In association with the International Commission of Jurists

Featured

19 Aug

Criticism of the specific-direction requirement endorsed by the ICTY Appeals Chamber in Perišić has officially jumped the shark. According to James Stewart, the requirement would have required the British military court in Hamburg to acquit the two German businessmen who provided the Zyklon-B that the SS used to gas Jews in the death camps: In any event, let’s assume that specific direction...

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13 Aug

Another person who should know better has misrepresented the ICTY's specific-direction requirement: Owen Bowcott, a legal correspondent for the Guardian. Here is the sub-headline of his new article on the impact of the Perisic judgment: Legal experts say proof that accused 'specifically directed' atrocities now required after tribunal acquits Serbian commanders. And here is the first paragraph of the article: Generals and politicians...

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31 Jul

As a progressive, I'm delighted that Bradley Manning was acquitted of aiding the enemy but horrified that he was convicted of espionage. Ethically, Manning is a hero, not a spy. As a law professor, though, I think it's critically important to get the law right -- and unfortunately, many commentators are simply misstating what the Espionage Act says and how courts...

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26 Jul

On page 23, the amicus brief concludes that al-Bahlul's "convictions should be affirmed." Presumably, that means the brief is asking for the DC Circuit to affirm al-Bahlul's conviction for conspiracy as an inchoate offence -- that was the charge on the charge sheet, and that is the charge that was upheld by the military commission in its findings. (The other convictions were...

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22 Jul

We are pleased to host the American Journal of International Law on-line symposium on the lead articles of the new issue of the AJIL, which were written by Leila Sadat (Washington University) and Eyal Benvenisti (Tel Aviv University). Today and tomorrow there will be a discussion of Leila Sadat's article, Crimes Against Humanity in the Modern Age. The précis of her piece explains...

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11 Jul

International lawyers are used to explaining to skeptics the functional case for diplomatic immunity by emphasizing the benefits it provides.  Here's the 5 second version: we want our diplomats to be able to communicate with their host States since the alternative to communication is often (and certainly used to be) conflict.  To ensure open communication we need diplomats who feel...

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08 Jul

It's been a few months in the making, but today we're kicking off our inaugural Emerging Voices symposium. Until late August, we'll bring you a wide variety of posts, all written by graduate students, junior practitioners and junior academics. So watch this space if you want to read more about international law's often forgotten connections with the humanities, expat voting rights under...

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24 Jun

This week, we're hosting a symposium on The Democratic Foundations of Policy Diffusion: How Health, Family and Employment Laws Spread Across Countries, a new book by Katerina Linos (Berkeley Law). Here is the publisher's description: Why do law reforms spread around the world in waves? Leading theories argue that international networks of technocratic elites develop orthodox solutions that they singlehandedly transplant across countries....

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17 Jun

I have refrained from weighing in on the recent scandal at the ICTY concerning a letter written by the Danish judge, Frederik Harhoff, that accuses the President of the Tribunal, Judge Theodor Meron, of pressuring his fellow judges into acquitting high-profile defendants such as Gotovina and Perisic. I have done so not because the scandal isn't worth mentioning, but because...

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