In association with the International Commission of Jurists

Search: Syria Insta-Symposium

17 Feb

Regular readers of the blog know that one of my hobbyhorses is the “unwilling or unable” test for self-defense against non-state actors. As I have often pointed out, scholars seem much more enamored with the test than states. The newest (regrettable) case in point: my friend Claus Kress, who is one of the world’s best international-law scholars. Here is what he writes in an otherwise-excellent contribution to Just Security about the use of force against ISIL in Syria (emphasis mine): It therefore follows not only from the right of self-defense’s...
17.02.15 | |

11 May

[Jennifer Trahan is an Associate Clinical Professor at the NYU Center for Global Affairs.] I, too, would like to thank Opinio Juris for our mini-symposium and dialogue on the use of the veto in the face of atrocity crimes. I hope it stimulates further thought, analysis and work on these important issues. For those who missed the debates, I posted attacking the legality of Russia’s veto in the face of chemical weapons use in Syria, Dr. Mohamed Helal defended Russia’s veto use as consistent with the drafting of the UN...
11.05.18 | |

27 Aug

...enormous controversy, with the 2011 military intervention in Libya and the failure to act with regard to Syria, causing bitter divisions between the Council’s five powerful permanent members. The international community also completely failed to halt atrocities in Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Yemen. While this is not an exhaustive list, it points to the enormity of the political challenge that currently faces us. So far, the twenty-first century has been plagued by toxic nationalism and resurgent xenophobia. The number of people displaced by persecution, conflict and atrocities is at its...
27.08.20 | |

15 Aug

...Tamil sources provided updates that fell on deaf ears. For instance, it took years for international stakeholders to admit that the military killed tens of thousands of Tamil civilians, which Tamils on the ground had reported in real-time. While Tamils were identifying the GoSL’s atrocities as genocide against their people, international human rights organizations kept quiet, or actively rejected, even the risk of genocide (see, e.g., 42:19–45:00) despite UN guidance encouraging different actors to acknowledge when violations of international law may amount to genocide. Evidence of the GoSL’s Genocide Against...
15.08.19 | |

24 Feb

...US and EU for a comprehensive trade and investment pact are set to kick into higher gear, following a highly-anticipated “political stocktaking” meeting between the two sides’ top trade officials. US prosecutors plan to seek the extradition of Mexico’s most wanted man, drug cartel kingpin Joaquin “Shorty” Guzman, to face trial in the United States after he was captured in Mexico. Middle East The UN Security Council achieved rare unity to act on Syria’s civil war when Russia and China supported adoption of a resolution to boost aid access in...
24.02.14 | |

12 Dec

middle: Algeria (84), Argentina (93), Brazil (70), Paraguay (111), Peru (70), Iran (105), Libya (105), Syria (93). According to the press release by TI’s chair, Huguette Labelle, corruption is “rampant” in half of the countries of the world. He further argues that there is a strong correlation between corruption and poverty. “Corruption eats away at the economies of poor countries. The perception of endemic corruption scares off foreign investors and has a knock-on effect on economic growth. A corrupt government siphoning off a country’s great mineral wealth, for instance, is...
12.12.06 | |

18 Nov

...the weapons the neocons have in their arsenal these days. The first, as Heilbrunn notes, is Barack Obama, or more precisely discontent with his apparently reactive and hesitating approach to foreign and security policy, exemplified by situations such as Ukraine, Syria and the rise of ISIS. If you read the fine print, to the extent there is any, the neocons like Cheney and Bill Kristol don’t have any master plan or worked out strategy of their own for dealing with these problems. They appeal to the heartwarming (for some Americans)...
18.11.14 | |

07 Mar

...returnees, who ‘as wives of ISIL fighters’ solely took care of the home and family life without being engaged in any activities of the organization. The German national Sibel H. had traveled to Syria with her husband Ali S. in 2013. After he was killed, she returned to Germany. She moved back to Iraq with her second husband, Deniz B. They received an allowance of approx. 100$ and an apartment in an area controlled by ISIL. She looked after their child and he worked as a nurse in an ISIL-hospital....
07.03.19 | |

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 | |

19 Apr

[Jennifer Trahan is Associate Clinical Professor, at The Center for Global Affairs, NYU-SPS, and Chair of the American Branch of the International Law Association’s International Criminal Court Committee. The views expressed are those of the author.] Postings on Opinio Juris seem fairly squarely against the legality of the U.S. missile strike last week into Syria. Let me join Jens David Ohlin (blogging on Opinio Juris) and Harold Koh (blogging on Just Security) in making the contrary case. When NATO intervened in Kosovo in 1999, member states did not have UN...
19.04.17 | |

10 Aug

The UK has appointed a senior judge to lead the inquest in the death of Russian ex-spy Litvinenko from polonium poising in 2006 in London. Veteran international diplomat, Lakhdar Brahimi, has been tapped as Kofi Annan’s successor as UN-Arab League joint special envoy for Syria. In the Syrian conflict, government troops have forced rebels from a key district in the city of Aleppo. In response to the PILPG memo featured in our Weekday News Wrap on Wednesday, the New International Law Blog offers an analysis posing the question: Would intervention...
10.08.12 | |

11 May

...allies have conducted 15 air strikes against Islamic State in Syria and 13 in Iraq since Friday, the coalition leading the operations said in a statement. Asia Malaysia detained 1,018 Bangladeshi and Rohingya refugees after they arrived in three boats on Monday, police said, a day after Indonesian authorities rescued 600 stranded off the coast of Aceh. South Korea has said that North Korea’s recent test-firing of a ballistic missile from a submarine was “very serious and concerning”, and that it will respond “mercilessly” to the threat. China has invited...
11.05.15 | |