International Humanitarian Law Commons^™

War Crimes And The Limits Of Legalism, Gary Jonathan Bass

Michigan Law Review

In April 1945, Sir John Simon, Britain's Lord Chancellor, drew up a memorandum that was the last gasp in the diplomatic struggle against Nuremberg. Under American pressure, and despite British objections, the Allies were poised to agree to put the Axis leadership on trial for war crimes. In the kind of magnificent understatement that the British government could sometimes inadvertently achieve, it was entitled "The Argument for Summary Process against Hitler & Co." The memorandum was a series of arguments to be used by the British delegation at the San Francisco conference in a last-ditch effort to win over the …

The International Legal Implications Of "Non-Lethal" Weapons, David P. Fidler

Michigan Journal of International Law

In this Article, the author attempts a comprehensive international legal analysis of "non-lethal" weapons to raise awareness about how many international legal issues they create and about the complexity of analyzing the international legality of the development and use of these weapons. In short, the emergence of "non-lethal" weapons does not rescue international law from its crisis in connection with controlling war. Indeed, in some respects, the coming of "non-lethal" weapons threatens to deepen that crisis in new and disturbing ways.

The Fractured Soul Of The Dayton Peace Agreement: A Legal Analysis, Fionnuala Ni Aolain

Michigan Journal of International Law

This essay examines the substantial bilateral relationships between the domestic and international legal systems that have had enormous effects on the perception and efficacy of the local legal order. In particular, it charts the effect of the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia on local legal culture and the potential for greater liaison and support between local and international legal entities. This essay also notes the extent to which overlapping and confused mandates by a myriad of international organizations, many of which exercise legal functions, have been unresponsive to or dismissive of localized capacity.

The State And The Post-Cold War Refugee Regime: New Models, New Questions, Julie Mertus

Michigan Journal of International Law

The thesis of this essay is that within the refugee regime the move away from states and adherence to states are two sides of the same coin. To some degree the new refugee regime reflects the trend away from both the state and strict notions of sovereignty. Nonetheless, the new regime also exposes the staying power of the statist paradigm. In many respects, the role of states has indeed been altered, but states have retained their role as important and often essential actors. While other observers have commented on specific geographic or thematic changes in the refugee regime, this essay …

Slow Down: New Interventionism, Yubo Song

Michigan Journal of International Law

Review of The New Interventionism 1991-1994: United Nations Experience in Cambodia, Former Yugoslavia and Somalia (James Mayall ed.)

Reappraising Policy Objections To Humanitarian Intervention, Dino Kritsiotis

Michigan Journal of International Law

This article's purpose is not to search for particular conclusions as to the substantive merit or the present legal status of the right of humanitarian intervention as defined and in view of this seeming tension between recent practice and established principle. Its governing concern, rather, lies with: fundamental principles of analysis and method; the formal sources of public international law consulted in the examination of the validity of humanitarian intervention; how normative determinations are reached in the first place; and the techniques which are adopted in navigating our course to these ends.

Force Without Law: Seeking A Legal Justification For The September 1996 U.S. Military Intervention In Iraq, Gavin A. Symes

Michigan Journal of International Law

This note concludes that none of the various legal arguments offered in support of the September 1996 military intervention against Iraq adequately justifies U.S. actions under international law and that in fact international law was never a real concern in planning, implementing, or even justifying the intervention. Part I relates the general history of the "Kurdish problem" and the particulars of the incident under scrutiny. This Part then goes on to describe the aftermath of the intervention and its failure to achieve any of the stated goals of the United States. Part II addresses the general validity under international law …

Jurisprudence Of The Committee On The Rights Of The Child: A Guide For Research And Analysis, Cynthia Price Cohen, Susan Kilbourne

Michigan Journal of International Law

The purpose of this article and the attached tables is to give child rights advocates and scholars: 1) a bird's-eye view of the Convention and its implementation mechanism; 2) an introduction to the jurisprudence that is being developed as governments begin to put the Convention into effect; and 3) a guide to assist in research and analysis of the developing jurisprudence of the Committee on the Rights of the Child.

