Archivo de Etiquetas: customary international law

THE STATES PARTIES TO THIS CONVENTION, REAFFIRMING that persons with disabilities have the same human rights and fundamental freedoms as other persons; and that these rights, which include freedom from discrimination based on disability, flow from the inherent dignity and equality of each person; CONSIDERING that the Charter of the …

The States Parties to the present Convention, Considering that the jurisdictional immunities of States and their property are generally accepted as a principle of customary international law, Having in mind the principles of international law embodied in the Charter of the United Nations, Believing that an international convention on the …

Prosecuting pirates in national courts: US v Said and piracy under US law On August 17, a US District Court handed down a fascinating piece of statutory interpretation that apparently means that unless a Somali pirate succeeds in stealing something, he cannot be charged with piracy under US law. There …

Necessity in Investor-State Arbitration: The Sempra Annulment decision Sahib Singh is a  member of the international litigation and arbitration group at Skadden and a visiting lecturer at the University of Vienna. This note was prepared before the Enron v. Argentina annulment decision became available at the beginning of August. A note …

Anti-Piracy Court Opens in Kenya At the end of last week, Kenya opened a special court to try suspected pirates operating from Somalia in the Gulf of Aden (see BBC Report here and here) The Court, which is funded by a number of international organizations and States including the UN, the EU, Australia …

The Relationship between National Law and International Law in the Report of the Georgia Fact-Finding Mission: A Rejoinder Editor’s Note: This post is a continuation of a discussion engendered by a previous post by André de Hoogh. Readers will benefit from reading that previous post and the comments made in …

The Relationship between National Law and International Law in the Report of the Georgia Fact-Finding Mission: Editor’s Note: This post is part of a series discussing the the Report of the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on the Conflict in Georgia. Other posts in this series include Gazzini, “Criteria for Statehood …

UK Inquiry to Consider Legality of Iraq War and Appoints Former ICJ President, Dame Rosalyn Higgins as International Law Adviser This past summer, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced the establishment of an inquiry into the UK’s involvement in the Iraq War. The Iraq Inquiry, which is independent of the government, began work …

Is Sudanese President Bashir Immune from Arrest? In a post last week, I mentioned a forthcoming article of mine dealing with Bashir’s Immunity. That article titled “The Legal Nature of Security Council Referrals to the ICC and its Impact on Al’Bashir’s Immunities” has now been published in the latest issue of the …

Afghanistan accedes to Additional Protocols to Geneva Conventions: Will AP II govern the conflict in Afghanistan? Last week (June 24) Afghanistan acceded to Additional Protocols I & II to the Geneva Conventions. These treaties continue to inch towards univeral participation as there are 169 States parties to AP I and …

Belgium brings case against Senegal in the ICJ over Failure to Prosecute Hissene Habre Belgium has filed a case in the ICJ against Senegal (see press release) with regard to Senegal’s failure to prosecute former Chadian Head of State, Hissene Habre. This is the latest episode in the long running …

The Two Faces of the Genocide Convention In keeping with Christmas spirit, here’s my next post on the Genocide Convention. Can a state be responsible for genocide? What does that even mean? Aren’t international crimes, in the sage words of the Nuremberg Tribunal, committed by men, not by abstract entities? …