Court of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam The recent Serdar Mohammed v. Ministry of Defencecase has prompted a number of interesting and insightful posts addressing the issue of whether international humanitarian law (IHL) provides a legal basis for detention in Non-International Armed Conflicts (NIAC) (see, for example, here, here, here and here). This discussion offers an opportunity to address the issue of non-State armed groups, something not discussed in detail so far, with the notable exception of Aurel Sari’s post. In particular, the existing debate with regard to detention raises, more broadly, the issue of the legal authority extended to non-State armed groups party to a NIAC. In this post, I present an argument in support of one of the most controversial issues in this area: the authority of armed groups to establish courts. Does IHL regulate armed group courts? As is well known, IHL…
Featured
Page 2 of 2
UK Supreme Court Decides Smith (No. 2) v. The Ministry of Defence
Last week the UK Supreme Court delivered its judgment in Smith (No. 2) v. The Ministy of Defence (judgment; BBC News report). This is a follow-up to the Smith (No. 1) case decided three years ago, with a different set of plaintiffs, but on the same issue - whether and how the European Convention on Human…
Julian Assange and Diplomatic Asylum
Matthew Happold is Professor of Public International Law at the University of Luxembourg and an associate tenant at 3 Hare Court, London . In taking refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, Julian Assange joins a long list of individuals who have sought asylum in foreign embassies. Recent examples include Chongqing police chief…
What Exactly was Agreed in Kampala on the Crime of Aggression?
The ICC review conference held in Kampala earlier this month decided, by consensus, to amend the ICC Statute so that the ICC can exercise jurisdiction over the crime of aggression once the amendments come into force. The final text of the amendments to the ICC Statute on the Crime of aggression are now available on the ICC website (see…
‘Is torture ever justified?’: The European Court of Human Rights decision in Gäfgen v Germany
Natasha Simonsen is a Rhodes Scholar at the University of Oxford. Previously, she worked as a consultant for UNICEF and has interned with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Pakistan. Earlier this month, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights handed down its decision in Gäfgen v Germany. The case raised…
- First
- Page 2 of 2