"Toward The Reformulation Of International Refugee Law" Research Report 1992-1997, James C. Hathaway

Other Publications

Discussions of the crisis in international refugee protection are frequently characterized by rhetorical excess, in which some ascribe all problems to malevolent states, while others are equally insistent that fraudulent asylum-seekers are solely to blame. This study was based, in contrast, on a recognition of the real systemic difficulties that jeopardize the viability of refugee protection. Its purpose was to devise a principled yet pragmatic way to reconcile state interests to the continued importance of access to asylum for those who need it.

The essence of our thesis is that the withdrawal of states from their legal responsibility to protect …

Making International Refugee Law Relevant Again: A Proposal For Collectivized And Solution-Oriented Protection, James C. Hathaway, R. Alexander Neve

Articles

International refugee law is in crisis. Even as armed conflict and human rights abuse continue to force individuals and groups to flee their home countries, many governments are withdrawing from the legal duty to provide refugees with the protection they require. While governments proclaim a willingness to assist refugees as a matter of political discretion or humanitarian goodwill, they appear committed to a pattern of defensive strategies designed to avoid international legal responsibility toward involuntary migrants. Some see this shift away from a legal paradigm of refugee protection as a source for enhanced operational flexibility in the face of changed …

Collective Humanitarian Intervention, Fernando R. Tesón

Michigan Journal of International Law

This article discusses collective intervention authorized by the Security Council, with a special emphasis on the concept of exclusive domestic jurisdiction. Part I first examines the different meanings of the notoriously ambiguous word "intervention." Because the legitimacy of collective intervention will depend in part on whether or not the matter falls within the domestic jurisdiction of the target state, Part II will then discuss contemporary views of domestic jurisdiction. Finally, Parts III and IV discuss collective humanitarian intervention under the principles of the U.N. Charter and examine the practice of the Security Council since the end of the Cold War. …

The Complexities Of Humanitarian Intervention: A New World Order Challenge, Richard Falk

Michigan Journal of International Law

The interplay between juridical support for norms of non-intervention and the actualities of interventionary diplomacy is an integral feature of a world of sovereign, yet unequal, states pursuing diverse goals. Pointing in one direction is the juridical stress on sovereignty, reinforced by spatial notions of territorial supremacy within fixed boundaries, which provides the doctrinal underpinnings of non-interventionism. Pointing in the other direction is the effort to project power and influence beyond territorial sovereignty, virtually a definition of what distinguishes a great power from an ordinary state, which creates the geopolitical pressures that result in intervention in the internal and external …

The Politics Of Human Rights: Beyond The Abolitionist Paradigm In Africa, Makau Wa Mutua

Michigan Journal of International Law

Review of Protecting Human Rights in Africa: Strategies and Roles of Non-Governmental Organizations by Claude E. Welch

The Politics Of Collective Security, Anne Orford

Michigan Journal of International Law

Part I argues that conventional international legal analyses about Security Council actions do not consider the gender-differentiated effects of those actions. The universality of male interests is taken for granted by international lawyers. The first level of analysis thus involves adding women in; that is, considering the consequences that Security Council actions have had for women in Kuwait, Iraq, Cambodia, Somalia, Mozambique, Bosnia, and the United States. I argue that many women are in fact rendered less secure by actions authorized by the Security Council in the name of collective security. As a result, women must have a voice in …

The Grave Breaches System And The Armed Conflict In The Former Yugoslavia, Oren Gross

Michigan Journal of International Law

The system of grave breaches, established in the Conventions, is the focal point of the enforcement mechanism of international humanitarian law in general and of the Conventions in particular. It is therefore surprising that very little has been written to date about this system. This article is intended to fill that gap by discussing the repression -the prohibition, prosecution, and adjudication - of grave breaches of the Conventions. The article's main purpose is to chart and map the basic contours of the terrain of an area which despite its vast significance has not been adequately and systematically explored. It is …

