In association with the International Commission of Jurists

Search: Syria Insta-Symposium

03 May

the siege. I was joined by Hussam Alkatlaby, the Executive Director of the Syrian Violations Documentation Centre; Joost Hiltermann, programme director for Middle East & North Africa at the International Crisis Group; and Robin Peeters, the Syria Policy Officer in the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. You can watch a recording of the event on the University of Amsterdam website here. The panel was sponsored by the War Reparations Centre at the Amsterdam Centre for International Law (ACIL); the Amsterdam Students Association of International Law; and the Syria Legal Network....
03.05.18 | |

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 | |

25 Mar

...a party to the conflict (members of the armed forces or members of an organized armed group) would suffice, while other insist that the act must be intended to further the hostilities. All agree, however, that some real connection is required. Taken together, the armed-conflict requirement and the nexus requirement make it extremely unlikely that a state could legitimately use lethal force against members of a hacker collective like Anonymous. There are currently no international armed conflicts, although Syria constantly threatens to become one. And hackers don’t tend to work...
25.03.13 | |

25 Jul

Ghana’s President John Atta Mills has died, though details are unclear as to the cause of death. Foreign Policy has more here. Vice-President John Dramani Mahama has succeeded him, taking the oath of offices a few hours after the announcement of Mills’ death. Fighting has intensified in Syria’s Aleppo. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon has joined the chorus of warning Syria against the use of chemical weapons. Israel’s foreign minister has stated that it will get involved in the Syrian conflict if the Syrian army loses control over its chemical...
25.07.12 | |

31 May

related news, an 11-year old survivor of the Houla massacre recounts how he avoided being executed by covering himself in his brother’s blood and playing dead. Syrian rebels have given the government 48 hours to withdrawal its troops and adhere to a UN-backed peace plan, otherwise they would renew their attempts for a coup. US Ambassador to the UN, Susan Rice, believes that a political/diplomatic solution to the Syrian conflict is best. Russia has pledged to block the UN Security Council in any moves for intervention, claiming that any military...
31.05.12 | |

26 Apr

...this tragedy is unlikely to spur reform. North Korea has rejected the demands from South Korea to reopen the joint industrial zone and warned its neighbors to the south of “grave measures.” As the discussion intensifies about Syria’s alleged use of chemical weapons, which the US suspects has happened on a “small scale,” a few articles are of note. First, Julian points out an editorial in the LA Times about possible ramifications and Obama’s “red line,” Lawfare also opines about this red line and Foreign Policy asks what Syria is...
26.04.13 | |

02 Nov

...receive him.” Had Judge Jacobs, who wrote for the majority, bothered himself a bit with the record, he would have discovered that Canada confirmed it was willing to accept him home. Moreover, this is hardly a trivial error. The gravity of the government misconduct in this case comes from the decision to send Arar to Syria when he could have been returned to Canada, sent to Switzerland, or back to Tunisia, where he had been vacationing. He was sent to Syria for a reason, and that was torture. Read Horton....
02.11.09 | |

03 Dec

...corrupt drug dealer. He is chief of the provincial council of Qandahar and said to be more powerful than the province’s governor. A US official wrote, “While we must deal with AWK as the head of the Provincial Council, he is widely understood to be corrupt and a narcotics trafficker. End Note.” 4. The Boston Globe reports of Senator John Kerry that he urged the return of the Golan Heights to Syria in return for peace: “In the meeting last February with the emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa...
03.12.10 | |

24 Aug

...that we, as ordinary people, who do not have to fight in wars, still can pass moral and rational judgments on the people who do. The current Middle East conflict is a case in point.' As to 'Hezbollah's tactics of hiding among civilians,' please see, for instance, Mitch Prothero's piece, 'The "hiding among civilians" myth,' at Slate.com: http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2006/07/28/hezbollah/ Seamus Let's not forget the situation in the Occupied Territories.... Please see: The B'Tselem: The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories http://www.btselem.org/English/index.asp Palestinian Centre for Human Rights http://www.pchrgaza.org/...
24.08.06 | |

28 Apr

...the lives of migrants drowning in the Mediterranean must involve search and rescue operations near the shores of Libya, Amnesty International said on Saturday as hundreds more people arrived in Italy from North Africa. Americas U.S.-led forces targeted Islamic State militants in Syria with five air strikes from Sunday to Monday morning and conducted 26 strikes against the group in Iraq, the U.S. military said. Air strikes by the U.S.-led coalition in Syria have killed 2,079 people, including 66 civilians, since the start of the aerial campaign against Islamic State...
28.04.15 | |

06 Jun

South Korea has agreed to negotiate with North Korea on the reopening of a joint industrial park that was closed in April after rising tensions. The ICC Prosecutor has reported to the UN Security Council on the situation in Darfur. The EU Counter-Terrorism Co-ordinator wants member states to do more to restrict their citizens travelling to Syria to fight with extremist groups. Syrian rebels have seized the only border crossing between Syria and Israel on the Golan Heights. The IMF has issued a report admitting that it made mistakes in...
06.06.13 | |

24 Aug

Your weekly selection of international law and international relations headlines from around the world: Africa Suspected Boko Haram militants ambushed a convoy carrying Nigeria’s chief of army staff on a tour of towns in troubled Borno state, the army said early on Sunday. Middle East and Northern Africa The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group has blown up a 2,000-year-old temple in the UNESCO-listed Syrian city of Palmyra, a rights group and the country’s antiquities chief have said. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has said that its...
24.08.15 | |