Okey-dokey: The political bureau officer at the NCP Mandoor Al-Mahdi also accused the International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo of standing behind the hybrid court proposal. “After Ocampo failed in furthering his agenda through the ICC he now wants to find another entry though the so-called hybrid court” Al-Mahdi said. This week the ICC prosecutor hailed the special tribunal proposal made by...
This isn't going to help the Panel's credibility: The African Union (AU) high level panel on Darfur wanted to find a way out for Sudanese president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir from the International Criminal Court (ICC) indictment, one of the commission members said today in an interview. This week the AU Peace and Security Council (PSC) endorsed a report prepared by an eight-member...
If you are going to be around the DC area this upcoming Tuesday morning, and are interested in the current discussion over the issues of the torture memos, my colleagues in the WCL program on law and government have organized a terrific program. Tuesday, November 3, 2009, at Washington College of Law: “The Torture Memos: Lawyers, Ethics, and the Rule of...
From the Sudan Tribune: The Sudanese government today reiterated its rejection the proposal set of an African Union (AU) to setup hybrid tribunals to try Darfur war crimes suspects. Speaking to reporters in Cairo the Sudanese presidential adviser Mustafa Osman Ismail said that Khartoum accepts the AU report “in its generalities” and the “African solution for the Darfur crisis”. Asked about the hybrid...
Clinton seems like she's been a relatively competent Secretary of State, but her take on the news that Abdullah Abdullah will not participate in Afghanistan's runoff election is truly priceless: Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, traveling in Abu Dhabi, gave the administration’s only comment. “We see that happen in our own country where, for whatever combination of reasons, one of...
Having been pilloried from all sides about my insistence that Dr. Karadzic should be given more time to prepare for trial, it's important to note that I am not the only one who thinks that. Bogdan Ivanisevic, who works for the International Center for Transitional Justice -- a group that can hardly be accused of being soft on Dr. Karadzic...
In my public international law class today I taught the material from the Dunoff, Ratner and Wippman book on the Rwandan genocide and recourse to the gacaca courts. The readings focus on Amnesty International's criticism of the gacaca system as failing to meet international minimum standards of due process for criminal defendants. Unfortunately, the book does not attempt...
What's worse than giving cookies, gold stars and smiley faces to a murderous tyrant? Being snubbed by said murderous tyrant, thereby losing the chance to give them. Maybe Scott Gration can give the cookies to the Sri Lankan government instead. I hear their feelings are being hurt by all the mean things said about them, too....
Just when you thought the global financial crisis was subsiding, with returns to growth in most leading economies, including the US, Europe, China, etc., we have a counter-indicator. The Financial Times reports today that McDonald's is closing its three outlets in Iceland, citing the difficult economic environment: Iceland edged further towards the margins of the global economy on Monday whenMcDonald’s announced...
My colleague Trey Childress has a nice summary of the recent decision by a federal court in Florida in Osorio v. Dole Food Company to refuse to enforce a $97 million Nicaraguan judgment. Here's the key excerpt of the decision: “the evidence before the Court is that the judgment in this case did not arise out of proceedings that comported...
I have to admit, when I first heard about the Mbeki Panel, I was skeptical. I assumed that the Panel's report would be a typical apologia for the Sudanese government's crimes, criticizing the ICC and defending the African Union's promise not to surrender Bashir to the Court. It looks like I owe Mbeki an apology. The recommendation section of the report...
I will remain agnostic until I can read the actual report, but a new article in the Sudan Tribune seems encouraging: The African Union (AU) panel that was tasked with balancing peace and accountability in Darfur has made an implicit endorsement of the International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutions despite unfavorable disposition to the issue by African leaders and also called for...
