UN Security Council Agrees on Syria

As you will know from the news, the U.N. Security Council has reached agreement on a resolution governing the destruction of Syria's chemical weapons stockpile. A New York Times article on the process is a good overview, while there are some more detailed examinations of the resolution language in posts at Opinio Juris here and here.

An International Law Dilemma at the U.N.

President Omar al-Bashir of the Sudan is scheduled to visit New York next month during the U.N. General Assembly. He is wanted under an indictment issued by the International Criminal Court, for genocide and crimes against humanity. Can the U.S. arrest him and hand him over to the Court? Or does he enjoy immunity under treaty with the U.N.? It is a vexing problem, about which you can read in The New York Times, and in several posts at Opinio Juris.

Current Dispute Over the Continental Shelf

While we have been looking at continental shelf cases for the purposes of understanding the law of treaties, customary international law, and the relationship between them, you may be interested to read about a current dispute between Nicaragua and Columbia over boundary issues and the continental shelf. Here is a longish post in the International Law Profs Blog on the issues. There is even a video to help explain the issues.

Putin on Syria and International Law

You will likely have heard about President Putin's op-ed in The New York Times. The reaction within the U.S. was fairly universal in its condemnation, largely due to the perceived hypocrisy in Putin's remarks. But take a read, and give some thought to what he has to say about international law, and keep it in mind when we get to "use of force". Is he wrong? If so, how exactly?

Syria and the Customary Int'l Law Prohibition on Chemical Weapons

Hopefully you are all following developments relating to Syria, and some of the international law arguments surrounding the issues. But here is a blog post that raises interesting questions about the U.S. government's view of customary international law. Recall that we talked in class about whether the prohibition on the use of chemical weapons was custom, and if so why - and next class we will look at the North Sea Continental Shelf case, which discusses the relationship between treaty and custom. Here Kevin Heller discusses the implications of President Obama's discussion of the customary int'l law prohibition.

More on Syria

As you will have likely seen, the question of whether U.S. strikes on Syria would be lawful under international law has been the issue of the day for the last week. It will be some time before we get to the issue of use of force, but you should monitor the Syria situation, and read some of the arguments, as it will certainly make the issues real when we get to the subject in the course. In addition to monitoring The New York Times for news coverage, you might keep an eye on Opinio Juris (usually a more pro-international law site) and Lawfare (which often has a more conservative, skeptical, and American-centric perspective).

I published my own views on the legality of the proposed strikes in the Huffington Post recently, which provides an overview of one side of the argument.