Search: unwilling or unable
06 May Guest Post: Stephen W. Preston on ‘The Legal Framework for the United States’ Use of Military Force since 9/11’ (ASIL Annual Meeting 2015)–Old Wine in New Bottles
...and patterns of the Bush era. Likewise, “revitalizations” of former authorizations (this time one of domestic law) for the use of force apparently are still a big issue for the US government. It is only after such extensive analysis of domestic law, Preston then addressed the international legal framework. With regard to anti-IS operations in Syria, Preston relied on “the collective self-defense of Iraq and U.S. national self-defense” against non-State actors on the territory of State whose government “is unwilling or unable to prevent the use of its territory for...23 Aug Emerging Voices: Is The R2P Doctrine the Greatest Marketing Campaign International Law Has Ever Seen?
...concept of State sovereignty under international law “implies responsibility,” and if a population is suffering “serious harm, as a result of internal war, insurgency, repression or state failure, and the state in question is unwilling or unable to halt or avert it, the principle of non-intervention yields to the international responsibility to protect.” In other words, the ICISS argues that the long-standing customary principle of non-intervention, enshrined in Article 2(4) of the United Nations Charter, encompasses a new exception – the “international responsibility to protect” – which may be triggered...09 May The New Yorker Blog on the OBL Rules of Engagement
...supposed requirement of unable or unwilling -- what nonsense! If rockets are fired from state X by non-state actors every two minutes for the last 10 minutes into state Y and result in many deaths and injuries in state Y, state Y does not need the consent of state X to target non-state actors who are continuingly firing the rockets from state X and state Y does not need to ask or show whether state x is unable or unwilling to stop the non-state actor armed attacks (whether the facts...
07 Oct Killing in the Name: Three Legal Paradigms to Evaluate the Legality of US Actions in the Caribbean (Part I)
...the White House on September, 4, 2025, characterizing the strike as self-defense under the unwilling/unable doctrine. The rationale behind this would be, presumably, to present an allegation of preclusion of wrongfulness on the grounds that US national security was, at the time of the strike, the object of an ongoing attack by a non-state actor, that there were no alternate or less deadly means to halt or neutralize the attack, and that the need for action stemmed both from the actual and grave nature of the attack and from the...04 Sep Guest Post: A Complementarity Challenge Gone Awry– The ICC and the Libya Warrants
...issue in both the Saif Gaddafi and al Senussi cases was whether they should be tried in Libya or at the ICC, as the ICC will only try cases where national courts are “unwilling” or “unable” to conduct the trials. The Court ruled that Saif needed to be tried at the ICC, whereas al Senussi could be tried in Libya, as he was the subject of domestic proceedings and the ICC deemed Libya “willing” and “able” to carry them out. The ICC Appeals Chamber affirmed both rulings. Yet, despite the...
30 Apr Beyond Containment – Confronting Racial Hierarchies in International Law: Designing denial of reparations – Race, the UN Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement and Climate IDPs
...to First World states and proposed two factors to guide the content and structure of the Guiding Principles: whether humanitarian assistance exists under international law as a right for IDPs and whether the international community has a duty to intervene in Third World states experiencing internal displacement that are either unwilling or unable to resolve the underlying crisis. Curiously, neither Kalin nor Goldman, Deng nor Cohen considered the UNFCCC regime, its Conference of Parties (COP), or the climate responsibility of first world states. They also did not engage with the...
25 Jun Business and Human Rights Symposium: Rejecting Jurisdiction to Avoid Imperialism– That Simple?
...foreign laws. Second, there are more fundamental questions. For example, whether litigation facing a claimant and a defendant can address structural inequalities that originate from the way the global economy works. Another critical issue is whether filing complaints in the Global North means perpetuating the underdevelopment of judicial systems in the Global South that become increasingly unwilling or unable to address the problems their population face. These critiques have the merit to point out the absence of a legal framework that could address the structural injustices of globalisation comprehensively. Rejecting...
30 Jun Australia, the Rome Statute and the War Crimes Proceedings: Where are the Victims?
...appointment of David McLure SC by the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions (“CDPP”) to prosecute cases of alleged Australian war crimes relating to Special Operations Task Group deployments in Afghanistan between 2005 and 2016 is an indication of the intention to act on the findings of the Inspector General of the Australian Defence Force (“IGADF”), which are yet to be released. Domestic investigations and prosecutions would act as a bar to Australian soldiers being prosecuted by the ICC, whose jurisdiction is triggered by national authorities being unwilling or unable to...02 Sep It’s Time to Reconsider the Al-Senussi Case. (But How?)
...unanimously decided that the case against Abdullah al-Senussi was inadmissible. In its view at the time — to quote the summary of the admissibility decision — “the case against Mr Al-Senussi is being investigated by Libya and… Libya is not unwilling or unable genuinely to carry out the investigation.” Whatever the merits of the Appeals Chamber’s decision at the time — and they’re limited — recent events in Libya have obviously rendered it obsolete. It is now impossible to argue that the Libyan government is “able” to effectively prosecute al-Senussi,...