This week on Opinio Juris, Duncan started us off by discussing privileges and immunities for diplomats and posed the question of what the public should know in cases like DWIs. His next post offered a discussion of the Native American mutual defense treaty involving the Tar Sands Projects. Kevin weighed in this week on affairs at the ICC, including this post...
Syrian troops are battling rebels around Damascus, trying to halt their advance on the capital. The ICC has demanded the extradition of Libya’s Abdullah al-Senussi to The Hague to face charges of crimes against humanity under Gaddafi’s regime. A UN survey has found that more than $3.9 billion was paid out in bribes in Afghanistan in 2012, amounting to more than double...
France is seeking UN Peacekeepers for Mali amid the ongoing conflict. Sudan’s President Omar Hassan al-Bashir met with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in order to discuss potential areas of cooperation in the future. The Canadian government is thinking about legislation that would revoke the citizenship of its dual nationals involved in acts of terrorism. Human Rights Watch has issued a report that alleges...
A Chinese navy vessel aimed a type of radar normally used to aim weapons at a target at a Japanese navy ship in the East China Sea, prompting a Japanese protest.President Barack Obama has plans to visit Israel, the West Bank and Jordan this spring, raising the prospects of a new U.S. push to restart long-stalled Israel-Palestinian peace efforts.The British Parliament...
The US Department of Justice’s White Paper justifying its drone strike and targeted killing program was leaked to NBC yesterday. The story is here, the white paper is here. Kevin Jon Heller already has early analysis pieces on OJ here and here. Although not yet formally approved, US military leaders have agreed to pre-emptive cyber strikes in the face of an imminent and large scale digital attack. Mike...
Though he admits that evidence that came from enhanced interrogation techniques was used to find Osama Bin Laden, outgoing Secretary of Defense and former CIA chief who oversaw the Bin Laden operation, Leon Panetta, has said that Bin Laden could have been found without resorting to torture. The German Defense Ministry has confirmed Germany will acquire armed drones. The number three leader of...
Syria protested to the UN about an Israeli air strike on its territory and warned of a possible "surprise" response. Two years later, Benghazi threatens “another revolution” in Libya. Iran is planning to speed up its research and work on developing nuclear fuel. Recent escalating violence in Darfur has caused more than 100,000 people to flee the area. British Prime Minister David Cameron has made...
Israel has carried out air strikes close to the Syria-Lebanese border. Donors have pledged $1.5 million to aid civilians displaced by the conflict in Syria. British PM Cameron has visited Algeria to discuss responses to the threat of terrorism. French troops have captured the last Islamist stronghold in Mali. ICC Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda warned the Malian government over reports of human rights abuses by Malian forces. The UN Human Rights Council...
Special Envoy Lakhdar Brahimi has appealed to the UN Security Council to take action on Syria which he said is "breaking up before everyone's eyes". Meanwhile, there are reports of a new massacre in Aleppo as more than 71 bodies were found by a river. Israel has boycotted the Human Rights Council's Universal Periodic Review of the rights situation in Israel, which has left the body with...
Rep. Edward Royce, Chairman of the US House of Representatives' Foreign Affairs Committee, has urged China to participate in the arbitration proceedings lodged by the Philippines over their dispute regarding the South China Sea. The US military has started preparations for a drone base in Western Africa, presumably in Niger or in Burkina Faso. A judge in Guatemala has ordered Mr Rios Montt, a former dictator and...
Talks have broken down at the African Union summit in Ethiopia on plans to solve the crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo.The UN wants to set up an intervention force to fight rebels fueling conflict in the DRC, according to a UN official.According to B’Tselem, a rights group, Israel is breaking its own rules of engagement by using deadly...
The UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights while Countering Terrorism, Ben Emmerson, announced the launch of a special investigation into drone warfare and targeted killings yesterday. The United Nations is planning to consider later this year the scientific validity of a claim by China that a group of disputed islands in the East China Sea are part of its territory, although Japan says...
