International Law News

Another oil spill (following one in San Francisco Bay last week) is described in this article which compares the Russian spill to the sinking of the Prestige, examined in class:

NYTimes article

As lawyers in Pakistan demand a return to constitutional rule, lawyers around the world offer support. The American Bar Association (ABA) has issued a statement of support, and the National Lawyers Guild's Minnesota members held a rally in Minneapolis to demand a return to the rule of law. If you are a US lawyer, please consider joining the ABA or NLG or other professional organizations dedicated to the rule of law.

An action each day by US lawyers until constitutional law is restored:
Mondays:
Send letters to newspapers asking them to continue to publish stories covering the detained lawyers in Pakistan. You may mark such requests "Not for Publication" so the editor knows it is a request of the paper and not just an address to the readers. In the U.S., it is especially important to request this of our paper of record, the New York Times.
Contact: PUBLIC EDITOR
To reach Clark Hoyt, who represents the readers, e-mail public@nytimes.com or call (212) 556-7652.

Tuesdays:
Amnesty International urges US constituents to contact President Bush and elected representatives to urge them to ensure that no U.S. funds are used against the demonstrators in Pakistan. With over $10 billion in aid to the Pakistani military since 2001, that may be difficult to monitor, but difficult is not impossible, and a message must be sent.

See http://www.amnestyusa.org/document.php?lang=e&id=ENGUSA20071105001#

Wednesdays:
Address Pakistan's government with your concerns:
http://action.humanrightsfirst.org/campaign/Asma

Thursdays:
Ask your bar associations to issue statements or otherwise support Pakistani lawyers seeking the return to constitutional government.

Fridays:
Write a letter to the editor of your local papers supporting the Pakistani lawyers and demonstrators.

The ICC reached a milestone this week with its first arrest warrants. Jurist has good coverage.

Behind the international legal news today:
1) Airbus Trade Threats - Airbus has announced that it will not seek government subsidies, which might moot the complaint of unfair competition filed by the U.S. before the WTO. If the complaint continues, the U.S. will have to address questions of its support for Boeing.
2) Senator McCain promoted a provision, passed by the Senate, to limit mistreatment of detainees. See the Washington Post article. Is this necessary in view of existing humanitarian law and the U.S. instructions to troops (see http://faculty.ed.umuc.edu/~nstanton/FM27-10.htm). The Senate provisions are directed to interrogation techniques. Do they clarify or confuse instructions to armed forces personnel?

Last Sunday's New York Times reported on a Massachusetts judicial decision now being reviewed under NAFTA by an international panel. For a discussion of Article III federal (not state as in the NYTimes case - erosion of state power by NAFTA was widely predicted, but not this precise scenario) jurisdiction and Nafta review, see the abstract of "Assigning the Judicial Power to International Tribunals: NAFTA Bifurcation Panels and Foreign Affairs Flexibility" by Matthew Burton (in Virginia Law review, Vol 88, Nov 2002 at 1529).

The US vetoed a resolution to condemn the Israeli killing of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin (see UN Press Release ). The legitimacy of the matter is far from settled among international law scholars and human rights organizations (see Amnesty International ).

The UN has asked the special tribunals for Yugoslavia and Rwanda to complete their work by 2008. See UN Resolution.

Lawyer Ira Kurzban, one of my favorite people, is representing Aristide in his claim that he and his (U.S. citizen) wife were kidnapped by American forces. Listen to Kurzban. See also the ABC report and the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Crimes Against Internationally Protected Persons, Opened for signature at New York on 14 December 1973. More at DemocracyNow.org.