In association with the International Commission of Jurists

General

12 Nov

[Catherine Brölmann is Associate Professor of Public International Law at the University of Amsterdam] Particular features in the interpretation of constitutive treaties or secondary acts of international organizations reflect the special nature of the law of organizations, which brings both contractual and institutional features in the treaty process. Following up on posts of Richard Gardiner, who brings up pertinent questions regarding treaty...

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12 Nov

I'll join the chorus of praise for my colleague Duncan's book. It will clearly become the standard reference work in the area. As IL scholarship proliferates, there is a lot of smart money in handbook volumes such as this one. The Oxford Guide to Treaties is a one-stop source for the best thinking on the subject. Duncan is also to be...

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12 Nov

[Geir Ulfstein is Professor of Public and International Law at the University of Oslo] Treaty law is increasingly acquiring a public character. One reason is that more and more treaties set up treaty bodies, i.e. organs that are neither formal international organizations nor international courts. Examples are the Conference of the parties (COPs) used in international environmental law, the Antarctic Treaty...

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12 Nov

The EU has welcomed progress made late last week by the International Civil Aviation Organization on a the regulation of global aviation greenhouse gas emissions. Syrian opposition groups have agreed to unite and have chosen Moaz al-Khatib as their leader. Spillovers of the conflict have meanwhile affected Israeli presence in the Golan Heights. At an emergency ECOWAS summit, West African leaders have agreed to send a...

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10 Nov

With the US elections dominating the headlines this week, Peter Spiro argued that the impact of the US president on populations who are unable to vote in the election, and are not even allowed to make campaign contributions, reveals another limit of state-based institutions. Deborah Pearlstein asked whether President Obama's promise that a "decade of war is ending" includes the "war"...

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09 Nov

Cross-posted at Balkinization Of the many memorable lines in President Obama’s eloquent victory speech on Tuesday, the Chicago crowd reserved some of its greatest applause not for the line trumpeting the economy’s ongoing recovery, but for the news that “a decade of war” was coming to an end. Tuesday’s speech was not the first time the President has made such...

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09 Nov

The International Court of Justice will deliver its judgment in Territorial and Maritime Dispute (Nicaragua v. Colombia) on Monday, November 19, 2012 at 3:00 p.m. (Hague time). The European Court of Human Rights upheld the German judgment that placed a ban on the use of holocaust images in a PETA animal-rights campaign poster. Human Rights Watch published a report on migrant women...

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08 Nov

The Atlantic has a piece on the foreign policy priorities of Obama's second term. Shortly after Obama's re-election, the US has supported a call in the UNGA's Disarmament Committee to revive talks on an Arms Trade Treaty. Other reactions to Obama’s re-election: it may be the right time to reopen negotiations with Iran and it may spell trouble for Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu. Puerto Rico...

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07 Nov

In a roundup of some of the big news coming out of the US elections, President Barack Obama was elected to serve a second term, the Republicans have kept control of the House of Representatives and the Democrats still control the Senate, Maine and Maryland have legalized same-sex marriage and Washington state and Colorado voted to legalize marijuana for all...

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06 Nov

This week, state delegates to the Sixth (Legal) Committee of the UN have been debating the most politically sensitive topic of the latest International Law Commission‘s (ILC) report: Head of State Immunity from criminal jurisdiction. The topic is sensitive for several reasons.   First, it raises the question of whether there should be exceptions to immunity for serious crimes.  In this regard...

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06 Nov

The United States heads to the polls today to choose a second term for President Obama or to put Mitt Romney in the Oval Office. It may be election day in the US, but Bloomberg has a profile of Xi Jinping, who will most likely be chosen to replace Chinese President Hu Jintao later this month. Amnesty has reported that Malawi's Justice minister has suspended...

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