Search: palestine icc
07 Mar Creating a Special Tribunal for Aggression Against Ukraine Is a Bad Idea
...is more difficult to explain why there would be no personal immunity for ICC defendants who are nationals of states that have not ratified the Rome Statute and whose crimes were committed in a situation not referred by the Security Council. The ICC is based on states pooling their territorial and national jurisdiction; as the saying goes, what one state can do alone, many states can do together. The corollary of that saying, however, is that states cannot delegate to the Court powers that they do not themselves possess. The...25 Jun So Far, the “Apology” Hasn’t Helped
I obviously disagreed with the ICC’s decision to issue the non-apology apology, but I sincerely hoped that it would at least lead to Taylor’s release. Unfortunately, Libya has given no indication that, having suitably humiliated both the Court and Bob Carr, it has any intention of releasing her: Carr said Friday’s talks in the Hague between the ICC and Libyan authorities had resulted in a statement “that had the ICC expressing regret, effectively an apology for any misunderstandings”. “It’s what we were after,” Carr told ABC television. “The talks in...15 Jun ICC Appeals Chamber Says A War Crime Does Not Have to Violate IHL
...Conventions of 12 August 1949″; and “[o]ther serious violations of the laws and customs applicable in armed conflicts not of an international character.” In each and every case, war crimes are limited to violations of IHL. No more. The Appeals Chamber (AC) at the ICC has just unanimously held in Ntaganda that a perpetrator can be convicted of a war crime even if his act does not violate IHL. That decision is not simply “unprecedented,” as the AC openly acknowledges. It is simply incorrect — as this post will demonstrate....14 Mar Breaking: Lubanga Convicted by the ICC
From AllAfrica.com: Today, International Criminal Court (ICC) judges in The Hague delivered the Court’s first verdict—a finding of guilt against former Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga. Prosecutors accused Lubanga of the war crimes of conscripting, enlisting, and using children under the age of 15 years for combat purposes while he served as political head of the Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC) rebel group in the Ituri region of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Lubanga denied all allegations against him, insisting that he gave orders for children not to be involved...29 Nov Bensouda vs. Othman for ICC Prosecutor (and Bensouda Should Win)
would be elected, especially when the final list included two Africans who were very well qualified for the position. That said, I still think Fatou Bensouda is the clear choice for the next Prosecutor. She offers the best of both worlds: an ICC insider who offers institutional continuity, which will be critical in the coming years, but has a strong, independent voice that has not been tainted by Moreno-Ocampo’s incompetent tenure. Having spoken to numerous individuals involved in the ICC, from OTP staff to legal officers in Chambers to defense...16 Jan ICC Silliness Watch — Media Edition
Regular readers no doubt know that I am obsessed with the media’s seemingly congenital inability to grasp the law and politics of the ICC. My new favorite comes via the BBC, in an article about the impending arrest warrant for Bashir: Two Sudanese groups have formally requested the International Criminal Court (ICC) not to issue an arrest for President Omar al-Bashir. He is accused of responsibility for war crimes and crimes against humanity during the conflict in Darfur. Experts warn that the motion filed could lead to a delay in...28 Apr How to Get Your ICC Arrest Warrants Enforced: Threaten More Arrest Warrants
Milan Markovic The bigger issue here is that Ocampo seems to be admitting that ICC indictments are politically-motivated. Either Ocampo has evidence to charge more Sudanese officials or he does not, but whether he moves forward should be determined by the evidence, not on the effect the indictments will have on Sudan's government. Ocampo is just making Sudan's case against the ICC with statements like this. Zygote My humble opinion is that non-cooperation with ICC and SC's Resolution constitutes an evidence of itself. The important thing to realize is that...08 Dec Is the Kenyatta Case the End for the ICC?
I haven’t had time to comment on the collapse of the ICC Kenyatta prosecution last week. But friend of blog and Northwestern University law professor Eugene Kontorovich has some interesting thoughts over at National Review. Read the whole thing, but suffice to say, Eugene thinks this is pretty big body blow to the whole idea that the ICC can be an effective institution at deterring international atrocities. Not that it is exactly shocking that a head of state accused of atrocities would use every lever in his tool box to...
07 Oct Rethinking International Law After Gaza: A Symposium and a Call to Action
...in solidarity with those fighting for justice in Palestine. In the following essay, I offer brief remarks on the value of legal scholarship and conferences in challenging established power structures, the necessity of anti-zionist—by which I mean anti-racist—activism in the struggle to liberate Palestine, and the implications of an incontrovertible consensus beyond the West. Throughout, I draw on the symposium’s texts, which I had the pleasure of editing, and observations from the conference, which I was honoured to speak at. Activism and Critical Legal Scholarship International law has a Jekyll...
11 Jul All Wars Matter? On a Different Way for International Lawyers to Engage with Armed Conflicts
...connotations, mirrored in the warm reception of (white, European, Christian) Ukrainian war victims in what, for other (racialized) refugees, remains impervious Fortress Europe. Conversely, across the decolonizing world, in activist circles, among civil society, and even for progressive international lawyers, Palestine is not just a place and not just a conflict. Rather, Palestine is a metaphor of the colonial in a supposedly postcolonial present. Palestine is giving us a preview of the brutality of the high-tech wars of tomorrow, while demonstrating the fragility of the Western liberal democratic values of...