Search: Affective Justice: Book Symposium: A Response
04 Jul The Global Hawk Incident: Self-Defense against Aerial Incursions – Reflections on the Applicable Law
...force. For the sake of analysis, let’s assume that the Global Hawk did indeed enter Iranian airspace. That would, undoubtedly, constitute a violation of Iranian sovereignty. It could also amount to an unlawful use of force. However, as Michael Schmitt explained on Just Security, states are not permitted to use force in response to any breach of sovereignty, nor are states allowed to use force in response to every unlawful use of force. In the absence of U.N. Security Council authorization and except in cases of intervention by invitation, states...
17 Mar Hamster in a Wheel: International Law, Crisis, Exceptionalism, Whataboutery, Speaking Truth to Power, and Sociopathic, Racist Gaslighting
...of double standards and the different treatment of seemingly like situations. Nor is it the case that all those others who do this are doing so to justify Russia’s actions. Some are asking ‘what about’, not to justify Russia’s actions, but actually, the reverse – to say, in the context of an assumption that what Russia is doing is wrong, to ask why, when violations of international law of the same or a similar nature happen elsewhere, there is not the same response- a response they would welcome – by...25 Jul Wherein I Break Godwin’s Law in Relation to the New Al-Bahlul Amicus Brief
...they are committed — applies to his acts and thus justifies punishing him (“justice can be helped to triumph by the proper application of this penal law”). That does not make the authors of the amicus brief Nazis. But it does mean that the amicus brief is relying on the same kind of analogical reasoning that was at the heart of the Nazis’ perversion of the German criminal-justice system — the same kind of analogical reasoning that was specifically condemned as itself criminal by American judges in the Justice case....08 Dec Transitional Justice and Judicial Activism Symposium: Comments by Dinah PoKempner
[Dinah PoKempner is General Counsel of Human Rights Watch. She is writing in her personal capacity. Views expressed in this essay are not necessarily those of HRW.] Increasing judicial recognition of a duty to investigate and even to prosecute serious violations of international law is unlikely to narrow the ambit of transitional justice; to the contrary, it adds pressure for more thorough transitional measures by upping the reputational cost of impunity. Not even two decades have passed since agreement of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, arguably a...
07 Jun Complementarity in the Palestine Situation at the ICC: Could Article 70 Conduct Render Israel “Unwilling” to Investigate Genuinely?
the Panel of Experts. attempt to circumvent or corrupt the administration of justice must be properly addressed. “Offences Against the Administration of Justice” It is quite clear that these are matters that fall within the jurisdiction of the ICC under Article 70 of the Rome Statute. Any person who has attempted to obstruct the independent investigations of the Prosecutor may be guilty of “offence against the administration of justice” under these provisions. As Karim Khan himself said when announcing the request for the issuance of arrest warrants “if we do...25 Jun International Securities Fraud Makes Supreme Court Debut
[Margaret V. Sachs is the Robert Cotten Alston Professor of Law at the University of Georgia School of Law and an expert on securities law] The Supreme Court yesterday issued its decision in Morrison v. National Australia Bank, its first ever on the international reach of Section 10(b) and Rule 10b-5. Justice Scalia wrote for the Court, with additional opinions by Justice Breyer (concurring in part and concurring in the judgment) and Justice Stevens, joined by Justice Ginsberg (concurring in the judgment). Justice Sotomayor did not participate. The federal securities...
07 Aug Fifteen Years After Sri Lanka’s Civil War Ended, a Different Approach to Transitional Justice is Needed
with.] This year marks 15 years since Sri Lanka’s brutal decades-long civil war ended. There are credible allegations all sides to the conflict committed serious human rights and international humanitarian law (IHL) violations, including incidents of sexual violence, torture, extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances. The victims/survivors of these violations still await justice. Sri Lanka attempted to grapple with the past through transitional justice (TJ) processes, but these have largely failed. In the absence of meaningful accountability efforts in Sri Lanka, the international community has stepped in to a limited extent...
23 May New Trends in International Justice
[Richard Dicker, formerly director of the Human Rights Watch International Justice Program, is now a senior adviser with the organization and teaches at Columbia and UCLA law schools. Alina Pucko, a German lawyer, is a candidate for a Masters of Law degree at Columbia Law School.] With Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and revelations of apparent war crimes and possible crimes against humanity, attention has turned in an unprecedented way to criminal accountability as a necessary response to the brutal international crimes occurring there. The visible expression of this accountability surge...