The Chinese (Taiwan) Society of International Law will hold the ILA-ASIL Asia-Pacific Research Forum on May 15-16, 2013 in Taipei, Taiwan, ROC. The title of the Research Forum is “International Law and Dispute Resolution: Challenges in the Asia Pacific.” The organizing committee welcomes proposals on any topic relating to international law with a focus on the Asia Pacific. Paper proposals...
I've written before about Judge Sow's attempt to make a statement in open court criticizing Charles Taylor's conviction. Now Judge Sow has given a lengthy interview to the New African magazine concerning the trial, his attempt to make the statement, and his punishment afterward. As Bill Schabas points out today, "[n]othing comparable has ever appeared in the history of international criminal justice." Judge...
Happy Thanksgiving, the best of the American holidays ...
The cease fire in Gaza appears to hold, in what is seen as a test for the new Egyptian government's ability to influence Hamas. More than 20 people have been killed in a suicide attack on a Shiite procession in Rawalpindi, in northern Pakistan. The Taliban has claimed responsibility. After successfully capturing Goma, the rebels in Eastern Congo are vowing to march...
Under India’s presidency, the UN Security Council debated the global phenomenon of maritime piracy on November 19. The outcome was a presidential statement, not a resolution. Although not binding, it highlights future trends in the Security Council's approach to piracy. Unlike prior Security Council actions that have been region specific, Monday’s debate reflects the global dimensions of the issue...
US Secretary of State Clinton has arrived in Israel to assist in the negotiation of a truce with Hamas. The UK has recognized the Syrian opposition coalition, but the US has adopted a wait-and-see approach. Polish authorities have arrested two men allegedly planning to bomb Parliament. Shortly before the fourth anniversary of the Mumbai attacks, India has executed the only militant surviving the...
Job posting here. This would be a fabulous opportunity for someone with an international law background. Michigan of course has one of the country's top international law faculties and led the way in requiring transnational law as part of its first-law curriculum....
UK human rights lawyer Geoffrey Robertson has a confused, muddled, and revealing editorial in Bloomberg about how international law might help resolve the Iran nuclear crisis. While he describes the relevant law accurately, he fails to show how international law is doing much of anything to resolve the crisis. Here is the relevant law, as he sees it: Israel has...
Just a further quick note on the ICJ opinion yesterday (press release here) on the long-running Colombia/Nicaragua dispute over sovereignty and control over certain Caribbean islands. The ruling seems a mixed bag since it recognizes Colombia's sovereignty and rejects other Nicaragua submissions. But Nicaragua is declaring victory. At first glance, I get nervous when courts (any courts, whether domestic or international) start...
This analysis from Professor Matthew Happold offers very good reasons to doubt that Argentina can validly invoke the jurisdiction of the International Tribunal of the Law of the Sea in its dispute with Ghana. Putting aside Argentina's argument that it did not (or could not) waive its warship's immunity, Professor Happold points out that it is far from clear that...
The ICJ has ruled against Nicaragua in the territorial and maritime dispute it had filed against Colombia, and rejected claims that Colombia violated international law. International pressure to reach a ceasefire after six days of conflict between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza strip is building and there are signs that Israel is open to a diplomatic solution in which Egypt...
