The Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights seems to be condemning the forced feeding of hunger-striking Guantanamo detainees as torture, or perhaps as cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment in violation of the Convention Against Torture. Force-feeding hunger strikers is a breach of international law, the UN’s human rights office said Wednesday, as US authorities tried to stem a...
This report out of Prensa Latina in Havana suggests that the ICJ has expressed some sort of positive opinion on quality of Bolivia's case against Chile. In a press conference, [Bolivian Foreign Minister] Choquehuanca announced the International Court notified Chile on the start of the process and reasserted the Bolivian will of not affecting the bilateral relations with Chile. He also said the...
Last week, the government of Bolivia filed an application in the International Court of Justice against Chile arguing that Chile has breached its "obligation to negotiate in good faith and effectively with Bolivia in order to reach an agreement granting Bolivia a fully sovereign access to the Pacific Ocean." Is it just me, or is this the weakest case ever filed at the...
Not content to push border disputes with only Japan and the Philippines, China apparently has decided that now is also a good time to create a border crisis with India. Last week, Chinese troops apparently crossed over a disputed border to camp 20 km inside Indian-claimed territory in the remote region of the Himalayas (the Chinese deny the incursion has...
From the Court's press release: Today, 26 April 2013, Leiden University won the final round of the International Criminal Court (ICC) Trial Competition, English version, held in ICC Courtroom I in The Hague (Netherlands). Osgoode Hall Law School of York University (Canada) and Bond University (Australia) won, respectively, second and third place. The Best Speaker award went to Katherine Stewart of...
Professor Craig Allen of University of Washington alerts me to this excerpt from the press conference held yesterday at China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It is the first time, as far as I know, that a Chinese government spokesman has offered a detailed explanation of China's legal position in the Philippines arbitration. It still doesn't fully make sense, or...
This week 170 garment workers in Bangladesh died after the Rana Plaza building collapsed. A few months ago 112 garment workers in Bangladesh died after the Tazreen Fashions garment factory was destroyed by fire. Both tragedies were the result of inadequate fire and safety standards. These tragedies could not have come at a worst time for major...
Yesterday, President of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, Shunji Yanai, announced the appointment of the final three members of the Annex VII UNCLOS tribunal. International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) President Shunji Yanai on April 24 transmitted a letter to Philippine Solicitor General Francis Jardeleza, head of the Philippine legal team on the arbitration...
Longtime readers know that I have often criticized (unfairly in many readers' eyes) the snail's pace of dispute resolution before the International Court of Justice. I respect the ICJ as an institution, but I have never thought it has lived up to its potential as the "principal judicial organ" of the United Nations. On the other hand, I will give...
Professor David Kaye has a thoughtful essay in the latest issue of Foreign Affairs analyzing the growing level of cooperation between the U.S. and the ICC. He correctly notes that the U.S. is not only no longer actively hostile, but it has taken various steps in recent years to actively support the work of the ICC (most notably in Uganda against...
[Apologies for all the random short posts, I think what make blogging interesting, sometimes, is that one can think out loud online. Dangerous, I know, but fun too!] Here is one quick take: As Deborah noted below, the Supreme Court voted 9-0 that the Kiobel plaintiffs should be dismissed because their claims against a foreign corporation for actions in a foreign...
Interestingly, the four liberal justices would have also dismissed the Kiobel plaintiffs on a different theory: that this case (involving actions by a foreign corporation against foreign plaintiffs in a foreign sovereign's territory) does not "substantially or adversely affect an important American national interest...
