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Search: Affective Justice: Book Symposium: A Response

29 Sep

raising the legal and political stakes in advocacy, litigation, and engagement with UN mechanisms. Indonesia’s Response as a form of Torture When evaluated against the CAT’s four-prong criterion, Indonesia’s response to the August 2025 protests undeniably meets the threshold for it to be considered torture.  First, the severity of suffering is unmistakable. The death of 21-year-old Affan Kurniawan, at least eight other confirmed fatalities, and hundreds of reported injuries, including beatings, tear-gassing of university campuses, and the hospitalization of students, demonstrate the grave physical and psychological harm inflicted.  Second, the...
29.09.25 | |

11 Jun

...some substantive responses to his article. First, let me discuss my questions about methodology and calls for clarification. Before being asked to evaluate Tushnet’s claims, I would want to know more clearly precisely which countries he is referencing. He talks about “nations that compete internationally for investment and human capital, with classes of lawyers able to assert some autonomous pressure on a nation’s government.” Does that include China, which surely meets the first criteria, and maybe less so the second criteria? Does that include Colombia, which is better on the...
11.06.09 | |

29 Sep

As a pastor of a church I find Professor Guiora’s words both challenging and problematic. Here are four points: 1. Professor Guiora writes, “Society has historically – unjustifiably and blindly – granted religion immunity.” What society? Separating “society” from “religion” is very much a modern issue. Society didn’t grant immunity to anything. Rather, society was shaped by religion and was pretty much identified religiously in the West and in the East until the beginnings of the critical/historical/scientific “Age of Reason” stirrings. In the West it was the Church...
29.09.10 | |

29 Jul

the armed forces get into trouble inside the US, they are subject to military justice rather than State civilian justice. If an enemy solider commits a war crime like rape, he is also tried in a military court and not the local civilian system. SOFA is not the naked exercise of power. It is simply a formal recognition that wherever military forces are deployed, they are subject to military justice and not local civilian jurisdiction. Marko: Munaf does not assert that US citizens held overseas by US military forces have...
29.07.09 | |

08 Mar

an important impact on the U.S. constitutional system. We argue, however, that a method of “accommodation” can best mediate these impacts. Accommodation includes, but is not limited to, the doctrines of non-self-execution, executive management of the interpretation of international law, and limited state autonomy in foreign affairs. I plan to host an online discussion of this book on Opinio Juris sometime later this spring, and you will no doubt notice me flacking this book on the blog periodically. But if you can’t wait until our symposium, please buy a copy!...
08.03.12 | |

14 May

...National Security and the Law) outline possible reforms of civil justice procedures in national security litigation. Of that group, Jack Goldsmith for his memo on getting around the non-refoulement treaty obligation criticized by Jose Alvarez and Neila Sadat years ago in the Symposium on Torture of Case Western International Law Journal is a person of interest for criminal investigation and prosecution. Matthew Waxman who was at Rumsfeld's DOD working on detainee operations is also a person of interest for criminal investigation and prosecution. Benjamin Wittes has written a book that...
14.05.09 | |

28 Nov

...steer developing American understandings of international law (a particular interest of mine.) But in reading the reviews of Gaddis’ book (I admit that I have not yet read the book. Cut me some slack! It came out last week.), the thing that stood out was his personal story, one Henry Kissinger refers to in his New York Times review as “a kind of tragedy.” Kennan was most definitely not an international lawyer, but his difficulties navigating the foreign policy establishment sound familiar. Certainly, Kennan’s ambivalence about the morality of a...
28.11.11 | |

10 Sep

Charter did not permit an individual to be convicted solely of criminal membership; he could be convicted of criminal membership only if he had committed at least one substantive crime as part of the criminal organization. Indeed, both the Ministries and Einsatzgruppen tribunals held exactly that (see pp. 293 of my book.) Here, of course, the response will no doubt be that al-Bahlul was convicted “in connection with any act of which the individual may be convicted” — namely, material support for terrorism. In which case a conviction for one...
10.09.11 | |

21 Feb

...his "tattered, 20-year old ID card" (the ostensible reason: living for a time abroad caused him to forfeit his status as permanent resident of Israel). When pressed about the ruling against Awad, Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir referred reporters "to the security services." This by way of a reminder that we hardly have sufficient or even presumptive reason to trust what official Israeli government spokespersons say about such matters, while David Ketzmer's book on the Israeli Supreme Court, The Occupation of Justice...(2002) provides us with ample reason not to defer to...
21.02.11 | |

24 May

...“armed attacks” in self defense. Many states also recognize at least some limited customary right post-UN Charter of anticipatory self-defense – that is, a right to strike before the enemy begins its attack. This notion was captured by the Caroline letter’s statement requiring for such force “the necessity of self-defence, instant, overwhelming, leaving no choice of means, and no moment for deliberation.” Either way, whether force is in response to an armed attack or in anticipation of an imminent one, if a state undertakes such action, its response must be,...
24.05.13 | |

20 Oct

...rich Saudis to fund it, and among the richest Saudis are Saudi princes. You could at least, in the interest of common courtesy (a) retain the link to the Schwarzschild post when you repost my response, because otherwise you are not really reposting my response, you are selectively reposting part of it; and (b) acknowledge that YOU read something in to my princes remark that wasn't there. And, if you want to add another update, I'll endorse what Anne wrote, that HRW's support of the Goldstone report puts it in...
20.10.09 | |

15 Jan

The current issue of Foreign Affairs has an article called A Few Dollars at a Time: How to Tap Consumers for Development, which describes the “innovative financing” movement in which private companies find ways for their customers to contribute to international development. This morning, I came across an example that I guess you could call “innovative aid” as it isn’t so much development financing but rather disaster relief to Haiti. Zynga is a software company that makes (wildly successful, as I understand) games playable via Facebook and MySpace. They have...
15.01.10 | |