Well, that was quick. Amazing what a change of administration can do:Kevin Rudd has started his prime ministership with a bang, ratifying the Kyoto Protocol as his first act of government hours after being sworn in. Mr Rudd’s signing of the climate agreement yesterday brought applause from environmental groups and delegates at the United Nations climate conference in Bali. It leaves...
In my post yesterday on the controversy over the pending execution of Chemical Ali and his two co-defendants, I argued that the Iraqi Constitution gives the President of Iraq, and not the Presidency Council, the authority to ratify death sentences. Earlier today, I received a friendly e-mail from a US official involved in the drafting of the Constitution...
The death penalty, I think it's safe to say, has been a disaster in Iraq. The Iraqi government's early and unwavering insistence on permitting the Iraqi High Tribunal to impose the death penalty effectively ended international involvement with the Tribunal. Then the IHT executed Saddam before his conviction became final — and turned him into a martyr in...
As has been widely reported, new Australian PM Kevin Rudd has promised to sign the Kyoto Protocol and remove the country's 550 troops from Iraq. Good news on both fronts — as is a third promise that has received less media attention: a formal apology to Australia's aboriginal population for the many historic injustices they have suffered:Mr Rudd's pledge...
The blogosphere has a new member: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the President of Iran. He doesn't write many posts — "personal musings," as he calls them — but the comments section has been quite active. And quite critical, as the Guardian (UK) notes in an article today:Somewhat gleefully, the reformist newspaper Etemad reported yesterday that some respondents were venting their...
According to Reuters, prosecutors in Paris have dismissed a claim against Donald Rumsfeld for the abuses at Abu Ghraib:The Paris prosecutors' office has dismissed a suit against Donald Rumsfeld accusing the former U.S. defense secretary of torture, human rights groups who brought the case said on Friday. The plaintiffs, who included the French-based International Federation of Human Rights Leagues (FIDH) and...
Mary Dudziak has an interesting post today at Legal History Blog that discusses why Brian Leiter's citation rankings underestimate the scholarly impact of legal historians. One of the primary reasons, she explains, is that the study is confined to Westlaw's JLR database:What does this miss? Leading scholars will have an impact that ranges beyond their fields and beyond their...
In June, I blogged about evidence presented at a New South Wales Coroner's Court indicating that, contrary to the longstanding position of the Indonesian and Australian governments, Indonesian troops murdered five journalists in Balibo on October 16, 1975, the first full day of Indonesia's invasion of East Timor. Last week, the deputy coroner in New South Wales officially concluded that the...
The "Fair" in "Fair and Balanced": Wouldn't it be nice if Fox News at least pretended to live up to its motto? UPDATE: In the comments, "Humble Law Student" claims that my post is a "cheap shot at sliming the network [and] is both incorrect and dishonest," ostensibly because the screenshot comes from The Big Story, an opinion show instead of a...
According to the Department of Homeland Security, more than 1,000 individuals who have committed war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide currently live in the United States free from the threat of prosecution. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) wants that to change:America has become a haven for the world's war criminals because it lacks the laws needed to prosecute them,...
By a 99-52 vote, with 33 abstentions, the United Nations' Third Committee has endorsed a worldwide moratorium on the use of the death penalty:It isn't the first time that a majority of the Human Rights Committee of the United Nations has voted against capital punishment, but each time brings renewed promise to opponents of the practice. On Thursday, after two...
Readers interested in the Second Circuit's Khulumani decision -- whose analysis of aiding-and-abetting under customary international law I recently criticized -- should check out Anthony Sebok's new FindLaw column here. It provides an excellent overview and analysis of the decision. ...
