Search: Affective Justice: Book Symposium: A Response
03 Aug Complementarity, Catalysts, Compliance Symposium: Introduction to the Forum
[Christian De Vos is a Senior Advocacy Officer with the Open Society Justice Initiative. He engages in advocacy across the Justice Initiative’s areas of work, with a particular focus on international justice and accountability for grave crimes.] Ten years ago this month, I was packing my bags and preparing to move to the place where this book began: The Hague. Then a newly minted lawyer eager to lay claim to a career in human rights, I was about to begin my PhD studies at Leiden University’s Grotius Centre for International...29 May VJIL Symposium: Jens David Ohlin Comments on “Moral Judgments & International Crimes”
[Jens David Ohlin is an Associate Professor of Law at Cornell Law School; he blogs at LieberCode.] This post is part of the Virginia Journal of International Law/Opinio Juris Symposium, Volume 52, Issue 3. Other posts in this series can be found in the related posts below. Andrew Woods has done an admirable job tackling a truly foundational issue: the normative basis for punishment in international criminal law. This issue has engaged my thinking as well, and Woods is to be congratulated for moving the ball forward and asking the...
15 Jul Intervention in Civil Wars Symposium: Intervention in Latin America
My friend Chiara Redaelli has produced an impressive volume, thoroughly analysing the topic of intervention in civil wars. As others in this symposium have already pointed out, it is usually difficult to offer comments on what one mostly agrees with. In this post, therefore, apart from congratulating Chiara for a fantastic book, I wanted to add to the conversation by briefly telling the story of intervention in civil wars she explores, though Latin American eyes. Latin America is not usually a region one thinks about when dealing with issues of...
20 Sep Organizing Rebellion Symposium: Who Can Commit Genocide? A Discerning Analysis of Non-State Entities as Perpetrators
[Sareta Ashraph is an international criminal law barrister, specializing in international criminal, humanitarian law and human rights law – with a particular focus on the gendered commission and impact of genocide. This is the latest post in the co-hosted symposium with Armed Groups and International Law on Organizing Rebellion .] In the summer of 2014, the armed group, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), razed a path of destruction through northern Iraq’s Nineveh plains, advancing southwards to within 60 kilometres of Baghdad. Their crimes – which included...19 Oct YJIL Symposium – A Fiduciary Theory of Jus Cogens
Evan Criddle Evan Fox-Decent We would like to begin by thanking Opinio Juris and the Yale Journal of International L aw for hosting this symposium, and Alexander Orakhelashvili for generously agreeing to act as our interlocutor. In international law, the term “jus cogens” refers to norms that are considered peremptory in the sense that they are mandatory and do not admit derogation. In our article, we argue that peremptory norms are inextricably linked to the sovereign powers assumed by all states. The key to understanding international jus cogens lies in...07 Mar HILJ Symposium: Consent to the Use of Force, Jus Cogens, and Manifest Violations of Domestic Law
This post is part of the Harvard International Law Journal Volume 54(1) symposium. Other posts from this series can be found in the related posts below. In my previous response to Ashley Deeks’ article, “Consent to the Use of Force and the Supremacy of International Law,” I examined some of the practical, doctrinal, and systemic implications associated with Deeks’ challenge to international law supremacy. As I noted there, I do think the problem of unreconciled consent requires attention, if not a solution, in the use of force context. I would...04 Apr HILJ Online Symposium: Hague Peace Conference Courts v. The Universe of International Courts
[Karen J. Alter is a Professor of Political Science and Law at Northwestern University. Alter’s most recent book is The New Terrain of International Law: Courts, Politics, Rights (Princeton University Press, 2014).] This post is part of the HILJ Online Symposium: Volumes 54(2) & 55(1). Other posts in this series can be found in the related posts below. Suzanne Katzenstein’s article is a very welcome systematic investigation of the Hague era and post-Cold War proposals to generate international courts (“ICs”). Katzenstein puts her finger on a serious problem in the...28 Jun YJIL Symposium: Non-Instrumental Public Morals Justification of Trade Restrictions: A Comment on Howse and Langille
[Isabel Feichtner is a professor of law and economics at Goethe Universität Frankfurt] This post is part of the Yale Journal of International Law Volume 37, Issue 2 symposium. Other posts in this series can be found in the related posts below. Robert Howse’s and Joanna Langille’s article on the Seal Products Dispute is a truly admirable piece of normative doctrinal scholarship. The authors do not hide their preferences with respect to animal welfare and the protection of seals in particular. Their propositions as to the interpretation of WTO law...
28 May Futureproofing Human Rights Symposium: Human Rights in the Era of Blockchain – A Polycentric Accountability Framework
...overlapping actors—mirrors the challenges found in human rights implementation. In that sense, how can we draw lessons from blockchain governance to strengthen accountability in similarly decentralized human rights frameworks? A promising analogy comes from what scholars and regulators have termed the “Global Financial Architecture.” This framework emerged in response to the 2007–2009 global financial crisis, spurred on by the G-20, which recognized that financial stability (here, here) in an interconnected world required coordination and standard-setting beyond any single country or organization. Within this architecture, the Financial Stability Board (FSB) stands...