An overwhelming majority of the U.N. General Assembly has voted to replace the Human Rights Commission with the new Human Rights Council. The vote was 170 to 4, with three abstentions. Voting against the new council were Israel, Palau, the Marshall Islands, and — not surprisingly — the U.S. Iran, Venezuela, and Belarus abstained. ...
Exxon has lost its bid to dismiss an alien tort statute lawsuit alleging it is liable for human rights abuses committed by Indonesian troops using its facilities in Indonesia. (thanks to Pointoflaw for the tip). I can't seem to find the district court opinion online, but it should set up an important test case for all corporate Alien Tort...
I have long criticized the deafening silence of the Arab world in the face of radical Islam. (See here and here). Where is the challenge to the extremism? Where is the Muslim moderation? Where is the voice of reason amidst the outrage and death threats? Thankfully, we are beginning to see some Arab moderates openly challenge radical Islam. The most...
The ECHR has refused to admit a case filed by Saddam Hussein against European countries that participated in the military invasion and deposition of his regime in Iraq. (Full text of the decision here) The obvious problem with Saddam's claim is jurisdictional. But his lawyers argued that "he fell within the jurisdiction of all the respondent States because they...
Salon.com has posted this important and comprehensive archive of all the publicly available photos and videos of detainee abuse at Abu Ghraib. The photos and videos were part of the US Army's own investigation into the abuses at the notorious prision, which the US recently announced it was shutting down. Salon has provided additional documentation that has to...
Last week the European Court of Human Rights rendered an important decision on paternal parental choice regarding the preservation of embryos. The case is Evans v. United Kingdom. The full text is available here and an official summary is available here. The story is quite heartbreaking. Natallie Evans and her partner, "J", were undergoing fertility treatment when she was diagnosed with...
There are lots of benefits to multilateral military intervention, but quick and decisive action is not one of them. Darfur is a case study. The game of pass the buck between the U.N. and Sudan has led to an underfunded relatively ineffective peacekeeping force combined with delays over further deployments of U.N. forces. Meanwhile, the ICC, a year...
The NYT is now reporting that the autopsy of Milosevic has turned up a antibiotic that none of the doctors treating him had prescribed for him. In other words, the evidence from one of the autopsies suggests that Milosevic may not have died of completely natural causes. One of the local Dutch doctors has a theory that Milosevic...
Last week the WTO Appellate Body issued its ruling in the Mexico sweetener dispute with the United States. I had reported earlier about the panel decision here. One of the more interesting issues in the case is the argument for judicial abstention. Mexico argued that the WTO had jurisdiction over the case but that it should exercise...
According to IPS, the United States is now completely alone in opposing the U.N. proposal to create a new Human Rights Council. A significant majority of the U.N.'s 191 member states have come out in favor of the proposal, including the 25-member European Union and the 114-member Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) of developing nations. The proposal is also supported by...
The ICC has re-elected Philippe Kirsch of Canada to a new three-year term as president. Akua Kuenyehia of Ghana was re-elected as first vice-president and Judge Rene Blattmann of Bolivia was elected second-vice president. Here is Judge Kirsch's official ICC bio: Judge Kirsch is member of the Bar of the Province of Quebec and was appointed Queen's Counsel in 1988. ...
In his first major address as Chief Justice, on Wednesday John Roberts addressed a crowd of 1,000 participants at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley. Details of the speech are available here. The Chief Justice also addressed a group of about 100 Pepperdine law students immediately prior to the speech. (It doesn't hurt when your current dean was the Chief...
