In association with the International Commission of Jurists

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22 Jan

[Adv. Ido Rosenzweig is the chairman of ALMA –Association for the Promotion of International Humanitarian Law; Director of Research – Terror, Belligerency and Cyber at the Minerva Center for the Rule of Law under Extreme Conditions in the University of Haifa; and a PhD candidate at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.] Recently the Palestinians submitted (for the second time) a declaration...

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21 Jan

It looks like a big showdown is brewing between the President and Congress over Cuba policy (Here comes 2016 presidential candidate Rubio!).  Some legal commentators have argued, however, that President Obama already has the legal authority to lift all or most of the Cuba embargo without any further action by Congress.  Robert Muse, a lawyer whose practice is all about Cuba sanctions...

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20 Jan

In an 8 page decision handed down on January 9, Judge Paul Oetken found that the UN is immune in Delama Georges et. al v. UN, the so-called “Haiti Cholera case.” The decision is available at: http://www.ijdh.org/2015/01/projects/united-states-district-court-southern-district-of-new-york/ The finding that the UN is immune rests on two points: first, that the UN did not expressly waive its immunity under the...

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20 Jan

So this is a well-intentioned but problematic idea: The Palestinians want the International Criminal Court (ICC) to launch an investigation into the death of Yasser Arafat, a senior Fatah official announced on Sunday. Jamal Muheissen, member of the Fatah Central Committee, claimed that Israel was responsible for the death of Arafat, who died in November 2004. “This file will be presented to the...

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19 Jan

Your weekly selection of international law and international relations headlines from around the world: Africa At least 80 people have been abducted and three others killed in a cross-border raid in northern Cameroon by the Nigerian armed group Boko Haram, officials have said. Nigeria's neighbors are banding together to fight the armed group; a contingent of soldiers from Chad has arrived in northern...

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18 Jan

Picking up on Kevin's post about Fox News' reporting on the terrorist threat (or something) in Europe, it's worth noting that in addition to reporting that multiple areas of Paris were now "no go" zones, Fox also reported "poll results" purporting to show that 69% of Muslims in France support ISIS; and an 'expert's' assertion that Birmingham, England is a...

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18 Jan

According to this report in the Times of Israel, the Palestinian Authority would be willing to forego the ICC if Israel agreed to freeze its settlement activity: RAMALLAH — A senior Palestinian official said Sunday that the first subject to be brought before the International Criminal Court at The Hague in the Palestinian Authority’s legal campaign against Israel would be settlement construction. The...

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17 Jan

Sorry, Lonely Planet, there's a new travel sheriff in town: Fox News. Witness this map, created by a guest on Fox & Friends to illustrate the eight "no-go" zones -- areas under de facto Muslim control -- in Paris (out of 741 in France itself): Peterson, a former Air Force pilot, went on to describe Paris as “pretty scary” and compared it to Afghanistan, Iraq,...

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17 Jan

This week, we celebrated Opinio Juris' 10th anniversary, with our permabloggers weighing in with their thoughts on the last decade of blogging. Julian kicked the discussion off with how the legal blogosphere has changed over the last ten years. Roger reflected on blogging and the marketplace of ideas. In Peter's musings, he explored the evolution of international law as well as the role blogging...

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16 Jan

Although I've only been a regular OJ blogger for two years now, I feel like I've known OJ since it was born. Chris Borgen, Julian Ku and I have been friends since we all worked together at Debevoise and Plimpton in New York years ago.  Over the years I've gotten to know Peggy, Roger, Ken, Deborah, Duncan, and at least by...

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16 Jan

Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo certainly thinks so: Which brings us back to Roger Ver, variously known as a "Bitcoin entrepreneur" or the "Bitcoin Jesus." Ver is now a citizen of Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis. He was so excited about avoiding taxes that as soon as he became a Nevisian he set up yet another start up that...

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16 Jan

For 10 years, Opinio Juris has served as a forum for short-form legal scholarship. Many posts were short and simple, quickly flagging a particular development or issue and bringing it to the attention of international lawyers across the globe. But other posts were far more in depth, analyzing a complex legal issue with great subtlety and persuasion. What strikes me...

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