On November 23

On this day in ...
... 1984, the U.N. General Assembly adopted Resolution 39/17, discussing the "Importance of the universal realization of the right of peoples to self-determination and of the speedy granting of independence to colonial countries and peoples for the effective guarantee and observance of human rights." Occasioning the restatement of the self-determination right were a laundry list of events: continuing apartheid in South Africa, occupation of Namibia and part of Angola by South Africa, and recent invasion of Lebanon by Israel.

(Prior November 23 posts are here, here, and here.)

On October 20

On this day in ...

... 2005 (5 years ago), a commission appointed by the U.N. released a report which attributed the February car-bomb death of Lebanon's former Prime Minister to "a carefully planned terrorist act organized by Syrian and Lebanese intelligence services," the The New York Times reported. German prosecutor Detlev Mehlis, who led the commission that produced what came to be called the Mehlis Report on the death of Rafik Hariri, told the Post: "'The assassination of 14 February 2005 was carried out by a group with an extensive organization and considerable resources and capabilities.'" In 2007, as we've posted, the U.N. Security Council would establish a Special Tribunal for Lebanon at The Hague, Netherlands. to examine the case. To date the tribunal (logo at left; prior posts) has issued no formal charges against anyone. (Last week it appointed its appeals judges; from a look at the tribunal's website, it appears that all its judges are men.) Just a few days ago, a U.S. State Department representative visited Beirut to insist that the tribunal "be allowed to work independently," according to a United Press International report. It quoted him as follows:

'We believe that the tribunal should be allowed to complete its work on its
own timeline and without outside interference until those responsible for the assassinations … are brought to justice.'

(Prior October 20 posts are here, here, and here.)

On August 5

On this day in ...
... 2006, 2 of the 5 permanent Council members, the United States and France, circulated a draft U.N. Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire in Lebanon, site for nearly 4 weeks of warfare between Israel and Hezbollah. (map credit) The proposal made little headway on account of opposition by Middle East countries. The New York Times reported:

The stalling of progress at the United Nations reflected an outpouring of condemnation across the Middle East, demonstrating a conviction that the proposed resolution spoke to all of Israel's demands, backed by the United States, without addressing those of Hezbollah.

On August 11 the Council would pass a revised ceasefire measure, Resolution 1701 (2006).

(Prior August 5 posts are here, here, and here.)

Cluster bomb ban in force

Chalk up another law regulating the way that war is waged.
The Convention on Cluster Munitions today enters into force for the 30-plus countries that have joined the treaty since it was adopted on May 30, 2008, in Dublin, Ireland. To date this this legal prohibition on the use, production, stockpiling and transfer of cluster munitions has been ratified by these countries : Albania, Austria, Belgium, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Comoros, Croatia, Denmark, Equador, Fiji, France, Germany, The Holy See, Ireland, Japan, The Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Lesotho, Luxembourg, The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Malawi, Mali, Malta, Mexico, Moldova, Montenegro, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Niger, Norway, Samoa, San Marino, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Slovenia, Spain, United Kingdom, Uruguay and Zambia.
This November in Vientiane, Laos, states parties will assemble for the 1st time.
The campaign for more states parties to the treaty continues. (Prior IntLawGrrls posts) Campaign tools include the International Committee of the Red Cross publication Death in the fields, a moving comic book, by Swiss-Lebanese cartoonist Chappatte. It depicts the harm that cluster bombs wreak on children and their communities in South Lebanon.

On March 17

On this day in ...
... 1978, the BBC reported on the flight of "[t]housands of Palestinian civilians" following "a third day of Israeli attacks in southern Lebanon." While "[h]eavy artillery shells fell within Israeli-controlled southern Lebanon" and international diplomats endeavored to put an end to the fighting, refugees headed for Beirut in "vans, lorries and old buses," and the death toll reached 150. The offensive was reported to be "in retaliation for the 11 March bus hijacking in Tel Aviv in which 35 people were killed and 100 others were injured." Israeli troops would leave southern Lebanon in June of the same year.

(Prior March 17 posts are here, here, and here)

On March 9

On this day in ...
... 1957, signed into U.S. law was "the Eisenhower Doctrine." President Dwight D. Eisenhower (left) proclaimed, in signing a congressional resolution embodying the doctrine he'd announced 3 months earlier, that the law constituted

'a further demonstration of the will of the American people to preserve peace and freedom in the world.'

Specifically, as reported by The New York Times, the resolution "establish[ed] a policy of United States resistance to Communist aggression in that strategic oil-rich area" of the world known as the Middle East. According to the State Department's website, the 1st "real test" of the doctrine came a year later when, on request of the Lebanese government, Eisenhower sent U.S. troops to Lebanon "as a signal to the Soviet Union that it would act to protect its interests in the Middle East."

(Prior March 9 posts are here, here, and here)

On September 20

On this day in ...
... 1984 (25 years ago today), at least 20 persons died and dozens more were injured when a explosion at the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, "ripped off" the front of the 6-week-old, 5-story building (right). Setting off the suicide bomb, according to the BBC, was "a member of the extremist group, the Islamic Jihad," who "drove at high speed up the main drive of the consulate in a truck containing 500 kg (1,102 lb) of high explosive." U.S. Ambassador Reginald Bartholomew "was buried under rubble" but survived.

