Search: jens iverson
24 Mar Weekend Roundup: March 17-23, 2012
...here. In his comments, Thomas Weigend agreed with James’ diagnosis of the contradictions in the law of complicity in international criminal law, but disagreed with the proposal to do away with the different modes of liability and shift the emphasis instead to the sentencing stage. James’ response can be found here. Finally, Jens Ohlin strongly disagreed with the unitary theory and defended the importance of the distinction between principals and accessories. James’ response can be found here. For those of you who want to continue the discussion, the Leiden Journal...13 Dec Weekend Roundup: December 6-12, 2014
Looking back at the week that was, Opinio Juris bloggers covered a number of news-related issues. Several provided commentary on the release of the US Senate’s Torture Report. Prior to its release, Kevin expressed disbelief at a post by ACLU Director Anthony Romero urging blanket amnesty for those responsible for torture, and as soon as it became available, Jens announced the report’s availability and his first thoughts here, before discussing what we really fight about when we talk about torture here. Deborah examined the question of prosecution in response to...13 Dec Do Attacks on ISIS in Syria Justify the “Unwilling or Unable” Test?
...wrote her article, ISIS did not yet exist — and the US and other states had not started attacking ISIS in Syria. It is not surprising, therefore, that Deeks is now relying on the international response to ISIS to argue, in the words of a new post at Lawfare, that “the ‘unwilling or unable’ test is starting to seem less controversial and better settled as doctrine.” There is no question that the US believes the “unwilling or unable” test is consistent with Art. 51. As Jens noted a few months...23 Jul Self-Aggrandizement Alert: Two New Publications
I’m delighted to announce the publication of two new essays. The first is “The Use and Abuse of Analogy in IHL,” which is a chapter in Jens’s edited book for CUP, “Theoretical Boundaries of Armed Conflict and Human Rights.” I’m very proud of the essay — and all of the contributions to the book are excellent. The second publication is my article “Radical Complementarity,” which has just appeared in the Journal of International Criminal Justice. Here is the abstract: In March 2015, a domestic court in Côte d’Ivoire sentenced Simone...05 Jun Targeted Killings Symposium: John C. Dehn on Richard Meyer and Col. Maxwell on Status-Based Targeting
[John C. Dehn is a nonresident senior fellow in West Point’s Center for the Rule of Law. The views presented here are his personal views.] This post is part of the Targeted Killings Book Symposium. Other posts in this series can be found in the related posts below. Let me first congratulate Claire Finkelstein, Jens Ohlin, and Andy Altman for compiling wonderfully diverse thoughts on an intellectually rich topic. My only regret is that circumstances prevented me from contributing to it despite an invitation to do so. Colonel Maxwell’s chapter...23 Sep Does the Collective Self-Defense Justification Extend to Khorasan? If Not, Then Is There One?
I agree with Jens’ excellent post on the importance of the “unwilling or unable” standard to the US justification for legal strikes on non-state actors in Syria. I agree this action may reveal state practice supporting (or rejecting) this legal justification. I am curious whether the UK, France, or other states that may be participating in Syria strikes will embrace this theory. (I already know the Russians have roundly rejected this US justification). I also wonder whether this legal justification will weaken, as a policy matter, the ability of the...10 Dec What We Fight About When We Fight About Torture
Right now we are locked in a complex dispute over the claims in the SSCI Torture Report that the CIA’s torture program was ineffective (as well as illegal). Part of the dispute can be frustrating because I think we are conflating a number of more distinct questions when we ask whether the torture was effective or not. Consider the following article from John Yoo who says that the torture report should be confined to the “dustbin” of history because it is inaccurate. He claims that torturing the detainees...23 Feb One more time all together: Obama wants to close Gitmo
Just a minute ago, President Obama announced yet again his intention and desire to close the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay. There are no particular surprises here. From what I heard listening to his comments, the plan is merely a renewed push to get Congress to cooperate on closing the prison. Specifically, Obama suggested that the detainees who cannot be released should be transferred to a domestic facility, though he declined to specify which one. Obama made several points in defense of this plan. He conceded that some...