Search: Syria Insta-Symposium

[Harold Hongju Koh is Sterling Professor of International Law at Yale Law School. This post is a response to the recent Trump Administration and International Law Symposium hosted on Opinio Juris.] Can international law save itself from Donald Trump? Since Election Night 2016, that question has haunted me across many issue areas. Professor Craig Martin and the Washburn Law Journal editors generously invited me to offer an initial answer in their recently published symposium issue in an article entitled “The Trump Administration and International Law.” As I prepare my book-length...

situation in the West Bank from the Sinai Peninsula, which Israel withdrew from following the peace treaty with Egypt, and the Golan Heights, from which Israel might decide to withdraw from following the conclusion of a peace treaty with Syria. The West Bank is different, so the argument goes, as no state had sovereignty over it before to 1967, in contrast to the Sinai Peninsula and the Golan Heights, where Egypt and Syria had sovereignty. Accordingly, Israel can stay in the West Bank without having to annex it. One of...

Libya, see, e.g., http://ssrn.com/abstract=2061835 The war in Iraq and Syria is an IAC against an insurgent (ISIS) in at least two states and it is permissible re: U.S. et al. attacks on ISIS under U.N. Charter, art. 51 -- collective self-defense with the consent of the govt. of Iraq. Kumar Firstly, coalition forces have been bombing and hitting IS targets in Syria and Iraq for quite some time. Secondly, Article V is subject to the provisions of the UN Charter. Till date none of the coalition partners or Russia or...

Syria has rejected the bid from the Arab League offering an exit for President Al-Assad. Syria has warned of a chemical attack on invaders, according to Al Jazeera. Reuters reports that the West has warned Syria about their use. Foreign Policy analyzes the origin of the confusion surrounding whether and how Syria has threatened to use these weapons. Foreign Policy also offers a context piece entitled The Fog of Civil War, giving more insight into the complicated ongoing conflict. World markets have plummeted amid Eurozone fears, though Italian Prime Minister...

...transitional justice processes for Israel/Palestine, and students will present papers based on their research during the workshop. The conference program available here. For further information please contact minerva@tauex.tau.ac.il. The Rethink Rebuild Society in Manchester will hold a conference on October 17: ‘ Syrian Conflict in Regional Crises: Complications, Implications, and the Way Forward ’ . This conference represents a critical forum through which policy makers, NGOs, academics and activists can together identify and discuss the most appropriate British domestic and international policy towards Syria in light of current research and...

characterisations where the right case presents itself. This is also true in relation to cases against other actors in the Syrian conflict. For example, a court conducting proceedings against intelligence officers Anwar R. and Eyad A. in the first trial related to torture in Syrian Regime detention has heard evidence (see day 45) of sexual violence as a facet of the torture inflicted on detainees in Syrian prisons. Legal representatives of the victims have filed a motion to have ordinary sexual offence charges recharacterized as crimes against humanity. Prosecutors may...

[Thomas G Weiss is a Presidential Professor of Political Science at The CUNY Graduate Center and Director of the Ralph Bunche Institute for International Studies] This post is part of the MJIL 13(1) Symposium. Other posts in this series can be found in the related posts below. Professor Spencer Zifcak’s article on the international reactions to Libya and Syria is thorough and thoughtful, and well worth reading for the treasure trove of documentation. But I was frankly surprised by his unsurprising conclusion that ‘judgments as to whether and when to...

Syrian Prime Minister Riyad Hijab has defected from what he terms the “terrorist regime” of President Bashar al-Assad, while violence rages on in Aleppo. IPS offers an insight into what these high-level defections mean for Syria’s future. Syria is also losing support of its ally Iran, whose Foreign Minister will visit Turkey today to discuss the situation in Syria and the capture of Iranian nationals. Hilary Clinton is visiting South Africa, where Syria will also be on the agenda. Also in South Africa, former Irish President and former UN High...

...(par. 228), and that economic sanctions are not covered by prohibited intervention (par. 245). Kohen provides a few other examples (at 161, another article of relevance can be found here), but the spectrum of policy measures that have been considered as part of R2P is very diverse. Does the prohibition of intervention prohibit the setting up of ‘safe zones along the Turkish-Syria and Jordan-Syria border with humanitarian corridors leading up to them’, as proposed by some European politicians? Does it prohibit support to NGOs who campaign for freedom? Does it...

Syria’s president Al-Assad has praised the government forces, but is keeping a low profile. US president Obama has signed a secret order to provide support to rebel forces in Syria. A video has emerged of men, allegedly loyal to the Syrian regime, being lined up in Aleppo being shot point-blank by rebel forces. In a recent report, Amnesty International has accused members of Syria’s government of committing crimes against humanity in the current conflict. Reuters offers an analysis proffering that there is no good outcome to the conflict in Syria...

I agree with Jens’ excellent post on the importance of the “unwilling or unable” standard to the US justification for legal strikes on non-state actors in Syria. I agree this action may reveal state practice supporting (or rejecting) this legal justification. I am curious whether the UK, France, or other states that may be participating in Syria strikes will embrace this theory. (I already know the Russians have roundly rejected this US justification). I also wonder whether this legal justification will weaken, as a policy matter, the ability of the...

...Third, the chapter examines the relationship between the veto power and certain foundational treaties.  In particular, the chapter focuses on the obligation to “prevent” genocide found in the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (“Genocide Convention”) and the obligation to “ensure respect for” the Geneva Conventions found, for instance, in the 1949 Geneva Conventions.  Subchapter 4.3 concludes that a veto cast in instances where there is ongoing genocide or war crimes (at least those war crimes covered in the 1949 Geneva Conventions), or the “serious...