The Concept Of Humanitarian Intervention Revisited, Yogesh K. Tyagi

Michigan Journal of International Law

Every case of humanitarian intervention gives rise to mixed feelings of hope and despair. Hope comes from the involvement of the international community, and despair comes from the fact that the state system is still too weak to meet its basic responsibility, namely, the protection of human dignity. Influenced by these mixed feelings, the present article attempts a new look at the concept of humanitarian intervention. In Part I, it examines the concept of humanitarian intervention. Part II analyzes the principal aspects of humanitarian intervention: the reasons for the intervention, the character of the target state, and the status of …

Lip Service To The Laws Of War: Humanitarian Law And United Nations Armed Forces, Richard D. Glick

Michigan Journal of International Law

This article concludes that the United Nations is bound by the rules of customary international humanitarian law, and occupies a horizontal relationship with the other subjects of IHL that it engages in armed conflict. When U.N. armed forces engage in armed conflict, the Organization qualifies as a "party to armed conflict" within the meaning of IHL, and U.N. troops also fall within the IHL definition of "combatants," rendering the Organization subject to IHL obligations. Continuing U.N. arguments to the contrary either deprive IHL definitions of their determinacy or regress to a claim of undeserved special status for Charter norms and …

As-Salāmu `Alaykum? Humanitarian Law In Islamic Jurisprudence, Karima Bennoune

Michigan Journal of International Law

This Note examines Islamic legal doctrine in the field of humanitarian law and considers the historical contributions made by Islamic law to contemporary international humanitarian law. The goal of this Note is neither to unfairly attack nor to apologize for Islamic law, but rather to attempt an honest appraisal of Islamic humanitarian precepts, with an awareness of the way in which Islam has often been stereotyped as hostile and bloodthirsty in Western discourse. The intent is two-fold: First, to establish that scholars of modern international humanitarian law have often ignored its historical roots in Islamic law and second, to examine …

A Memorial For Bosnia: Framework Of Legal Arguments Concerning The Lawfulness Of The Maintenance Of The United Nations Security Council's Arms Embargo On Bosnia And Herzegovina, Craig Scott, Abid Qureshi, Jasminka Kalajdzic, Francis Chang, Paul Michell, Peter Copeland

Michigan Journal of International Law

This Memorial seeks to present a framework of legal arguments with respect to the validity and legal effects of an arms embargo imposed by United Nations Security Council Resolution 713 in September 1991 on the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Yugoslavia), before its dissolution, and since treated as being in force with respect to the new states that have succeeded Yugoslavia. More particularly, the Memorial addresses the legality of maintaining (or, at least, having maintained during the crucial time period) the arms embargo in force, either de jure or de facto, against the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Bosnia) …

The Haitian Refugee Crisis: A Quest For Human Rights, Thomas David Jones

Michigan Journal of International Law

On June 14, 1993, the Vienna Conference on Human Rights, sponsored by the United Nations, commenced its opening session mired in controversy over the validity of a universal human rights doctrine. Many Third World or developing nations contended that Western norms of justice and fairness were not applicable to their societies. Thus, the developing nations articulated a culture-bound or relativistic concept of fundamental human rights. The developing nations' particularistic position was championed by such nations as China, Iran, Cuba, and Vietnam, signatories to the Bangkok Declaration of 1993. The Bangkok Declaration provides, inter alia, that though human rights are …

State-Centered Refugee Law: From Resettlement To Containment, T. Alexander Aleinikoff

Michigan Journal of International Law

This paper will explore the international regime of refugee law, seeking to show how legal "solutions" to the "refugee problem" are profoundly state-centered. I will argue that discussions of "solutions" in refugee law and policy have taken a dramatic turn in recent years, replacing an exilic bias with a source-control bias. This new orientation focuses attention on countries of origin, supporting repatriation and human rights monitoring before and after return. I suggest that the shift in emphasis, albeit grounded in part in humanitarian concerns, presents real risks when realized within a system committed to the protection of human rights …

