International and Foreign
2,949 Articles
The Earth Moved – Senate Advice and Consent Granted to Fisheries Treaties
Readers may be interested to note that last week the Senate Committee Foreign Relations Committee provided its advice and consent to a small number of international treaties. The…
Newsflash – Swiss Depository accepts accession by Palestine to the Geneva Conventions
Readers will be interested to hear that the Swiss Depository has accepted the instrument of accession of Palestine to the Geneva Conventions and the Additional Protocol I. As readers…
Hersh’s Syria Conspiracy Theory: The CIA and Intelligence Oversight Questions
In a previous post, I discussed the Senate Intelligence Committee report on the attack against U.S. facilities and personnel in Benghazi, Libya. That post contemplated bias by…
European Court says Data Retention Directive is Invalid
Yesterday, the Grand Chamber of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) gave a compelling judgment in two joined cases: Case C-293/12 Digital Rights Ireland; Case C-594/12…
Letter to the Editor from former Deputy Legal Adviser to Israel’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations
[Editor’s Note: Be sure to see Fionnuala Ní Aoláin’s response to this letter to the editor, which was published on April 11, 2014] In her recent post, Fionnuala Ní…
UK Defence Select Committee: Extensive legal scrutiny undermining willingness of commanders to take necessary risks
The UK’s House of Commons Defence Select Committee published a report on Wednesday [full text] concerning the legal framework for future operations of the armed forces. The…
States, Almost States, Non-State Actors and the Geneva Conventions: Palestinian President Abbas’s attempt to join the Club
[Editor’s Note: Be sure to see the letter to the editor from a former Deputy Legal Adviser to Israel’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations responding to this…
Law of War Conventions that Palestinian President Abbas Intends to Join: Questions Raised
The Palestinian authorities have released the complete list of treaties that they intend to join. According to the statement, President Abbas “signed letters of accession”…
John Bellinger’s Testimony before the PCLOB (and implications for Senate approval of the Persons with Disabilities Convention) [Updated on April 2]
My friend and former legal adviser to the State Department John Bellinger recently testified before the Privacy and Civil Liberties Board (PCLOB) on the question whether international…
The Human Rights Committee’s Draft Comment 35 on Detention and Security of Persons: A long, long time coming yet still falls short
On June 30, 1982 the Human Rights Committee adopted General Comment No. 8 on Article 9 (the right to liberty and security of the person). It has taken a mere 32 years – a significant…
A Greek Precedent for the Russian Compliance Problem with the Council of Europe
Readers will recall that an early challenge to the resilience and capacity of the Council of Europe came in 1967 when a Greek military coup ushered in the Regime of the Colonels.…
United Nations Human Rights Council Adopts Resolution Calling for Drone Transparency and Accountability
This morning, the UN Human Rights Council voted to approve a Pakistan-sponsored resolution (A/HRC/25/L.32) entitled, “Ensuring use of remotely piloted aircraft or armed drones…