International Law Blog Postings

More than forty years have elapsed since the Democratic Republic of Congo's last democratic poll, which was held in 1960 upon gaining independence from Belgium, and the country's constitutional referendum of 18-19 December 2005, in which 84% of the voters endorsed a new 229-article constitution (in French). The referendum represents a major turning point for Africa's largest civil war, which has claimed 3.5 million lives since 1998, left 3.4 million internally displaced, and forced 443,000 refugees into asylum in nine bordering nations. With the nation's sovereignty at stake and the transitional government's mandate expiring in June 2006, DR Congo's transitional President Joseph Kabila urged the populace to support the new constitution, warning that rejection of it would be "catastrophic." Kabila must now deliver on his promises of decentralized power-sharing, increased political rights for women, political accountability, and economic liberalization as the country prepares for presidential and parliamentary elections in March and April 2006 and local elections by 30 June 2006. Continue Reading

Over 200 participants gathered today at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. for an all-day program to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the military trials held at Nuremberg from 1945-1949. Nuremberg prosecutors Henry King, Benjamin Ferencz, and Whitney Harris told their gripping stories, capturing in detail the first trials in history for crimes against humanity. Nuremberg's precedent as the model for bringing individual perpetrators to justice was highlighted in context to current tribunals: the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL), and the trial of Saddam Hussein. Are ad hoc tribunals established for a particular purpose sufficient to serve global justice? Does the world need a permanent International Criminal Court? Continue Reading

Who should President Bush nominate as the next Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) justice? Last week at an annual lecture hosted by the New York City Bar Association, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg told the audience that she would like to see President Bush nominate a highly qualified female jurist with a strong background in human rights and women's rights to replace Sandra Day O'Connor, who was appointed as the court's first female justice in 1981. Justice Ginsburg also reiterated her belief that foreign law, while not superior to U.S. law, does have a role in analysis when deciding cases. The following discussion is restricted to the potential female nominees in light of the public support by Laura Bush, Hillary Clinton, and Justice Ginsburg for a female to replace Justice O'Connor. The short-list includes Maureen Mahoney, Justice Alice Moore Batchelder, Justice Karen Williams, Justice Maura Corrigan, and White House Counsel Harriet Miers. Continue Reading

Status update: My move to Washington, D.C. and Georgetown University Law Center is complete. I recently updated the list of Events and additional deadlines within Call for Papers. I'm still working through your email questions in chronological order. I should be caught up by mid-week. Thanks for your patience during the past few weeks!

Five years ago, the UN General Assembly unanimously adopted Resolution 55/76 designating 20 June every year as World Refugee Day in honor of the courage, endurance, and spirit of the millions of people uprooted by war, civil conflict, or ethnic persecution, and to honor the staff and volunteers dedicated to providing services and aid to the world's refugees and asylum seekers. Continue Reading

On 16 May 2005, Kuwait's democratic parliament approved a bill granting women the right to vote and run for public office. Within the past two weeks, the Kuwaiti government has demonstrated commitment to the democratic ideals embodied in this reform by appointing two women to Kuwait's 16-member Municipal Council and one woman as the first female Cabinet Minister. These landmark appointments signify tangible evidence towards the realization of full political rights. Still, progress remains threatened by legal provisions applicable only to women and by constitutional challenges proposed by opponents to women's suffrage. Continue Reading

The 2005 Review Conference of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) concluded this week without the adoption of a final resolution, making it the third RevCon to end without some type of consensus since the treaty entered into force in 1970. Only the conferences in 1980 and 1990 also failed to produce final resolutions. While the resolutions are not legally binding, they are considered to be politically important. The divisive issues were the same as the ones first raised thirty years ago at RevCon 1975 and hotly debated ever since. Non-nuclear weapon states worry that nuclear weapon states are not acting in good faith to meet their nuclear disarmament obligations under Article VI. Nuclear weapon states want increased safeguards and constraints on the peaceful uses of nuclear energy, an "inalienable right" granted to all nations under Article IV. While this year's RevCon ended with finger-pointing and bold accusations in the media, mainly directed at the United States and Iran, the unofficial conclusion emerging from pundits and nuclear experts is an inevitable return to nuclear proliferation. In fact, Mohamed ElBaradei, the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), told journalist Fareed Zakaria in an interview that the world could expect an estimated 15-20 additional states to acquire nuclear weapons programs within the next two decades. Continue Reading

