Search: Affective Justice: Book Symposium: A Response
10 Mar Mea Culpa Regarding Israel’s Attacks on Hezbollah in 2006
...his excellent book The International Court of Justice and Self-Defence in International Law (p. 49): It is worth noting here that an interpretation of the Court’s jurisprudence on this issue has been advanced that makes a distinction between, on the one hand, a response taken by the victim state against a host state when only the non-state actors operating within that state are targeted and, on the other hand, actions in self-defence when the government or forces of the host state itself are additionally targeted. It has been argued that...10 Jan Trump’s Threat of Destruction of North Korea and Proportionate Defensive Force: An Assessment of Similar Observations in Legal Scholarship and US Practice
...Israel’s 1972 incursion of Lebanon and Russia’s 2008 action against Georgia, the reacting states have found the extent of the response and the level of casualties to be a relevant factor in measuring proportionality (see, for example, UN Doc S/PV.1108 (6 April 1964) pp 7–8, 10; “The Situation in the Dominican Republic”, Yearbook of the United Nations (1965) p 142; UN Doc S/PV.1644 (27/28 February 1972) p 19; UN Doc S/PV.1643 (26 February 1972) pp 3, 15; UN Doc S/PV.5953 (10 August 2008)), it appears that they have, to a...
02 Nov The Legality of a SADC Intervention in Cabo Delgado in the Absence of Mozambican Consent
...launched dozens of attacks across the province, resulting in over two thousand deaths and the displacement of some 250,000 people. As the intensity of insurgent activities continue, so too does pressure on a regional response from SADC. In particular, suggestions forwarded on a SADC response include not only fact-finding missions and humanitarian assistance, but the possibility of a regional military intervention. While the SADC legal framework provides for a military intervention in cases of intrastate conflict such as the one ongoing in Cabo Delgado; whether Mozambique will be open to...
28 Jun Suing Corporations for Violating International Law: A Step Forward
in three separate opinions, by five justices, on both sides of the Court’s usual philosophical divide. Joined by Justice Alito, Justice Gorsuch addressed corporate liability at some length. “Nowhere,” he wrote, does the text of the ATS “suggest that anything depends on whether the defendant happens to be a person or a corporation.” Reviewing the long history of tort suits against corporations, he summarized: “Causes of action in tort normally focus on wrongs and injuries, not who is responsible for them.” In a separate opinion, Justice Alito added that “if...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...
18 Sep Anchoring Accountability for Mass Atrocities: Providing the Support Necessary to Fulfil International Investigative Mandates
...Rights Institute; Chair, Commission on International Justice and Accountability; former US Ambassador-at-Large for Global Criminal Justice (2009-2015). Sareta Ashraph is a Visiting Fellow of Practice with the Oxford Programme on International Peace and Security, Institute for Ethics, Law, and Armed Conflict (ELAC), Oxford Blavatnik School of Government; she is a barrister with Garden Court Chambers; and the Co-Vice Chair of the IBA War Crimes Committee] [This blog post describes new research being carried out at the University of Oxford around the question of whether some form of permanent support –...
14 Feb Justice Prevails over Realpolitik at Koblenz: International Law offers a Rare Glimmer of Hope after a Decade of Disappointments for Syrians
...who secured the conviction by smuggling evidence out of Syria, acting as joint plaintiffs and reliving unimaginable horrors in front of their former tormentor, all at considerable risk to their own welfare and that of their families. However, their victory is bittersweet. As victims’ associations stressed: our satisfaction at this verdict is overshadowed by our long and continuing suffering as we seek our missing loved ones and demand justice for the crimes against us. This important conviction is just a first step on the long and arduous path toward justice....
20 Apr ICC Sanctions Symposium: Sanctions and Exceptionalism
...the somewhat transactional relationship that the USA enjoys with the rest of the world on matters related to justice for the worst atrocities—it appears to act on such atrocities only when it suits its national interests rather than because it is the morally right thing to do. Since George Washington’s infamous 1796 Farewell Address, American foreign policy has prided itself in its ability to maintain the much-needed delicate balance between self-interest and morality. The latter has always been postured as an anchor for the observance of good faith and justice...20 Apr Kony 2012: The Complex Kaleidoscope of Transitional Justice in Uganda
[Michael A. Newton is Professor of the Practice of Law, Vanderbilt University Law School] The Kony 2012 campaign had the laudable goal of increasing public awareness in order to aid the search for justice and accountability in the wake of LRA atrocities. In fact, the worldwide attention had the paradoxical effect of demonstrating the lamentable reality that the optimal pathway towards authentic justice for LRA victims in that setting is neither simple nor self-obvious. This is true for a number of reasons which I shall summarize. Firstly, the complexity of...18 May Visualizing International Criminal Justice
I want to call readers’ attention to a remarkable new report on international criminal justice authored by Daniel McLaughlin, a former legal officer at the ECCC, for Fordham’s Leitner Center for International Law & Justice. As the introduction states, the report is an attempt — a very successful one — to visualize information about the criminal tribunals: There is wide awareness, though little true understanding, of the work of the international criminal tribunals. International prosecutions of high-ranking civilian and military leaders, including former heads of state, on charges of crimes...