In association with the International Commission of Jurists

Search: self-defense

22 Apr

...recourse to international dispute settlement mechanisms, rather than forcible self-defence. Armed Attack and Self-Defence The jurisprudence of the International Court of Justice draws an important distinction between the “most grave forms of the use of force,” which qualify as armed attacks, and less grave violations that do not trigger the right of self-defence. In Military and Paramilitary Activities in and against Nicaragua, the Court suggested that providing training or logistical assistance to armed groups generally falls below the armed-attack threshold. If the allegations against Ethiopia concern only the construction of...
22.04.26 | |

01 Nov

...defend yourself. It can’t be that you can use as much force in self-defence that you think will be enough to finish them off forever, and they’ll never come back for 100 years. And because I’m acting in self-defence I can use as much force as I want. But that’s controversial. Some people seem to feel that once the conflict has started, and you have shown the necessity of self-defence, you can use as much force as you like within the rules of international humanitarian law, and that means that...
01.11.21 | |

07 Mar

...the purported “peace support functions” the shortest of their kind in history. On 22 February, President Putin signed the Federal Laws on the ratification of both treaties (see here and here). In accordance with Article 4 of both identical treaties, the Contracting Parties “shall provide each other with necessary, including military, assistance in the exercise of the right of individual or collective self-defence in accordance with Article 51 of the UN Charter”. “Self-Defence” In his televised address of 24 February 2022, President Putin mentioned “self-defence” as a justification for the...
07.03.22 | |

27 Mar

...area of treaty law is messy for a variety of reasons that I won’t go into here. Suffice to say that there is substantial disagreement in the courts, and even more disagreement in the legal academy, as to how and whether to give a treaty self-executing effect. What the Supreme Court might (but probably won’t) do is clarify this very murky and fuzzy area of the law. Or, as is more likely, they may confuse matters even further. *For a defense of Scalia not recusing himself in Hamdan, see here....
27.03.06 | |

13 Jul

...Japan relinquished sovereignty, but there is no transfer mechanism. Some argue Aquisitive Prescription (e.g. Goa) but that fails here as there is considerable objection to any Chinese claim to Taiwan, which precludes Aquisitive Prescription. US defense of Taiwan would not only be legal, but justice and consistent with US values. My concern is that Obama is such a weak president that the US might just sit on the sidelines. Guy Again, if the point is "the increasing irrelevance of Article 51 of the UN Charter to decisions by major powers...
13.07.14 | |

11 Nov

...for the general point, I'm sure defense counsel would be paid, if Karadzic actually had defense counsel. Since he doesn't, I don't see why people like prof. Heller should be paid as if they were defense counsel. Kevin Jon Heller Martin, As I have pointed out numerous times on this blog, I am not receiving a penny for my services. Justinian The decision is - obviously - aimed at weakening the right to self-representation. And it certainly does reach that goal. However, the right to self-represantation does not require the...
11.11.09 | |

27 Jun

...laws’. The principle of self-management (the rangatiratanga principle) Article 2 guarantees to Māori hapū (tribes) the control and enjoyment of those resources and taonga that it is their wish to retain. The preservation of a resource base, restoration of tribal self-management, and the active protection of taonga, both material and cultural, are necessary elements of the Crown’s policy of recognising rangatiratanga. The Government also recognised the Court of Appeal’s description of active protection, but identified the key concept of this principle as a right for iwi to organise as iwi...
27.06.08 | |

02 Aug

...history helped us tease out the state practice concerning the underlying law. We found there has been a consistent view that there is no general right to secession—or “external self-determination”—under international law. Attempted secessions are largely viewed as domestic affairs that need to be resolved by the state itself. As a matter of international law, a successful claim for external self-determination must at least show that: (a) the secessionists are a “people;” (b) the state from which they are attempting to secede seriously violates their human rights; and (c) there...
02.08.06 | |

26 May

...Prof. David Frakt’s Huffington Post piece of April 29, 2010. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-frakt/new-manual-for-military-c_b_557720.html He was formerly lead defense counsel with the Office of Military Commissions, He writes that three different military judges in three separate commissions at GTMO (Hamden, Jawad & al Bahlul) (Frakt was lead defense counsel for the last two) rejected the government’s argument that “Murder in Violation of the Law of War” under the 2006 MCA is simply any killing by a person whose status is that of an unprivileged belligerent, whether or not the killing itself violates IHL....
26.05.10 | |

01 Sep

lawyers two days to prepare arguments on diplomatic immunity. The defense, which asked for an eight-day extension, contends that the officials should be shielded from prosecution because they were democratically elected by the Palestinians. Prosecutors counter that the suspects should not receive immunity because they are members of Hamas, which Israel considers a terrorist group. Dweik was detained early this month after the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) surrounded his home in the West Bank. About 30 Palestinian lawmakers, including a third of the Palestinian Authority's cabinet, have been captured since...
01.09.06 | |

02 Jul

...think Kevin mentioned a while ago, this episode speaks volumes about how the ICC views defense attorneys, including those in OPCD. Although it is very welcome news that Ms. Taylor has been freed, anytime there is controversy involving the Court, some constituency therein always seems ready to blame the defense attorneys. A more banal example: the OTP's claim, during the second stay of the Lubanga trial, that the defense could no be trusted to keep information concerning the identity of an intermediary confidential. Dedicated defense attorneys are integral to the...
02.07.12 | |

04 Apr

Milan Markovic Dear Alex, I very much agree with the following: "Prosecutors and defense lawyers play different roles in various systems and will also be accustomed to different practices and customs from their own jurisdictions." But isn't this a very good reason for the OTP to adopt a code of conduct or voluntarily subject itself to the code of conduct that is currently applicable to the ICC's defense counsel? In the absence of such action, it is difficult to assess your claim regarding the "extremely high ethical commitment" of the...
04.04.13 | |