The Pull Of The Mainstream, Martti Koskenniemi

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Human Rights and Humanitarian Norms as Customary Law by Theodor Meron

Humanitarian Intervention, Daniel Wolf

Michigan Journal of International Law

This article argues that humanitarian intervention to prevent the mass slaughter by a state of its own citizens is not only a morally but a legally justifiable act under current norms of international law. The first section of the article discusses the traditional international legal rules concerning the doctrine of humanitarian intervention and their relevance to contemporary law. The second section analyzes the effect of the advent of the United Nations Charter on the legality of humanitarian intervention. Drawing on state practice and the opinion of the international legal community, the third section argues that the emergence of a post-Charter …

A Commentary On American Legal Scholarship Concerning The Admission Of Migrants, James A.R. Nafziger

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

The following essay will focus attention on American legal scholarship concerning the admission of migrants. This topic is instructive and practical because of its impact on both municipal and global law. An eminent international jurist observed that greater foresight by scholars twenty-five years ago could have averted many current problems of migration. Today, these problems arise from such sources as the population explosion, periodic droughts, the pull factor of opportunities in advanced economies, and massive political unrest in the Horn of Africa, Afghanistan, Southeast Asia, Central America, and elsewhere. Migrants are knocking at the gates of sovereignty, even crashing some …

Political Asylum In The Federal Republic Of Germany And The Republic Of France: Lessons For The United States, T. Alexander Aleinikoff

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

The recent flood of asylum claims, and the concerns it engenders, are not peculiar to the United States. Western European nations have witnessed similar increases in asylum applications over the past decade, .and institutions charged with adjudicating claims have become severely overburdened. This Article will describe the experience of the Federal Republic of Germany and the Republic of France in coping with the explosion of asylum claims. A comparative analysis may provide perspective on the American situation and perhaps suggest - or rule out - proposals for change currently under consideration in the United States. To appreciate the saliency of …

Political Asylum Under The 1980 Refugee Act: An Unfulfilled Promise, Arthur C. Helton

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Part I of this Article reviews the history and development of asylum law in the United States which culminated in the passage of the Refugee Act of 1980. It analyzes the failure of the responsible administrative authorities to follow the dictates of the law - a circumstance which prompted the passage of the Act and which now threatens to subvert the right to asylum in the United States. Part II considers the impact on asylum seekers of new alien interdiction and detention programs, and the legality of those programs under domestic and international law. Finally, Part III makes specific recommendations, …

Normative And Policy Restraints On War, William V. O'Brien

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Restraints on War: Studies in the Limitation of Armed Conflict edited by Michael Howard, and Humanitarian Politics: The International Committee of the Red Cross by David P. Forsythe

Punishment For War Crimes: Duty--Or Discretion?, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

In 1968, a movie called The Graduate received wide critical acclaim for characterizing the malaise of youthful America. For many, the scene most representative of contemporary irrelevance took place during the protagonist's homecoming party, at which a businessman, with grave and repetitive insistence, encouraged the recent college graduate to enter the plastics industry. In a CBS-TV news interview on November 24, 1969, Paul D. Meadlo revealed his participation in an incident in Vietnam that has captured the horrified attention of the nation. Meadlo, twenty-three years old, is a machine operator in a Terre Haute, Indiana plastics factory.

Crimes Against Humanity And The Principle Of Nonextradition Of Political Offenders, Manuel R. Garcia-Mora

Michigan Law Review

It is thus the purpose of this article to discuss the nature of crimes against humanity in an effort to determine whether they can be classified as political offenses. It is hoped that from the uncertainty and confusion which appear to underlie the practice of the State, some useful legal principles may be extracted.

Kirchheimer: Political Justice: The Use Of Legal Procedure For Political Ends, Kenneth S. Carlston

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Political Justice: The Use of Legal Procedure for Political Ends. By Otto Kirchheimer.