Search Results for: 2017-01-12

The ongoing conflict engulfing Israel and Palestine continues to raise significant issues of international law and policy. My earlier contribution focused on the jurisdiction and substantive law of the International Criminal Court (ICC). Here I address the ongoing litigation before the International Court of Justice (ICJ or Court). Because the crime of genocide can be [...]

US Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito has indefinitely extended a stay blocking the enforcement of a Texas law that criminalizes illegal entry into the state from other countries. Monday’s extension came just as a previous extension issued last week was set to expire. In late February, a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction preventing the [...]

SOS MEDITERRANEE, an international maritime and humanitarian organization, announced on Friday that its affiliated humanitarian ship Ocean Viking rescued 135 people, including a pregnant women and 8 children, from an overcrowded double-decker boat in the Maltese search and rescue region. It stated that the ship was compelled to navigate to a distant port at Ancona, [...]

The plight of women’s rights in various countries reflects a complex interplay of legal, cultural and societal norms that significantly disenfranchise women and girls, threatening their human rights and dignity. Countries like Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Iran, Yemen, Sudan, Pakistan, Somalia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Syria, and Nigeria present challenging environments where women’s rights [...]

The Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal (CFA) refused to grant leave to the government on Friday to appeal the acquittals of seven pro-democracy activists. The lower court overturned the activists’ convictions for organizing an unauthorized assembly but upheld their convictions for participating in an unauthorized assembly. The lower court reasoned that leading and directing [...]

The current conflict engulfing Israel and Palestine raises significant issues of international law and policy. This is part one in an anticipated two-part series that will discuss some of the relevant legal questions before the International Criminal Court (ICC; Part I) and the International Court of Justice (ICJ; Part II).  With both courts located in [...]

Amnesty International reiterated its calls to stop the execution of Kenneth Eugene Smith in Alabama by nitrogen hypoxia. The date for execution has been set for January 25, 2024. In urging Alabama to cancel the execution, Justin Mazzola, a researcher at Amnesty International, stated: The death penalty is the ultimate cruel, inhuman, and degrading punishment, [...]

On Monday, Hague District Court in the Netherlands sentenced former Syrian militia member, identified only as Mustafa A., to 12 years in prison for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during his time as Liwa al-Quds leader between 2011 and 2017. The court identified Liwa al-Quds, as a “criminal organization that intended to commit… international [...]

Human Rights Watch (HRW) called Tuesday on Indonesia to safeguard the well-being of Rohingya refugees who have recently arrived in the country. This appeal follows several reported incidents of Indonesia pushing back boats carrying Rohingya refugees. HRW called on Indonesian authorities to cease all pushbacks of boats carrying Rohingya refugees and to investigate and end [...]

Greece’s Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said in an interview with a state-run television channel on Wednesday that the government would shortly submit legislation allowing same-sex civil marriages, despite reservations from the Orthodox Church and some lawmakers.  Mitsotakis vowed to eliminate any discrimination based on sexual orientation in marriages. He added that “marriage equality has already [...]