In association with the International Commission of Jurists

Search: Affective Justice: Book Symposium: A Response

02 Jan

of international criminal justice. But an equally compelling goal is to prevent a post-conflict free fall into vengeance, vendetta, or victor’s justice. Moreover, the ICC Statute is a treaty, and standard rules about interpretation of treaties in international law require that its complementarity principle be read along with other international obligations. So when the Statute refers to whether a state is able or willing to prosecute, that should include all that holding trials imply—that is, able and willing to respect the human rights of the criminal defendant. Even those charged...
02.01.12 | |

18 Feb

to place transitional justice issues at the center of a new continental legal architecture, which would include promoting ratification of existing legal instruments such as the African Charter on Human and People’s rights and the new African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights. 2) The AU should develop a Transitional Justice Policy Framework and strengthen instruments for justice and reconciliation on the continent. The text provides general background on the ICC’s role in Africa, but of particular note are the recommendations in the Annex that, if implemented, would alter the...
18.02.13 | |

14 Jun

[Fred Abrahams covered the Kosovo conflict for Human Rights Watch . He wrote the book Modern Albania and co-wrote A Village Destroyed: War Crimes in Kosovo . Marija Ristic covered Serbian war crimes trials as a journalist for local and international media.] This April, a modest courtroom in Belgrade, Serbia, offered a lens into the global debate on justice for atrocity crimes. The case dealt with mass killings in Kosovo committed 25 years ago but the topic has relevance for Sudan, Ukraine, Israel/Palestine and other conflicts today. In the dimly...
14.06.24 | and |

09 Aug

a less precise, more amorphous method of fact-finding than they publicly acknowledge. The book ends with an exploration of various normative questions, including the most foundational: whether the international tribunals’ fact-finding impediments fatally undermine the international criminal justice project. I read the book in draft form and again after it was completed. All I can say is this: it is one of the most important books ever written on international criminal law. Full stop. (That is essentially the blurb for the book that I submitted to CUP, at its request....
09.08.10 | |

15 May

[Laura Dickinson is the Oswald Symister Colclough Research Professor of Law at the George Washington University Law School in Washington DC.] This is the first post in our discussion of Professor Dickinson’s book. Links to the related posts can be found below. I want to thank Opinio Juris for offering me the opportunity to post on some of the central ideas contained in my recent book, Outsourcing War and Peace: Preserving Public Values in an Era of Privatized Foreign Affairs. The book starts from the observation that, over the past...
15.05.12 | |

27 Aug

...high as operations in a densely populated built-up area, like an urban center. Response . . . There is not one law for air force another for ground troops. I was discussing a difference in doctrines that result from the use of more accurate weapons, like the Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM), versus less reliable indirect fire weapons. Response...Do you wish to argue that the USA expected less incidental damage to civilian objects than Israel did in the matter at hand? Yes, of course. The Gaza Strip is one of...
27.08.14 | |

18 May

that the two are mutually exclusive. Apropos of the Northern Uganda situation, at the end of July, 2005 the International Center for Transitional Justice and the Human Rights Center at UC Berkely issued a report, entitled "Forgotten Voices: A Population-Based Survey on Attitudes about Peace and Justice in Northern Uganda." The report is based on detailed interviews, conducted in April and May 2005, with more than 2,500 Ugandans on their personal experiences of the conflict and their opinions on how peace and justice should be achieved. I recommend the report...
18.05.06 | |

18 Sep

Addington is particularly devastating – who’s left to defend him? – and Gonzales comes across as an affable lightweight). Goldsmith tries to suggest the Bush Presidency’s resurrection in the history books, highlighting how presidential reputations rise and fall like stocks on Wall Street. That seems pretty unlikely, based on his own assessment. (The book’s biggest whooper by far: “Future historians may come to view President Bush as we now view Lincoln and Roosevelt.”) The other strand, highlighted by those who have actually read the book and those more sympathetic to...
18.09.07 | |

29 Aug

...right about the distinction, and we need to know exactly what "Owen" writes in the book. Given the quotes above, it seems clear to me that he believed bin Laden was dying, not dead. But I will post again when I get access to the book itself. Robert Hoekstra We will see what other details are available when we have access to the book, but just a note that even if Owen believed bin Laden was alive, a mistake in fact (if he was actually dead) would negate the crime....
29.08.12 | |

25 Jun

...a single will behind a congressional action.) Second, I hope you noticed that your only response to my argument from, you know, long-standing precedent was sarcasm. I'm only left to assume that you actually have no substantive response, then. Third, it strikes me as entirely plausible that Congress would choose to authorize "all" force, knowing that the CIA would be used in a paramilitary-type fashion, yet not want to say that publicly, and so they use broad, all-inclusive language that would sweep such CIA activity in. Anonsters Hostage: I'm a...
25.06.14 | |

07 Mar

...check out Tom Ruys’ magisterial recent book “Armed Attack” and Article 51 of the UN Charter: Evolutions in Customary Law and Practice. Ruys carefully analyzes state practice and opinio juris to determine whether customary international law permits states to engage in preventive self-defense — the use of military force in response to the threat of an armed attack that is not imminent. Here is a long snippet from the book, discussing the international response to the report issued in 2004 by the UN’s “High-Level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Security,”...
07.03.12 | |

04 Jun

...to be understood as a “war” in Randall’s sense, not simply as an insurrection. The Union was thus required, in Europe’s view, to treat the CSA as a belligerent with the same rights and obligations under the laws of war that the Union itself enjoyed. The Blockade and The Prize Cases That was the European response. What about the Union’s own response? Despite the blockade, Lincoln insisted that the CSA was an insurgent, not a belligerent. But did its actions support that description? And did the Supreme Court agree with...
04.06.10 | |