The Obama Administration yesterday released its Nuclear Posture Review Report (NPR), which establishes "U.S. nuclear policy, strategy, capabilities, and force posture for the next five years to ten years." The 2010 NPR becomes the third official high-level review and the first one to be entirely declassified. The NPR's key objectives emphasize prevention, no new nuclear weapons, no new nuclear testing, and strategic options for deterrence. For the first time, prevention is given top priority. One of the key elements of prevention, identified in the Review, is the strengthening of international law and its institutions to ensure nuclear security worldwide. The Review calls for bolstering the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) as the centerpiece of the nuclear nonproliferation regime; pursuing ratification and early entry into force of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT); seeking negotiations on a verifiable Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty (FMCT); and creating new frameworks for treaty enforcement and international nuclear energy cooperation. The NPR states the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) must be given additional financial resources and stronger verification authority to deter and detect safeguards violations. The release of the NPR occurred two days before the signing of a new U.S.-Russia arms reduction treaty and six days before President Obama's Nuclear Security Summit in Washington, D.C. on April 12-13, 2010, during which 43 heads of state will address the clandestine proliferation of nuclear material and nuclear material trafficking. More

The American Society of International Law 104th Annual Meeting will be held March 24-27, 2010 at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Washington, D.C. This year's theme is "International Law in a Time of Change." The two keynote lectures will be delivered by Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin of the Supreme Court of Canada and Harold Hongju Koh, the Legal Adviser to the U.S. Department of State. Additional featured speakers include: Georgetown University Law School Professor Edith Brown Weiss; International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes Secretary-General Meg Kinnear, and George Washington University Law School Professor Dinah Shelton. Onsite registration will be available. Select sessions will be available by live webcast. More

ICJ President Hisashi Owada, Judge Thomas Buergenthal, and Judge Bruno Simma participated in the plenary session on 27 March 2009 at the 103rd Annual Meeting of the American Society of International Law (ASIL). Lucy Reed and Ralph Steinhardt served as the moderators. More

The 103rd Annual Meeting of the American Society of International Law (ASIL) took place 25-28 March 2009 at the Fairmont Hotel in Washington, D.C. This year's theme, "International Law as Law," focused largely on state responsibility, including R2P, domestic enforcement of international tribunal decisions, treaty ratification and compliance, nuclear nonproliferation, law of the sea, and the role of human rights. Special interest sessions addressed feminism, the global financial crisis, intellectual property rights in China, the future for Guantanamo detainees, legal empowerment of the poor, whaling, and the 2005 Hague Convention on Choice-of-Court Agreements. The following are highlights and event summaries from the plenary, special, and a few of the 30+ regular sessions. More

The second annual conference of the Association for the Study of the Middle East and Africa (ASMEA) will be held 22-24 October 2009 at the Key Bridge Marriott in Washington, D.C. The Association currently is seeking proposals to present papers at the 2009 conference. Abstracts should pertain to theme of the conference and consist of a one page outline of the subject. Among the areas of scholarship that ASMEA is interested in exploring are the issues relating to conflict and crime in Africa and the Middle East and their mitigation including genocide, terrorism, organized crime, corruption, piracy, truth and reconciliation commissions, and democratization. The deadline is 1 June 2009. More