Search: unwilling or unable
10 May The Past, Present, and Future of the Veto: A Further Response to Professor Jennifer Trahan
...Finally, I would like to use this opportunity to briefly reflect on a broader normative matter. I am unable to determine with certainty whether Professor Trahan believes that, as a matter of lex lata, a rule has emerged to prohibit vetoes by the Permanent Members of the Security Council in situations of mass atrocities. In her response to my post she stated: “I do not believe my arguments are de lege ferenda.” However, in her response to Professor Kevin Jon Heller, she wrote: “the international system needs to evolve in...
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
...trusted); and iii) the extent to which and how to engage the institutions beyond communications disseminating research findings post-facto (being used). On being useful. Societal relevance is integral to ‘responsible’ research, and one way of working towards it is by examining the challenges encountered in or related to practice. Involving practitioners in developing research questions is certainly an effective way to proceed; however, this does not mean that scholarly work must answer questions practitioners already have but are unable to answer (though there is not much wrong with addressing such...
07 Apr The Rise and Rise of the Special Criminal Court (Part I)
...2020 and continues to do so in 2021. For most of the year, non-essential flights operated by the MINUSCA to towns and villages outside of Bangui were cancelled for health reasons, which effectively prevented the Court from conducting investigations outside the capital. Further, the barriers to international travel during this period left many international judges and prosecutors stranded abroad working from home. Unfortunately, due to the inherent nature of court work, and with most of the Court’s case files unavailable in digital form, these judges and prosecutors were unable to...13 Dec Revised Essay on SSRN
...days earlier. It is tempting to conclude that justice has been done in Bagambiki’s case. That conclusion, however, would be too facile: Bagambiki was acquitted in February, 2006, nearly 18 months before his family reunion. In the interim he lived in a safe-house in Arusha paid for by the United Nations, wanted by Rwanda for trial on related charges and unable to convince Belgium that he posed no danger to its peace and security. Bagambiki, moreover, is one of the lucky ones: the nightmare of being free but having nowhere...02 Sep Syria Insta-Symposium: Ezequiel Heffes and Brian E. Frenkel–The Decision-Making Process of the R2P Doctrine: Towards New (Old) Paths in the Use of Force in International Law
...trend of past decisions, which she calls ‘rules’, but through a continuous and dynamic process of decisions made by authorized persons or organs. This participation, however, would depend in the end on their factual power to do so in order to be accepted by other established participants of that same system. Higgins affirmed in the same sense that if international law was only a set of rules, then it would be unable to contribute to a changing political world. This rejection means that “those who have to make decisions on...11 Aug Weekend Roundup: August 4-10, 2012
It may be summer break in the US, but in Australia the academic year is in full swing with Kevin keeping the spotlight on Libya. First, he linked to his new essay on SSRN, entitled “The International Commission of Inquiry on Libya: A Critical Analysis.” Kevin also posted Saif Gaddafi’s unsigned statement about the fairness of his trial in Libya, discussed the OPCD’s response to Libya’s admissibility challenge and particularly the argument that Libya is unable to obtain custody of Saif. Kevin also questioned Libya’s integrity in its motion requesting...
30 May Options for a Peace Settlement in Ukraine: Option Paper V – Dispute Settlement Mechanisms and Peace Agreements
...nominees. If (international) third-party representatives are included, majority rulings are conceivable as well. An alternative would be to adopt a provision akin to a provision the 2006 Darfur Peace Agreement, which states: 223. If the Parties are unable to resolve the dispute through consensus, the Chairperson of the Joint Commission shall consult with the international members of the Joint Commission and issue a final Ruling. The Parties shall be bound by the ruling. In either case, procedures need to be in place for cases of deadlock and for appeals. Negotiators...09 Mar Discretion in the Netherlands: Sabine Jansen Responds to Jenni Millbank & Guglielmo Verdirame
...as before her departure. The fact that she will have to hide her sexual orientation in the future, does not change this, since she has managed to do so before without problems.” (IND decision, 15 October 2009, nr. 0807-15-1291) The Highest Administrative Court accepted the argument that “the fact that in the Netherlands the applicant used the possibilities and rights of Dutch society does not imply that she will be unable to accommodate upon return, even if that would require a certain restraint towards society,” and “although sexual orientation is...
05 Apr The ICJ’s Findings on Plausible Genocide in Gaza and its Implications for the International Criminal Court
...‘reasonable grounds to believe’ standard (§2). In the South Africa v. Israel Order, the Court was unable to draw on reports from UN human rights investigative bodies for its factual assessment, as none exist yet. However, for potential incitement to genocide and possible genocidal intent, it referred directly to statements made by Israeli President Herzog, Defence Minister Gallant, and (then) Energy Minister Katz. Furthermore, the Court took into account statements by UN bodies (such as OCHA, WHO, CERD), high-ranking UN officials (like the Under Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency...
30 Mar COVID-19 Symposium: The COVID-19 Pandemic and the Limits of International Environmental Law
...combined with high levels of urbanisation. The COVID-19 pandemic has its origins in the inability of the international community to protect our forests, its wildlife and govern land use, which have led to the disappearance of the traditional buffer zones that used to separate humans from animals and their pathogens (UNEP 2016). Constrained by traditional legal structures, international environmental law has been unable to fully adopt an ecosystemic approach that appreciates the interconnections between the health of our planet, biodiversity, and humans. More specifically, if the hypothesis that the virus...