...
1983 (15 years ago today), the Defence Minister of Israel,
Ariel Sharon, was forced to quit after an Israeli tribunal found Sharon at fault for failing in 1982 to prevent the Lebanese Christian Phalangist militia from massacring more than 800
refugees in the Sabra and Shatila camps near Beirut. Years later, plaintiffs invoked Belgium's universal jurisdiction law in an effort to call Sharon, by then Israel's Prime Minister, further to account. This invocation and others led to Belgium's gutting of the statute. Among those who've written about this are IntLawGrrl
Diane F. Orentlicher, in
Whose Justice? Reconciling Universal Jurisdiction with Democratic Principles, 92 Georgetown Law Journal 1057 (2004), and
, in 2003, our colleagues
Steven R. Ratner,
Belgium’s War Crimes Statute: A Postmortem, 97 American Journal of International Law 888, and
Malvina Halberstam,
Belgium’s Universal Jurisdiction Law: Vindication of International Justice or Pursuit of Politics?, 25 Cardozo Law Review 247.
Sharon's been in a coma since a 2006 stroke.
...
2008 (today), is celebrated the Buddhist festival of
Nirvana Day, marking the death of
Buddha (right) at age 80. On this day,
Buddhists think about their lives and how they can work towards gaining the perfect peace of Nirvana. Nirvana is believed to be the end of rebirth and is the ultimate aim of Buddhism. It is reached when all want and suffering is gone.
, in 2003, our colleagues Steven R. Ratner, Belgium’s War Crimes Statute: A Postmortem, 97 American Journal of International Law 888, and Malvina Halberstam, Belgium’s Universal Jurisdiction Law: Vindication of International Justice or Pursuit of Politics?, 25 Cardozo Law Review 247. Sharon's been in a coma since a 2006 stroke.
