Search: palestine icc
24 Jun A Brief Note on Arrest Warrants and Summonses at the ICC
Note: I serve as Special Adviser to the ICC Prosecutor on War Crimes. Twitter is awash with commentary about tweets issued by the Registry that explain the difference between arrest warrants and summonses. Many people have speculated that perhaps the tweets are related to the Palestine situation. Any such speculation is unwarranted, as the tweets are part of a long-scheduled series explaining how the ICC works and are not connected to any situation or any specific judicial development. Given the speculation, however, it is worth explaining how arrest warrants and...11 Jun An Open Letter to the Israeli Government Condemning Annexation [Final Update]
...Israel, Office of the Attorney General, The International Criminal Court’s Lack of Jurisdiction over the So-Called “Situation in Palestine” §49 (Dec. 20, 2019). [2] For instance, concerning the legality of the West Bank Wall/Security Barrier, Israel claimed –indirectly before the International Court of Justice and directly in its own Supreme Court – that the route of the Wall is strictly based on security considerations, and is not designed to determine borders. Indeed, as ruled by the Israeli Supreme Court, sitting as the High Court of Justice, “the military commander is...
13 Dec The Prohibition against Genocide: Hollow Rhetoric or Pathway to Accountability?
...in occupied Palestine before the ICJ. Notwithstanding the outcome of this pending Opinion, does a request for provisional measures aimed at mitigating the irreparable harm inherent in the very allegation of a genocide offer a more substantive interlocutory solution for the affected Palestinians? The singularly unique facet of Gambia’s standing before the ICJ, successfully proved, was based on the assertion that the prohibition against genocide as enshrined in the Genocide Convention was an erga omnes partes obligation, hence giving locus standi to all states party to the Convention to bring...31 Jan Weekend Roundup: January 24-31, 2015
...of the hostage situation between ISIS and Jordan/Japan, Jens weighed in on hostages and human dignity. Jens also reported on yesterday’s decision at the ICTY Appeals Chamber, upholding genocide charges in the case of The Prosecutor v. Popovic et al. related to the massacre at Srebrenica in July, 1995. Duncan highlighted his newest paper, this time he’s written An Intersubjective Treaty Power and a guest post came in from Nimrod Karin, responding to Kevin’s critique of his Just Security posts (here and here), about whether Palestine’s joining the ICC amounted...11 Feb Ahmadinejad on the Cartoon Controversy
For Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad it’s all about Israel. The cartoons were not an act of freedom, they were a desperate act of hostages. This week Ahmadinejad used the cartoon controversy to blame the United States and Europe for “being hostages of the Zionists.” He then criticized the double-standard of the freedom to insult the prophet while imposing criminal sanctions on those who deny the Holocaust. “I ask everybody in the world not to let a group of Zionists who failed in Palestine … to insult the prophet. Now in...07 Oct 15 Years Later: A History of the Forever War and the Laws of War (Part 1 of 2)
...effort to wage war. Clearly, this debate has a certain resonance with the ongoing controversies surrounding the tension between retribution and peace – think of the ICC’s intervention in Sudan, or that of Human Rights Watch in Colombia most recently. Strikingly, however, both experts seem to have a very selective – and problematic – understanding of the historically ambiguous, yet constantly changing relationship between the two fields of international law in wartime – jus in bello and jus ad bellum. In this post, adhering to Moyn’s call for a new...
22 Apr International Justice System v. People’s Tribunals: A Fictional Hierarchy
...Nations Security Council to the International Criminal Court (ICC), have been established to address the justice and accountability gap resulting from the lack of states’ participation. However, the ICC, lacking a police force or enforcement body, relies on state cooperation for arrests or transfers of individuals in custody. Furthermore, activating these mechanisms requires significant political will, often absent in numerous atrocity cases. Consequently, victims are left with the stark choice of either dying without seeing justice or engaging in informal justice initiatives such as people’s tribunals. In response to this...
16 Feb On Being Disappointed at Judge Julia Sebutinde’s Dissent
...response following Hamas’ massacre on 7 October. The submission has also brought about reflections on active allyship against the decades-old Israeli occupation of Palestine—something not to take lightly in the face of the longstanding call to have decolonisation as a concrete act rather than a metaphor or a mere workshop title. From what follows, the position of the Court on 26 January was particularly under scrutiny. Beyond a mere ‘international lawyerly’ issue, it seemed to represent a significant opportunity for the Court to demonstrate an international institution’s capabilities (and possible...26 Aug Structuring a Peace Process
...negotiations will be hampered by the lack of a really representative Palestinian government. “That is the point,” agreed Cohen, the director of the Institute for Middle East Peace and Development and author of a new book, Beyond America’s Grasp: A Century of Failed Diplomacy in the Middle East. The United States is “acting as if there is a strong state” among the Arab states, he said. “But there is no leader who can make a decision who can carry the day. [Similarly], there is no strong leader in Palestine who...