In association with the International Commission of Jurists

Author: Kevin Jon Heller

13 Sep

Apparently not, because yesterday's war propaganda editorial by Sebastian Junger beating the drum for attacking Syria is just spectacularly awful. I've been out of the fisking game for a while, but the editorial simply can't pass unmentioned. Every war I have ever covered — Kosovo, Bosnia, Sierra Leone and Liberia — withstood all diplomatic efforts to end it until Western military action...

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12 Sep

Andrew Cayley, the co-international prosecutor, has resigned effective next week: British national Andrew Cayley told VOA that it was no secret he was planning to resign this year, but said he was leaving now for personal and professional reasons. He did not elaborate and said his resignation will not affect the ongoing prosecutions under his authority. Cayley’s departure, which is effective September...

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12 Sep

In his speech yesterday, Obama predictably took credit for the latest developments regarding Syria's use of chemical weapons: In part because of the credible threat of U.S. military action, as well as constructive talks that I had with President Putin, the Russian government has indicated a willingness to join with the international community in pushing Assad to give up his chemical...

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07 Sep

As readers of the blog no doubt know, Syria is is one of seven states that have not ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC). (The others are Angola, Egypt, Israel, Myanmar, North Korea, and South Sudan.) To consider Syria's use of chemical weapons as a rationale for attacking the country, the USG obviously needs to assume that the use of such...

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06 Sep

There has been much consternation and hand-wringing about the Kenyan parliament's decision to table a motion to withdraw from the ICC. I understand the fear; Kenya's withdrawal would obviously be a sign that Kenyatta and Ruto no longer intend to cooperate with the Court. Withdrawal could also encourage other African states to leave the ICC, which they have not seemed...

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03 Sep

Yes, according to Secretary of State John Kerry: Secretary of State John Kerry told House Democrats that the United States faced a “Munich moment” in deciding whether to respond to the alleged use of chemical weapons by the Syrian government. In a 70-minute conference call on Monday afternoon, Kerry derided Syrian President Bashar Assad as a “two-bit dictator” who will “continue to...

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30 Aug

Bill Schabas makes a great point regarding whether the Rome Statute should be interpreted to directly criminalize chemical weapons as part of its direct criminalization of poisoned weapons: I know that some colleagues are debating this elsewhere in the blogsphere. The argument seems to be that a broad construction of the notion of poison or poisonous weapons, whose use is criminalised...

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29 Aug

I hate when interesting things happen while I'm sleeping. As I predicted, and as Marko Milanovic and Dov Jacobs have already well discussed, Judge Harhoff has been disqualified from the Seselj case as a result of the "private letter" he sent to 56 of his friends and acquaintances. Here is the key paragraph from the majority decision: 13. By referring to...

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27 Aug

Yes, the title is intended to be provocative. And yes, I think chemical weapons are indeed terrible. But statements like this -- offered by John Kerry in thinly-veiled support for using military force against the Syrian government -- still give me pause (emphasis mine): What we saw in Syria last week should shock the conscience of the world. It defies any...

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