International Law Prof Blog

Anniversary of the Terrorist Attacks of 9/11/2011

On this the thirteenth anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001, we pause to remember all those who lost their lives and their friends and families.  Our thoughts and prayers also go out to the members of the armed forces who continue to fight terrorism in the Middle East and elsewhere, as well as the innocent civilians who have been injured ot killed or who live in a state of fear of extremist terrorist groups.  As international lawyers, we must work with the rest of the international community to find ways to resolve disputes peacefully and to promote respect for and protection of human rights everywhere.

(cgb)

Reminder: Call for Papers on International Human Rights Law -- Deadline is September 15

CALL FOR PAPERS

INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS -- NEW VOICES PANEL
ANNUAL MEETING OF THE ASSOCIATION OF AMERICAN LAW SCHOOLS (AALS)

January 2-5, 2015, Washington, D.C.

The AALS Section on International Human Rights has issued a call for papers for its "New Voices in Human Rights" program during the 2015 AALS Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C.

The program will be called Global Perspectives on Human Rights. It will take place during the AALS Annual Meeting, which is scheduled for January 2-5, 2015. The section anticipates selecting three or four new voices from this call for papers to present their work during the Section’s program.

The focus on Global Perspectives on Human Rights will explore how human rights discourses, practices, and institutions have taken root (or not) in various terrains. While we are not categorically excluding papers that discuss human rights in the United States, we are interested in how human rights are experienced in other parts of the world, particularly areas that have not traditionally been a focus of international human rights research by scholars in the United States.

Deadline and Submission

The deadline to submit a paper is September 15, 2014. Please email submissions in Word or PDF format to Professor Stuart Ford of The John Marshall Law School in Chicago ([email protected]) and Professor Jonathan Todres of Georgia State University ([email protected]). In selecting proposals, priority will be given to new voices in international human rights (i.e., individuals who have not previously presented a paper at AALS on the topic of international human rights). Presentations at various stages of completion will be considered. Decisions will be made in late September.

Publication

Papers may have already been accepted for publication but must not have been published before the Annual Meeting. The section has no plans to publish the selected papers, and individual presenters should continue to seek their own publishers.

Eligibility

This call for papers is open only to full-time faculty at an AALS member school. Presenters will be expected to cover their own costs in attending the AALS annual meeting.

For any questions or inquiries please contact Professor Stuart Ford at The John Marshall Law School in Chicago at [email protected].

(mew)

 

Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant

Several new bills have been introduced in the United States Congress to authorize force against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.  Here are the bills:

• HJ Res 123 (Issa, R-CA), to authorize the use of United States Armed Forces against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL); to Foreign Affairs. CR 9/8/14, H7296.
• SJ Res 42 (Nelson, D-FL), to authorize the use of United States Armed Forces against ISIL; to Foreign Relations. CR 9/8/14, S5374.
  
• SJ Res 43 (Inhofe, R-OK), to authorize the use of force against the organization called the Islamic State in order to defend the American people and assist the Iraqi government in expelling the Islamic State from their territory; to Foreign Relations. CR 9/8/14, S5374.
• H Res 718 (Schweikert, R-AZ), calling on the Department of Defense to expedite the delivery of all necessary military equipment, weapons, ammunition and other needed materials to the Kurdish Peshmerga forces to successfully combat and defeat the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS); to Foreign Affairs. CR 9/9/14, H7388.

 

The U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee will hold a hearing on Iraq, Syria, and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). 9/16/14, 9:30 am, 216 Hart Building, Washington, D.C.

 

Hat tip to the ABA Governmental Affairs Office

(mew)

Reminder: Call for Papers on International Human Rights Law

CALL FOR PAPERS

INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS -- NEW VOICES PANEL
ANNUAL MEETING OF THE ASSOCIATION OF AMERICAN LAW SCHOOLS (AALS)

January 2-5, 2015, Washington, D.C.

The AALS Section on International Human Rights has issued a call for papers for its "New Voices in Human Rights" program during the 2015 AALS Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C.