(Prior September 20 posts are here and here.)

On July 3

On this day in ...
... 1927, during a local plebiscite, Uruguay became the 1st South American country to permit women to vote. (photo credit) As described and depicted in this essay, suffrage was extended so that Uruguayan women could vote in a referendum on how to organize government in the area known as Cerro Chato. Women would not be permitted to vote in national elections in Uruguay until 1938.
... 1940, Nayla Moawad (below right) was born into a "prominent" family in Bsharri, Lebanon. (photo credit) Following education in Lebanon and at Cambridge University in England, she worked as a journalist, then married René Moawad, who would serve as President of Lebanon for 17 days before being assassinated on November 22, 1989. Thereafter Nayla Moawad herself ran for office. She's served as a member of Lebanon's National Assembly since 1991, and as Minister for Social Affairs since 2005. As stated in this sidebar to her 2008 Spiegel Online interview, "She is known for her outspoken criticism of Hezbollah and Syrian hegemony over Lebanon."

(Prior July 3 posts are here and here.)

Regulating the Domestic Sphere: The Role of States

Given the potential for abuse and widespread lack of regulation, working conditions in the domestic sphere are particularly perilous. Add temporary or nonexistent immigration status to the mix, and the situation becomes even more dire. Though the examples in this post focus on the situation of migrant domestic laborers, largely Asian and female, who work in the Middle East, such abuse has been amply documented in the United States and presumably occurs with regularity around the globe. Stories abound of exploitation ranging from unpaid wages to rape; while awareness of these issues has been raised in recent years, legal frameworks for protection in states that receive such workers are often non-existent or underenforced. Moreover, labor-sending states should be playing a larger role in establishing and enforcing the rights of migrant domestic laborers.

Receiving states are an obvious starting point for protection frameworks, but domestic workers are often excluded from labor law protections. In Lebanon, for example, which hosts over 200,000 migrant domestic workers, mainly Filipina and Sri Lankan women, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and the International Labor Organization have only just succeeded in creating a common set of standards, in the form of a unified contract, to protect migrant domestic workers. The contract includes basic rights to adequate food and clothing and a private place to sleep, limits workdays to 10 hours per day and 6 days per week, and requires employers to provide monthly paychecks as well as health insurance for domestic employees. Yet the employer still has the right to hold workers' passports, may terminate employment at will, and most importantly faces no enforcement mechanism for violations of the contract. While uniform standards are preferable to the void that existed previously, rights of domestic migrant workers must be given enforceable legal status before they will be taken seriously by employers.

Sending states can also play a role in protecting their workers abroad. Given the financial benefits migrant worker-exporting states reap in the form of remittances -- for example, in 2007, Bangladeshis working in Saudi Arabia and the UAE and Filipinos working in the Arab States each sent home over $2 billion while Sri Lankans remitted $3 billion -- they should recognize the importance of protecting the physical and psychological well-being of these workers. I've blogged here about the Philippines' creative program to protect migrant workers abroad, which offers support to laborers prior to departure, during their work stint, and for repatriation. At the other end of the spectrum, some nations ban their citizens from working in countries notorious for abusing their workers or ban women from participating in migrant labor flows -- a dangerous step likely to push migrant workers underground and eliminate access to protective services. Given the failure of the UN Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers to attract signatories from migrant-receiving states, sending states might negotiate bilateral treaties protecting the rights of migrant workers, ensuring that those working in the domestic sphere are covered by labor laws. Short of a such a serious commitment, states could ameliorate the situation of their workers abroad through relatively simple programs such as pre-departure rights presentations to migrants and effective outreach and support programs within embassies and consulates.

On March 19

On this day in ...
... 1978, the U.N. Security Council passed Resolutions 425 and 426, which called upon Israel to withdraw all its troops from Lebanon, and further established the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).
... 1937, France accorded women status in civil society. Specifically, to proceed in any civil action, judicial or administrative, a woman could no longer be required to get her husband's approval.

(Prior March 19 posts are here and here.)

A really bad international legal development

The 11 judges of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon were sworn in yesterday.
Who are they, you ask?
Can't say.
In what has to be among the more backward developments of the current proliferation of internationalized forums for criminal adjudication, these judges' "identities are being kept secret for their safety." So went CNN's uncritical account of the event.
Marlise Simons of The New York Times didn't even bother to remark on her failure to name the judges, though she did volunteer that "only four" are Lebanese. Simons then proceeded to describe what she deemed "an impressive arsenal of security devices, with an extra focus on forestalling car bombs," to be found at the Hague-area headquarters (below left; credit) of this new tribunal (prior posts). She told much of her story through "[l]awyers familiar with the court" who "requested anonymity because of the court’s rules" -- whatever that means.
Transparency and publicity are cornerstones of contemporary norms of criminal procedure, and for good reason. Experience -- ranging from the Star Chamber of 17th C. England to the "Faceless Courts" of 20th C. Latin America to the post-9/11 policies of 21st C. United States -- reveals that secrecy invites arbitrary behavior and unfair proceedings.
► On what ground does Special Tribunal for Lebanon go forward in robes of anonymity?
► Why is it that the judges' names are secret when the prosecutor's is not?
► What does its apparent fear of identification portend for the ability of this bench to presume the innocence of any suspect brought before it?
► How can affected communities evaluate the work of this tribunal if they must glimpse it through veils of unnamed sources?
No doubt some will respond that such precautions are necessary, that this tribunal cannot go forward any other way. Such a response begs yet another question:
► Is sending in the lawyers the right way to address insecurity in post-Hariri Lebanon?

