by Jessica Dorsey
- If you haven’t been able to keep up with all of our posts on Wednesday’s Kiobel decision, An has a great round-up post here. Don’t forget that unsolicited submissions are still welcome for consideration.
- In other Kiobel news, ASIL has posted Curtis Bradley’s Insight here (.pdf).
- A judge in the Guatemalan case against former president Efrain Rios Montt has suspended his genocide trial on procedural grounds.
- Following briefings on the bleak humanitarian situation in Syria, the Security Council managed to find a consensus on a non-binding statement demanding an end to the escalating violence and human rights violations and urging both sides of the conflict not to restrict access to aid organizations.
- The United States has been looking into evidence of possible chemical weapon use in Syria and have preliminarily concluded that more review is necessary.
- Pakistani police have arrested former president Pervez Musharraf; he has been placed under house arrest for two days until he can be presented to an anti-terrorism court in Islamabad.
- Two rockets have been fired from Gaza into Israel, coming a day after rockets were fired into the Israeli resort town of Eilat, both causing no injuries.
- The President of the ICRC, Peter Maurer, has urged the United States to exercise a “very restrained use of drones” in their strategy against al-Qaeda, reiterating that if drones are used outside of a recognized armed conflict, “there is a problem.”
- EJIL: Talk! has a post by Gena Heathcote entitled: Is it the right time to reconsider jus ad bellum proportionality? A response to Kretzmer’s “The inherent right to self-defense and proportionality in jus ad bellum.“
- Over at the International Economic Law and Policy Blog, Rob Howse reports on concerns raised by Kenya about irregularities in the selection process of the five candidates, shortlisted to become the next WTO Director-General.
April 19th, 2013 - 8:00 AM EDT |
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by Jessica Dorsey
April 18th, 2013 - 8:00 AM EDT |
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by Jessica Dorsey
- Yesterday, the ICJ reached its judgment in the frontier dispute between Burkina Faso and Niger. The BBC has more here.
- According to a bipartisan report by the Constitution Project (.pdf), the US has engaged in torture at the highest levels. Human Rights Watch also offers a statement here.
- The New Zealand parliament has passed a bill legalizing same-sex marriage.
- Privacy International has sued the United Kingdom over concerns for refusing to divulge information surrounding surveillance equipment used by the UK.
- Ex-rebels have launched reprisal attacks in the Central African Republic’s capital, Bangui, while the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, has expressed grave concern that since the overthrow of the government three weeks ago, there has been a rise of torture, rape, kidnappings and targeted killings in the country.
- Foreign Policy has a piece showcasing China as a cyberwar victim to US hackers.
- Human Rights Watch highlights several recent attacks in Somalia, specifically against a courthouse and an aid workers’ convoy, carried out by Al-Shebaab and classifying them as war crimes.
- The Pakistan Taliban have denied any involvement in the Boston Marathon bombing.
- The President of the General Assembly and former foreign affairs minister of Serbia, Vuk Jeremic, has defended last week’s General Assembly meeting on international justice and reaffirmed his criticism of the ICTY as a template for other war crimes tribunals.
- Over at Foreign Affairs, David Kaye asks how long America’s honeymoon with the ICC will last.
- The European Commission has given Serbia a final chance to reach a deal with Kosovo by delaying the release of a report on Serbia’s preparedness to become an EU Member State.
- The EU is also holding out the carrot of membership to Albania in an effort to ensure that the June elections live up to international standards.
- The EU’s Trade Commissioner is considering to investigate subsidies of Huawei and ZTE even in the absence of a formal complaint by European competitors.
April 17th, 2013 - 8:00 AM EDT |
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by Jessica Dorsey
April 16th, 2013 - 8:00 AM EDT |
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by Jessica Dorsey
- As North Korea celebrated the 101st birthday of the country’s founder, the US has said it is ready to “reach out” if Pyongyang gives up its nuclear aspirations after warning North Korea that a nuclear missile launch would be a “huge mistake.”
- Foreign Policy offers a way to solve the North Korea nuke problem, opining that the road to Pyongyang goes through Helsinki.
- Foreign Policy also points out that while a lot of focus has been on North Korean missiles, there were two other countries busy this week with testing their launch capabilities: India and Pakistan.
- Guards at Guantanamo are trying to end the hunger strike of 43 inmates that began in February; some 11 inmates are being force-fed through tubes inserted into their noses and mouths, a practice considered torture by some. One detainee, through his lawyers, has an op-ed in the New York Times describing his experience on hunger strike since February 10.
- Reports from Syria say that children and other civilians have been killed in the latest round of government bombing campaigns in Damascus and Hadad.
- The melting of Antarctic ice is currently the worst it has been in more than 1,000 years.
- Professor William Schabas offers some thoughts on the recent General Assembly meeting about international justice, an event we covered here in our News Wrap.
- UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Counterterrorism, Ben Emmerson, has called on countries to protect Burkina Faso from terrorism, given its vulnerability especially with respect to the current conflict in Mali.
- After a first round of negotiations, the WTO has narrowed down the list of candidates for the position of Director-General to five: Ms Mari Elka Pangestu (Indonesia), Mr Tim Groser (New Zealand), Mr Herminio Blanco (Mexico), Mr Taeho Bark (Republic of Korea) and Mr Roberto Carvalho de Azevêdo (Brazil).
- Figures released by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute show that global military expenditure has decreased in the past year, although this masks a shift in spending globally, with the US and Western and Central Europe spending less and other states, particularly China and Russia, spending more.
- Suicide bombs have killed at least 20 in Mogadishu, Somalia, and at least as many in a series of car bombs around Iraq.
April 15th, 2013 - 8:00 AM EDT |
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