Search: Affective Justice: Book Symposium: A Response
23 Nov The Revival of Criminal Prosecution of Francoism Crimes in Spain: A New Opportunity for Hope?
...with the Argentine courts. Both the societal and global response to the pacto del olvido and the lack of criminal proceedings encouraged the implementation of alternative transitional justice measures and the enactment of state and regional legislation advancing the principles of truth, reparations and accountability – among them, two national Memory Acts. The first one, the Historical Memory Act 52/2007 of 2007, made relevant progress by explicitly acknowledging the unjust nature of all convictions, sanctions and violence based on political, ideological, or religious grounds during the Civil War or the...31 Dec The NDAA: The Good, the Bad, and the Laws of War–Part II
...since “it is the firm position of the Obama Administration that suspected terrorists arrested inside the United States will—in keeping with long-standing tradition—be processed through our Article III courts, as they should be,” and that “when it comes to U.S. citizens involved in terrorist-related activity, whether they are captured overseas or at home, we will prosecute them in our criminal justice system.” As the President reiterated today, “my Administration will not authorize the indefinite military detention without trial of American citizens. Indeed, I believe that doing so would break with...
18 Jul Race, Gender and Apartheid in the Draft CAH Treaty: South Africa’s Role
reparations. Reparations are formal efforts to redress grave injustices—such as slavery, genocide, apartheid, colonialism, or persecution—through material and symbolic means. Over time, the understanding of who qualifies as a legitimate victim often evolves as awareness is expanded through social movements’ political advocacy on behalf of those most affected. While genocide accountability for Palestinians may be temporally limited to recent acts, such as those committed since October 2023, apartheid accountability would acknowledge a longstanding, systemic injustice—opening pathways for reparative justice that affects tens of thousands more victims. It would also inform...
30 Jun The Early Stages of ICC Proceedings: Why the Court Must Ensure Access to Justice for Victims and Suspects (Part I: Victims and ICC Investigations: Rhetoric v. Reality)
evidence, and selects crimes, suspects, and charges. This is the first in a two-part post which considers the Court’s early stages of proceedings, first from the perspective of victims, and then from the perspective of defendants. We ask whether current approaches to the oversight of the ICC’s early stages are fit for purpose: both in terms of living up to rhetoric about victim-centred justice, and for safeguarding fundamental rights held by its defendants. Our analysis concludes that without clearer regulations, procedural safeguards, and meaningful access to justice, the Court risks...17 Jul MH17 Downing Suspects to be Prosecuted Before Dutch Domestic Courts – An Obstacle or an Advantage for International Justice?
[Dr. Aaron Matta is an expert in international law with working experience at International Courts. He also recently co-founded The Hague Council on Advancing International Justice , a network for and with practitioners, academics, and policymakers in the area of international justice. I would like to thank Dr. Philip Ambach and Anda Scarlat for their feedback on earlier drafts of this commentary.The views expressed here are of the authors alone] After nearly three years since the downing of the Malaysia Airlines MH17 flight, the countries comprising the Joint Investigation Team...
22 Jul The Gambia v. Myanmar – International Court of Justice Judgment on Preliminary Objections
The International Court of Justice has just read its judgment on preliminary objections in the Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (The Gambia v. Myanmar). This is a brief note based on the reading of the judgment, based on my twitter thread ‘live tweeting’ the judgment and does not delve into the details of the legal argumentation – it is meant to give a quick overview of the judgment of the court. The case was initiated by The Gambia in November 2019...14 Jan Global Military Justice Reform
Justice head Gene Fidell on military justice systems worldwide. Here’s a description: Developments in the field of military justice have been coming at an extraordinary pace for the last several years, both in the United States and around the world. Some of these developments have been wise, some have not. In some respects, there has been remarkable resistance to change. The purpose of this blog will be to identify and comment on developments in the reform of military justice from a national and global perspective. Welcome to the blogosphere GMJR!...
03 Feb International Economic Law Symposium: Andreas Buser’s “Emerging Powers, Global Justice and International Economic Law”
[Anna Hankings-Evans is a German-Ghanaian attorney with focus on foreign investments into Sub-Saharan Africa.] It was a pleasure reading Andreas Buser’s book on the development and potential transformation of International Economic Law through the engagement of Emerging Powers. The book carefully weighs the perspectives of powerful and less powerful States to dissect and challenge what has been conventionally understood as the truth. Power is indeed a factor significantly shaping International Law. Yet, it has rarely gained prominence in academic literature beyond its alleged dichotomy and the disruptive and revolutionary conceptualization...22 Aug When Is a Judicial Decision an Abuse of Power?
...vulnerable groups who depend on nonjudicial governmental actors for full protection against injustice’ [I should note here that Sager understands constitutional justice as ‘far from exhaustive of all political justice’]. In short, under-enforcement amounts to a circumscription of judicial activity best characterized as ‘secondary action by the Court, action in service of the efforts of the nonjudicial actors to realize constitutional justice.' Again, while Sager is outlining a prescriptive model for us, I believe that in fact the Court has largely conformed to this model. When it has not, it...02 Aug Justice Alito Teaches the War Powers Clause
While we are on the subject of Michael Ramsey’s book, I thought I would note that Justice Samuel Alito is currently teaching at Pepperdine Law School a two-week seminar from July 30 to August 10 on the War Powers Clause. The public announcement about the course is available here. According to the announcement, “Justice Alito indicated that the question of war and peace is fraught with difficulty, and it was not his intention to state a definitive view. Instead, he encouraged the students to remain open to competing considerations. Professor...