Search: Syria Insta-Symposium

...post argues that President Obama’s public reference to old bilateral immunity agreements, Samantha Power’s calls for an independent Syria tribunal, and Harold Koh’s frustration with the Court’s inefficiency have heralded a new age of American opposition to the Court. This new stage is quite apart from the phantom concerns of the past, but all too concrete in its frustration with the ICC. The Bush administration’s second term in office is widely recognized as an important turning point in America’s relationship with the ICC. In particular, the UN Security Council (UNSC)...

The Syrian army has launched fierce attacks against rebel forces, who had made a stronghold in Damascus. Fighting has also spread to Aleppo. The UN has extended its monitoring mission in Syria another 30 days. The Arab League has called for Syrian President Assad to resign and has offered Assad and his family a safe exit from Syria. Turkey has sent a battery of ground-to-air missiles to its border with Syria. China will formerly garrison the disputed South China Sea, a move that will likely increase tensions throughout the region....

...children and shoots rockets at apartment buildings. And we must remain engaged to assure that what began with citizens demanding their rights does not end in a cycle of sectarian violence. Together, we must stand with those Syrians who believe in a different vision – a Syria that is united and inclusive; where children don’t need to fear their own government, and all Syrians have a say in how they are governed – Sunnis and Alawites; Kurds and Christians. That is what America stands for; that is the outcome that...

A Syrian airstrike has killed at least 54 amid heavy fighting in northern Syria. At a UN Security Council meeting, Iran was attacked about the aid it is providing to Syria’s government forces. At the IAEA’s meeting in Geneva, Iran and Israel squared off about nuclear proliferation in the Middle East region. The US has lifted a ban on New Zealand naval ships visiting US ports or bases in place since 1986, after New Zealand’s decision to ban any nuclear powered ships or nuclear armed ships from its ports, as...

...months. Former U.S. spy agency contractor Edward Snowden, peace negotiators in Colombia or Greek islanders helping Syrian refugees were among tips for the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize at the deadline for nominations on Monday. Regional rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran should reconcile and help resolve tensions in the Middle East, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Monday. The United Nations has said that there should be no amnesty for people suspected of committing war crimes as talks aimed at ending Syria’s war continued to struggle in Geneva. The United...

...rights violations, and ‘new investigative mechanisms’ (NIMs) created to build case files to achieve accountability for atrocity created to build case files to achieve accountability for atrocity crimes committed in Syria – IIIM and OPCW IIT, Iraq – UNITAD, and Myanmar, IIMM). For a sampling of MHs challenges, see here, and here). Our project seeks to provide evidence-based, realistic and cost-effective recommendations with a view to improve efficiencies and maximise outputs, against a background of scarce resources and competing priorities. As part of our research methodology, we are we engaging,...

...be partly attributed to this inconvenience. Recently, the Court has ordered the prevention of destruction and guarantee of preservation of evidence in a case where such a measure was warranted by its circumstances. For example, it was ordered in The Gambia v. Myanmar, Canada and the Netherlands v. Syria, and South Africa v. Israel while it was rejected in the Armenia / Azerbaijan cases. However, nothing in these cases related to granting access to evidence by the adverse parties. However, the request to provide access to evidence to the UN-mandated...

This week on Opinio Juris, there was a lot of news to cover with NSA leak and the US administration’s decision to arm Syrian rebels. On the first, Julian thought Hong Kong was a dumb choice of refuge for the NSA leaker. Chris dug deeper into domestic data-mining with earlier stories about the NSA’s activities. Peter addressed the position of expat Americans in PRISM. Further on cyber-issues, Duncan highlighted Japan’s new Cybersecurity Strategy. On the second bit of news, Julian argued why the “red line” crossed by Syria is meaningless...

R2P depends on having some conception of the “rights” of people to protection from other states. It is not about leaving the Syrians alone, but rather protecting them from harm. Yet what precisely this right to assistance includes in Syria or elsewhere, no one is able to say. Even accepting a basic moral responsibility, there remain difficult questions about what action best respects rights and what will serve to promote human rights and security overall. The responsibility will always be contingent on political, military, and other calculations and will be...

...Chinese and Russian backlash post-Libya be seen as the system's response to the unlawfulness of the actual Libya intervention and the manner in which the mandate was so blatantly exceeded? Okay, there are a number of other political factors guiding Chinese/Russian voting on Syria, but a pretty key issue has been the disillusionment post-Libya. NATO exceeded the limits of the lawful authority it was granted, so therefore any legal authority viz a viz Syria is now being withheld. Rhodri C. Williams @Mihai - I had a sense of that but...

weapons in Syria, with President Obama stating that depending on how the weapons were used, the US might have to rethink its strategy in Syria. Foreign Policy has a post about why those wanting intervention in Syria are wrong. The UN International Labor Organization released a report with one major finding that the key to ending child labor is to advocate social protections. May Day protests, meant to demand better workers’ rights, are occurring around the world, in places such as Indonesia, The Philippines, Turkey, Cambodia and several European cities....

...if you do, damned if you don’t.” CNN explains: Facebook recently changed its listing for the Golan Heights — which Israel captured from Syria in 1967 — so users there could choose to say whether they live in Israel or Syria. It was responding to pressure from a pro-Israel group called HonestReporting — and from Facebook users who set up a group on the site itself called “Facebook, Golan Residents Live in Israel, not Syria.” “It is not for Facebook to decide the national origin of Golan residents,” the group...