Search: self-defense
06 Mar ICTR Defense Attorney Wanted for Genocide
A dispute is brewing between the Rwandan government and the ICTR over the fact that one of the Tribunal’s appointed defense attorneys is himself on Rwanda’s “most wanted” list of genocide suspects. The attorney, Callixte Gakwaya, is counsel for Yusuf Munyakazi, a former businessman who is accused of committing genocide and crimes against humanity in Cyangugu and neighbouring Kibuye in 1994. The Rwandan government’s representative to the ICTR, Aloys Mutabingwa, claims ignorance of how Gakwaya’s ended up employed by the Tribunal: “We are surprised because the ICTR was aware that...03 Feb A Native American Mutual Defense Treaty Against Tar Sands Projects
...as sovereign nations, call upon the Canadian and United States governments to respect our decision to reject tar sands projects that impact our sacred sites and homelands; to call upon the Canadian and United States governments to immediately halt and deny approval for pending tar sands projects because they threaten the soil, water, air, sacred sites, and our ways of life; and, confirm that any such approval would violate our ancestral laws, rights and responsibilities. Article VII then goes on to establish a mutual defense commitment of sorts, wherein the...10 Jan Israel’s Shifting Defense of Its Attack on the UN School (Updated Again)
...military (violent) measures these social movements have resorted to as a result of the long-standing denial of the international legal right to collective self-determination possessed by Palestinians. For not only are such characterizations self-defeating, they serve to hide and distort more than reveal and inform. Patrick S. O'Donnell The last sentence should have read: "For whatever truth they contain and feebly express, such characterizations are, in the end, self-defeating, as they serve to hide and distort more than reveal and inform. David Bernstein leaders and members (e.g., Professor Bernstein’s telling...
07 Sep BHR Symposium: Global Supply Chains–Where Art Thou in the BHR Treaty?
defense is qualified by Article 8.8, a new provision stating that ‘Human rights due diligence shall not automatically absolve’ a business from liability. Rather, a court (or competent authority) will decide on liability ‘after an examination of compliance with applicable human rights due diligence standards.’ What does this mean? That a business whose HRDD complies with applicable standards has an automatic defense? Or not? And what are those applicable HRDD standards? Article 8.8 is indicating that the mere fact of conducting HRDD cannot be used as a safe harbour for...11 Nov A Tentative Defense of the Graham GTMO Amendment
...are somewhat uncertain and courts will certainly give Congress broad discretion to regulate those rights. (2) The amendment would create congressional oversight over the procedures governing the detention of the Guantanamo detainees because the Defense Department would have to submit their procedures for determinations as to the legal status of those detainees to Congress as well as any changes in the procedure. (3) The most controversial part of the Amendment is the part removing the jurisdiction of the federal courts from “any action” based on the DoD’s new policies on...27 Nov The Curious Timing of the Bemba Arrests
Two of the four men arrested on suspicion of witness tampering and manufacturing evidence in the Bemba case appeared before the Court today, along with Bemba himself. Not surprisingly, defence counsel for the defence counsel focused on the various ways in which the arrests will prejudice Bemba’s case: Meanwhile, defense lawyers for the accused stated that the new charges had harmed the defense case of Mr. Bemba, whose trial for war crimes and crimes against humanity started in November 2010. Xavier-Jean Keita, who represented Mr. Kilolo-Musamba, said the defense would...31 May VJIL Symposium: Jason Webb Yackee Responds to Bjorklund/Litwin and Wong
...is already a viable “corruption defense,” and also that it might be useful to better specify the contours of the defense through explicitly corruption-related treaty language. Where we primarily differ is on the desirable contours of the defense. My scheme is self-consciously pro-state. It imposes serious consequences on the investor who engages in corruption. It is, as Professor Bjorklund accurately points out, supply-side in its focus, just as are the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and its non-U.S. equivalents. This supply-side focus bothers Professors Wong and Bjorklund. It seems unfair...12 Jan Guiora on the Legal Implications of Gaza
Amos Guiora has an essay up on Jurist concerning the Israeli military operations in Gaza. He writes: The IDF launched Cast Lead after two significant developments: Hamas had fired 6,000 missiles from the Gaza Strip into southern Israel during the past three years after Israel had unilaterally disengaged from the Gaza Strip and Hamas had unilaterally violated an Egyptian negotiated cease-fire. This is classic self-defense; to that extent, Operation Cast Lead is not different. From a legal perspective, however, there are three critical differences between Cast Lead and previous IDF...25 Jul AJIL Symposium: Comment on Eyal Benvenisti, Sovereigns as Trustees of Humanity
...argue that there is an obligation on states irrespective of self-interest, potentially even when it is contrary to self-interest. A possible source of such a (non-self-interested) obligation can be identified: the UK, we might say, is under (at least) a moral obligation to implement judgments of the Court of Human Rights because we have (at least) implicitly promised to do so when we joined the Convention system, and violating that promise is, at least prima facie, morally wrong. (It also threatens to undermine our expectation that others will consider themselves...