We are all aware of the use of environmental and social impact assessments (ESIAs) to address environmental considerations as a key factor in deciding on the appropriateness of beginning new projects. Well, there is now movement afoot to develop a similar approach for international human rights. A "Human Rights Impact Assessment" (HRIA) would mean that multinational corporations should...
In a landmark — and admirably progressive — decision, the Supreme Court of Mexico had held that dismissing HIV+ soldiers from the military is unconstitutional:In a case brought by 11 members of the military, the court declared unconstitutional a law requiring naval officers and soldiers with HIV/AIDS to leave the armed forces. Following the decision, Mexico's armed forces will have to...
Important and exciting ICC news to report: Japan's Cabinet has expressed its desire for Japan to join the ICC. Although the Diet has to pass the necessary legislation, no significant opposition is expected. The following is an excerpt from the Japan Federation of Bar Associations in favor of the move:The JFBA adopted the Resolution Calling for Japan's Proactive Involvement in...
Ready for another blue-ribbon commission? This week's entry comes with the launch of a "National War Powers Commission", to be run out of the University of Virginia's Miller Center. Baker will share co-chairing honors with Warren Christopher. Other commission members include Lee Hamilton (how many commissions can one person belong to - Hamilton surely would be at...
Other blogs have posted information on the new and lateral faculty hires this season. See Concurring Opinions here for lateral hires and Legal Theory Blog here for entry level hires. But none of this information provides details on the legal specializations of any of these hires. So we would like to provide our readers with information on...
According to the very slick site greatfirewallofchina.org, Opinio Juris can be read in China -- unlike Wikipedia, Amnesty International, the State Department's "democracy" page, the Economist, and Armani. We'll have to try harder. H/T: FP Passport. ...
The ICC's Special Working Group on the Crime of Aggression (SWG) met again last month in New York. According to the Financial Times, the SWG is close to achieving consensus on a definition of the crime:Sixty years after the Nuremberg trials made legal history by finding individuals responsible for the second world war, a select group of diplomats, lawyers...
Last month I posted a story about a decision coming out of Indiana that required the non-custodial parent to be subject to supervision during parental visitations. The reason the court issued the order was due to fears that the American-Egyptian father would flee with the child to Egypt and never return. The comments generated by the post were some of...
As advertised, the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court has released the ICC's first two indictments arising out of its investigation of war crimes in the Darfur region of Sudan. As the BBC reports, the ICC has named Ahmad Muhammad Harun, former Minister of State for the Interior of the Government of the Sudan and the current Minister...
There's a move afoot to extend honorary citizenship to Anne Frank (report here). The impulse is obviously a benign one, by way of making amends for the US failure to issue timely visas to her and her family. But might there be a little hubris involved here as well, something of an assumption that she would have been...
OK, I admit I haven't read all 351 pages of the ICJ's judgment in the Bosnia Genocide case. This is a rich and potentially important decision. But here are some initial observations and reactions, along with (after the jump), some key excerpts from the ICJ's opinion. (1) The key headline holding is that Serbia (the state) is not...
The ICJ has released its judgment in the Case Concerning the Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Bosnia and Herzegovina v. Serbia and Montenegro). The Court affirmed it had jurisdiction and found that although Serbia could not be held responsible for genocide, Serbia had violated its obligations under the Genocide Convention...
