Search: crossing lines
01 Feb A Response to Sean Watts by Geoffrey Corn
...Watts offers. However, I am not convinced that modifying the bright lines produced by the presumptions of the law of war in order to address the factual over-breath at the fringe is worth the cost of opening the door to altering the group based presumptions that define who may participate in hostilities. In my view, his argument is analogous to an argument that a police officer or a district attorney need not be advised of Miranda rights prior to custodial interrogation because doing so is really just adherence to empty...
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...
16 Mar The Best Option: An Extraordinary Ukrainian Chamber for Aggression
In an excellent recent blog post at Just Security, Tom Dannenbaum identified four options for prosecuting Russia’s unprovoked aggression against Ukraine: [T]he International Criminal Court, an ad hoc international tribunal (whether along the lines proposed at Chatham House or pursuant to a General Assembly resolution), a domestic court exercising territorial jurisdiction (in Russia, Belarus, or Ukraine), or a domestic court exercising universal jurisdiction. All four options have their costs and benefits. The ICC would offer economy of scale, given that the Prosecutor has already initiated, at the request of 41...19 Mar Comparative Free Speech About Bong Hits
This morning the Supreme Court will hear Morse v. Frederick, a case about a high school student who held up a banner advocating “Bong Hits for Jesus” at a school function associated with the passing of the Olympic torch through Juneau, Alaska. The school principal, Deborah Morse, refused to allow Joseph Frederick to display the banner, and he was later disciplined for his conduct. Given that several of the justices are strongly committed to the principled use of comparative constitutionalism, I’m confident that something along the lines of the following...
16 Jul The “Cienfuegos Affair” and the Proposal for a New Regional Transnational Criminal Court in Latin America (COPLA)
...permanent transnational criminal court established by treaty between all Caribbean and Latin American signatories of the United Nations Convention on Transnational Organized Crime 2000 (and its protocols). A Draft Statute has been produced and circulated which provides for a permanent independent court modelled, somewhat, along the same lines of the International Criminal Court (ICC). In other words, a permanent, independent organisation with international legal personality, that boasts an independent Prosecutor, and which is founded on the principle of complementary (for an overview, see Rob Currie and Jacob Leon). It is...
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,...
29 Jun Compulsory Licensing for Crisis Management: Revisiting the EU’s Approach
...implement a compulsory license is shared. This is the underlying principle of the Human Rights Guidelines for Pharmaceutical Companies in Relation to Access to Medicines (2008), as affirmed by the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health, Paul Hunt, who drafted these guidelines (see here, p.12). This principle is enshrined under Articles 7 and 8 of the TRIPS Agreement, which recognise the need for states to take appropriate measures against practices that constitute an abuse of intellectual property rights or adversely affect technology transfer. States have various policy tools...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....14 Jan All Quiet on UNCLOS
Notwithstanding its recent efforts to avoid recess appointments with 12 second sessions, the Senate will return in full next Monday. For international lawyers, the big question is whether UNCLOS finally gets a vote for the Senate’s advice and consent. As I noted here and here, the SFRC voted UNCLOS out of Committee last fall largely along party lines. But it’s been all quiet since. Indeed, I’ve heard from a couple of sources that the window for Senate A&C to accession is closing, if not closed. What I don’t know is...