Search: crossing lines
17 Dec China invokes UNCLOS in claiming sovereignty over the Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands
...hawkish in responding to such measures. So, perhaps it’s not surprising that China’s now also beginning to push its case legally, invoking UNCLOS’s provisions on delineating continental shelf rights beyond its 200 nautical mile Exclusive Economic Zone. Specifically, UNCLOS Article 76 provides in paragraphs 7-9: 7. The coastal State shall delineate the outer limits of its continental shelf, where that shelf extends beyond 200 nautical miles from the baselines from which the breadth of the territorial sea is measured, by straight lines not exceeding 60 nautical miles in length, connecting...19 Jul Guest Post: Israeli Committee Declares End to West Bank Occupation
...courts and the rest of the world for decades, namely that Israel’s presence in the West Bank is temporary and that measures designating Palestinian land and natural resources for Israeli use are motivated by security concerns. Here are some conclusions by the committee that I wholeheartedly endorse: 1. The so-called “unauthorized” outposts, built without the proper building permits and zoning plans, were as a matter of fact approved and funded by the State of Israel, which provided military protection, installed water and electricity lines, built access roads and funded public...18 Jul Was the Hamdan Court Reading Rick Pildes?
...the same result if we had a Democrat Congress? The Harvard piece, along with a 2004 essay with Sam Issacharoff, also maps well onto Hamdan in extracting a process-based, institutionally-focused tradition in wartime decisionmaking from the Court. The Court has threaded the poles of rights-based idelaism on the one hand and deference to executive unilateralism on the other, looking instead for the reassurance of bilateral agreement between the political branches. The Youngstown story is of course well known along these lines. Less familiar is Pildes’ retelling of Milligan and Korematsu....
03 Nov Genocide at The Hague: A Transitional Justice Reckoning?
...from strategic state interests and geopolitical alignments. For example, as Jacobs observes, key Western actors supporting Ukraine’s case against Russia, like Germany and the US have been notably less vocal about Gaza at the ICJ. In contrast, while South Africa and Nicaragua have played visible roles in the Gaza litigation, their engagement with Ukraine’s case has been muted, neither appears to have intervened formally. Such inconsistencies reinforce the perception that legal accountability is applied selectively along political lines. The ICJ is not the UN General Assembly: its authority rests on...
24 May Policy Recommendations to Meaningfully Mitigate Civilian Harm in Military Operations: A View from the Netherlands (Part I)
...investigation and response processes, and should be described in the Article-100 Letters (a constitutional requirement to inform Parliament about the deployment of Dutch military personnel, after which a Parliamentary debate occurs). By outlining these parameters prior to agreeing to participate within a coalition context, participating States agree on baselines of how they understand CHMR efforts prior to military engagement and where red lines are drawn. These standards can reflect access to intelligence and information prior to targeting missions and should reflect CHMR throughout the joint targeting cycle. States should also...
20 Aug Muddying the Waters Still Further: A Response to Steven Kay and Joshua Kern
...of the claim that there was a breach of Article 2(4) is underscored by the fact that units of the Arab Legion were stationed in mandate Palestine (west of the Jordan River) under British command and guarding British supply lines as Britain withdrew in May 1948. The fusion of Jordanian and Palestinian sovereignty I stand by my claim that the Jordanian Act of Union of 1950 fused Jordanian and Palestinian sovereignty between 1950 and 1988. However, Kay and Kern claim that “given that Jordan’s occupation arose from a breach of...
23 May Punishing Atrocities Symposium: Exploring Joint Criminal Enterprise
...always clearly distinguished. One question concerns the lines between guilt and innocence. Does the law improperly convict people for harms for which they are not, in fact culpable? The other question concerns the grading of culpability. Does the law fail to adequately differentiate degrees of guilt by, for example, treating all JCE members as guilty of the same crimes despite significant differences in their roles and respective contributions? I will start with the first. When the I teach the Tadić case—in which the ICTY Appeals Chamber first announced its...17 Sep IL/IR Symposium: Comment on Helfer
...more or less, with evidence from “escape” studies that differentiates the conduct of stable democracies from autocracies – but would also suggest that these and other fault lines emerge first during treaty design. Third, and finally, a more general word about the call for future research. This is typically one of the most useful functions of a survey chapter, if done astutely, and Larry’s suggestions – reflected in his blog post – do not disappoint. While I agree with him about the kind of questions that should be addressed, I’d...17 Sep IL/IR Symposium: Flexibility in International Agreements
...unanticipated interaction or substitution effects among formal and informal flexibility mechanisms. These conclusions suggest four lines of inquiry that scholars might pursue in future studies. First, in addition to analyzing individual flexibility mechanisms, scholars should give greater attention to the relationship among different flexibility tools. Barbara Koremenos’ 2005 article, Contracting Around International Uncertainty, is a pioneer in this regard. Future studies might consider whether other flexibility tools are complements or substitutes. This research would be especially welcome for issue areas, such as environment and security, for which flexibility tools have...