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Search: Syria Insta-Symposium

13 Dec

...the consistent case law adopting a narrow interpretation of the crime there is a broader use of the term, by NGOs, by journalists, by politicians, and even by UN bodies. For example, recently a fact-finding commission of the Human Rights Council suggested that the persecution of the Rohingya could be characterized as genocide. A few years earlier, another commission of inquiry of the Council said much the same about the Yazidi in Syria. There was a time, some decades ago, where these matters were still open to debate by reasonable...
13.12.18 | |

27 Feb

Western powers have said that Iran is considering their offer of lifting some financial sanctions in return for a scaled-back nuclear program from Tehran. Saudi Arabia has purchased a large amount of infantry weapons from Croatia and quietly funneled them to rebel forces in Syria. Fighting rages on in Syria, with battles nearing a 12th-century mosque in Aleppo, threatening to further damage the historic structure. Symantec Corp researchers have found that the Stuxnet virus that was deployed against Iran began in November 2007, two years earlier than previously thought. An...
27.02.13 | |

09 Dec

Your weekly selection of international law and international relations headlines from around the world: Middle East The UN General Assembly has elected Jordan to the Security Council to replace Saudi Arabia, which had rejected the seat in an unprecedented act to protest the council’s failure to end the Syrian and Israeli-Palestinian conflicts. Syria’s Bashar al-Assad will remain president and lead any transition agreed upon in Geneva peace talks planned for next month, a government minister has insisted. Jabhat al-Nusra, al-Qaeda’s local branch in Syria, has sent Al Jazeera exclusive footage...
09.12.13 | |

11 Sep

Let’s start with the Administration’s newly minted theory (h/t Marty Lederman for posting the operative statement) that the statutory 2001 AUMF authorizes the President’s announced campaign to use force against ISIL in Iraq and Syria. The AUMF does not plausibly extend to ISIL. In addition to the reasons my friends Jens Ohlin, Jen Daskal and others have already highlighted, let me add this: ISIL is not an “associated force” of Al Qaeda by the Administration’s own definition. In May 2013, former State Department Legal Adviser Harold Koh gave a speech...
11.09.14 | |

28 Nov

In Syria, rebel forces have for the first time downed a government helicopter using a surface-to-air missile they acquired during the recent capture of an army base. The EU is reviewing its sanctions on Syria, and the UK, with France’s backing, is arguing for a review every three months to make it easier to arm the opposition. The head of the Palestinian commission investigating the death of Yasser Arafat has stated that the Palestinian state would go to the ICC, should it be established that Arafat was poisoned. In Eastern...
28.11.12 | |

17 Sep

continent that the court unfairly targets Africans. War crimes blamed on the Syrian opposition are predominantly being carried out by foreign fighters, according to a member of the UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria. Turkey will provide the UN Security Council and fellow members of the NATO military alliance with details of the circumstances of its shooting down of a Syrian helicopter. Bangladesh’s highest court has sentenced to death a leader of the main Islamist party convicted of crimes against humanity during the war for independence from Pakistan in 1971....
17.09.13 | |

17 Jul

...international organisation (he currently heads two investigative teams, in Myanmar and Syria, for the Commission for International Justice and Accountability). Lenayapa’s comments suggest that Kenya thinks neither African candidate is viable, given that Fatou Bensouda is from an African country. And he clearly believes that Roy’s election is precluded by the Rome Statute. (I think that’s wrong — as I’ve suggested on Twitter, the ASP could elect Roy if the current Deputy Prosecutor, James Stewart, was willing to resign.) Let me start by saying that I think any of the...
17.07.20 | |

17 Jul

...is what they need to is get Syria to get Hezbollah to stop doing this shit and it’s all over… Blair: Dunno… Syria…. Bush: Why? Blair: Because I think this is all part of the same thing… Bush: (with mouth full of bread) Yeah Blair: Look – what does he think? He thinks if Lebanon turns out fine. If you get a solution in Israel and Palestine. Iraq goes in the right way Bush: Yeah – he’s [through] Blair: Yeah…. He’s had it. That’s what all this is about –...
17.07.06 | |

15 Jan

[Marc Weller is Professor of International Law and International Constitutional Studies in the University of Cambridge. He is the Principal Investigator of the Legal Tools for Peace-Making Project, drawing on extensive experience in international high-level negotiations in Cote d’Ivoire, Egypt, Libya, the Darfur crisis, Yemen, Somalia and, most recently, Syria. Tiina Pajuste is a Lecturer in Law at Tallinn University, and former researcher on the Legal Tools for Peace-Making project. She has continued to contribute to the Legal Tools for Peace-Making project since taking up her current post. Mark Retter,...
15.01.17 | |

10 Sep

Violence in Syria continues, with reports stating that scores of government forces have been killed by bombing in Aleppo. The UN has called for an increase in humanitarian aid for Syria amidst the ongoing violence while t he European Union has agreed to increase sanctions. Leaders from Japan and China have met amid tensions regarding disputed islands in the East China Sea. Japan has infuriated China with a deal to purchase two disputed islands from their private owners. The United States has officially declared the Pakistan-based Haqqani network a foreign...
10.09.12 | |

18 Sep

...over a possible U.S. strike into Syria. Kevin’s post on that comparison makes a similar point. But here is a difficult question for international lawyers. Arresting Bashir would plainly be illegal, but it would almost certainly be legitimate to most people, like Mia Farrow. (I am in the minority of folks who think such an arrest is unwise since its repercussions in Sudan might be severe.) Still, is legitimacy enough to act illegally? And if it is, why wasn’t that standard good enough to justify a US strike into Syria?...
18.09.13 | |

06 Jan

...John Kerry has also hinted that Iran may play a role from the sidelines during the negotiations on Syria later this month in Geneva. There are signs that the Syrian civil war is spilling over into Iraq, with the al-Qaeda affiliated Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) taking control of Fallujah and Ramadi, prompting a counterattack by the Iraqi army. In Syria, rebels have launched an offensive against these groups Europe Russia was found by Global Trade Alert to be the most protectionist nation of 2013. In Athens,...
06.01.14 | |