International Justice
996 Articles

Trials in Absentia Under International, Domestic and Lebanese Law
As a follow on to our backgrounder on the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, one additional feature of the current proceedings is worthy of note: the trials are proceedings in absentia. …

Lebanon Tribunal Begins Work
As we’ve noted, in absentia proceedings have finally begun before the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL), a joint creation of the United Nations and Lebanon in The Hague…

Considering Jones v. UK Requires Reflection Not Knee-Jerk Reactions
Jones v. United Kingdom was handed down by the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) on Tuesday. It has already elicited a considerable amount of adverse commentary (here and…

European Court of Human Rights: Foreign State Officials are Immune from Civil Suit for Torture (Jones v. United Kingdom)
The European Court of Human Rights has issued its long-awaited judgment in Jones v. United Kingdom. The case involves four British nationals who sued Saudi Arabia and Saudi officials…

Timeline: Palestine and the International Criminal Court
Over the holidays, the Guardian and other media have again raised the specter of the Palestinians joining the International Criminal Court (ICC), or otherwise attempting to invoke…

More Breaking News: Adjournment Sought for the Kenyatta Proceedings
We’ve covered in the past (here, here and here) the legal and extra-legal efforts by Kenya and the Kenyan defendants before the ICC to get their case stayed or dismissed.…

The Parallels Between South African and U.S. Law On Universal Jurisdiction
The Parallels Between South African and U.S. Law On Universal Jurisdiction In an earlier post, we noted that the South African universal jurisdiction (UJ) statute is not particularly…

The Unexceptional Nature of the South African Universal Jurisdiction Law
In the wake of the moving funeral of Nelson Mandela, we have reported on the recent ruling of the South African Supreme Court of Appeal mandating that the National Prosecution…

“This One Goes To Eleven”: The ICC and the Security Council
The unprecedented rejection by Saudi Arabia of its elected seat on the Security Council in October, 2013, ostensibly in protest of the Council’s perceived failures in the Middle…

Breaking News: Security Council Authorizes Robust Peacekeeping Mandate for CAR
[The full text of Resolution 2127 is now available.] An important development this morning in the Security Council to respond to a recent upsurge in violence in the Central African…

U.S. Intervention at the ICC Assembly of States Parties
The 12th session of the Assembly of States Parties (ASP) of the International Criminal Court has been meeting in The Hague this week. The United States sent an inter-agency delegation…

The End of the M23, Will Justice Follow?
In the last few days, we have witnessed some important and welcome developments in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)—a region of the world in desperate need of some…