Law Commons^™

Interrogation Of Detainees: Extending A Hand Or A Boot?, Amos N. Guiora

ExpressO

The so called “war on terror” provides the Bush administration with a unique opportunity to both establish clear guidelines for the interrogation of detainees and to make a forceful statement about American values. How the government chooses to act can promote either an ethical commitment to the norms of civil society, or an attitude analogous to Toby Keith’s “American Way,” where Keith sings that “you’ll be sorry that you messed with the USofA, ‘Cuz we’ll put a boot in your ass, It’s the American Way.”

No aspect of the “war on terrorism” more clearly addresses this balance than coercive interrogation. …

The Military Abortion Ban: How 10 U.S.C. Section 1093 Violates International Standards Of Reproductive Healthcare, Sabrina E. Dunlap

ExpressO

Under 10 U.S.C. Section 1093, women in the military cannot obtain abortion services in military hospitals even if they use their own funds. Women who are stationed abroad are forced to search for services elsewhere in the foreign country in which they are stationed, facing cultural barriers, language barriers, difficult travel arrangements and high costs. In the last ten years, clear standards of reproductive health emerged at an international level, with women’s health being the center of the International Conference on Population and Development, and the Fourth World Conference on Women, among others. The United States is simultaneously encouraging developing …

The Legality Of The Use Of White Phosphorus By The United States Military During The 2004 Fallujah Assaults, Roman O. Reyhani

ExpressO

The assaults on Fallujah by the United States military in April and November 2004 involved the use of white phosphorus. White phosphorus has extremely damaging effects on the health of victims, including severe burns and irritation of the respiratory system. This article examines whether the use of white phosphorus was a violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention, Protocol III to the Convention on Conventional Weapons and international humanitarian law. It concludes that the use of white phosphorus was illegal as it could be argued to be a chemical weapon, a riot control agent, or incendiary weapon. Furthermore, the methods and …

Illegal Peace? Power Sharing With Warlords In Africa, Jeremy I. Levitt

Journal Publications

This paper examines the legality of power-sharing in Africa with specific reference to the Accra and Lome accords, which brought about a fragile cessation of the conflicts in Liberian and Sierra Leone, respectively. It examines the future of international criminal law vis-a-vis power-sharing by prospectively examining gaps in state practice and rules that arguably permit the "crime of illegal peace" by insurrectionists, political elites, and moral guarantors. When warlords use violence to coerce democratically constituted governments to share power, does power-sharing simply become a euphemism for "guns for jobs"? Which legal rules, if any, govern peace agreements in internal conflicts? …