Author: Kevin Jon Heller

With all the attention being paid to the situations in Libya and Kenya, the situation in Darfur has receded into the background.  (Par for the course, unfortunately, with Darfur.)  So it's worth noting that the ICC's Pre-Trial Chamber I has confirmed charges against two Darfuri rebels alleged to have orchestrated a September 2007 attack that killed 12 African Union peacekeepers: On...

Today's headline in the Wall Street Journal: Threat of Trial Keeps Gadhafi Fighting. Yes, because if the Security Council hadn't referred the situation in Libya to the ICC, Gadhafi would clearly have transferred power to the rebels in an orderly and peaceful fashion by now. Oh, well.  I don't expect very much from the Wall Street Journal.  After all, in the very same...

Our friends at Columbia Law School have asked us to announce a one-day conference celebrating the legacy of the late Louis Henkin.  The conference will be held on March 28 in Jerome Green Hall: 4:00-5:00 pm        A Commemoration of the Life and Legacy of Louis Henkin, JGH 104 Judge Rosemary Barkett, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit Sarah...

On behalf of the organizers and the APCML, of which I am a part, I want to call readers' attention to the following conference: AFFECTIVE STATES OF INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL JUSTICE 20 ‐ 22 July 2011 Melbourne Law School Presented by Asia Pacific Centre for Military Law (APCML) and Institute for International Law and the Humanities (IILAH) Supported by an Australian Research Council Discovery Project Grant Convenors: Peter Rush...

So, you're a state senator in the deep South.  You love freedom, which is why you're a Republican.  You know that Shariah (aka Shari'ah) is the enemy of freedom.  You also know that, although Shariah currently plays no role in the law of your state, it will eventually supplant the Constitution (sometime in the next four decades, you estimate) unless...

The Tribunal de Grand Instance de Paris has issued its judgment in the unconscionable criminal-libel suit brought by Karine Calvo-Goller against NYU's Joseph Weiler.  Weiler, I am happy to report, prevailed on both of the key issues: lack of jurisdiction and whether the lawsuit had so little merit that Calvo-Goller's decision to file it was abuse of process.  In terms...

Just a quick update to point out that Pennumbra, the University of Pennsylvania Law Review's online companion, has published the fourth and final installment of my debate with John Dehn on the targeted killing of Al-Aulaqi.  You can find the entire debate, including my just-published Closing Argument, here. My thanks to Pennumbra for inviting me to participate, and to John for...

Moreno-Ocampo said the following today: The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court says information of attacks on civilians by forces loyal to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi suggests they could constitute a crime against humanity. Luis Moreno Ocampo says he has assembled a team to collect more information and has been in contact with Libyan officials and army...

The blog is a solo venture run by Mark Kersten, a PhD student in international relations at the LSE.  I would explain the subject-matter of the blog, but I think the name speaks for itself.  I will say that the posts have been excellent so far; readers interested in international criminal justice should definitely check out, inter alia, this post...

The referral is part of a larger set of sanctions against Libya.  From the UN News Centre: The Security Council today voted unanimously to impose sanctions against the Libyan authorities, slapping the country with an arms embargo and freezing the assets of its leaders, while referring the ongoing violent repression of civilian demonstrators to the International Criminal Court (ICC). In its Resolution...