Search: Syria Insta-Symposium
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...
15 Jan Symposium: A Commentary on Complex Conflict Situations
in Iraq and Syria (including the genocide of the Yezidi people) and the armed interventions by the US, Russian and Turkish military, the nature of the conflict I would argue, has internationalized. The current tension with some Turkish attacks in the Kurdish areas of Iraq and Syria should surely be argued to be internationalised with the active participation of the US and Russian forces and various Syrian militant groups including ISIS. However, as Mačák has pointed out various parts of this conflict may be a NIAC and others an IAC...08 Feb Weekly News Wrap: Monday, February 8, 2016
...(Principles and Guidelines). The Republic of Congo has launched an investigation into allegations of child sexual abuse involving its troops serving as UN peacekeepers in the Central African Republic (CAR). Middle East and Northern Africa The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is ready to send ground troops to Syria as part of an international coalition to fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group, a top official has said. Foreign army soldiers who enter Syria without government consent would “return home in wooden coffins“, Syria’s Foreign Minister...14 Nov MJIL Symposium: A Response to Ramesh Thakur and Thomas Weiss by Spencer Zifcak
support for the rebel cause has waned in direct proportion to the increasing number of reports emerging from Syria of rebel atrocities. And so has support within Syria itself. If a vote were taken of Syrians now, it is by no means clear that the rebels would prevail over the regime. Professor Thakur then refers to the existence of the Sunni-Shi’a split in the country and in the region. I don’t think I missed this one but may not have made it as explicit as it should be. The tragedy...03 Jul Crimes Without Courts: A Conversation with Saad Kassis-Mohamed
...over Iraq. Syria is also not a party to the Rome Statute, and Russia and China have blocked Security Council referrals that would have granted the ICC jurisdiction over Syria. This is a structural failure of the international system – the countries most responsible for atrocities in the region have shielded themselves and their allies from ICC reach. The remaining avenues are universal jurisdiction prosecutions in third-party states – Germany has been the most active, with several convictions of ISIL members under its Code of Crimes against International Law. Sweden,...
24 Jul On Sanctions and Deregistration of Vessels: The Recent Practice of Panama
[Alonso Illueca is a lawyer and adjunct Professor of International Law at Universidad del Istmo] On July 12, 2019, Panama announced its decision to withdraw its flag from any vessel violating “sanctions and international legislation”. This decision resulted in the removal of 59 ships (mostly tankers) from Panama’s shipping fleet due to their link with the Islamic Republic of Iran (“Iran”) and the Syrian Arab Republic (“Syria”). While Panama has the right to withdraw its flag from any vessel, its practice as the State with the world’s largest shipping fleet...22 Dec Climate Change and the Syrian Civil War
Scientific American has published an article by John Wendle on how climate change has spurred the conflict in Syria. Wendle writes: Climatologists say Syria is a grim preview of what could be in store for the larger Middle East, the Mediterranean and other parts of the world. The drought, they maintain, was exacerbated by climate change. The Fertile Crescent—the birthplace of agriculture some 12,000 years ago—is drying out. Syria’s drought has destroyed crops, killed livestock and displaced as many as 1.5 million Syrian farmers. In the process, it touched off...
17 Apr Symposium on International Conflict and Security Law: A Research Handbook – International Peace through International Law
...principles of the UN Charter and escape international accountability and sanctions through using the veto, very little can be done for peace and security. Some of the P-5 not only disintegrated from “guardians of peace” to the worst aggressors, but also protected friendly countries from accountability for genocidal policies (Myanmar), war crimes (Yemen, Gaza) and crimes against humanity (Sudan, Syria). With this in mind, I would go further than Bakircioglu and explicitly demand elimination of the veto, ideally through Art. 109 Review Conference of the UN Charter. Nothing less would...
09 Sep ISIS as a Joint Criminal Enterprise Part II: The Role of Women
fighters to date merely acknowledge the individual suffering of single victims in specific instances. The JCE doctrine can be a means of acknowledging the suffering of larger victim groups. Incorporating JCE into an international tribunal or domestic legislation, would therefore also serve the interests of transitional justice for Syrians. Applying the doctrine of JCE to the genocide against the Yazidis would provide a new avenue and encouragement for charging ISIS members with counts of genocide and eventually hold all responsible individuals accountable. Most importantly, the charging of individual members of...