Search: Syria Insta-Symposium
19 Apr In Defense of Humanitarian Intervention
[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...08 Nov Guest Post: Initial Thoughts on the ICC Prosecutor’s Mavi Marmara Report
...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....10 Sep Is the AUMF Limited to the United States Armed Forces?
...operative language — emphasis mine throughout. First, Rep. Frank Wolf’s: SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION FOR USE OF ARMED FORCES. (a) IN GENERAL.—The President is authorized, with the close consultation, coordination, and cooperation with NATO and regional allies, to use all necessary and appropriate force against those countries, organizations, or persons associated with or supporting terrorist groups, including al Qaeda and its regional affiliates, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, al Shabaab, Boko Haram, and any other emerging regional terrorist groups that share a common violent extremist ideology with such terrorist...28 Nov Weekday News Wrap: Wednesday, November 28, 2012
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...25 Aug Members of UN Security Council Discuss LGBT Issues
13 of the 15 members of the UN Security Council met yesterday to address LGBT issues for the first time in a closed session chaired by Chile and the US. The focus was on persecution of gays in Syria and Iraq. As an Arria-formula meeting, the discussion was confidential, however news reports after indicate the group discussed the Islamic State’s targeting of LGBTQ residents of Iraq and Syria. Samantha Power, US Ambassador to the UN, told the diplomats that “we are coming together as a Security Council to condemn these...
02 Jul Some (Tongue in Cheek) Advice for Iran Regarding Trump
...international court with it. Syria would be an obvious choice. Maybe Venezuela for some regional diversity. The International Court of Iran, Syria, and Venezuela™ (ICISV) could then prosecute Trump despite his personal immunity — and just as importantly, Iran would then be free to arrest Trump and surrender him to the ICISV, because the Jordan Appeals Chamber has also told us that personal immunity does not apply when a state is acting on an international court’s behalf: 114. The absence of a rule of customary international law recognising Head of...
28 Jul Nicaragua: Can International Law Break the Cycle of Impunity?
...international obligations. One potential avenue is through the Convention Against Torture, as illustrated by the cases filed by Canada and the Netherlands against Syria, alleging violations of the Convention due to the widespread use of torture by the Syrian regime. Similarly, in 2024, Gambia brought a case against Myanmar before the ICJ, alleging violations of the Genocide Convention. A similar complaint could be brought by another state against Nicaragua for the systematic and widespread use of torture, arbitrary detention, and persecution of political opponents. Another potential claim lies in Article...04 Mar Tracking State Reactions to Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine: A Resource for Research
By now, many readers -especially those who follow me on Twitter, will have figured out that I have a weird hobby: I like keeping track of who says what about international law in times of crisis. I’ve done it for the Syria strikes of 2018, the Venezuelan elections of 2018, the recognition of Juan Guaidó as President of Venezuela in 2019, the attack on Qasem Soleimani in 2020, and now, of course, the crisis in Ukraine. In the beginning, I tracked the reactions to Russia’s recognition of Donetsk and Luhansk...29 Apr Weekday News Wrap: Monday, April 29, 2013
According to a recent report, tens of millions of dollars from the CIA were delivered to the office of Afghanistan’s president, Hamid Karzai over the course of decades, meant to buy US influence in Afghanistan. Syria’s neighbors are wary of a US-led intervention, should the US decide to take military action in the face of new evidence of chemical weapon use by the Syrian government–evidence that Syria claims is “inconsistent with reality and a barefaced lie.” Iraq’s media regulator has suspended licenses of ten broadcasters, including Al-Jazeera, accusing them of...25 Apr Weekly News Wrap: Monday, April 25, 2016
Here’s your weekly selection of international law and international relations headlines from around the world: Africa Zambia’s government is trying to send hundreds of refugees back to camps after two people were burned to death in anti-immigration riots in the country’s capital, Lusaka. Heavy fighting between a local militia and Ethiopian paramilitary militia known as the Liyu Police broke out in Galgadud region of central Somalia, residents said on Saturday. Middle East and Northern Africa The UN special envoy for Syria has estimated that 400,000 people have been killed throughout...