Search: Affective Justice: Book Symposium: A Response
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....
22 Jun An Opportunity to End Years of Impunity: Enforced Disappearance as a Continuous Gender-Based Crime
...girls during most, if not all, armed conflicts and authoritarian regimes throughout history. Despite the increase in international attention to the gender dimension of conflicts, attention to the rights violations affecting women have yet to be integrated into many transitional justice processes in practice. Spain is a clear example of this reality, though not only for gender-based crimes, since there has been a complete lack of implementation by the Spanish authorities of transitional justice measures that conform to international standards of truth, justice and reparation. Moreover, from a human rights...
21 Apr ICC Sanctions Symposium: The Unprecedented Attack Against the ICC Prosecutor–The Pitfalls of Being a National of a ‘Less-Powerful’ State
...leadership positions. We share a mutual detestation for injustice, and love and belief in supranational organs and human rights bodies to ensure justice for victims of atrocities. She is a feminist and lawyer and an awe-inspiring role model for African women and girls. Bensouda’s leadership of the ICC is also premised and informed by her position as a woman from a small West African country. This insight is essential to how her commitment to ensuring justice for women can be seen in the strategic direction of the Court in challenging...
15 Mar SCSL Symposium: A Legal Legacy that Opens the Way to Justice in Challenging Places and Times–Part II
Stephen J. Rapp is a Senior Fellow at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Center for Prevention of Genocide and at the Blavatnik School of Government of Oxford University. He was formerly Ambassador-at-Large heading the Office of Global Criminal Justice in the US State Department, and between 2007-2009, was the Prosecutor of the Special Court for Sierra Leone. This essay was initially prepared at the request of FIU Law Review for its micro-symposium on The Legal Legacy of the Special Court for Sierra Leone by Charles C. Jalloh (Cambridge, 2020)....
03 Nov Symposium on the ECCC: The Fate of ECCC Archives and Documentation
...to study the construction of legal and historical memories in the transitional justice (TJ) process in Cambodia. The United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantee of non-recurrence affirmed the role of memorialization and protection of archives in enabling societies to learn the truth and regain ownership of their history. The UN Secretary-General characterized archives in transitional justice as ‘tools for fostering reconciliation and memory.’ The discussion of the ECCC archives is more than a historical record; much of it is related to the...18 Apr Kiobel Insta-Symposium: What Remains of the ATS?
...is that the Justices themselves apparently do not think the decision will necessarily cut off ATS claims in such a comprehensive manner. Justice Kennedy writes that the decision “leave[s] open a number of significant questions regarding the reach and interpretation of the Alien Tort Statute”; and even Justices Alito and Thomas acknowledge, with evident regret, that the Court’s opinion “obviously leaves much unanswered” (emphasis added). What is the “much” that the Court does not answer? The “number” of “significant” questions that remain unresolved? If only it were as “obvious[]” as...
30 May ‘Wait a Minute, Mr. Postman’: Legal Implications of Threats Issued by U.S. Republican Senators
[Javier Eskauriatza is an Assistant Professor in criminal law at the University of Nottingham School of Law. He is also the Co-Director of the Criminal Justice Research Centre, and the Convener of the Criminal Law and Criminal Justice stream for the Society of Legal Scholars.] On 24 April 2024, twelve U.S. Senators (Republican Party) sent a letter to Karim Khan, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (‘ICC’), threatening him, other Court officials, and their families, with ‘sanctions’ and other less specific consequences if arrest warrants were to be issued...
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...
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,...