Search: crossing lines
15 Jul Symposium on PMSCs: Deadly Agents Functioning as ‘Humanitarian Actors’
...authorities have systematically blocked or severely restricted the entry of humanitarian relief into Gaza, drawing international condemnation. In response to this criticism, Israel introduced a militarized “aid mechanism,” under which GHF began operations in May 2025. Preliminary reports on GHF’s operations reveal disorganized, opaque aid distributions, potentially even defined as war crimes, confirming long-standing concerns about the privatization and politicization of humanitarian assistance as it was highlighted in the WGM’s 2021 report. These developments are yet another striking example of blurring the lines between military and humanitarian actors, eroding trust,...23 Oct Russia, Moldova, and the EU: Realpolitik as Normative Competition
...it would be difficult to significantly harmonize your domestic norms and regulations along two different lines simultaneously. The normative divergences are so stark as to fuel secessionist rhetoric. According to the Congressional Research Service (Moldova: Background and Policy, June 5, 2013, p. 4), the Transnistrian separatist regime, for example, has stated their intention to accede to Russia’s Customs Union. And Russia has also raised the specter of secessionism in Ukraine, specifically linking it to Ukraine’s signing the EU Association Agreement. One way to possibly decrease the sense of this being...
17 May The Palestinian Right of Return Could Go to the ICC
...Crimes of Apartheid and Persecution (April 2021), at pages 204, 207. Requiring a racial group to reside in separate locations within a state qualifies as apartheid. Under the International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment on the Crime of Apartheid, one act that constitutes apartheid is the taking of measures “designed to divide the population along racial lines by the creation of separate reserves and ghettos for the members of a racial group.” If forcing a group into a designated area within a country constitutes apartheid, forcing the group out...11 Jun Does Affiliation with Al Qaeda Make One an “Enemy Combatant”? No, Says U.S. Court of Appeals
...U.S. military has essentially no role to play in detaining alleged terrorists who are within the United States (outside is another matter, but that may be eventually shot down as well). I am beginning to think that the law enforcement approach is more practical and attractive. I don’t think, however, that Congress or the President agree with this approach and I doubt that the law enforcement approach is constitutionally required. *UPDATE: For a more detailed and thoughtful analysis along the same lines as this post, see Orin Kerr’s analysis here....25 Aug Joe Biden, World Government Guy
...aide, is now director general of the somewhat scary sounding World Nuclear Association). Bad idea? Maybe we’ve come around to a world in which Tom Franck’s then-daring proposition (elaborated here and in the memorable 1991 N.Y. Times op-ed, “Declare War? Congress Can’t”) doesn’t seem so outlandish any more. (Some hint here also along the lines of the Concert of Democracies.) I doubt we’ll hear too much from the Democratic ticket during the campaign about deferring to Turtle Bay, but perhaps we might see possibilities in this direction after inauguration day....
19 Feb A Commentary on the Arbitral Award of 3 October, 1899 (Guyana v. Venezuela) jurisdiction ruling: The road to hell is paved with good intentions.
...application of Guyana to admit the case concerning the validity of the Arbitral Award of October 3rd, 1899 and the ensuing territorial dispute between itself and Venezuela over the Esequibo territory. How did the dispute arrive to the Court? This dispute dates back to the end of the 19th century when an arbitral tribunal decided that the demarcation between the British Guiana and Venezuela would be drawn along the lines of the Esequibo river. A few decades later, the personal correspondence of a diplomat who participated in the proceedings- as...
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...
08 Jul The Sum of Four Fears: African States and the International Criminal Court in Retrospect–Part I
...‘[march] in lock step with the permanent members’. The most recent example of the Prosecutor and the ICC’s supporters’ cozy relationship with the Security Council, and its insidious effects, concerns the ongoing disputes regarding President Al-Bashir’s claim to Head of State immunity (debates that have become somewhat moot since his removal from office). Over the past decade academics have fiercely debated the status of President Al-Bashir’s immunity, and so when the issue finally came before the ICC Appeals Chamber in 2018 the Prosecutor was presented with a number of lines...