Search: Syria Insta-Symposium
30 Nov UNSC Veto Power Symposium: New Perspective for Tackling a Core Challenge to the UN System on the 75th Anniversary of the United Nations
...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...
04 Nov A Reminder that Targeting a Hospital is a War Crime
[Elise Baker is a senior staff lawyer at the Atlantic Council Strategic Litigation Project, where she leads work on accountability and support for victims and survivors of human rights violations in Syria. She previously documented the Assad regime’s systematic attacks on health care in Syria with Physicians for Human Rights. Britt Gronemeyer is an assistant director at the Atlantic Council Strategic Litigation Project, where she supports accountability for human rights violations in Iran, Syria, Ukraine, and other countries] The world is focused on the ceasefire taking hold across Gaza, and...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...
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...23 Sep Does the Collective Self-Defense Justification Extend to Khorasan? If Not, Then Is There One?
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...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...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...
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...16 Nov Should the U.S. Even Bother to Invoke Article V of the North Atlantic Treaty After Paris?
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...08 Sep Weekly News Wrap: Tuesday, September 8, 2015
Your weekly selection of international law and international relations headlines from around the world: Africa Kenya plans to launch a military offensive against Islamist militants who have set up bases in a remote forest at the northern tip of its Indian Ocean coastline bordering Somalia, a police official said on Monday. Middle East and Northern Africa Iran’s president has said his country is ready to hold talks with the United States and Saudi Arabia on ways to resolve the Syrian civil war. Several Turkish soldiers have been killed and others...