Search: jens iverson

...to use the least harmful means possible against enemy belligerents exists has been the subject of much debate on this blog (1, 2, 3) and at Lawfare (see, for example, this) and Jens Ohlin has also explored similar issues in his scholarship on the duty to capture. I want to give readers a “heads-up” that Geoff Corn, Laurie Blank, Christopher Jenks, and Eric Talbot Jensen, who participated in the Lawfare discussion of Ryan’s piece (go to this link for a list that includes their posts, or go directly to their...

Right now, the Ebola virus is spreading across the Africa, and the ability of the most affected states – Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Guinea – to stop and contain the virus is very much in doubt. Although only a few cases have been reported in the United States and Europe, it is clear that it will be impossible to completely avoid disease transmission here. Furthermore, it is also clear that the healthcare systems of Spain and the United States have been incapable of correctly handling cases so as...

...enough, however, even two of the architects of what Jens David Ohlin described as an “Assault on International Law” and proponents of far-reaching executive powers, namely John Yoo or Eric Posner, have publicly stated that they are concerned because of Trump (I wonder whether Ohlin is currently contemplating a follow-up book). Hegel and international law as “external public law” Trump’s “America First”-policy, coupled with him openly questioning fundamental principles of international law seems to be based quasi-absolute understanding of sovereignty, where obligations of all sorts are often viewed as obstacles...

This fortnight on Opinio Juris, Jens discussed how to get Quirin right when Quirin was wrong. Kevin asked for sources backing the US position on self-defence against non-state actors, while Kristen gave an overview of the legal issues up for debate at the General Assembly this fall. Julian expressed doubts about the strength of Greece’s legal arguments for the return of the Elgin Marbles. We also had a range of guest posts, with Başak Çalı commenting on the Tory attack on the European Human Rights system, and Oliver Windridge discussing...

I long ago stopped blogging, but a recent development inspires me to briefly return from retirement. As some of you already know, Prof. Göran Sluiter, an energetic, entrepreneurial, and pathbreaking scholar of international and comparative criminal law and procedure, has passed away much too soon after a battle with cancer. Prof. Sluiter was just 55.   A longtime professor at the University of Amsterdam, Göran’s work was well known for skillfully combining insights from domestic criminal law, regional human rights law, and international criminal law. He wrote about...

...we all are called upon to do the hard work of defending and developing international law. Let’s rise to the challenge. This is Part 3 of the Keynote Speech. Part 2 was published on November 15, and Part 1 on November 13. [i] Schmitt’s lasting impact is aptly reflected by a recent 900-page strong volume dedicated to his thought and legacy: Jens Meierhenrich & Oliver Simons, eds., The Oxford Handbook of Carl Schmitt (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016). [ii] David Dyzenhaus, “Kelsen, Heller and Schmitt: Paradigms of Sovereignty Thought,” (2015)...

The start of a new school year is a time for transitions and it is no different for Opinio Juris. Since founding the website fourteen years ago with Peggy and Julian, Opinio Juris has surpassed all of our original hopes with the additions of Roger, Kevin, Duncan, Peter, Ken, Deborah, Kristen and Jens. Each new member brought a unique perspective to the ongoing discussion. And the editorial assistance of Jessica Dorsey and An Hertogen allowed us to widen the scope of our activities. Now, once again, Opinio Juris is starting...

...response from Lori Damrosch. After that we will discuss James Stewart’s exciting article on “the end of modes of liability for international crimes”. After a presentation of the article, comments from Darryl Robinson, Thomas Weigend and Jens Ohlin will be published, followed each by an answer by the author. I hope you enjoy this first online symposium and would like to take this opportunity to thank all the authors who have kindly accepted to contribute to it, thus allowing it to reach the level of quality it deserved. I also...

Today, the American Psychological Association formally voted to end their enrollment in national security interrogations. This would seem to finally put an end to the organization’s involvement in post-9/11 torture against security detainees. The vote comes on the heels of the Hoffman Report, which was prepared by attorney David Hoffman of Sidley Austin LLP. Hoffman was hired by the APA to perform an internal investigation of the organization’s role in post-9/11 security interrogations that involved torture. The results of the report were damning. It was already common knowledge...

House Speaker John Boehner said in an interview on Sunday that ground troops may be necessary in order to stop the threat of ISIS. Although his comments were interwoven with lots of unnecessary talk of ISIS being barbarians, which I don’t think is terribly helpful, I do agree with his bottom-line assessment: air power and proxy ground troops won’t be enough to win this war. This points to a frequent mistake. Politicians think they can eliminate the cost of going to war by conducting an air war. That...

I have just uploaded a new essay to SSRN, entitled “The International Commission of Inquiry on Libya: A Critical Analysis.” The essay is a chapter of a book on international commissions of inquiry that is being edited by the LSE’s Jens Meierhenrich. Here is the introduction: This chapter provides a critical assessment of the International Commission of Inquiry on Libya, established by the United Nations Human Rights Council in February 2011 to investigate violations of international law committed in the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya. The chapter is divided into four sections....

...we continue with Darryl Robinson’s article ‘How Command Responsibility Got So Complicated’. Professor Robinson identifies an initial error in the development of command responsibility jurisprudence — namely, the contradiction generated between the ‘failure to punish’ strand of command responsibility, and its requirement that a defendant causally contribute to a crime — that has lead to confusion about the scope of the doctrine. Ilias Bantekas, Jens David Ohlin and James Stewart will respond to these remarks. On Friday, our symposium will conclude with Michelle Foster’s contribution, which builds on her article...