Search: crossing lines
16 Jul Symposium on PMSCs: AI Broke the Code – The International Code of Conduct for Private Security Service Providers and Emerging Technologies
...offensive and defensive roles in intelligence-gathering and information operations, sometimes with direct implications for the conduct of hostilities. The result is an expanding perimeter of corporate and commercial actors whose participation in armed conflict is indirect, but no less consequential. Consider Anduril again. Even if some of its business lines may be considered “operational and logistical support”—thus falling within the Code’s existing ambit—a substantial grey zone remains, particularly around dual-use technologies, databases, and services that transition seamlessly between commercial, law enforcement, and military contexts. The Code must therefore move beyond...
17 Oct A Visible College, 2.0: Israel, Hamas, and the International Legal Community
...residents—as lawful self-defence against an armed attack, provided for in Article 51 of the UN Charter and long established as a rule of customary international law. Blogposts have been written, Tweets have been published, and I suspect, a few insults have been exchanged. Debate and disagreement are vital components of any academic discipline. As academics, we customarily position our own work in relation to the fault lines in existing scholarly debate, and we regularly ask our students to familiarise themselves with, and write about, key controversies in the subject area....15 Dec Ban Ki-Moon Sworn in as UN Secretary-General
Here is the text of the speech by new UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon. There are a few good lines from the speech, such as the following: Member States need a dynamic and courageous Secretariat, not one that is passive and risk-averse. The time has come for a new day in relations between the Secretariat and Member States. The dark night of distrust and disrespect has lasted far too long. We can begin by saying what we mean, and meaning what we say. We cannot change everything at once. But we...28 Oct Does Japan’s Pledge to Shoot Down Chinese Drones Violate International Law?
...evidence of the drones’ threat to bolster any attack it makes. On the other hand, is China overreacting to call those Japanese threats an “act of war”? I suppose that is technically true if one accepts that China’s drones are flying over Chinese airspace. Still, it is hard to imagine that downing a drone (where no one is hurt or killed) could have the same significance as downing a manned plane. I think Japan is trying to test China, and draw lines on matters that wouldn’t necessarily escalate into armed...
29 Oct Third Time Lucky? ICC Appeals Chamber Directs Prosecutor to Consider Mavi Marmara Incident for a Third Time
...time. This recent Appeals Chamber Judgment confirms that the Prosecutor must reconsider her decision on the Comoros’ referral, by 2 December 2019. These proceedings have exposed some troubling internal fault-lines within the ICC system, and tested the very rationale of the Rome-Statute as well as the limits of judicial over-reach.It is in this context that this post identifies three problematic aspects of the Appeal Chamber’s recent decision. 1. Internal Tug of War? Despite the questionable basis for enabling repeated re-litigation of the matter in light of the terms of the...
17 Sep Transitional Justice Symposium: Transitional Justice 2.0–Rebooting Justice in the 21st Century
...transitional justice contexts have risen ( Bell and O’Rourke 2007 ; see for instance O’Rourke 2013 ; Bueno-Hansen 2017 , 2015 ). Oddly enough, these efforts, however much needed and welcomed, were already deeply grounded in Baldwin’s prose, which extrapolated on structural barriers in American society and disclosed racial fault lines and sexual taboos and challenges in the 1970s and earlier (See for in Baldwin 1972 ). The novelty of mainstreaming peripheral and marginalized perspectives lies in introducing these issues to the field of transitional justice and expanding also the...17 Feb Guest Post Part I: The Chilcot Inquiry–The Publication Saga of an Official History
...of a court. Wood expresses a deep commitment to international law precisely because of its horizontal interpretive nature; it is for government legal advisers to demarcate the acceptable boundaries of policy versus international law, providing apparent ‘clear bright lines’ beyond which policy cannot traverse without incurring international illegality. Not so, according to the government, if instructing Independent Counsel. In a document declassified and released by the Attorney General’s Office dated 13 March 2003 (ie on the eve of formal invasion) the legal secretary to the Attorney General, David Brummell, considered...25 Jul International Law in the U.S. Supreme Court: Introduction
...and the post-war years to the century’s end (1946-2000). Part V examines the leading post-2000 cases in light of historical practice. Although the dividing lines between historical periods are concededly somewhat artificial, the book is deliberately designed to devote substantial attention to the period from the Civil War to the end of World War II, which seems somewhat under-examined by prior scholarship as compared to the Founding era and the modern period. Within the chronological periods, the book further subdivides the Court’s treatment of international law into substantive categories: treaties,...