United Nations (UN)
1,280 Articles
A Review of the Special Rapporteur Reports Regarding “Drones” and the Use of Lethal Force
Background The UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Mr Christof Heyns, recently reported on the topic of the use of lethal force through armed…
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…
UN Secretary General Calls for More Transparency About Drone Use
The United Nations Secretary-General has released a new report (A/2013/689) on the protection of civilians in armed conflict, which devotes significant attention to current drone…
Is the Draft UN Resolution on the Right to Privacy a Trojan Horse for Libertarians?
In response to recent revelations of NSA foreign surveillance programs, the UN General Assembly appears poised to adopt a Resolution on the international right to privacy. Because…
Did the UN General Assembly Let the US Entirely Off the Hook on the Right to Privacy?
In early December the UN General Assembly will adopt, almost certainly by consensus, a resolution on “the right to privacy in the digital age.” Intensive negotiations at…
Iran’s Right to Enrichment
Whether Iran is possessed of a right to enrich uranium is said to be the central question in its negotiations with the P5+1. It should not be. Neither side’s argument is…
Expert Opinion on Iran’s “Right” to Enrich Uranium in the Face of Security Council Resolutions
It is early morning in Geneva and dawn of the latest round of negotiations to decide the fate of Iran’s nuclear program. As I wrote yesterday, Iran’s claim to a “right”…
Iran’s Purported “Right” to Enrich Uranium, and Alleged Bias at the New York Times
As attention turns to the upcoming negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program, an important factor will be the media coverage that inevitably shapes public opinion. In a recent piece…
Creative Ambiguity – International Law’s Distant Relationship with Peacetime Spying
In all the sound and fury over “five eye” intercept programs, commentators appear so far to have paid relatively little attention to international law. This is no simple…
More on the Rights of Others – Ben Wittes’ Failure of Imagination
Ben Wittes weighs in today on Lawfare on the side of rejecting privacy rights for anyone but U.S. citizens, aligning himself with Orin Kerr and against myself [see my previous…
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…
Pakistan Test Fires Missile to Take Down Drones
It might have been easy to doubt the veracity of the Pakistan government’s public protestations against US drone strikes in light of secret agreements between the two governments…