In association with the International Commission of Jurists

Recent Posts

15 May

This NYT article details efforts by local and state governments to comply with the Kyoto Protocol despite that treaty's rejection by the President and Senate. Along with various corporate efforts to battle global warming, these efforts further confirm that not everything in foreign affairs starts with the federal government.On the other hand, these efforts do raise an interesting domestic U.S....

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13 May

I will be in Moldova for the next week and a half, taking part in a project sponsored by the Association of the Bar of the City of New York. In all likelihood I will not post to Opinio Juris while I am away but I hope to share some impressions from Eastern Europe when I return...

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12 May

The John Bolton nomination drama is entering a new phase, with Republican Senator Voinovich stating that he will not vote for Bolton, nor will he prevent the nomination from being considered by the full Senate. With the Republicans holding 55-45 majority in the Senate, it is not clear Bolton's nomination will lose on a floor vote (though a fillibuster...

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12 May

Students at the Washington University Global Studies Law Review are developing a guide to international legal citation, apparently intended as a "gap filler" for areas not covered by the Bluebook. I've not studied it closely, but it looks to be an extremely useful tool for student editors at international law journals. The guide includes a brief summary of the governmental...

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12 May

The European Court of Human Rights issued a ruling today finding that Turkey's trial of Abdullah Ocalan, the former leader of the Kurdish independence group the PKK (which many Turks view as terrorist), violated the European Convention on Human Rights' guarantees of a fair trial. The trial of Ocalan is a big deal in Turkey and this ruling is not...

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12 May

Rep. James Sensenbrenner, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, gave a speech on Monday at Stanford that has drawn some criticism for its vaguely threatening reference to an Inspector General of the federal courts. What is interesting about the speech hoever, is that one of Sensenbrenner's main beefs with the judiciary is its citation of foreign and international law...

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11 May

A coalition of institutional investors and other non-govermental organizations are calling on U.S. corporations to disclose (or be required to disclose) economic risks from climate change and global warming. The highlights:A New Climate Risk Disclosure Initiative will be aimed at enhancing corporations’ climate risk disclosure. The effort will focus on disclosure of corporate emissions, climate actions, scenario analysis, strategic analysis,...

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11 May

The International Herald Tribune has a nice report on the increasing criticism of the East Timor-Indonesia Agreement to set up a Truth and Friendship Commission, which we discussed here. Here again we see a clash between the UN and human rights NGOs (who think the agreement could lead to impunity for human rights offenses) and efforts by two countries to...

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10 May

This is not a joke. According to this report in the NYT, the UN is considering moving temporarily to Brooklyn while its Manhattan headquarters is renovated. While some may see this as a step down for the UN, others (quoted in the article) suggest that the embattled UN will fit right in with Brooklyn's underdog image. Maybe in the old...

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10 May

NAFTA included a set of side agreements intended to alleviate concerns about the environmental effects of the trade regime. One of the results of these side agreements, the Commission for Environmental Cooperation, has agreed to review a proposal for a Liquified Natural Gas project off the coast of Tijuana and San Diego. The complaint is brought by citizens' groups, not...

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