In association with the International Commission of Jurists

Regions

24 Dec

Medecins Sans Frontieres has published their list and report of the top-ten humanitarian disasters of 2008.  Africa suffers its disproportionate share: Massive forced civilian displacements, violence, and unmet medical needs in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, Iraq, Sudan, and Pakistan, along with neglected medical emergencies in Myanmar and Zimbabwe, are some of the worst humanitarian and medical emergencies in the world,...

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22 Dec

Two interesting articles today about countries that want the ICC to get involved in their internal problems.  First, the Indian government apparently wants the Court to prosecute Pakistanis who are responsible for masterminding terrorist attacks, including the recent attack in Mumbai: "[h]ighly placed government sources have told TIMES NOW that decks are being cleared by New Delhi to get the...

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21 Dec

Having finally resolved the disclosure issue, the Lubanga trial is set to begin on January 26, a little more than one month from today.  Unfortunately, the problems with the case continue: The senior trial lawyer in charge of the first case to be tried at the International Criminal Court has been taken off the case little more than...

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18 Dec

It turns out that all is not lost for the Lisbon Treaty (aka the EU Reform Treaty).  It had all the markings of an unperfected treaty after Ireland gave it a "no" vote this past summer via a referendum. (Interestingly, Ireland was the only state to hold one, since negotiators had designed the Reform Treaty to avoid such reviews given what they did to the...

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18 Dec

The BBC is reporting that President-elect Obama has pledged to close Guantanamo within the next two years. The report is based on this  Time Magazine article declaring him (big surprise!) their "Person of the Year."  I am not 100% sure Obama has really made this pledge, but it certainly can be read that way.  In response to the question as...

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17 Dec

The UN Security Council has passed unanimously a US drafted resolution authorizing attacks upon pirates, whether by land or sea.  It is one of those rare security issues in which the great powers, and many small ones, have been willing to come together, at least in granting authority.  As the Washington Post reports: The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously Tuesday to authorize nations...

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16 Dec

This past Friday I was privileged to host an intimate colloquium at Pepperdine’s Malibu Beach House that brought together a wonderful mix of torts scholars, international law scholars, and practitioners to address the nexus between torts and the Alien Tort Statute. It was an eclectic group, including renown torts experts such as Third Restatement Reporter Michael Green, Anthony Sebok,...

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16 Dec

Richard Falk, an eminent professor of international law and politics at Princeton, was expelled from Israel yesterday while he acting as the UN Human Rights Council's special rapporteur for human rights in the Palestinian territories.  Falk was expelled by Israel because Israel believed his investigation, and indeed the UN Human Rights Council itself, is irredeemably biased against Israel.  This is probably...

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15 Dec

A number of readers have e-mailed to ask why, given my interest in all things ICTY, I have not said anything about the Karadzic case.  The answer is relatively simple: I have been serving for the past two months as one of Dr. Karadzic's primary legal advisers, which raises a number of complicated issues vis-a-vis blogging.  On the one hand,...

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09 Dec

International Anti-Corruption Day is sanctioned by the UN as a day to increase awareness of corruption and its effects upon governance and public life.  I realize that today's events in Chicago raise the possibilities of some heavy-handed irony - but actually, I'm pleased in a quite un-ironic way.  If one has to have the phenomenon of this day for this,...

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