Search: Affective Justice: Book Symposium: A Response

...and perpetuate a conflict-oriented cultural and historical narrative. However, such provisions can be implemented effectively only if the parties are willing to comply in good faith. 3. Justice processes A peace agreement could also provide for transitional justice processes, which are meant to promote reconciliation through pursuit of truth and accountability for the conflict and its harms.   Transitional justice institutions can take many forms and serve many purposes, and this paper will not fully address this issue but will examine it only through the lens of reconciliation. This section briefly...

...for me to tell anybody who relied, justifiably, on a Justice Department opinion that not only may they no longer rely on that Justice Department opinion, but that they will now be subject to criminal investigation for having done so. That would put in question not only that opinion, but also any other opinion from the Justice Department. Essentially, it would tell people: “You rely on a Justice Department opinion as part of a program, then you will be subject to criminal investigation when, as and if the tenure of...

In past decades, Latin American countries witnessed violent conflict and serious human rights abuses at the hands of state and non-state actors. In these contexts, conflict-related sexual violence was widespread, perpetrated in order to advance military goals and as a tactic of repression against political opponents and communities. But as the region has grappled with the past through efforts toward justice and accountability, there have been positive legal developments that warrant attention and should inform policy, judicial, and programmatic responses elsewhere. Taking stock of these developments, four leading experts––Daniela Kravetz,...

example, is facing prosecution through the African Union, a move which has had enthusiastic support from African human-rights advocates. Obviously, these are very difficult issues. My co-author Jide Nzelibe and I have discussed the costs of international criminal justice in Africa at length here in this forthcoming article in the Washington University Law Review, but we both would agree that there are no easy answers here. Hopefully, what is emerging in Africa should remind supporters of international criminal justice that there are downsides as well as upsides to these processes....

pursuit of criminal responsibility and accountability. This is particularly instrumental in conflict-torn societies, whose rebuilding and stabilization efforts rest on political reconciliation through an apolitical execution of justice. These lofty ambitions vested in the ICC are the natural extension of the liberal notion of justice, which the United States’ own eminently rich constitutional tradition has historically upheld.  Yet, the ICC’s limited jurisdiction presents an enormous challenge to international justice and is typically delimited by: (i) States accession to treaties; (ii) the UN Security Council’s political alignments, configurations, and the power...

...hearings, that indicated anxieties about the prospects of international justice, as well as Asia-Pacific neighbourhood regional dynamics. In the Petitioners hearings, while seemingly at a tangent, the court veered into the realm of realpolitik – asking whether the Philippines would get “justice at the United Nations”, and whether the U.S., China and Russia were parties to the Rome Statute. However, this is not irrelevant as it reflects real anxieties of the “imperialist” nature of the ICC and its impact on sovereignty – echoed increasingly forcefully across multiple jurisdictions in the...

perpetrators across the globe, a wealth of previously elusive information has opened up to bolster justice and truth-telling efforts, in turn spurring the growth of the open source investigative field over the last decade. However, the existing community of practice in this field is non-functioning. The status quo is for outsider researchers to form an echo chamber, mirroring, contributing to, and entrenching harms already thriving in the documentation-to-justice pipeline. Instead, how do we take good intention and turn it into truly good practice? The issues discussed below demonstrate flawed approaches...

...unlikely to be forfeited in conjunction with criminal proceedings and creating a temporary cash flow to provide immediate relief and rebuilding of the most necessary structures. The Role of the ICC in the Peace Settlement Proposal  As sanctions are being imposed amidst the commencement of investigations and prosecutions before domestic courts and the ICC, the interplay and cooperation between sanctions, asset recovery, and international criminal justice is crucial to an effective peace settlement and post-conflict justice to ensure funds are available for reparations to victims. Thus, the operation of sanctions...

...assessing individual criminal responsibility at the Court and raise questions about the implications thereof for international criminal justice. Collective crimes, individual responsibility International criminal justice is concerned with the ‘most serious’ crimes and with the ‘most responsible’ individuals that stand behind those crimes. The Nuremberg tribunal was established to try the ‘major war criminals’ of the European Axis. Similarly, the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY)’s completion strategy envisioned that ‘the most senior leaders suspected of being most responsible’ for the crimes in the Former Yugoslavia would be...

On Monday through Wednesday next week, Mary Ellen O’Connell, the Robert and Marion Short Professor of Law at the University of Notre Dame Law School, will join us to discuss her new book, The Power and Purpose of International Law. We are also very pleased that Beth Simmons, the Director of the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs and the Clarence Dillon Professor of International Affairs in the Department of Government at Harvard University, will also join us for the conversation. This book discussion will give us the opportunity to dig...

As this it my final post in connection with this discussion of my book, How International Law Works, I want to thank Opinio Juris for giving me this opportunity, and the commentators for so thoughtfully sharing their opinions. Much of the discussion has been about the methodology used in the book, and as I have had my say on that subject in my several prior posts I will not dwell on it now. Let me instead mention a couple of things that I hope the book has achieved or will...

international law is the product of nation-states cooperating to escape a brutish State of Nature—a result that is not only legally binding but also in each state’s self-interest. I have had the pleasure of reading the book, and it’s tremendous. Many international-law scholars are (understandably) resistant to the caricature of international law presented by the Posners and Yoos of the world, but few have the theoretical chops to engage in the kind of imminent critique of “New Realism” that Jens provides. I hope the book gets the audience it deserves....