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Search: kony 2012

26 Jul

The UN Security Council has lifted travel bans and asset freezes on 17 Liberians, including at least two of Charles Taylor’s ex-wives. A special assembly met in Somalia to set up a new government. Using drones for surveillance and then shooting from helicopters, Turkey has killed 15 Kurdish rebels near its border with Iraq. EJIL: Talk! has more on the Belgium v. Senegal case, asking whether the Court really ended the dispute between the parties. Regardless of the answer to that question, the AU and Senegal have...
26.07.12 | |

11 Jul

Ansar Dine, an al-Qaeda linked group, has destroyed more shrines at a mosque in Timbuktu, Mali, and vowed to continue destroying UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Foreign Policy discusses the issue further here and offers a slideshow of images of the wreckage here. Saudi Arabia has now made it official: it will not be sending female athletes to compete in this year’s Olympic Games in London. Human Rights Watch thinks that this reversal should lead to a ban on all participation of the nation. In other Olympics news,...
11.07.12 | |

06 Oct

This week, there was no escaping the second oral argument in the Kiobel case that kicked off the US Supreme Court’s term on Monday. If you are not familiar with this case, it concerns the enigmatic Alien Tort Statute which, as part of the Judiciary Act 1789, holds that “the district courts shall have original jurisdiction of any civil action by an alien for a tort only, committed in violation of the law of nations or a treaty of the United States.” SCOTUSblog provides more background on the...
06.10.12 | |

06 Dec

Russia has heavily criticized the ICTY for its verdict last week acquitting three, calling the work of the Court careless and ineffective. Iran’s media reports its military has claimed to have extracted data from the US drone it captured earlier in the week, proving the US was spying on Iran. A US drone strike killed three suspected al-Qaeda militants in Pakistan. Despite international criticism, Israel will push ahead with the E1 settlement plan in the West Bank as EU summons the Israel envoy adding its own voice...
06.12.12 | |

04 Dec

The US has criticized Israel’s decision to expand settlements in the E1 area, following the UNGA’s decision to grant Palestine non-member state status. Five European countries (France, Denmark, Sweden, the UK and Spain) and the Australian government has also summoned the Israeli ambassador in protest. Despite the criticism, Israel plans to move ahead with the settlement construction. More analysis about the effect of the UNGA’s resolution on statehood of Palestine can be found at the Arms Control Blog. Following intelligence reports, President Obama and Secretary of State...
04.12.12 | |

11 Dec

The WTO General Council yesterday approved Tajikistan’s accession package, opening the way for membership 30 days after ratification of the package by Tajikistan. The ACLU will file a petition this morning with the Inter-American Human Rights Commission over the treatment of Jose Padilla by the US government since his designation as ‘enemy combatant’ in 2001. Mali’s Prime Minister resigned after the military arrested him for not working in the interests of the country, while he was on his way to France. The United States and France differ...
11.12.12 | |

26 May

This week on Opinio Juris, we continued last week’s book discussion of Laura Dickinson’s Outsourcing War and Peace: Preserving Public Values in a World of Privatized Foreign Affairs, with Laura’s post on the role of organizational structure and institutional structure as a mechanism of accountability and constraint, and her response to Steve Vladeck and to the other commentators. In a guest post, David Sloss proposed a rule to resolve conduct-based immunity defenses in cases under the Alien Tort Statute and/or the Torture Victim Protection Act. Until he found...
26.05.12 | |

17 Oct

South Sudan’s Parliament has ratified a border and oil deal with Sudan, which includes a demilitarized zone between the two states. The EU has placed new sanctions on Iranian oil, gas and tanker companies, the effects of which Iran calls futile. In related news, A NYTimes article describes the impact of European sanctions on Iran’s ability to keep the money printing presses going. Invoking humanitarian reasons, the UK government has blocked the extradition of Gary McKinnon to the United States where he is wanted for hacking into...
17.10.12 | |

08 Aug

Oxfam reports that hundreds are being raped and killed in Eastern Congo as the army’s deployment to fight rebels has created a security vacuum. The International Criminal Court announced its decision on providing reparations to victims in the case of Thomas Lubanga Dyilo. IntLawGrrls offers two posts (here and here) with commentary about the decision. Foreign Policy offers more insight into the Chinese fishermen captured by Sri Lanka. Uganda’s air force has been deployed to pursue al-Qaeda linked militants in Somalia. Now a total of eight Olympic...
08.08.12 | |

04 Oct

Turkey has struck back at Syria, after a mortar attack killed five Turkish civilians in a city close to the Syrian border. In an urgent meeting, NATO has urged Syria to respect international law. Turkey has also requested a response by the UN Security Council, but Russia asked for a day delay. Four UN Peacekeepers were killed in an ambush in West Darfur. At their next meeting in mid-October, Europe’s Foreign Affairs Ministers will reportedly consider tighter sanctions on Iran, including stricter limits on Iranian Central Bank...
04.10.12 | |

16 Apr

Former Argentine dictator Jorge Rafael Videla has admitted for the first time that the country’s brutal 1976-1983 dictatorship “disappeared” leftist opponents and said babies were kidnapped from their parents. A team of six UN observers has gone to Syria, where despite both sides agreeing to a truce, violence is still raging. South Sudan has accused Sudan of indiscriminate bombing in a dispute over who controls Heglig, an oil-rich town on the disputed border between the two countries. Sudan denies any involvement. Egypt is pushing for an end...
16.04.12 | |

27 Apr

ECOWAS will dispatch troops to both Mali and Guinea-Bissau in order to swiftly reinstate civilian rule after recent coups. In a Reuters exclusive, the US Senate, after a three-year investigation, is expected to find that the “enhanced interrogation techniques” used failed to yield counterterrorism breakthroughs. As a result of ongoing clashes between Sudan and South Sudan, the United States has circulated a draft resolution through the UN Security Council outlining sanctions if the two nations do not cease their strikes and resolve their many disputes. The US...
27.04.12 | |