The Second Biennial General Conference of the Asian Society of International Law, to be held in Tokyo from 1-2 August 2009, is soliciting papers under the main theme of "International Law in a Multi-polar and Multi-civilizational World: Asian Perspectives, Challenges and Contributions." The Organizing Committee seeks to encourage the participation in the Conference of all international lawyers, whether young professionals or established scholars, academics or practitioners, by inviting submissions of papers or proposals for speakers or discussants in all sessions and panels. The deadlines for calls for papers/panels occur in three phases: 31 December 2008, 31 January 2009, and 28 February 2009. More

"The difficult we do at once. The impossible takes a bit longer." Borrowing this motto from the Seabees, I embarked on studying "at once" after graduation for the bar examination, an examination of essays and multiple choice questions sometimes likened to a multi-day sporting event. I am pleased to report that the hard work and my clean lifestyle paid off. I passed the in-depth character investigation, the in-person interview conducted by a senior attorney, and the bar exam with a high-scoring MBE. Next, I have a mandatory class and the swearing-in ceremony, to be scheduled. The task of bringing justice to all the world's people will "take a bit longer" and will require much concerted effort, by lawyers and non-lawyers. More

At the Syrian National Forum on Honor Crimes, held 14-16 October 2008 in Damascus, Dr. Abboud Al Sarraj, the former Dean of the Damascus Faculty of Law, delivered a speech on the need to reform Article 192 and to repeal Article 548 of the Syrian Penal Code because these honor-crimes exemptions are inconsistent with Islamic Shari'a law. Dr. Mohamed Farouq Al-Basha, the legal adviser at the Syrian Commission for Family Affairs, argued that Article 548 violates key provisions of the Syrian Constitution. The final recommendations adopted at the National Forum called for the reform of the punishment under Article 192, the repeal of Article 548, and the strengthening of the penalty for adultery for both men and women. Women's rights advocates in Syria see this as a step towards the abolition of honor crimes or at least a review of the unequal treatment of women under those articles of the Penal Code. More

Today, Ambassador Anders Lidén, Sweden's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, addressed the general debate about the Responsibility to Protect and Sweden's role in R2P at a well-attended seminar at the House of Sweden in Washington, D.C. The two discussants included former Ambassador Princeton Lyman with the Council on Foreign Relations and Tod Lindberg with the Hoover Institution. Will Davis, the Director of the United Nations Information Center in Washington, D.C., served as the moderator. The discussion included reflections on the legitimacy and legality of R2P and its applicability to Darfur, the eastern DRC, Burma, Chechnya, Ossetia, and Tibet. More

The Journal of Business Ethics invites submissions for a special edition on "Spheres of Influence/Spheres of Responsibility: Multinational Corporations and Human Rights." Submissions are due 1 December 2008. More

This blog post compares the International Court of Justice (ICJ) with the International Criminal Court (ICC). It is part of a series of background material on international law. More

The day after Iran's parliament removed the Minister of the Interior from office for forged academic credentials, it passed a new law to require presidential candidates to hold a master's degree or its equivalent. The bill passed by a majority vote, with 151 members of the 206 members present voting in favor of it, 31 against, and 6 abstentions. The law is subject to final approval or veto by the twelve-member Council of Guardians, which reviews all laws passed by the parliament to determine any conflicts with the Constitution and Islamic Sharia law. More

Iran's parliament, known as the Malijis of Iran or Islamic Consultative Assembly, impeached Interior Minister Ali Kordan under Article 89 of the Iranian Constitution for forging an honorary doctorate degree in law from Oxford University. The forged Ph.D. diploma, complete with spelling and grammatical errors, was purportedly granted for his "education materials and his research" in comparative law. Oxford University confirmed that no honorary degree was awarded and that the diploma is not authentic. Mr. Kordan became the 10th Minister to be replaced. The Iranian Constitution requires the President to resubmit all cabinet members in the Council of Ministers to the Assembly for approval if more than half of the 21 cabinet ministers are replaced. Thus, the next replacement, either voluntarily by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad or through parliamentary action, will trigger this constitutional requirement under Article 136 to require "a fresh vote of confidence from the Assembly" for the entire cabinet. More

Last week, Laurent Nkunda's armed militias in war-torn eastern Congo raided, seized, and deliberately destroyed and burned refugee camps located north of Goma, the provincial capital of North Kivu. His strategic political goal was to spark a crisis and to bring about the conditions to demand direct negotiations with the Congolese government. Two days ago, a UN aid convoy, protected by UN peacekeepers, reached the camps and confirmed that several camps were completely destroyed and their 50,000 occupants missing. With UN officials warning that the eastern Congo is on the brink of a "humanitarian catastrophe," possibly more civilians will die from disease and starvation than bullets and physical violence. As UN officials and international leaders contend with the pros and cons of the strategic political and military options under international law to respond to rebel-led attacks on UN peacekeepers and civilians, this blog considers whether the international community can consider retributive justice through international criminal prosecution under the Rome Statute for deliberate acts leading to the starvation of civilians and explores proposals to amend the Rome Statute to strengthen food security protections for civilians. More