Academic

Self Determination and the Syrian Conflict – Recognition of Syrian Opposition as Sole Legitimate Representative of the Syrian People: What Does this Mean and What Implications Does it Have? Last week, the United Kingdom recognised the umbrella Syrian opposition organization, National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces (NCS) as …

Palestine, When is Your Birthday?  Col. (Retired) Liron A. Libman, LL.M, is a former Head of the International Law Department of the Israeli Defense Forces. On 29 November, in what some reports described as a historic vote, the UN General Assembly accorded to “Palestine” the status of a “non-member observer state” …

Does General Assembly Resolution 67/19 Have Any Implications for the Legal Status of Palestine? Jure Vidmar is Leverhulme Early Career Fellow in the Faculty of Law, and Research Fellow at St Johns College, University of Oxford. He has written widely on the process of State creation (see SSRN page here), including: …

Palestine as a UN Observer State: Does this Make Palestine a State? Last week, the UN General Assembly voted by 138 to 9 (with 41 abstaining) “to accord to Palestine non-member observer State status in the United Nations”. Thus, Palestine which has been an observer at the UN since 1974 …

The Saga Continues: Argentina’s Request for Provisional Measures v Ghana before the ITLOS On 14 November 2012 Argentina filed a Request for provisional measures before the International Tribunal of the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) based in Hamburg, Germany in accordance with Article 290(5) of the United Nations Convention on …

State Identity, Continuity, and Responsibility: The Ottoman Empire, the Republic of Turkey and the Armenian Genocide Vahagn Avedian is a PhD candidate in the Department of History, Lund University and Chief Editor of Armenica.org. This post summarises his article which was published in (2012) 23 EJIL 797-820. The Republic of Turkey’s …

Argentina’s Sovereign Debt Default Cases: Some Recent Developments in a Continuing Saga More than ten years have passed since Argentina defaulted on its external debt obligations in December 2001. However, the repercussions of the Argentine financial crisis continue to contribute to the development of international law. This brief note provides …

After a Brief Hiatus, Kenya Once Again Has Universal Jurisdiction Over Pirates  Jon Bellish is a Project Officer at the Oceans Beyond Piracy project just outside Denver, Colorado, though the views expressed are solely those of the author. You can follow him on Twitter. On October 18, the Kenyan Court of Appeal in …

Who Do I Call If I Want to Give Europe a Nobel Prize? Mauro Gatti is a PhD candidate in EU law at the University of Bologna and the University of Strasbourg. His article, “‘External representation of the European Union in the conclusion of international agreement” (with Pietro Manzini) recently appeared …

ICC Assembly of States Parties Urged to Decide on Status of Palestine. In April of this year, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court indicated, in an official statement, that he was not competent to decide whether Palestine is a State such that it can accept the jurisdiction of the ICC under Article 12(3) of the ICC …

Who Can Apply to Add Sites Situated in Disputed territory to the World Heritage List? Dr Shlomit Wallerstein is a CUF Lecturer in Law at the University of Oxford and Fellow of St Peter’s College, Oxford. Recently (on 29 June 2012), the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) accepted the …

Venezuela denounces American Convention on Human Rights The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela has given notice of its intention to withdraw in a year’s time from the leading regional human rights treaty in the Americas, with the Secretary-General of the Organization of American States (OAS) having confirmed receipt of the notice …