Opinio Juris weekday news wrap w16/13

Weekday News Wrap: Friday, April 19, 2013

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.

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Weekday News Wrap: Thursday, April 18, 2013

by Jessica Dorsey

In case you missed it, the US Supreme Court ruled on Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum affirming the Second Circuit Court of Appeals’ dismissal. We have an insta-symposium (scroll down to related links to see all posts so far) going on with contributions from many prominent voices. As Roger noted yesterday, if you’d like to post on Kiobel, please contact us. SCOTUS Blog also has a nice roundup.
A Pakistani court has ordered the arrest of former president Pervez Musharraf connected to allegations of treason in 2007.
North Korea has demanded an end to the sanctions if the United States wants a dialogue.
Serbia and Kosovo have failed to come to an agreement, calling Serbia’s accession to the EU into question.
Egyptian prosecutors have ordered former president Hosni Mubarak back to prison from the military hospital in which he was staying.
The US is dispatching army planners to Jordan but is wary of direct American intervention in Syria.
Human Rights Watch has urged Libya to allow access for Al-Senussi, char
For readers who follow the US’ current conflict with al-Qaeda and affiliated forces closely, you may recall two guest posts (here and here) about a recent symposium entitled The Boundaries of the Battlefield. The organizers of that symposium (full-disclosure: I was one of them) have written a summary report on the symposium.

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Weekday News Wrap: Wednesday, April 17, 2013

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.

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Weekday News Wrap: Tuesday, April 16, 2013

by Jessica Dorsey

Oral arguments began yesterday at the ICJ in the Thailand-Cambodia border dispute about land surrounding the Temple Vihear, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Syrian warplanes have launched further attacks in Damascus in addition to a handful of other rebel-held Syrian cities.
Heads of the World Health Organization and UNICEF made a rare political plea to the international community yesterday stating that intervention is needed in Syria now to prevent the crisis from reaching a dangerous tipping point.
The UN Security Council is meeting today to discuss a potential deployment of 12,600 peacekeepers to Mali to assist French troops battling rebel threats; these peacekeeping forces would be able to use “all necessary means” to combat the threats. Chad’s President has announced that his country’s troops are withdrawing from Mali.
At the Security Council, Rwanda has blocked consensus on a non-binding statement that would have recommended that the ICC play a role in solving Africa’s conflicts and human rights problems.
The ACLU has appealed a recent ruling allowing the Obama administration to keep silent about its drone program.
Though North Korea’s ambassador to the UK has given a rare speech to the Communist Party of Great Britain stating that North Korea is only interested in self-defense, North Korea made new threats yesterday towards South Korea, Japan and the United States. China points the finger at the US for stoking tensions in the region.
Arms Control Blog offers an analysis of the North Korea situation referencing Julian’s post here yesterday and asking where the “red line” might be on military action.
ASIL has published a new Insight entitled Will the WTO Finally Tackle Corruption in Public Purchasing? The Revised Agreement on Government Procurement (.pdf).
The Guardian has an overview of the five remaining candidates in the race to become the WTO’s next Director-General.
The Refugee Council of Australia has urged its government to recognize climate change refugee status.
As the first European country to do so, Iceland has signed a free trade agreement with China.

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Weekday News Wrap: Monday, April 15, 2013

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.

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