In association with the International Commission of Jurists

Search: kony 2012

04 Jan

...Last week, Korea made a partial submission to the Commission seeking to identify the outer limits of Korea’s continental shelf, which, unsurprisingly, overlap with China’s claim. The map here is illustrative. Moreover, in a note dated December 28, 2012, Japan asked the Commission not to consider China’s submission because the distance between the coasts in the area covered by the submission is less than 400 nautical miles, and pursuant to UNCLOS Article 83, the delimitation must be effected by agreement of the parties. As a result, Japan is maintaining its...
04.01.13 | |

16 Oct

...Bahrain, in torturing persons involved in the political protests in Bahrain in April 2011. Unfortunately, since the DPP withdrew from the case just prior to the court hearing there does not appear to be a final judgement, only this 2013 directions hearing judgement which sets out the parties’ submissions. As background, FF took part in Bahraini political protests in February and March 2011 which resulted in him being allegedly badly beaten by police and held without charge. In July 2012 a dossier prepared by the European Center for Constitutional and...
16.10.14 | |

07 Jan

[William S. Dodge is Professor of Law and Associate Dean for Research at the University of California, Hastings College of the Law. From August 2011 to July 2012, he served as Counselor on International Law to the Legal Adviser at the U.S. Department of State, where he worked on immunity matters. The views expressed here are his own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the State Department or of the United States.] The Fourth Circuit’s November 2, 2012 decision in Yousuf v. Samantar has generated discussion by Professor...
07.01.13 | |

06 May

...the Federation of BiH that is mostly inhabited by Croats and Bosniacs. The specific electoral provisions for Mostar were challenged domestically, with the Constitutional Court finding in 2010 that they were indeed unconstitutional and ordering the House of Peoples to amend them within six months of the publication of its decision in the Official Gazette. The Election Act was not amended, so in 2012 the Constitutional Court adopted a ruling on the non-enforcement of its 2010 decision, finding that the relevant provisions would cease having legal effect. Thus, local elections...
06.05.20 | |

12 Mar

...and Malaysia, in 2012 the Labor Government responded to political pressure from the Coalition and reintroduced the Pacific Solution detention arrangements in Nauru and Papua New Guinea (PNG). Not only did this fail to be the “circuit breaker” Labor wanted, asylum seeker arrivals increased to record levels (25,173 In the year to 30 June 2013), exceeding the capacity of the detention centres in Nauru, PNG and Australia. Processing of asylum claims was slowed considerably, hundreds of Sri Lankan boat arrivals were returned without a refugee status determination process and work...
12.03.14 | |

23 Nov

...acquitted by the Spanish Supreme Court in 2012. In that Judgement (No. 101/2012), the Supreme Court confirmed that the crimes of the Franco regime could not be prosecuted in Spain. Following a rigid and domestic-centered interpretation of the principle of legality, the Supreme Court of Spain established that since Spanish legislation did not encompass crimes against humanity at the time of commission, this qualification could not be applied to the alleged conducts, irrespective of its recognition in international law. Furthermore, the Court affirmed that the nature of crimes against humanity...
23.11.23 | |

04 Dec

...of history and international law that underpins them. The 89 pages of the Levy Report, released on 9 July 2012 by a special committee appointed in late January 2012 by PM Netanyahu to investigate whether the Israeli presence in the West Bank is to be considered an occupation or not, clarified that “with the establishment of the United Nations in 1945, the principle of recognizing the validity of existing rights of states acquired under various mandates, including of course the rights of Jews to settle in the Land of Israel...
04.12.15 | |

13 May

...been a step in the right direction, the capacity of the Libyan legal system to deliver justice remains weak. In its February 2012 report, the United Nations International Commission of Inquiry on Libya stated that Libya was marred by widespread human rights abuses and brutal repression under Muammar Gaddafi’s decades of autocratic rule. It is against this background of impunity that the call for rule of law and reforms in the justice system needs to be assessed. Members of the legal and judicial sectors played a decisive role in the...
13.05.12 | |

11 Jul

...the criminal offenses committed (or alleged to have been committed) by diplomats. Here’s how the BBC summarizes that sort of bad diplomatic behavior from 2012: [T]he Foreign Office was informed of 12 “serious offences” committed by people with diplomatic immunity in 2012. These are defined as offences which could carry 12 months or more in prison, as well as drink-driving and driving without insurance. He said 10 of the alleged offences were driving-related, including six for drink-driving – three by Russians. The non-driving offences alleged were abuse of a domestic...
11.07.13 | |

10 Jan

...at the Grotius Center of Leiden University on November 16, 2012. He then repeated it at the New York City Bar Association on November 29, 2012, where it also appeared as a talking point on his slide. I was present on both occasions. My notes state that he said "the Administration's policy is not to defeat the object and purpose of the Rome Statute," which is somewhat weaker than I may have suggested in my original posting (mea culpa). Yes, the Bush administration's note made clear that the US didn't...
10.01.13 | |

29 Aug

It is a draft platform, but these parts of the 2012 GOP Platform are certainly interesting. It appears to have strong language in favor of “American Exceptionalism” and American sovereignty. Under our Constitution, treaties become the law of the land. So it is all the more important that the Congress — the senate through its ratifying power and the House through its appropriating power — shall reject agreements whose long-range impact on the American family is ominous or unclear. These include the U.N. Convention on Women’s Rights, the Convention on...
29.08.12 | |

17 Feb

Chevron strikes back, and the pro-Ecuador NGOs are not happy about it. WASHINGTON, Feb. 17, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ — An “order” issued Thursday from a private investor arbitration panel purporting to freeze a nine-year environmental litigation against Chevron in Ecuador violates international law and will have little or no impact on any potential enforcement action against the oil giant in countries around the world, said representatives of the plaintiffs. The latest move by the three-person investor arbitration panel, issued after a secret, closed-door hearing over the weekend that barred...
17.02.12 | |