As the fighting in Ukraine continues into its second year, recent reports have variously focused on the promise of a weapons withdrawal and the risk that there is the opening of a new front opening. Recent international legal scholarship has attempted to frame the conflict within the context of international law and consider topics such as issues of legality and...
Your weekly selection of international law and international relations headlines from around the world: Africa Hissene Habre, the former leader of Chad once described as "Africa's Pinochet" by Human Rights Watch (HRW), is about to face trial in Senegal over the alleged political killings of thousands of people during his time in power. Malian masons have rebuilt eight mausoleums destroyed by Islamist militants...
Just a quick note to flag that the Digest of United States Practice in International Law 2014 is now available. You can access it here. And here's the accompanying press release from the U.S. State Department: The Department of State is pleased to announce the release of the 2014 Digest of United States Practice in International Law, covering developments during calendar year 2014....
I don't have a profound take on the Iran Deal (full text here) announced today between Iran and the P-5+1 leading world powers. From my understanding of this agreement, I am doubtful it will work out to benefit the U.S. and the E.U., but I don't feel particularly strongly on this point. There are more than enough commentators out there who...
Your weekly selection of international law and international relations headlines from around the world: Africa Chadian police have said anyone wearing a full-face veil will be arrested, a day after a Boko Haram suicide bombing - carried out by an attacker disguised as a women wearing one - left 15 dead. Cameroon's army has repulsed an attack by Boko Haram and killed three...
I am a huge fan of ASIL's Annual Meeting for a whole host of reasons. I like to see old friends, make new acquaintances, and spend inordinate amounts of time talking in the hallways. The book sales on Saturday morning is a highlight of my year (no comment on what that may say about my life). But what really holds...
Your weekly selection of international law and international relations headlines from around the world: Africa Burundi's parliamentary elections on Monday were not fair or free and human rights were violated, the United Nations said on Thursday. Middle East and Northern Africa US President Barack Obama has said that the US-led coalition battling fighters from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) was...
Kimberly Prost, the current UN Ombudsperson, will be leaving her post in mid-July when her term expires. However, no replacement has been appointed, nor has the UN implemented a transition plan for her eventual successor. The issue of what will happen to the current cases before the office, or to individuals who are unlucky enough to apply for delisting after...
Your weekly selection of international law and international relations headlines from around the world: Africa Suspected Islamist fighters attacked a town in western Mali near the border with neighbouring Mauritania before dawn on Saturday, leaving 12 people dead, including three soldiers and nine attackers, the defence ministry said. Al Shabaab militants detonated a car bomb and battled African Union troops at a peacekeepers'...
First it confused ISIS's flag with a gay-pride flag depicting various sex toys: Then it placed Hong Kong somewhere in Brazil: Interested readers may want to apply for fact-checking positions at CNN. I hear they're hiring....
I met Mike Lewis during my first year of law teaching at Cornell Law School. Mike was scheduled to give a lecture at the law school about torture and I was invited to give a commentary on his presentation. Mike had pre-circulated the paper that the presentation was based on. I disagreed with his thesis and pressed him sharply on...
As regular readers know, Mike and I often sparred on the virtual pages of Opinio Juris. By and large, we did so civilly. But on occasion -- such as when we were debating whether the Bush admininstration's "enhanced interrogation" regime qualified as torture -- things became heated. I made him mad. He made me mad. I doubt either of us...
