Like Julian, I can't find the text of a "report" per se, but I did find this on the Human Rights Council's website: GENEVA (13 September 2011) – Commenting on the report of the Panel of Inquiry on the flotilla incident of 31 May (Palmer Report), released this month, a group of United Nations independent experts* criticized its...
Well, the Center for Constitutional Rights certainly thinks so Human rights lawyers and victims of clergy sexual abuse filed a complaint on Tuesday urging the International Criminal Court in The Hague to investigate and prosecute Pope Benedict XVI and three top Vatican officials for crimes against humanity for what they described as abetting and covering up the rape and sexual assault...
I will delay any detailed response to Kevin’s typically insightful posts about the CMCR’s recent decision, particularly its conclusion of a “substantial showing” that conspiracy to violate the laws of war is “an offense against the law of armed conflict.” For now, I will note that I have some similar concerns to those Kevin expressed (e.g. on the relationship or...
As I noted in my previous post, the CMCR's opinion in al-Bahlul repeatedly cites the Nuremberg-era crime of criminal membership in defense of its belief that material support for terrorism and conspiracy qualify as war crimes. I continue to believe that the best counter-arguments to that idea are (1) that criminal membership was not a war crime at Nuremberg (the...
I've received a number of emails arguing that I do not take seriously enough the CMCR's analogy between conspiracy and the crime of membership in a criminal organization. The obvious response is that: (1) criminal membership is not a war crime; (2) the elements of conspiracy and criminal membership are completely different; (3) the tribunals on which the CMCR relied...
Even I thought the Court of Military Commission Review couldn't reach such an absurd conclusion. I was wrong: The Government has made a “substantial showing" that the conduct alleged, including appellant’s (an AUEC’s) agreement with bin Laden and others to commit the object offenses, with knowledge of and intent to further the unlawful purposes of that agreement, and commission of the...
Where Gaddafi should be tried -- if and when he is captured -- has become quite the hot-button issue recently. Personally, I'm with David Kaye: he should be tried by the ICC, but the trial should be held in Libya. I'm also not opposed to Libya asserting its right under the ICC's complementarity regime to try Gaddafi domestically, although I'm...
Against my better judgment, I read the 11th Circuit's opinion in Mamani v. Berzain, the Bolivian ATS case. I say against my better judgment because reading American judges on international law is kind of like listening to Kevin Costner play Robin Hood -- you vaguely recognize the referent, but it is still painful to the ear. It's bad enough that...
The Globe & Mail has a blockbuster report today concerning China's willingness to supply weapons to Gaddafi's regime during the rebellion: China offered huge stockpiles of weapons to Colonel Moammar Gadhafi during the final months of his regime, according to papers that describe secret talks about shipments via Algeria and South Africa. Documents obtained by The Globe and Mail...
That's the most disturbing line from another invaluable WikiLeaks cable about Israel and the Palestinians. As the cable makes clear, Israel is willing to use force -- of the non-lethal variety, fortunately -- to disrupt even completely peaceful protest against its policies: US government officials have been well aware of Israel's harsh methods of dealing with peaceful protests in the occupied...
A February 2010 cable from the US embassy in Tel Aviv to the State Department concerning a discussion with the IDF's Military Advocate General about the Palestinian Authority's request for the ICC to investigate Operation Cast Lead contains the following remarkable paragraph (emphasis added): Summary: IDF Military Advocate General Mandelblit updated the Ambassador on February 17 on the progress of investigations...
David Bernstein has a pointless "gotcha" post at Volokh Conspiracy today in which he argues that the Palmer Report somehow contradicts my claim that blockade is only permissible in international armed conflict (IAC), whether between states or between a state and an insurgent group recognized as a belligerent. Here it is in full: Kevin Jon Heller of University of Melbourne and...
