Search: Affective Justice: Book Symposium: A Response
24 Jul Procedural Efficiency and Institutional Strain at the International Court of Justice: A Delicate Balance
[ Fabián Raimondo is an Associate Professor of Public International Law at the Faculty of Law of Maastricht University. He has been a member of the Bar of the City of La Plata (Argentina) since 1990 and on the List of Counsel of the International Criminal Court since 2005. He has acted as counsel and advocate for Sudan in three advisory proceedings before the International Court of Justice. Alexandre Skander Galand is an Assistant Professor of International Law at Maastricht University. He has participated in the International Court of Justice...15 May Guest Post: The Anders Kompass Case–A Moment of Opportunity for the UN Internal Justice System
...justice system where cases often took years to resolve. In 2009, after decades of effort, the UN comprehensively redesigned its internal justice system, creating the UNDT and the UNAT. For a discussion, see an earlier article by the author here. So, is the redesigned system working? The Kompass case is a prime example that while much more needs to be done, progress has been made. What did the UNDT decide in the Kompass case? Bearing in mind that the merits of the case have not yet been determined, on the...
09 Apr Missing: Asian Women on the International Bench
on research I conducted as part of the Asia Justice Coalition’s Women in International Justice & Accountability (WIJA) project. The WIJA project aims to empower women leaders in Asia and develop their leadership in international law. I examined the gender and regional representation of judges at four international courts and tribunals. I focused on judges because they optically hold the most important role in courts and are the ‘face’ of judicial work. Given their impartial and representative mandate, judges should ideally represent the global character of international justice. Practically, data...09 Feb Why the Piracy Police Isn’t Working
...is easier than prosecuting them. Britain prefers outsourcing the prosecution to Third World states. Yet if international justice and universal jurisdiction fails here, it will be hard to take it seriously elsewhere. Thus members of the international naval force should themselves bring the offenders they catch to justice. Some of the difficulties can be addressed by shipboard court-martials, or by bringing to Kenya the precedent of the special court created to try Libyan agents in Lockerbie air bombing: Scottish judges held court in a base in Holland designated part of...
07 Feb Overfocusing on Prosecuting Aggression Risks Impunity for Ukraine’s Swelling Dock of Alleged War Criminals
case is actively trying) only and handful of the most responsible perpetrators in their respective jurisdictional contexts. None of the over 121,000 alleged war criminals awaiting prosecution in Ukrainian prisons are accused of being such ‘most responsible’ perpetrators. Arguing in favor of a High War Crimes Court, PILPG experts posit that an extraordinary national tribunal can close the accountability gap for international crimes in Ukraine by “provid[ing] an important additional venue for prosecuting the large number of mid-level perpetrators who might otherwise escape justice.” Discourse on international justice mechanisms for...
02 Apr Justice in Extreme Cases: Reflections by the Author
[Darryl Robinson is an Associate Professor at Queen’s University Faculty of Law (Canada), specializing in international criminal justice.] I am deeply grateful to each of the contributors for their excellent additions to the conversation. One of the themes of Justice in Extreme Cases is the important of deliberation in figuring out a framework for moral principles. I agree with and welcome the counterpoints and questions advanced by the contributors. Rather than a typical “response” piece, I will here summarize and celebrate the caveats or concerns that they have raised. Elies van...27 Aug Truce Reached in Uganda: The ICC’s Dilemma Continues
should be clear as to the nature of social and political justice and how these relate, say, to criminal justice. Perhaps forgoing retributive justice has a corrosive effect on social and political justice (or even 'legal' or 'ethical' justice; I'm assuming that, in the end, there's more than family resemblance to the various kinds of justice). In any case, I'm grateful to Professor Weinberger for making me think more carefully about what is at stake here. Seamus I should have also said, in fairness to Professor Ku, that we're still...11 Jul The Conundrum of International Organisations Immunities: Jam et al v International Finance Corporation (Part 2 of 2)
...to the CAO’s recommendations, national proceedings would not have been needed. But where justice is denied within the institutional legal order, considerations around the perceived independence of an organisation continue to trump the individual right to access justice generally, and a fair trial specifically. It is most unfortunate that international organisations such as the IFC who purport to deliver ‘lasting solutions for development’ choose to engage in conduct that leads to grave denials of justice to already vulnerable people who ought to be the very beneficiaries of their development activity....
29 Jul A Future Crimes Against Humanity Convention and Asia: A New Tool for Accountability
[Aakash Chandran (X: @ChandranAakash is the Legal Advocacy and Communications Manager at Asia Justice Coalition.] The international community is currently navigating a turbulent phase marked by armed conflicts, aggression, and manifest violations of international humanitarian law and human rights law. The situation in South, Southeast, and East Asia also continues to present alarming developments, including the escalating situation in Myanmar, exacerbated by the absence of concerted international action. The entrenched impunity in Sri Lanka concerning the civil war has left thousands of victims of atrocity crimes without access to justice,...02 Oct Kiobel Roundtable: The Supreme Court Gropes Toward a Sensible Solution
...alleged to have occurred on U.S. soil or in U.S. waters” was quickly rebutted by Justice Breyer, invoking Attorney General Bradford’s 1795 opinion that expressed “no doubt” that a civil suit could be brought under the ATS for violations of the law of nations in Sierra Leone. Meanwhile, Justice Kagan offered a variation of the 1784 Marbois incident, hypothesizing that the French ambassador to Britain was attacked in London by an American citizen who sought refuge in the United States and suggesting that the ATS “contemplated exactly that sort of...