Comment on the Review Conference of the Rome Statute

The following is a commentary by Bukeni Waruzi, Program Manager for Africa and the Middle East, WITNESS, on the recent Review Conference of the Rome Statute. The Review Conference of the Rome Statute held in Kampala, Uganda from May 31- June 11, 2010 aimed to make critical improvements to the statute on specific issues: to [...]

The Responsibility to Protect and the Decline of Sovereignty

I would like to begin by thanking Dominik Zimmermann for inviting me to write a post for the International Law Observer.  It is a wonderful blog with thoughtful coverage of developments in international law, and I am honored to be able to participate.  I thought I would use this post to briefly discuss my recent [...]

Guest post by William Magnuson

International Law Observer is glad to announce a guest post by William Magnuson. William gained his BA from Princeton University in 2004, followed by an MA in European Integration from the Universita di Padova in 2006 and a JD from Harvard Law School in 2009. He is currently a Postgraduate Research Fellow at Harvard Law [...]

The Problem of Enforcement in International Law: Countermeasures, the Non-Injured State and the Idea of International Community

The problem of enforcement in international law is one that has undermined not only the effectiveness of the international normative system but also its credibility. For many international law sceptics there is only so much that international law can do. To expect the international system to offer true justice to the states comprising it is [...]

Guest Post by Dr. Elena Katselli

International Law Observer is pleased to welcome a guest contribution by Dr Elena Katselli. Dr Elena Katselli is a lecturer at Newcastle Law School where she teaches public international law and human rights law. She holds an LLB from University of Athens and LLM and PhD from University of Durham.  Elena’s research interests are public [...]

Landmark Decision on the Eviction of Indigenous People in Kenya

The following is a guest post by Michèle Morel, who is a Ph.D. researcher at the Faculty of Law, Ghent University, Belgium. Her Ph.D. deals with the international legal aspects surrounding environmental displacement.  On February 4, 2010, the African Union adopted the decision by the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights issued in May [...]

The ICC and Afghanistan: A Moment of Opportunity for Justice

In today’s International Herald Tribune, Candace Rondeaux and Nick Grono of the International Crisis Group argued that the International Criminal Court (ICC) should formalize their investigation of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Afghanistan, now that the Taliban’s military chief Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar has been arrested in Pakistan. I believe formalizing such an [...]

Guest post by Rahim Kanani on the ICC and Afghanistan

International Law Observer is glad to welcome a guest contribution by Rahim Kanani. Rahim Kanani is a research associate in justice and human rights at the Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations at Harvard Kennedy School, where he focuses on the role of NGOs in advancing international justice. He has worked at a variety of institutions [...]

New guest post

International Law Observer is glad to announce a guest contribution by Silke Steiner. Silke Steiner is a lecturer and post-doc assistant at the Department of European, International and Comparative Law at the University of  Vienna, Austria. She studied law in Graz and EU external relations at the College of Europe, Bruges. During the Austrian presidency of the EU Council, [...]

Climate Change Talks: Road to Copenhagen

The following is a guest post by Jennifer Kelleher, LLB Law with European Studies (German and History), LLM in Comparative and European Laws. Jennifer previously interned at the Office of the Co-Investigating Judges in Cambodia and is currently working with the International Council of Environmental Law on Arctic Law and Policy. Next month, 191 countries [...]

What to Do in Copenhagen

By Graciela Chichilnisky The global summit in Copenhagen in December will decide the fate of the Kyoto Protocol, the only international agreement we have ever had to combat the dangers of climate change.   But the Protocol expires in 2012 and – like Cinderella – it will become a pumpkin as the clock strikes 12.  The Danish [...]

Guest post by Professor Chichilnisky

In celebration of the upcoming Blog Action Day on the topic of climate change, International Law Observer is glad to announce a guest post from Professor Graciela Chichilnisky, professor of Economics and in Mathematical Statistics of Columbia University. Professor Chichilnisky has worked extensively in the Kyoto Protocol process, creating and designing the concept of the [...]

