The news coming out of China of ten suicide deaths at Foxconn industrial park is terribly distressing. All of the workers who committed suicide were recent high school or vocational training school graduates aged between 18 to 24. One of the fatalities, Sun Danyong, jumped to his death after being interrogated over a missing iPhone prototype. Foxconn,...
The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia has just held that JCE III, otherwise known as "extended" joint criminal enterprise, did not exist under customary international law during 1975-1979, the period over which the ECCC has temporal jurisdiction. The decision is a stunning rebuke to the ICTY, which invented -- literally out of thin air -- that form of...
There's a post that's been making the rounds in the science fiction blogosphere that warrants note by those interested in international law, especially in regards to issues of international trade, development, and regulation. The piece is by Ghanaian writer Jonathan Dotse and it concerns the rise of African cyberpunk. Before getting to Dotse's post, though, a couple of words on cyberpunk itself. Cyberpunk is...
The U.S. Supreme Court handed down its first-ever international family law opinion today in Abbott v. Abbott. You can access the decision here. In short, a 6-3 majority (authored by Justice Kennedy) found that the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of Child Abduction treats ne exeat rights (that is, rights to consent before the other parent takes the child...
[caption id="attachment_12297" align="alignright" width="180" caption="Judge Thomas Buergenthal"][/caption] Sure, some guy named John Paul Stevens is retiring from the U.S. Supreme Court, but there is another big judicial resignation this spring to note. Thomas Buergenthal, the U.S. member of the International Court of Justice, has announced that he will not finish out his term on the court. I am breaking some news...
Our own Ken Anderson joined a number of other law profs, including Prof. David Glazier, in testimony today before the National Security and Foreign Affairs subcommittee of the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform to discuss, what else, the legality of U.S. targeted killings policy. Wired has a nice report summarizing the testimony, and the issues are already...
Julian beat me to the punch regarding the new Council on Foreign Relations report, From Rome to Kampala: The U.S. Approach to the 2010 International Criminal Court Review Conference. Not surprisingly, I don't share Julian's enthusiasm for it. On the contrary, I think it's extremely disappointing, little more than a reiteration of the same tired talking points that the...
In many ways, it is more important to note the continuity between Obama and Bush administration policies than to dwell on their differences. Given the political antecedents of the two administrations, the areas where they have adopted the same policy is a sure-fire sign that there is broad consensus in the U.S. on a policy. I think we are getting...
[Robert C. Bird is an Assistant Professor and Ackerman Scholar at the University of Connecticut School of Business; Peggy E. Chaudhry is an Associate Professor at Villanova University School of Business] Professor Robert Bird, Assistant Professor, University of Connecticut and Peggy Chaudhry, Associate Professor, Villanova University will discuss their Article, "Pharmaceuticals and the European Union: Managing Gray Markets in an Uncertain...
[John F. Coyle is a Climenko Fellow and Lecturer on Law at Harvard Law School] I want to thank Opinio Juris and the Virginia Journal of International Law for the opportunity to discuss my Article, “Incorporative Statutes and the Borrowed Treaty Rule.” I’d also like to express my gratitude to Professor Ingrid Wuerth of Vanderbilt Law School for providing a response to...
Eric Posner has an editorial today in the Wall Street Journal today that uses the recent indictment of Judge Garzon in Spain as an opportunity to dust off the traditional far-right attack on the concept of universal jurisdiction and the existence of the ICC. It's a remarkably misleading editorial, one that deserves a thorough response. Mr. Garzon wanted to prosecute Pinochet...
[Christopher M. Bruner is an Associate Professor, Washington and Lee University School of Law] First I want to thank Opinio Juris and the Virginia Journal of International Law (VJIL) for the opportunity to discuss my Article, “Power and Purpose in the ‘Anglo-American’ Corporation.” I’d also like to express my gratitude to Professor Brian Cheffins of the University of Cambridge for providing...
