Sari Bashi is the Executive Director of Gisha, an Israeli NGO that protects the freedom of movement of Palestinians, especially Gaza residents. While many in the international community were unsure how to interpret Richard Goldstone's Washington Post op ed earlier this month withdrawing the allegation made in the Goldstone Report that Israel intentionally targeted civilians during the war in Gaza, within Israel,...
Luis Moreno-Ocampo wants to formally investigate crimes against humanity in Cote D'Ivoire. Cote D'Ivoire consented to the ICC's jurisdiction over crimes committed there eight years ago. So what's Moreno-Ocampo waiting for? Apparently, a state referral: "We are concerned about the recent information on massive atrocities committed in the western part of Cote d'Ivoire," he said. "We are trying to...
The following is a guest post by Anna Dolidze, a JSD candidate at Cornell Law School. In 2007-08, Dolidze was an Albert Podell Global Scholar at Risk at New York University Law School and a Visiting Fellow at Columbia University’s Harriman Institute. She has worked for a number of international organizations, including for Save...
This time concerning the Goldstone Report and whether Israel intentionally targeted civilians during Operation Cast Lead as a matter of policy. You know a post is in trouble when it's entitled "Human Rights Watch Lies re: Goldstone Retraction," but then states, three paragraphs later, "Well, maybe lying isn’t quite right. Roth chose his words carefully, and I suppose...
The Kenyan government has filed a 30-page motion with the ICC's Pre-Trial Chamber II arguing that recent improvements to the Kenyan criminal-justice system render the cases against the Ocampo Six inadmissible. Here are the highlights of the reforms, from the motion's introduction (para. 2): 2. The Government's Application must be determined with a full understanding of the fundamental and far-reaching constitutional...
The following is a guest-post written by Orde Kittrie, a professor at ASU's law school, and Sandy Spector, the deputy director of the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies. They very much want input from OJ's readership, so please post your thoughts. Our thanks to Orde and Sandy for contributing the post! Seven years after A.Q. Khan publicly confessed to...
Critics of the Security Council's decision to refer the situation in Libya to the ICC normally argue that the referral denies Gaddafi the option of going into exile instead of fighting to the death. That may or may not be true -- as I've noted previously, Max Boot's reliance on Charles Taylor's prosecution to make that argument fudges the actual...
I wanted to call readers' attention to an upcoming web seminar on Libya held by Harvard's Program on Humanitarian Policy and Conflict Research. The Program's web seminars are always excellent, and this one -- which features Luis Moreno-Ocampo and Nicholas Burns -- shapes up to be superb. Here are the details: On Tuesday, April 5, 2011, the Program on Humanitarian...
My colleague Anne Orford has a fascinating contribution today to the official blog of the London Review of Books questioning the universality of the supposedly universal international law that underlies the Security Council's authorization of military action in Libya. Here is a taste: In 1954, Carl Schmitt bemoaned the destruction of European international law in the 20th century. According to...
In a post today at Commentary, Boot argues that Taylor's arrest after going into exile makes it more likely that Gaddafi will fight to the death instead of negotiating a gracious exit from power: Once upon a time, an autocrat could step down and live out his days securely in the south of France or some other plush locale. That...
A class action complaint filed this week by Guatemalans has all the ingredients for a blockbuster case not unlike the syphilis experiments of Tuskegee, Alabama. Regardless of the outcome of the case, it is a public relations nightmare for the United States. As the complaint alleges, "It has been revealed that despite ...
With all the attention being paid to the situations in Libya and Kenya, the situation in Darfur has receded into the background. (Par for the course, unfortunately, with Darfur.) So it's worth noting that the ICC's Pre-Trial Chamber I has confirmed charges against two Darfuri rebels alleged to have orchestrated a September 2007 attack that killed 12 African Union peacekeepers: On...