Dr. William E. Berry, Jr., a professor of military strategic studies at the US Air Force Academy, addressed an audience of 40 last night in Denver, Colorado. The topic for the evening was "North Korean Nuclear Weapons: A Conundrum Wrapped in an Enigma or Rational Choice?" His hour-long speech sought to achieve three goals: a) to examine the motivations and influences behind North Korea's nuclear program, b) to explore potential US strategic responses, and c) to identify recommended political, economic, and military actions for the Bush administration. Dr. Berry concluded that regardless of the motivation, military options are not viable solutions to end North Korea's aggressive stance or to deter the proliferation of nuclear weapons on the Korean peninsula. He advocated a solution that incorporates economic incentives and a new legal instrument to replace the outdated Korean War Armistice Agreement of 1953. During the question and answer period, he criticized the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty for its lack of punitive measures against member states which unilaterally withdraw from the treaty, as North Korea legally did in 2003 without recourse. Jim Butterworth, who led a discussion on North Korean refugees and human rights on 28 April 2005 at the US Capitol, was in attendance and voiced his agreement with Dr. Berry's assessment. Continue Reading

Did you send a stamped letter today and realize that the ability to send a secure airmail letter anywhere in the world is made possible by the Constitution of the Universal Postal Union and related protocols, as well as the Convention on International Civil Aviation? Can you think of more examples of ways international law affects your daily life? If so, submit your example by 30 June 2005 to the American Society of International Law for your chance to be published and to win one free conference registration to their 100th Annual Meeting. Continue Reading

What was originally intended in 1986 to be a 5-year "pause" in commercial whaling for the purpose of assessing scientific data and improving sustainable whaling management practices is now nearing its 20th anniversary as a de facto ban. In less than two weeks, an expected 600 participants from 61 countries will confer on the fate of the moratorium at the 57th Annual Meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) being held from 30 May to 24 June 2005 in South Korea. The provisional agenda includes annotations stating that Japan no longer considers the ban to be in effect and that Japan has prepared a "strictly confidential" plan to be disclosed at the meeting. Japan's recent media announcements indicate an impending request for a special research permit to kill endangered humpback and fin whales and an expansion of whaling in Antarctic waters, an area of territorial dispute with Australia and other nations. Japan's media announcements have sparked outrage and last-minute requests for additions to the agenda. Australia will be among the nations at the meeting calling for a permanent ban on commercial whaling, an elimination of research permits, and a restructuring of the IWC to focus strictly on conservation. Likewise, New Zealand is threatening to file suit against Japan before the International Court of Justice (ICJ). Continue Reading

The Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty Review Conference (NPT RevCon) being held at the UN headquarters in New York began without an agenda because member states could not reach agreement on which substantive issues to discuss and the rules of procedure. The treaty members could not even agree on whether to discuss the major events which have occurred since their last meeting: the first withdrawal from the treaty by a member state, the IAEA report on Iran's violations of the treaty, the uncovering of an international nuclear smuggling network, and the budget proposals by the United States Department of Defense to expand its armaments with "nuclear bunker buster" bombs. The only consensus seems to be a lack of political confidence in the effectiveness of the treaty, particularly in its ability to shield the world from nonproliferation and to legally bind nuclear weapon states to disarmament. The challenge of the month-long conference will be to achieve agreement on the larger task of reform. Continue Reading

One week after the adoption by UN General Assembly of the International Convention on the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism, satellite photos confirm that there is no flume of smoke arising from the cooling tower of the Yongbyon nuclear reactor in North Korea, an indication that the reactor has been shut down. Possible reasons range from technical difficulties associated with the aging 5-megawatt reactor to an attempt by North Korea to obtain fissile material for nuclear warheads by extracting plutonium from spent fuel rods. If the latter proves true, North Korea's provocative move heats up a precipitous environment in which North Korea threatens to use "invincible deterrent force built up for scores of years" upon aggressors. Continue Reading

International Convention on the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism
On April 13 and after more than seven years of negotiations, the UN General Assembly adopted by consensus the 28-article International Convention on the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism. The Convention obliges nations to extradite or prosecute potential terrorists, to criminalize within domestic laws the acts of nuclear terrorism defined in the Convention, and to cooperate to suppress potential terrorism acts. If ratified by at least 22 countries, the Convention will become international law as the 13^th UN treaty on terrorism and the 23^rd international legal convention on terrorism adopted at either the global or regional level. It will also become the first international legal instrument to address the prevention of terrorism rather than the response to it. The treaty opens for signatures by the 191 nations of the UN on September 14, 2005, a date chosen to coincide with the Millennium+5 Summit marking the 60^th session of the General Assembly high-level plenary to be held at the UN headquarters in New York. Given the lack of consensus by UN member states on what constitutes the difference between a legitimate use of force and terrorism, the Convention narrows the scope of "terrorism" Continue Reading