The program will be called Global Perspectives on Human Rights. It will take place during the AALS Annual Meeting, which is scheduled for January 2-5, 2015. The section anticipates selecting three or four new voices from this call for papers to present their work during the Section’s program.

The focus on Global Perspectives on Human Rights will explore how human rights discourses, practices, and institutions have taken root (or not) in various terrains. While we are not categorically excluding papers that discuss human rights in the United States, we are interested in how human rights are experienced in other parts of the world, particularly areas that have not traditionally been a focus of international human rights research by scholars in the United States.

Deadline and Submission

The deadline to submit a paper is September 15, 2014. Please email submissions in Word or PDF format to Professor Stuart Ford of The John Marshall Law School in Chicago ([email protected]) and Professor Jonathan Todres of Georgia State University ([email protected]). In selecting proposals, priority will be given to new voices in international human rights (i.e., individuals who have not previously presented a paper at AALS on the topic of international human rights). Presentations at various stages of completion will be considered. Decisions will be made in late September.

Publication

Papers may have already been accepted for publication but must not have been published before the Annual Meeting. The section has no plans to publish the selected papers, and individual presenters should continue to seek their own publishers.

Eligibility

This call for papers is open only to full-time faculty at an AALS member school. Presenters will be expected to cover their own costs in attending the AALS annual meeting.

For any questions or inquiries please contact Professor Stuart Ford at The John Marshall Law School in Chicago at [email protected].

(mew)

 

Deadline Approaching for AALS International Law Section Call for Papers

The Section on International Law of the American Association of Law Schools (AALS) is seeking papers for its program at the 2015 AALS Annual Meeting in Washington D.C. on Sunday, January 4 at 10:30 am.

The topic of the program and call for papers is “The Influence of International Law on U.S. Government Decision-Making.” This panel will explore the role that international law plays in informing the policy outcomes arrived at by U.S. government decision-makers.  To what extent is international law determinative or even influential, and to what extent does the policy area, the branch of government, or the ideological orientation of the decision-maker matter? As a more practical matter, at what stage in the decision-making process is international law taken into account and who are the most influential actors?  How can academics be most influential in that process?  The presenter chosen through this call for papers will join current or former U.S. government officials in a panel discussion.

Eligible faculty members are invited to submit manuscripts or detailed abstracts that address any of numerous issues related to the way in which international law infuses decision-making within the United States government.

Eligibility

Per AALS policy, only full-time faculty members of AALS member law schools are eligible to submit a paper to a call for papers. The following are ineligible: faculty at fee-paid law schools, international, visiting (without a full-time position at an AALS member law school) and adjunct faculty members, graduate students, and non-law school faculty.  Untenured faculty members are particularly encouraged to submit papers.

Registration fee and expenses

The selected Call for Papers participant is responsible for paying his or her AALS annual meeting registration fee and travel expenses.

Form and length of submission

Eligible faculty members are invited to submit manuscripts or detailed abstracts dealing with any aspect of the foregoing topic.  Detailed abstracts should be comprehensive enough to allow the selection committee to meaningfully evaluate the aims and likely content of papers proposed.  Papers may be accepted for publication but must not be published prior to the Annual Meeting.

Deadline and submission method

Papers must be submitted electronically to: Ms. Carol Manis, Assistant to Professor Cindy Buys at Southern Illinois University School of Law. The subject of the email should read: “Submission for AALS Section on International Law.”

The initial review of the papers and abstracts will be blind, and will be conducted by members of the section’s executive committee.  In order to facilitate blind review, please identify yourself and your institutional affiliation only in the cover letter accompanying your manuscript, and not in the manuscript itself.  The submitting author is responsible for taking any steps necessary to redact self-identifying text or footnotes.  

The deadline for submission is September 12, 2014.

The author of the selected paper/abstract will be notified by September 28, 2014.

(cgb)

Graduate Programs for Non-U.S. Lawyers

Join the Association of American Law Schools Section on Graduate Programs for Non-U.S. Lawyers at its business meeting on Friday, January 2, 2015 at 6:30 p.m. That's the first night of the conference when the Registration Area opens. 

