In association with the International Commission of Jurists

Search: kony 2012

12 Jun

The four staff members of the ICC will remain in a 45-day detention in Libya while investigations into the meetings the staff had with Saif al-Islam Gaddafi are carried out. Al Arabyia reports that Melinda Taylor will be freed if she gives Libyan officials information on the whereabouts of Mohammed Ismail, Gaddafi’s former right-hand man. Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic has asked for his charges to be dismissed at the ICTY for lack of evidence. Human Rights Watch reports that Syria is committing grave abuses of...
12.06.12 | |

21 Jun

The Telegraph asks whether the Rio Summit is destined to fail. If you want to keep up-to-date with the Rio+20 conference, the International Institute for Sustainable Development’s Earth Negotiations Bulletins are a useful starting point. In a statement before the Ways and Means Committee of the United States House of Representatives, Deputy Secretary of State William Burns argued in favour of lifting the Jackson Vanik amendment and extending permanent normal trade relations status to Russia. In Moscow, nuclear talks on Iran have failed to reach a breakthrough....
21.06.12 | |

23 Apr

Our own Peter Spiro has penned an op-ed in the NY Times about the upcoming arguments at the Supreme Court about Arizona’s controversial immigration bill, SB-1070. Peter has posted on OJ about it here. Territorial disputes between China and Taiwan, Myanmar, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei may escalate based on Chinese development firms jockeying for position in the disputed islands. Despite tensions, China has lauded its friendship with North Korea. The US has criticized this friendship, and accused a Chinese firm of selling components of a missile transporter...
23.04.12 | |

22 Mar

In a military coup, soldiers have claimed to have overthrown the president of Mali, Amadou Toumani Toure. Libya resists ICC’s custody claims in cases against Seif al-Islam el-Qaddafi and Abdullah Senussi. Al-Qaeda has taken responsibility for dozens of bombings across Iraq, which have killed at least 52, leading up to the Arab League summit in Baghdad. China’s Justice Ministry has ordered all lawyers to pledge their allegiance to the Communist Party. All 15 of the UN Security Council members backed Kofi Annan’s peace plan for crackdown on...
22.03.12 | |

15 Dec

This week on Opinio Juris, a guest post by Daniel Bethlehem, following up on a post by Julian Ku last week, offered three more legal bases for the legality of an intervention in Syria. Also continuing on some of last week’s themes, Kevin Jon Heller wrote how a recent decision by the ICC’s Appeals Chamber confirms his argument on retroactive ad hoc jurisdiction, and Deborah Pearlstein couldn’t resist taking apart Eric Posner’s Slate article on Jeh Johnson’s recent speech in Oxford. In another post, Deborah refused to read...
15.12.12 | |

09 Oct

Libya will challenge the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court over Saif al-Islam Gaddafi in order to try him on Libyan soil. Mark Kersten at Justice in Conflict has more analysis about the battle of where the trial will be held. Police in Sierra Leone have arrested an investigator employed by former Liberian President Charles Taylor’s defense team on charges he attempted to bribe prosecution witnesses to recant their testimony during Taylor’s war crimes trial. Nigerian soldiers have shot more than 30 civilians dead in the northeastern...
09.10.12 | |

18 Dec

Syrian forces first surrounded a Palestinian camp in Damascus before then taking full control of it, a day after air raids killed at least 8 who were seeking shelter there inside a mosque. Israel has approved 1,500 more settlement homes in East Jerusalem, prompting Palestinians to say they may seek a UN Security Council meeting on the issue. The US Department of Justice filed a motion to dismiss (.pdf) a lawsuit (.pdf) challenging the US government’s targeted killing of three US citizens via drone strikes. The U.N....
18.12.12 | |

18 Apr

An Italian kidnapped by al-Qaeda insurgents in Algeria and held for 14 months has been freed in northern Mali. Denmark has established a Commission of Inquiry into its role in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. EJIL has an in-depth post about it here. The Arab League has urged Syria to implement the ceasefire plan after being briefed by Kofi Annan. The definition of piracy is in dispute ahead of a piracy trial in Virginia. The African Union has suspended Guinea-Bissau from all activities after its recent military...
18.04.12 | |

05 Nov

European and Asian leaders are meeting in Laos for the biennial Asia-Europe meeting. Violence between rival militias in Libya underscores the security challenges facing the new government. A grenade attack on a church in Kenya on Sunday is believed to have been the work of a Somali group protesting against Kenya’s involvement in the UN-backed force in Somalia. A new cabinet has been formed in Somalia, includes the country’s first female foreign minister. A federal court in Australia has found S&P liable for misleading and deceptive ratings...
05.11.12 | |

02 Apr

A New Hampshire woman will be retried for immigration fraud. She allegedly lied about her involvement in the Rwandan genocide when applying for asylum in the US. US authorities deported a former leader of the Liberian Peace Council who had been living in Rochester since 2006 to the West African country. He is suspected of human rights abuses and war crimes, including the recruitment of child soldiers. His deportation is the first-ever under the Child Soldiers Accountability Act of 2008. The Center for Constitutional Rights reports that...
02.04.12 | |

14 Jun

The Falkland Islands are set to hold a referendum about sovereignty. IntLawGrrls points to interesting issues arising around citizenship and globalization. The ICC Prosecutor seeks a 30-year sentence for Thomas Lubanga Dyilo, convicted of conscripting child soldiers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In other ICC news, a team from the Court has visited the four detained staff members in Libya, accused of smuggling documents to Saif al-Islam Gaddafi. The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda has transferred its fifth case to domestic authorities. The UN Security...
14.06.12 | |

28 Nov

In Syria, rebel forces have for the first time downed a government helicopter using a surface-to-air missile they acquired during the recent capture of an army base. The EU is reviewing its sanctions on Syria, and the UK, with France’s backing, is arguing for a review every three months to make it easier to arm the opposition. The head of the Palestinian commission investigating the death of Yasser Arafat has stated that the Palestinian state would go to the ICC, should it be established that Arafat was...
28.11.12 | |