor of Law at SMU Dedman School of Law.] I’ll start with a few brief points about why I believe Justice Breyer’s opinion provides a sounder approach and is more legally accurate than the Court’s opinion. Then I will critique the Court’s opinion and, in particular, its extension of a presumption against extraterritoriality to causes of action (as opposed to conduct regulating rules). First, I must say I’m sorry to see Justice Breyer’s view that “just as we have looked to established international...17 Apr Kiobel Insta-Symposium: When Can the Presumption Against Extraterritoriality Be Rebutted?
...Another might be an instance where there is US sovereign complicity in the violation outside of the territorial United States, for instance, where a US or alien subcontractor, acting under U.S. governmental authority or authorization, has violated specific, universal, and obligatory customary international law norms (e.g., Common Article III) by enhanced interrogation techniques employed against an alien plaintiff in a foreign sovereign territory. Finally, perhaps, as with piracy on the high seas, ATS claims may be possible in terra nullius circumstances, such as where acts have occurred in failed states....10 Mar Ukraine Insta-Symposium: Crimea, Ukraine and Russia: Self-Determination, Intervention and International Law
...international relations from sliding into chaos. The law is still the law, and we must follow it whether we like it or not.’ These words are those of President Putin, written a few months ago in order to prevent the US, UK and other governments from intervening in Syria. International law is crucial to the situation in the Ukraine. It is of particular relevance to the right of self-determination of the people of Crimea and whether Russia can lawfully intervene on the territory of Ukraine. The right of self-determination, as...10 Mar Ukraine Insta-Symposium: Intervention in the Ukraine by Invitation
[Gregory H. Fox is the director of the Program for International Legal Studies and Professor of Law at Wayne State University.] In the early days of the Ukrainian crisis, commentators discussed a number of possible justifications for Russian intervention in the Crimea. On Saturday, March 3, however, the Russian ambassador the UN announced the existence of a letter from Viktor Yanukovych to the President of Russia, dated March 1, requesting Russian intervention. In the letter Yanokovych purportedly described conditions of chaos in Ukraine and called on “President Vladimir...17 Apr Kiobel Insta-Symposium
We have invited several academic luminaries to post here at Opinio Juris over the next few days about the Supreme Court’s decision in Kiobel. We also are going to try something new and invite young academics to submit guests posts for possible publication. We can’t guarantee we will publish every post submitted, but we would love to broaden the discussion to include new voices. So if you want to write a guest post for Opinio Juris about Kiobel of approximately 500 to 1500 words, please do so in...01 Apr A Rejoinder to Avraham Shalev: The Colonial Nature of Israeli Claims to Palestinian Territory
...The first of these, however, was not constituted through a Resolution of the League’s Council, like Palestine. Instead, it was constituted through an international treaty, between the UK and the “State of Irak”. Mandatory Iraq, in fact, had a King, Faisal I, and Article 1 of the Treaty of Alliance his government signed with the British was signed “without prejudice to her national sovereignty”. Similarly, the Mandate for Syria and Lebanon established that “[t]he Mandatory shall further enact measures to facilitate the progressive development of Syria and the Lebanon as...01 Jun Weekday News Wrap: Friday, June 1, 2012
Syria has claimed that anti-government forces carried out the massacre in Houla in order to spur other nations into intervening. The UN and other nations have expressed concern that Syria is on the brink of a sectarian civil war. Russia and the US have been trading accusations about the situation in Syria. Anne-Marie Slaughter at FP posits that Syria is not a problem from hell…but if we don’t act quickly, it will be. A Syrian rebel group is claiming to hold 11 Lebanese pilgrims kidnapped in Syria on May 22....14 Sep Weekly News Wrap: Monday, September 14, 2015
...clashed at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque compound for a second straight day on Monday, prompting several arrests. British Prime Minister David Cameron is visiting Lebanon to meet with refugees from the war in neighbouring Syria, Lebanese media reported. Turkish authorities have reimposed a curfew in the southeastern city of Cizre a day after it was lifted, saying they will use the curfew to arrest suspected Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) fighters. Russia will continue its military support of Syria, including sending personnel to the embattled country, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was quoted...
04 Dec UNSC Veto Power Symposium: Reply to Professors Jalloh and Tladi
...even these measures are blocked, it is difficult to claim that the blocking Security Council member(s) are working toward the Council fulfilling its Charter mandate to maintain international peace and security while respecting human rights and international law. I do not believe that I give “short shrift” to the General Assembly sometimes being able to act when the Security Council is blocked, as Professor Tladi claims. I acknowledge, for instance, the General Assembly’s creating the investigative mechanism for Syria known as the IIIM after veto of the referral of the...
05 Oct Trump vs. International Law: Unilateral Use of Force
...international law-related themes in his chapter on “America’s War” that I wish to comment on. The first theme is that States have the right, under existing international law (and due to policy considerations), to use force in self-defence, collective or individual, against non-state actors in the territory of third states without the third states’ consent. For example, he notes that as “a matter of international law” the US use force against ISIS in Syria was not based on Syria’s consent “but rather in collective self-defence”. The second theme is that...