In an update to the earlier post on the Sudan, the UN Security Council voted 11-0 to refer the war crimes of Darfur in western Sudan to the International Criminal Court (ICC) located in The Hague in the Netherlands. The 15-member council adopted Resolution 1593 just before midnight on 31 March 2005, more than two months after the International Commission of Inquiry 176-page report called upon the Security Council to "immediately refer" the situation to the ICC (p.148). The referral to the Prosecutor of the ICC applies to war crimes committed in Darfur since the entry into force of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court on 1 July 2002. This landmark decision represented the first time the Security Council voted to refer a case to the ICC and involved two controversial issues: the jurisdiction of the Court over a state not party to the Rome Statute and an immunity clause extended to states not party to the Rome Statute. Rather than veto the resolution, four countries abstained from the vote: Algeria, Brazil, China, and the United States. Continue Reading

After months of practice, research, and intense regional and national competitions, this year's participants of the Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition converged in Washington, D.C. for the final championship round held at the Wyndham Hotel. Taking home the Jessup World Champion Trophy... Continue Reading

This Saturday, territorial-based approaches to jurisdiction will be challenged and, hopefully, expanded to accommodate multijurisdictional international cases within domestic courts. Through the use of videoconferencing and the state-of-the-art courtroom at the William and Mary School of Law, two courts will concurrently hear and decide on a transborder child abduction case. The two courts represent civil courts in Virginia, the United States, and in Monterrey, Mexico. Judge John J. Specia, Jr. of Texas will preside over the court in Virginia. The intent of the experimental trial will be to enable real-time collaboration between the two courts for the purpose of producing concurrent rulings. Continue Reading

With the mandate of the United Nations Advance Mission to Sudan (UNAMIS) (resolution 1547) expiring today after the second extension this month, the UN Security Council voted unanimously in support of the US introduced resolution calling for 10,000 peacekeepers in Southern Sudan. The vote comes after more than five weeks of stalled debate on a comprehensive resolution, one that would address how to deal with the violence and war crimes of the western Darfur region of the Sudan. To break the stalemate, the US divided its comprehensive draft resolution into three draft resolutions: 1) peacekeepers, 2) sanctions, and 3) a non-ICC, ad hoc tribunal for Darfur war crimes. Continue Reading

The U.S. Supreme Court denied the writ of certiorari filed January 10, 2005 by Moussaoui's federal attorney, Frank W. Dunham Jr.. The denial by the Supreme Court means that the ruling by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit stands. The appellate court ruled that the government could seek the death penalty and that, due to national security concerns, the defense could not directly question witnesses currently in U.S. custody at the detention camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Continue Reading

Should alleged terrorists be given a fair trial and a reasonable opportunity to confront witnesses and challenge evidence against them? If so, should they be compensated with reduced sentences if the government violates international law in their prosecution and detainment? Attorney Andrew Cohen reported today for CBS News that the U.S. Supreme Court conferred Friday about the fundamental right of all defendants, including that of terrorists, to a fair trial in U.S. courts of law. Continue Reading

More than 90 percent of Burundians said "yes" to the new constitution ! Locally, you would hear "oui" in French and "ego" in Kirundi, the two official languages. Hopefully, many Burundians are also saying "AMAHORO", the word for peace in this worn-torn country currently stricken by drought, famine, and U.N. scandal. The new constitution will become the sixth constitution since independence. Continue Reading

The world's first public health treaty becomes international law today in 40 countries and will take effect in an additional 17 countries in the near future. The World Health Organization's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC, resolution WHA56.1), aims to reduce tobacco consumption worldwide, thereby decreasing the health and economic impacts of tobacco products. Continue Reading

Dressed entirely in black and wearing a black hijab, Nancy Rubin, the former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights (1997-2000), began her talk on the status of the world's women with a rather bleak overview of a global landscape which still marginalizes half the world's population. Continue Reading

The alma mater of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, hosted a two-hour forum last Thursday, 17 Feb 2005, with the purpose of exploring "What recommendations can we offer to Dr. Condi Rice on economic development, global health, and security issues?" Continue Reading

After enduring more than a decade of civil war and the postponement of a constitutional referendum three times in 2004, Burundians will soon decide whether to adopt a new constitution.
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