Professor George Edwards of Indiana University is the current chair. Professor Mark E. Wojcik of The John Marshall Law School in Chicago is the Chair-Elect and will become Section Chair at the end of that AALS Annual meeting. 

When you book your flight or train to DC, please plan to arrive in time to attend the 6:30 p.m. business meeting and to share your ideas on graduate legal education for international lawyers.

Reminder: Call for Papers on International Human Rights Law

CALL FOR PAPERS

INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS -- NEW VOICES PANEL
ANNUAL MEETING OF THE ASSOCIATION OF AMERICAN LAW SCHOOLS (AALS)

January 2-5, 2015, Washington, D.C.

The AALS Section on International Human Rights has issued a call for papers for its "New Voices in Human Rights" program during the 2015 AALS Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C.

The program will be called Global Perspectives on Human Rights. It will take place during the AALS Annual Meeting, which is scheduled for January 2-5, 2015. The section anticipates selecting three or four new voices from this call for papers to present their work during the Section’s program.

The focus on Global Perspectives on Human Rights will explore how human rights discourses, practices, and institutions have taken root (or not) in various terrains. While we are not categorically excluding papers that discuss human rights in the United States, we are interested in how human rights are experienced in other parts of the world, particularly areas that have not traditionally been a focus of international human rights research by scholars in the United States.

Deadline and Submission

The deadline to submit a paper is September 15, 2014. Please email submissions in Word or PDF format to Professor Stuart Ford of The John Marshall Law School in Chicago ([email protected]) and Professor Jonathan Todres of Georgia State University ([email protected]). In selecting proposals, priority will be given to new voices in international human rights (i.e., individuals who have not previously presented a paper at AALS on the topic of international human rights). Presentations at various stages of completion will be considered. Decisions will be made in late September.

Publication

Papers may have already been accepted for publication but must not have been published before the Annual Meeting. The section has no plans to publish the selected papers, and individual presenters should continue to seek their own publishers.

Eligibility

This call for papers is open only to full-time faculty at an AALS member school. Presenters will be expected to cover their own costs in attending the AALS annual meeting.

For any questions or inquiries please contact Professor Stuart Ford at The John Marshall Law School in Chicago at [email protected].

(mew)

 

Somalia Institutes Proceedings against Kenya at ICJ

Last week, Somalia instituted a proceeding against Kenya at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) regarding a dispute concerning maritime delimitations in the Indian Ocean.

In its pleadings, Somalia asks the Court "to determine, on the basis of international law, the complete course of the single maritime boundary dividing all the maritime areas appertaining to Somalia and to Kenya in the Indian Ocean, including the continental shelf beyond 200 [nautical miles]". Somalia further asks the Court "to determine the precise geographical co-ordinates of the single maritime boundary in the Indian Ocean."

Somalia contends that the maritime boundary between the Parties in the territorial sea, exclusive economic zone (EEZ) and continental shelf should be established in accordance with Articles 15, 74 and 83 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), to which both Somalia and Kenya belong. Somalia explains that, accordingly, the boundary line in the territorial sea "should be a median line as specified in Article 15, since there are no special circumstances that would justify departure from such a line" and that, in the EEZ and continental shelf, the boundary "should be established according to the three-step process the Court has consistently employed in its application of Articles 74 and 83."

Somalia asserts that "Kenya’s current position on the maritime boundary is that it should be a straight line emanating from the Parties’ land boundary terminus, and extending due east along the parallel of latitude on which the land boundary terminus sits, through the full extent of the territorial sea, EEZ and continental shelf, including the continental shelf beyond 200 [nautical miles]."

In addition to invoking jurisdiction under UNCLOS, Somalia relies upon the declarations both States have filed accepting the ICJ's compulsory jurisdiction under article 36(2) of the Court's statute.

(cgb)

WTO DSB Adopts Appellate Body Report on China's Rare Earth Metals

On Friday, August 29, the World Trade Organization (WTO) Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) adopted the report of the Appellate Body finding that China’s export restrictions on rare earths, tungsten and molybdenum, were in breach of China’s WTO obligations and not justified under the exceptions found in Article XX of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) 1994.  For more information regarding this case, visit the WTO website.

(cgb)