Search: Syria Insta-Symposium
19 Feb Weekday News Wrap: Tuesday, February 19, 2013
...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,...14 Jun Welcome to Guest Blogger Professor Neomi Rao
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....19 Sep Video: How Can the UN Respond to International Crimes in Times of Crisis?
...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...09 Feb The Strange Case of Luis Posada Carriles
...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...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....09 Mar U.S. Withdraws From ICJ Jurisdiction Over Consular Relations Claims
...to Mexico’s nationals. (Update: Marty Lederman, as usual, was first to notice this article and the first to comment. Michael Froomkin has the text of the withdrawal and more comments about the timing of the withdrawal) A couple of insta-observations: (1) The ICJ might find that the U.S. withdrawal itself was not in conformity with international law. In particular, the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (if it is accepted as customary international law) seems to prevent countries from withdrawing from a treaty unless that treaty specifies that withdrawal...20 Apr Weekend Roundup: April 13 – 19, 2013
This week on Opinio Juris, it was hard to miss our insta-symposium on the Supreme Court’s decision in Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum. Ken beat Julian to the punch to break the news and link to the opinions. The core part of Chief Justice Roberts’ opinion for the Court, on the insufficiency of “mere corporate presence” to displace the presumption against extraterritoriality, can be found in this post by Julian. Roger read this to require that the ATS can only apply to conduct that at least partly takes place within...05 Nov Kenya’s Post-Election Violence: Case Headed to the Hague
[Professor James Gathii, provides this timely insta-background on today’s decision by the the ICC prosecutor to open an investigation into the 2007 post-election violence in Kenya. Professor Gaathi teaches at Albany Law School, where he is the Associate Dean for Research and Scholarship and Governor George E. Pataki Professor of International Commercial Law. He publishes extensively on legal developments in sub-Saharan Africa.] The International Criminal Court’s Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo on November 5, 2009 informed Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga that he had decided to request...18 Apr Weekday News Wrap: Thursday, April 18, 2013
from the military hospital in which he was staying. The US is dispatching army planners to Jordan but is wary of direct American intervention in Syria. Human Rights Watch has urged Libya to allow access for Al-Senussi, char For readers who follow the US’ current conflict with al-Qaeda and affiliated forces closely, you may recall two guest posts (here and here) about a recent symposium entitled The Boundaries of the Battlefield. The organizers of that symposium (full-disclosure: I was one of them) have written a summary report on the symposium....10 Mar Weekly News Wrap: Monday, March 10, 2014
...the Russian Federation. For more on the Ukraine crisis, see our insta-symposium here. Russia has made what may be a move towards taking part in talks over the Ukraine crisis, but is standing firm in its insistence that Crimea has a right to break away from Kiev’s rule. Germany’s Angela Merkel delivered a rebuke to President Vladimir Putin, telling him that a planned Moscow-backed referendum on whether Crimea should join Russia was illegal and violated Ukraine’s constitution. The EU has reiterated its earlier pledge to ink a trade deal with...