From “climate refugees” to “survival migrants”: can we return them to their country of origin?

No week passes without a newspaper article, television news or a documentary describing the plight of “climate refugees”. In this post, I would like to explain why, in my opinion, “survival migrants” is a more adequate term than “climate refugees” from a humanitarian and legal protection perspective. Secondly, I would like to examine to what [...]

Guest Writer Michèle Morel

International Law Observer is pleased to welcome Michèle Morel as guest contributor.  Michèle is currently undertaking PhD studies at Ghent University, Belgium, Faculty of Law, Department of Public International Law, into the topic of “environmental migration” (more specifically the interplay between International Human Rights Law and Refugee Law).  Prior to commencing her PhD work, Michèle [...]

Unintended Consequences

I’d like to take this post and discuss the problem of unintended consequences.  It is a problem which plagues the rules governing antiquities and stolen art, but also international law generally.  To begin we can take a few prominent examples.  First, the United States has waged a decades-long “War on Drugs”, in which it has [...]

Thinking About Legal Teaching: Cultural Heritage and International Law

First off, many thanks to Ole and everyone here at International Law Observer for the kind invitation to post a little bit about my research on cultural heritage law.  I’d like to begin by thinking about how and why we choose what to teach and study.  I was interested to read the recent discussion of [...]

Guest Writer Dr Derek Fincham

International Law Observer is pleased to welcome Dr Derek Fincham as guest writer for the next few days. Derek currently serves as a Westerfield Fellow at Loyola Law School, New Orleans, where he teaches Property Law and Heritage and Legal Research and Writing. He holds a BA in history from University of Kansas, a JD [...]

The possible transfer of Guantanamo Bay prisoners to Georgia

On August 20, 2009 the Washington Post reported that the US administration was making progress in resettling detainees from Guantanamo Bay. According to the article, six European Union countries – Britain, France, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Spain – have agreed to receive the inmates. Four EU countries have privately told the US administration that they [...]

International Law Observer welcomes guest author Anna Dolidze

International Law Observer would like to welcome Anna Dolidze, JSD candidate at Cornell Law School and human rights lawyer, as a guest author. Anna will be giving a response to a recent article in the Washington Post on a possible transfer of Guantanamo prisoners to Georgia. Anna has been advising international organizations, including the OSCE, [...]

Litigation in the ECtHR and Domestic Implementation of Human Rights Case Law

The margin of appreciation doctrine of European Court of Human Rights gives states leeway in their interpretation of the European Convention on Human Rights. States also have the freedom to decide how they implement judgments finding violations against them. This has meant that individuals in each Council of Europe (CoE) member state experience rights protection [...]

Guest post on domestic implementation of human rights case law

We are glad to host a guest post by Gabriel Swain, research associate at the School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research at the University of Kent. In his post he will present an interesting EU-funded research project looking at the interactions between the European Court of Human Rights and domestic human rights actors, [...]

Special anniversary guest post

[The following is a guest post by Prof. Kevin Jon Heller inter alia contributor at Opinio Juris.org] I’m honored that my colleagues at International Law Observer have asked me to contribute a post in honor of their second anniversary.  ILO enjoys a prominent place in my RSS list, and I never fail to learn something [...]

Guest post: On the occasion of the second anniversary of International Law Observer

On the occasion of the second anniversary of this blog, we are glad to welcome Professor Kevin Jon Heller as a guest contributor. For all those of us who follow the international law related blogosphere, Kevin should be known as a diligent and all-round contributor to the blog Opinio Juris. He is currently a Senior Lecturer at [...]

Does the ICC target Africa?

[The following is a guest post by Lorraine Smith, IBA Programme Manager (ICC) on the "Equality of Arms Review (EQ)", a new regular publication that features news, opinion pieces and important information designed to spark discussion and increase awareness of the ICC] “Does the ICC target Africa?” This is the title of an interesting and [...]