The U.S. announced last week that it again would not seek election to the Council. Despite the body’s serious flaws, UN Watch had urged the U.S. to run, believing that it could better fight for improvements from the inside. Although the U.S. can be—and has been—an active non-member, membership would allow it to do more. (Only members can...
Last month, a British military judge dismissed charges against five of seven British soldiers accused of mistreating an Iraqi prisoner who died in their custody. At the time, the judge refused to explain the reasoning behind his decision to take the case away from the seven-officer jury, saying only that the prosecution had failed to introduce evidence of the...
Last summer, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Sanchez-Llamas v. Oregon, which resulted in the U.S. Supreme Court refusing to follow an ICJ treaty interpretation, even though the ICJ had compulsory jurisdiction to interpret that treaty. A few months later, Germany's highest constitutional court (the Bundesverfassungsgericht) resolved a similar conflict between domestic and ICJ interpretations by following the ICJ. ...
NYT columnist Nicholas Kristof has been a tireless supporter of international efforts to intervene in the Sudan-Darfur crisis. Today, he has an column (subscription req'd) agreeing with something I said last week about the only plausible "solution" to the Darfur crisis: [T]he top priority for Darfur is something that few people talk about — a negotiated peace agreement. Peacekeepers...
The differential treatment of Israel and Sudan by the Human Rights Council in 2006 extends not only to the findings that its resolutions made (discussed in my previous post), but also to the actions that they mandated. All four resolutions from the Council’s four special sessions established investigatory missions, but they did so in very different ways. ...
I didn't notice until today this op-ed by Professor Ruth Wedgwood criticizing the ICJ's Bosnia Genocide judgment. For those who aren't avid NYT readers, here is her basic legal criticism: (Continue Reading) The World Court also insists that unless Belgrade gave “direct orders” for particular operations or the Bosnian Serbs were “completely dependent” on Belgrade, there is no liability at all....
Our criticism of the Human Rights Council’s eight resolutions against Israel is not to say that Israel’s human rights record should be immune from criticism. To the contrary, Israel should be held accountable for its human rights abuses, as should every other UN member state. The problem is that at the Council, Israel is not treated like any other UN...
The first two and a half days at the ongoing Human Rights Council session are its "High Level Segment," speeches by the foreign affairs and other ministers who come to Geneva from far and wide for the occasion. These speeches usually are quite bland and polite, but sometimes there are fireworks. Yesterday's colorful quote came from the Cuban...
Various news items to report:As expected, the Iraqi High Tribunal sentenced Saddam's Vice-President, Yassin Ramadan, to death last month. The IHT's re-sentencing hearing was as flawed as the trial itself; according to Human Rights Watch, "[t]he less than 30-minute hearing was held by a panel of five judges, three of whom had not previously participated in hearing evidence against...
In the discussion on the role of international relations in interpreting the Constitution there is one provision of the Bill of Rights that undoubtedly was drafted with foreign relations' considerations in mind. This amendment was constructed first and foremost to address international repercussions that would follow from a denial of this right. So what amendment was it? (Continue Reading) The...
Thanks, Peggy, for the welcome. UN Watch is glad to have the opportunity to participate in the always interesting discussions at Opinio Juris, and we will be posting updates on the Council over the next three weeks. But first, I’d like to provide some background on the Council and its performance in its three regular sessions and four special...
Opinio Juris is pleased to bring (almost live) blogging from the UN Human Rights Council session that opens today in Geneva. Our guest blogger is Elizabeth Kandravy Cassidy of UN Watch. Elizabeth is an American-trained lawyer whose prior experience includes teaching law in Africa and the United States. Prior to joining UN Watch, Elizabeth did a bit of...
