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Search: Syria Insta-Symposium

30 Apr

The Syrian Prime Minister has survived a car bomb in Damascus, an event UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon labelled a “terrorist attack.” Ban Ki-Moon also urged Syria to allow international experts access in order to establish whether chemical weapons were used. Meanwhile, in a phone call to President Putin, President Obama has expressed his concern over the use of chemical weapons in Syria. The European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo (EULEX) sentenced five men to prison for their roles in an organ trafficking syndicate. Afghan President Hamid Karzai...
30.04.13 | |

05 Feb

For those who try to keep up with the shifting nature of radical Islamist groups – groups too many in the media sometimes wrongly link to Al Qaeda –the stories earlier this week on the group formerly known as Al Qaeda in Iraq, now calling itself ISIS, are significant: Early Monday morning the leadership of al-Qaeda disowned Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS), the most effective of its two franchises fighting in Syria, in a maneuver that could alter the trajectory of the fight against President Bashar Assad....
05.02.14 | |

27 Feb

...she has sole custody. (link) Read more … about Adam Haseeb—in his memory…. He is my son who is now deceased. I blame the abduction—and how the State Department handled this case on his death…. Back in the year 2000 I was not notified that his father had obtained a passport on Adam and then while we were still fighting for custody he abducted four year old Adam to Syria. Hakeem Haseeb (Was a U.S. citizen—converted to ISLAM) and had no relatives in Syria…. Adam Haseeb, R.I.P. (November 9, 1995...
27.02.07 | |

13 Jun

...calling for this reform for years. In the Al-Khatib trial on state torture in Syria before the Higher Regional Court of Koblenz, this requirement prevented a conviction for enforced disappearance as a crime against humanity, even though it constitutes an emblematic crime of the Syrian regime (see ECCHR). The previously required intention to deprive someone of the protection of the law “for a longer period of time” equally exceeded the ICPPED. It was replaced with the intention to do so “not only for a short time” to clarify that no...
13.06.24 | |

13 Dec

...Russian passenger plane in Sinai that killed all 224 people on board on Oct. 31. Asia Chinese oil major Sinopec is building a filling station on an island in the South China Sea, as China continues to expand its civilian infrastructure in the disputed waterway, entrenching its reach in the maritime heart of Southeast Asia. Europe Russia on Sunday warned Turkey to stop staging what it called provocations against its forces in or near Syria after one of its warships fired warning shots at a Turkish vessel in the Aegean...
13.12.15 | |

13 May

Picking up on Jens’ post about the Administration’s apparent lack of plans for holding detainees picked up in Iraq/Syria, I too found the Times report troubling. In part I suspect it was because I was immediately reminded of one of the findings of the many Pentagon investigative reports issued after the revelations of torture at Abu Ghraib and other U.S. detention facilities in Iraq. All apart from criticisms of changes in policy and legal interpretation, some of the harshest blame for the widespread nature of the abuse was the total...
13.05.16 | |

05 Sep

...it off, according to Foreign Policy. Argentina has filed another request for WTO consultations with the US, this time regarding restrictions on the importation of fresh lemons from its north-western region. China and the US have agreed to disagree on a variety of issues such as Syria and the South Chinese Sea. The US has been accused of backtracking after calling for a “flexible” treaty at climate change negotiations in Bangkok, Thailand. The NYTimes reports how Iran has been supplying the Syrian military via Iraqi airspace. Japan’s government will purchase...
05.09.12 | |

19 Feb

...in the African state. Meanwhile, the EU has pledged to organize an international donor conference in mid-May to help with Mali’s reconstruction. The EU has eased sanctions on Zimbabwe and pledged to lift sanctions on a state-owned diamond company once fair elections have been held. North Korea on the other hand has to face increased sanctions from the EU, going beyond those already imposed by the UN Security Council. The EU has decided not to lift the arms embargo on Syria, but will increase direct support to the rebels. Meanwhile,...
19.02.13 | |

14 Jun

Opinio Juris is pleased to welcome Professor Neomi Rao of George Mason University School of Law as guest-blogger for the next week. With the Syria crisis re-emerging as a possible flashpoint for military intervention, we thought it would be interesting for Professor Rao to discuss her recent work on the status and impact of the “Responsibility to Protect” principle that is forthcoming in the Columbia Human Rights Law Review. Professor Rao teaches both constitutional and comparative law classes, and she has had wide experience at all levels of the U.S....
14.06.13 | |

19 Sep

...the meantime. Examples include the International Independent and Impartial Mechanism (IIIM) for Syria, and the Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan. At the current session of the Human Rights Council, the Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar has called for establishment of an IIIM pending referral to the ICC or an ad hoc tribunal. Opening Remarks were given by Ambassador Monique T.G. van Daalen, Permanent Mission of the Netherlands. The Moderator was Saman Zia-Zarifi, Secretary General, International Commission of Jurists. The panelists included Catherine Marchi-Uhel, Head, International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism...
19.09.18 | |

09 Feb

...renditions.” As Human Rights Watch notes: The CIA has regularly transferred detainees to countries in the Middle East , including Egypt and Syria , known to practice torture routinely. There are reportedly 100 to 150 cases of such “extraordinary renditions.” In one case, Maher Arar, a Syrian-born Canadian in transit in New York , was detained by U.S. authorities and sent to Syria . He was released without charge from Syrian custody ten months later and has described repeated torture, often with cables and electrical cords. In another case, a...
09.02.06 | |

08 Nov

...giving UN humanitarian agencies and their partners authority to breach Syria’s sovereignty by using border crossings to access that state. The rationale was to permit this violation of sovereignty ‘in order to ensure that humanitarian assistance, including medical and surgical supplies, reaches people in need throughout Syria’. The Security Council, in a distinct yet not unrelated situation of war and crisis then, might have acted under a different power and source of legitimacy than the Flotilla, but it should not be considered as less political, or as being more humanitarian....
08.11.14 | |