Search: kony 2012
13 Nov The Spanish Rapper Extradition Case Before a Belgian Court Fires up the Legal Discussion on Freedom of Expression and Other Fundamental Rights
...States of the European Union has sharpened the discussion about freedom of expression and an overly broad interpretation of the term “terrorism”. In 2012, Mallorcan rapper Valtònyc, real name Josep Arenas Beltran, was arrested at the age of 18 for the content of some rap songs he posted on YouTube and sang during performances. He was released again awaiting prosecution, and five years later, he was sentenced to 3,5 years imprisonment for these lyrics. In his songs he mocked the Spanish Royal Family, he referred to violent Grapo and Eta...05 Apr The Syria Attacks: Haven’t We Had These Debates Already?
...tragic as this latest attack is, I also feel like I am in a time-warp that has sent me back to 2012-13 when similar chemical weapons attacks led to similar global outrage which led to an American debate about whether to launch military attacks on Syria. President Obama famously decided to launch such strikes (without Congress or the UN) and then changed his mind and sought congressional consent. He never got that, but he did work out an agreement with Russia and the Assad government to remove Syria’s chemical weapons...27 Sep HILJ Symposium: A Pragmatist’s Response to ‘The Democratic Coup d’Etat’
...in Current Post-Authoritarian Constitution-Making, Brooklyn J. Int’l Law (Forthcoming 2012); David Landau, Constitution-Making Gone Wrong, Alabama L. Rev. (Forthcoming 2012). In this period, a charismatic individual or political party can reassert dictatorship by turning a popular mandate into a reason for unilaterally reshaping the institutional landscape of the state. Perhaps the two best examples of this kind of plebiscitary constitution-making are Russia and Venezuela, where President Yeltsin and President Chavez were able to seize control of the constitution-making process and unilaterally reshape the institutional apparatus in the process by exploiting...
24 Mar Symposium on Early Career International Law Academia: Neither on the Outside, Nor Fully in? Working Within Perceived Dichotomies of Academia and Practice in International Criminal Law as a Young Scholar
[Gabriele Chlevickaite is Assistant Professor at VU Amsterdam, a Board Member at the Center for International Criminal Justice and a fellow at the Netherlands Institute for the Study of Crime and Law Enforcement (NSCR).] Tensions between academic independence and practical relevance are long-standing, and increasingly subject to debate, with little guidance to those on either side of the equation. However, the academia-practitioner relationship is no simple matter, especially for freshly-baked academics transitioning from practice. What is the ‘right’ distance from former employers and colleagues? To what extent...16 Nov MJIL Symposium: A Response to Mary Crock and Susan Kneebone by Michelle Foster
...asylum seekers from Australia to Nauru given that the Australian government is determined to maintain the position that once transferred, asylum seekers will be the responsibility of Nauru alone. This position has been said by both the Australian and Nauruan governments to be supported by the recent passage of the Refugees Convention Act 2012 (Nauru)- an Act that for the first time in Nauruan law establishes a system of refugee status determination, including merits and judicial review. Notwithstanding this, there is reason to believe, as does Crock, that ‘the entire...15 Jan What Are International Law’s “Must Reads” from the Past Decade?
...built on the assumption that international law is expanding, becoming more institutionally complex, and deepening. But is the proliferation of law and institutions also leading to legal fragmentation? This has been a much-debated topic since at least the 1990’s. The ILC’s report, finalized by Martti Koskenniemi and the related study, have been much-debated and remain key resources in thinking-through this important topic. The Oxford Guide to Treaties (Duncan Hollis, ed.) (Oxford 2012) At the risk of being accused of cheering for the home team, I want to note this volume...05 Apr The Situation in Palestine
[Michael Kearney is an LSE Fellow in the Law Department of the London School of Economics] Michael Kearney guest blogs with us to share his knowledge of the Palestinian situation as an external consultant for the Palestinian human rights NGO Al-Haq “I heard from the Americans,” Abbas reports. “They said, ‘If you will have your state, you will go to the ICC. We don’t want you to go the ICC.'” In a striking decision, issued shortly before he is due to step down in June 2012, Prosecutor Moreno-Ocampo of the...
03 Oct The ICC State Parties’ Presidency of the UN Security Council: A Momentous Opportunity to Provide the Limbless Giant with Limbs to Walk and Work
...the UNSC. At other times, where the ICC States parties are in the minority at the UNSC, a more passive attitude towards the ICC and international accountability has prevailed. Moreover, it is important for States parties within the UNSC to enhance and maximize their presence at the Presidency of the Council. Such a position bestows a great opportunity to promote and advance international justice and accountability on the UNSC agenda. For example, in January 2012, it was under the South African presidency, that the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights,...21 Jan My Glenn Greenwald Story
...elsewhere — which has been wonderful for expanding my readership. I owe him a great deal professionally. That debt, however, pales in comparison to what I owe him for helping me while I was at the University of Auckland. As I recounted in this 2012 post, I returned home to find that Chevron had subpoenaed my Gmail account information — a heavy-handed response to my very critical blogging about the Chevron’s destruction of the Ecuadorian rainforest and subsequent dirty tricks to avoid having to pay damages for that destruction. I...