Book Review: Solon Solomon, The Justiciability of International Disputes – The Advisory Opinion of Israel’s Security Fence as a Case Study

Solon Solomon, The Justiciability of International Disputes – The Advisory Opinion of Israel’s Security Fence as a Case Study (Jerusalem: Wolf Legal Publishers, 2009) ISBN: 978-90-5850-437-1 By Dr. Fozia Nazir Lone Assistant Professor, City University of Hong Kong, fnlone@cityu.edu.hk Solon Solomon, in this book presents a comprehensive legal description on the justiciability of international disputes. [...]

Book Review: Democracy Goes to War – British Military Deployments under International Law

Nigel D. White, Democracy Goes to War – British Military Deployments under International Law (Oxford: OUP, 2009) ISBN-13: 978-0-19-921859-2  Nigel D. White, Professor of International Law at the University of Sheffield, in this book presents a clear doctrinal narrative on a very sensitive issue of the use of military force and peacekeeping.  The book specifically [...]

One Year After The Gaza Conflict: A Persistent Quest for Justice

Yesterday, on 27 December 2009, one year had passed since the commencement of the devastating atrocities of Israel’s 22-day-long assault  on the occupied Gaza Strip (otherwise known as Israel’s Operation “Cast Lead”). There has indeed been a notable amount of writing  done about the conflict and its context over the past year (we have also [...]

The Report of the Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers

1. Introduction The subject of the following article is the Report of the Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers (‘Report’) issued on 24 March 2009. The report was endorsed by the Human Rights Council (‘HRC’) during its 12th session in October 2009. The focus of the following statements will be on the [...]

The Security Paradigm in the Israeli Supreme Court

In a recent judgment of the Israeli Supreme Court, HCJ 7001/09 Kareem AlKanua v Commander of the Army Forces in Gaza et al. (rendered by Justice Levi on 26 October 2009) the petitioner a Palestinian resident of the Gaza Strip, requested the Court to oblige the state to allow him to enter Israel for the [...]

Administrative Detention – A Rule, No Longer An Exception

Administrative detention has been a contentious topic for international lawyers since its invocation by governments claiming that it is a principal tool in the often-lawless global ‘War on Terror’. Despite the popularity that this mechanism has earned amongst a growing number of states, principally those participating in the ‘War on Terror’, it has been neglected [...]

Israeli Supreme Court decision on the Wall in Jayyus: Another Assault on the ICJ

On 9 September 2009, the Israeli Supreme Court published its judgment in the case of HCJ 11344/03 Mayor of Jayyus et al. v. Commander of the Armed Forces in the West Bank et al. (available in Hebrew), where the route of the Separation Wall that Israel has been constructing since the end of the second [...]

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 [...]

Think Again on International Law?

In yesterday’s Foreign Policy, Eric Posner has a brief piece on what he sees as some of the misunderstandings of international law. It looks as if the piece builds on the Limitations of International Law which he wrote some years back with Jack Goldsmith and draws on his most recent and forthcoming book The Perils [...]

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 [...]

Should Students Study International Law?

On Opinio Juris and the Volokh Conpircay an interesting debate has taken place over the last few days with regard to whether first year US law students ought to choose international law as a subject (Kenneth Anderson lists the latest inputs here). In short, Eric Posner argues that unless you plan to work for an [...]

Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs releases its own report on the Gaza conflict

On 30 January 2009, the Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has released its own report on the ‘Operation in Gaza 27 December 2008 – 18 January 2009: Factual and Legal Aspects‘. There are a number of points that merit mentioning that shall be highlighted in the following. Interestingly, the report starts off by noting that [...]

Gaza Conflict Aftermath: so far “the international community has failed spectacularly”

Two reports have been recently released by the fact-finding missions posted by the major international NGO, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch (HRW) to the Gaza Strip and South Israel following the 22-day war that took place in the region between December 2008 and January 2009. The Amnesty International investigation team arrived in the Gaza [...]

A line of selective rhetoric: Israeli Supreme Court fails to enforce the evacuation of ‘unauthorised settlements’ in the occupied West Bank

On 10 June 2009, the Israeli Supreme Court (HCJ) rendered another stultifying judgment with regards to the occupied Palestinian territories (OPT), this time on the evacuation of what the Court refers to as ‘unauthorised settlements’ or squats in the occupied West Bank. It should be noted as a point of clarification that the state and [...]

Universal Jurisdiction Once Again Under Threat

By Sharon Weill and Valentina Azarov Currently, the fate of one of the only remaining venues that offers a redress mechanism for Palestinians is at stake. It is one that can bring accountability of Israeli officials and decision-makers who committed war crimes and crimes against humanity. The amendment of universal jurisdiction laws, often incommensurably restricting [...]

ILO’s International Labour Conference has opened its doors

From 3 June to 19 June, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) hosts this year’s International Labour Conference (ILC). The ILC, also referred to as the “international parliament of labour” is the main legislative body of the ILO which has the competence to adopt Conventions and Recommendations on international labour standards. The ILC can also adopt [...]

African Union Establishes a New Organ: AUCIL

The African Union has given birth to a new entity, the African Union Commission on International Law (AUCIL). This new advisory organ to the AU is established in terms of Article 2 of the Statute of the African Union Commission on International Law that was adopted by the Assembly of the Union during the 12th [...]

The Quandaries of National Human Rights Litigation – Legitimisation through Resistance?

Michael Sfard a renowned Israeli human rights lawyer who is often recalled for his work with cases concerning the route of the Separation Wall in the OPT and the founding of the lawyers’ volunteer network, Yesh Din, has recently published an article titled ‘The Price of Internal Legal Opposition to Human Rights Abuses’ in the [...]

UN CAT briefing reports on Israel’s implementation of the Convention

UN Committee’s against Torture (CAT) 42nd session is on its way and it has recently been receiving reports from various international and local NGO as well as various other expert bodies with regards to a particular region for the purpose of assessing their compliance with the provisions of the Convention. Israel submitted its state report [...]

Piracy off the Horn of Africa Underscores the Need for a Comprehensive Effort on the Part of the International Community to Restore Order in Somalia

Piracy is not a new phenomenon. It has existed for probably as long as sailing itself. While it was largely believed to be something of the past, it has made a notorious comeback in the last decade or so. Piracy is a domestic crime, besides being a crime under the law of nations attracting universal [...]

Should US judges consider foreign law?

Fitting with the latest discussions surrounding President Obama’s appointment of Harold Koh as the next Legal Adviser, who quickly was accused of being a ‘transnationalist’ who wants to sell out the US constitution to international law (see our earlier report), Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg recently made some comments on the suitable influence of foreign law [...]