In association with the International Commission of Jurists

International Human Rights Law

27 Feb

My friend Sonya Sceats at Chatham House has asked me to announce the following event: International Law Discussion Group Monday 23 March 2009 17:30 to 19:00 Location: Chatham House, London Speakers include: Judge Bernard Ngoepe, African Court on Human and Peoples Rights; Sanji Monageng, Chairperson of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights; Nobuntu Mbelle, representative of civil society Chair: Lord Steyn Against the backdrop of human tragedies...

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26 Feb

Yesterday, the U.S. State Department released the 2008 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices -- colloquially referred to as the Annual Human Rights Report.  As a matter of law, it is a report by the State Department to the United States Congress.  The mandate grew from a requirement of congressional review of foreign assistance to a more comprehensive summary of...

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24 Feb

The Sixth Circuit last week rendered an important amended opinion in O'Bryan v. Holy See addressing the question of whether the Holy See could be sued for its role in the clergy sexual abuse scandal. The decision is fascinating and should be quite controversial. As an initial matter it is worth pondering the essential conclusion of the Court: every...

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23 Feb

A few months ago, I mentioned in the comments to my now-infamous grape soda post that although I have no ethical qualms about advising Dr. Karadzic, I would not have defended Hitler if he had lived to see the inside of an Allied courtroom. That statement led to a number of pointed -- and understandable -- criticisms, such as this...

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22 Feb

My apologies for the light posting lately.  Getting settled in Melbourne -- and preparing to teach Australian criminal law -- has been very time consuming.  My new email address is kheller@unimelb.edu.au.  Feel free to write! I'll be back to posting regularly soon.  In case you just can't wait that long -- hi, mom! -- here is a link to an hour-long...

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21 Feb

Again, this news is not exactly shocking: The Obama administration has told a federal judge that military detainees in Afghanistan have no legal right to challenge their imprisonment there, embracing a key argument of former President Bush’s legal team.In a two-sentence filing late Friday, the Justice Department said that the new administration had reviewed its position in a case brought by...

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19 Feb

As this BBC report suggests, investigating war crimes in the Israel-Gaza conflict is a pretty much hopeless task because there is no single entity with the expertise, knowledge, and legitimacy to find out the "truth."  Any investigation, whether it is the UN or the ICC or Human Rights Watch, will be simply dismissed by the two sides as biased.  So...

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17 Feb

This story in the continuing saga of Bowoto v. Chevron should give human rights litigants pause: Chevron Corp., which prevailed in a human-rights lawsuit seeking to hold it responsible for the shooting of Nigerian protesters at an oil platform, is seeking nearly $500,000 in legal costs from the villagers who brought the suit. Chevron's claim for reimbursement, filed in...

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17 Feb

Last week I posted this excellent essay by Professor Kontorovich of Northwestern Law arguing that the anti-piracy efforts are unlikely to succeed as currently constituted.  One problem I've noted is that there is no obvious place to try captured pirates from Somalia.  The U.S. Navy's plan is to try pirates in nearby Kenya.  As this WSJ article suggests, this strategy is...

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11 Feb

There is an interesting discussion going on at Alex De Waal's blog Making Sense of Darfur about the various theories of liability that might be used to hold Bashir responsible for genocide.  The discussion as a whole is well worth checking out; what I want to discuss here is whether Bashir could be convicted of genocide via JCE III, so-called...

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09 Feb

[Opinio Juris is pleased to present this essay by Professor Eugene Kontorovich of Northwestern Law School on the relationship between international law and anti-piracy efforts.  Please be sure to click "continue reading" to read the whole essay.] The successful ransom by Somali pirates of a Ukrainian freighter laden with arms and armor is indicative of the broader failure of the...

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05 Feb

I found this article in the Yale Alumni Magazine about Tony Blair's new Faith Foundation absolutely fascinating. Tony Blair is now teaching a course at Yale with the eminent theologian Miroslav Volf on the subject of "Faith and Globalization." According to the article, Blair is trying to use this foundation to encourage interfaith tolerance and dialogue. Given...

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