The report of the Panel of Experts appointed by the UN Secretary-General to investigate the circumstances of the conclusion the Sri Lanka war has been made public today – full report here, BBC News article here. The report was disclosed to the Sri Lankan government a few weeks ago; regrettably and quite predictably, the government already dismissed it as incorrect and biased. As in many other cases of conflict and atrocities inspired by ethnic nationalism, several competing versions of reality have already emerged. While the government claims that it pursued a policy of zero civilian casualties, the Panel report paints a very different picture, finding widespread violations of international human rights and humanitarian law on both sides, but particularly on that of the government. On the legal side of things, one of the appointed experts was the well-respected international lawyer Steve Ratner, professor of international law at the University of Michigan Law School. The report’s discussion of the applicable law and legal findings, at p. 52 et seq,…
Armed Conflict
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The High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina: A Requiem for Legality
Dr Miroslav Baros is Senior Lecturer in Law at Sheffield Hallam University, UK. Introduction ‘The Order further confirms that any proceeding instituted before any Court... which challenges [my] decisions sanctioning individuals ...enacted by me, will be inadmissible, unless... I expressly give my prior consent. The Decision of the…
What Exactly Internationalizes an Internal Armed Conflict?
I’d like to turn our readers’ attention to the comment thread of Constantin’s post, which has raised a fascinating issue – when does an internal armed conflict become internationalized? I'd like to add a few thoughts of my own, first on some matters of definition. We first need to agree on what the ‘internationalization’ of an internal armed conflict…
German Federal Prosecutor Terminates Investigation Against German Soldiers With Respect to NATO Air Strike in Afghanistan
Constantin von der Groeben is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Cologne, Germany and a LL.M. candidate at NYU School of Law. His Ph.D. deals with the applicability of the Laws of Armed Conflict to the War on Terrorism. He is a fellow of the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes (German National Academic Foundation). Last…
US/NATO Targeting of Afghan Drug Traffickers: An Illegal and Dangerous Precedent?
In August, the United States Senate Foreign Relations Committe, released a report ("Afghanistan's Narco-War: Breaking the Link Between Drug Traffickers and Insurgents") which confirmed that U.S. forces in Afghanistan are now mandated to kill or capture drug traffickers in Afghanistan who have links to the Taliban. The Taliban is estimated to receive between…