John Washburn and Matthew Heaphy : "According to the JURIST report about Ambassador Stephen Rapp's January 28 speech at the University of Pittsburgh Law School, he made it clear that the US would not ratify the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court in the foreseeable future. This is not surprising since the Obama administration [...]
Sara Burhan Abdullah, Pitt Law LLM '08 and JD '12, was an observer to the Iraqi Constitutional Review Committee. She shares her experiences with the issue of inheritance of citizenship and women's rights in her home country of Iraq… Under Saddam Hussein's dictatorial regime, children born of Iraqi women and foreign men could not inherit [...]
French Prime Minister Francois Fillon has asked the country's highest court, the State Council , for input on implementing a proposed law that would ban public wearing of the burqa, the full Islamic veil . In a letter to Jean-Marc Sauve , the Vice-Chairman of the State Council, Fillon ordered the Council to "study legal [...]
A jury in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York Friday found giant French entertainment corporation Vivendi SA liable on 57 counts of violating US federal securities laws. The jury found that Vivendi SA had made material misstatements regarding its financial health in 2001-2002 before a three-way merger with Seagram Co. [...]
Brett Schaefer and Steven Groves : "The comments by US Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes Issues Stephen Rapp yesterday are a welcome confirmation of the concerns held by many Americans regarding the potential for overreach by the International Criminal Court and its prosecutor. As Ambassador Rapp cautioned, there is a strong possibility that US military and [...]
Kristine Long, Pitt Law '11, attended a lecture hosted by the Center for International Legal Education on "The Role of the US in International Criminal Justice," presented by Stephen Rapp, the US Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes Issues… While I listened to Ambassador Stephen Rapp talk about the United States' role in international law, I couldn't [...]
Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Friday called the closed door trial of Cambodia's opposition leader Sam Rainsy and two others a "farce," saying the ruling demonstrates the government's control over the country's judiciary. Rainsy was convicted Wednesday, in absentia, of inciting racial discrimination and intentionally destroying posts demarcating the border between Cambodia and Vietnam. Two [...]
US President Barack Obama on Friday ordered the federal government to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 28 percent by 2020. The reduction is pursuant to Executive Order 13514 , signed by Obama in October. The order provides, in part: It is therefore the policy of the United States that Federal agencies shall increase energy [...]
The Supreme Court of Canada ruled Friday that while the treatment of Canadian Guantanamo Bay detainee Omar Khadr violated his rights, the government does not have to press for his return to Canada. In a unanimous decision, the court ruled that the interrogation of Khadr by Canadian officials while in detention violated section 7 of [...]
A Nigerian court ruled Friday that ailing President Umaru Yar'Adua is not required to formally transfer his powers to Vice President Goodluck Jonathan or any other interim leader. The Federal High Court in Abuja rejected a lawsuit brought by the Nigerian Bar Association , seeking to have presidential powers temporary endowed in Jonathan pursuant to [...]
