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11 Apr

Here’s your weekly selection of international law and international relations headlines from around the world: Africa In Mozambique, despite improvements in education access, many rural children are still pressed into work to supplement family income. The Nigerian government denies reports of $50 million ransom from Boko Haram for release of Chibok girls. As revelations from the Panama papers rock the world of politics and...

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08 Apr

As readers no doubt know, on Tuesday the ICC's Trial Chamber declared a "mistrial" in the case against William Ruto and Joshua Arap Sang. The decision likely puts an end to the fiasco of the Ocampo Six -- now the "Ocampo Zero," to borrow Mark Kersten's nicely-turned expression -- although the Trial Chamber dismissed the charges "without prejudice," leaving the door open for the...

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08 Apr

[Matthew Sands is a Legal Advisor with the Geneva based NGO, Association for the Prevention of Torture (APT) the full judgment on this case is available here.] In late January, the UK Supreme Court published its judgment in the case of Youssef. In 2005, Mr. Youssef had been suspected of involvement in terrorist-related activity, and Egypt had requested the UN sanctions committee...

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07 Apr

Importantly, and for the first time, meetings will soon be held with all candidates for the post of UN Secretary General, enabling them to present their candidatures.  Member States will also have the opportunity to ask questions.   Mogen Lykketoft, president of the GA, has publicized his plans for these meetings in letters here and here. A current list of candidates (and...

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06 Apr

[John Heieck is the Lecturer of Public International Law at the University of Kent, Brussels School of International Studies.] On 17 March 2016, US Secretary of State John Kerry announced that ‘Daesh is responsible for genocide against groups in areas under its control, including Yazidis, Christians, and Shia Muslims. Daesh is genocidal by self-proclamation, by ideology, and by actions, in what...

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04 Apr

Here’s your weekly selection of international law and international relations headlines from around the world: Africa The U.N. peacekeeping mission in Democratic Republic of Congo said late on Friday that it has received allegations of sexual abuse against Tanzanian peacekeepers based in Congo's northeast, the latest in a series of such accusations against U.N. forces. The United Nations Security Council asked U.N. Secretary-General...

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29 Mar

Here’s your weekly selection of international law and international relations headlines from around the world: Africa The European Union plans to cut back its funding for Burundi's lucrative peacekeeping contingent in Somalia to try to force President Pierre Nkurunziza into talks with opponents and away from the brink of ethnic conflict, diplomatic sources said. Burundi's ruling party has accused Rwandan president Paul Kagame...

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23 Mar

I've been slowly working on a post that points out Ted "Carpet Bombing" Cruz is no less scary than Donald "Torture Everyone" Trump when it comes to foreign-policy. (Schadenfreude isn't a strong enough word for how much I am enjoying the implosion of the Republican party under the combined weight of their insanity.) To tide you over, I will simply offer this doozy of...

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22 Mar

[Patrick Wall is studying for an LL.M. in International Law at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva, as the Sir Ninian Stephen Menzies Scholar in International Law.] Last Monday, the US House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed—by 392 votes to 3—a resolution ‘[e]xpressing the sense of the Congress condemning the gross violations of international law amounting to war crimes...

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21 Mar

Thanks to Steve Vladeck for the thoughtful post over at Just Security about his take on Garland’s record on Guantanamo cases and related matters. Steve, like Charlie Savage in the Times, is in one sense far more critical of Garland than I. I say “in one sense” because, before jumping back into the details here, it seems apparent we’re all applying somewhat different metrics here in assessing that record, some I fear more problematic than others.
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