Search: Syria Insta-Symposium
13 Nov Weekday News Wrap: Tuesday, November 13, 2012
...to stem rocket attacks from the Gaza strip. Israeli Defence Forces also fired into Syria for the second day in a row in retaliation over mortar shells from Syria spilling over into Israeli territory. Over at Armed Groups and International Law, Dan Saxon offers an analysis of the ethical and legal obligations of journalists covering the conflict in Syria. The UK has ordered the provisional release of Abu Qatada instead of his deportation to Jordan. The UN has elected 18 new countries, one of which is the United States, to...
12 Jul Of Proxies, Self-Defence and Reprisals
...generals provided strategic advice to Hezbollah in the Israel-Lebanon 2006 war, though apparently, even Israeli military officers did not believe Hezbollah was acting on the instructions of Iran even then. If Iran’s overall control over Hezbollah could be established, Israel would have the right to attack military targets in Iran. While Iranian combatants and Hezbollah members were at the consulate in Damascus, there was no armed conflict between Israel and Syria or attribution between these groups and Syria allowing for the use of force against Syrian territory. Conclusion Derek Bowett,...
14 Mar Acts of Aggression During an Ongoing Armed Conflict: How Can We View the Events of February 24?
...specific incidents. There were similar cases in the past when an attack carried out during an ongoing armed conflict was assessed within the jus ad bellum framework. One example may be the international armed conflict between Syria and Israel. In 1967 the international armed conflict erupted between Israel and the Arab States, including Syria (the so-called Six Days War). As a result of the conflict, Israel started to occupy Golan Heights, part of Syrian territory. After that point, there have been multiple armed incidents between Syria and Israel. When on...
26 Jan Open-Source Digital Evidence in International Criminal Cases: A Way Forward in Ensuring Accountability for Core Crimes?
[Konstantina Stavrou is a researcher and PhD candidate at the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Fundamental and Human Rights in Vienna.] Introduction Seventy-five years after the initiation of the first international criminal trials for the atrocities committed amid the Second World War, the fight against impunity continues. Over recent years, core international crimes, encompassing genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and the crime of aggression, are being perpetrated across the globe, including for instance in Syria and Myanmar. In the majority of cases, governments appear unable or unwilling to investigate the...21 Feb Symposium: Koh, Trump, Obama – and Jean Baudrillard (Part 1)
Anon I don't hold a brief for Trump. However a comment is necessary not to counter the views on Trump but singling out the US under Trump. "It is difficult to witness the daily international horrors wrought by the Trump administration...." Could you cite one instance of the daily international horrors? Are the legal experts at Opinio Juris turning a blind eye to the brazen violations of international law by Syria, Turkey (both of which have been accused of using chemical weapons in the ongoing conflict) and Russia? Kevin Jon...02 Aug Weekday News Wrap: Thursday, August 2, 2012
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...
07 Jun Conflict-Related Sexual Violence Symposium: Innovations, Lessons Learned, and Good Practices From CIJA’s Investigation Into the Slave Trade
[Stephanie Barbour is the Senior Sexual and Gender-based Violence Adviser at the Commission for International Justice & Accountability. This is a post in our joint blog symposium building on the discussion focusing on accountability for conflict-related sexual violence crimes associated with slave trade, slavery and trafficking , held as part of the Digital Dialogue Series , hosted regularly by the UN Team of Experts on the Rule of Law and Sexual Violence in Conflict .] The innumerable crimes in the conflicts in Syria and Iraq are among the most documented...05 Mar International Law vs. Donald Trump: A Reply
[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...
20 Feb Why Aren’t We Talking About Sri Lanka Anymore? “Sri Lanka Solution” Followers Face Justice, but Not Sri Lanka
...Lanka committed genocide. International Accountability for Other Adopters of the “Sri Lanka Solution” Does this fact pattern sound familiar? That’s because in the nearly 17 years since the “Sri Lanka solution”—an abusive “counterterrorism” strategy that conflates civilians with legitimate targets—has been a roadmap for other States, like Syria , Myanmar, and Israel, to commit mass atrocities. It’s seen as a useful tactic because, when done well, only impunity follows. Syria’s armed conflict began less than two years after Sri Lanka’s ended and provided Bashar al-Assad’s regime an opportunity to test...
12 Jul Intervention in Civil Wars Symposium: The Importance (and Limitations) of Legitimacy During Foreign Intervention in Civil Wars
...has remained in power despite committing numerous atrocities against the Syrian people. At the early stages of the Syrian civil war in 2011 and 2012, several states, the U.N. Secretary General, and numerous scholars and commentators concluded that Assad and his government had lost its legitimacy and no longer represented the will of the Syrian people. In turn, numerous governments called for Assad to resign and recognized the Syrian Opposition Council (SOC) as the true representative of the Syrian people. However, in 2015 the Russian government intervened in Syria at...