On February 26

On this day in ...
... 1957, "one the greatest athletes in American sporting history," Connie Carpenter-Phinney (left), was born in Madison, Wisconsin. The winner of many national and international cycling championships, she won gold in Los Angeles "in the 1984 Olympic road race, the first ever for women." A dozen years earlier, at age 15, she speed-skated for the U.S. team in the Olympics at Sapporo, Japan. She's the 1st woman to have competed in both Summer and Winter Olympic Games. (photo credit)
... 1984 (25 years ago today), approximately 1,000 U.S. Marines left Beirut, Lebanon, thus bringing to an end American military presence in the city. The withdrawal came several months after a bomb blast killed hundreds of U.S.and French servicemembers.

(Prior February 20 posts are here and here.)

On October 23

On this day in ...

... 1983 (25 years ago today), in the midst of civil war in Lebanon, bombs in Beirut devastated barracks of American and French armed forces, killing 241 American servicemembers, nearly all of them Marines, and 58 parachutistes. Although President Ronald Reagan "insist[ed] Marines will remain," the United States withdrew all troops from the country within months. (credit for photo of the President and 1st Lady Nancy Reagan reviewing caskets of U.S. troops who died in the bombing)

... 1989, in 1 country that had led movements in Eastern Europe away from the Warsaw Pact and toward market economies, Hungary became a republic by proclamation of interim President Mátyás Szűrös. The declaration came on the 33d anniversary of the unsuccessful uprising against Soviet control. Free elections would be held the following year. Hungary (flag at left) became a member of NATO in 1999 and of the European Union in 2004.

Conflict in the Caucasus: Restoring Peace and Principle in that Region and the World

Watching for signs of war with Iran, many of us probably took our eyes off other hot spots where President George W. Bush’s imminent departure is a strategic consideration. In this guest post I turn attention to one such hot spot, the Caucasus.
Georgia’s Mikheil Saakashvili (left) launched his military action to regain control of South Ossetia, no doubt with the departure in mind and probably thinking America’s pro-war administration would back him — that President Bush would tamp down any Russian response while watching the Olympics together with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin (above right).
But Saakashvili’s action was unlawful and foolhardy. The world is rightly condemning the disproportionate Russian response. President Bush and both presidential candidates have done so. The McCain and Obama camps have both cited violations of international law — it must, however, be emphasized that among those violations is the Georgian raid.
Georgia’s claim to title of both South Ossetia and Abkhazia is good. Groups in both regions want independence from Georgia on the basis of human rights violations and historic grievances. Violence has erupted among ethnic groups in both places. In the early 1990s, Georgia agreed to the presence of “peacekeeping” troops to keep order. These have mostly been Russian soldiers supporting those who want independence. The agreements clearly do not strip Georgia of title. But they do mean that until they are terminated and foreign troops are given a chance to exit, Georgia has no right to use military force to expel them. These principles were restated most recently in Armed Activities on the Territory of Congo, a 2005 International Court of Justice judgment.
Given its right to be in South Ossetia, Russia also had the right to take defensive action against Georgia. That means, however, only action necessary and proportional to accomplish the purpose of defense (asI detailed here in 2002). Russian bombing beyond South Ossetia, striking civilians — even inadvertently — cannot be justified. (map credit) Israel was heavily criticized in 2006 in its war with Hezbollah in Lebanon for disproportionate force. Israel also had the right to take defensive action against Hezbollah rockets, but bombing far beyond the rocket positions in heavily populated civilian areas was condemned. Surely Russia joined in that condemnation?
Russia’s purpose in its excessive use of force may well be to create a situation where it can make excessive demands in peace negotiations. It may demand independence for Abkhazia and South Ossetia and that Saakashvili step down.
The right response to the Russians is to repeat back the arguments they have been making for years with respect to Kosovo — that territory does not change hands because of human rights violations against inhabitants. (IntLawGrrl Elena Baylis posted concerns here when Kosovo declared independence.) Territory should never change hands because of the unlawful use of force. International law mandates other means and mechanisms of protecting human rights. Indeed, the Russian use of such arguments now — so close to the European and American arguments for Kosovo — must be intentional. Europe and America are hardly in a position to renounce them now when it comes to Georgia.
But China can. It joined Russia in arguing that Kosovo’s independence violates international law. China should be encouraged to join the mediation of this conflict — thus supporting the international rule of law. It will be so much easier then for the next U.S. president to remind China of the international law with respect to human rights, the environment, trade, and peace. Much easier than it has been for President Bush.
Indeed, the time is right for a general renewal of commitment to peace and the international law that supports it in the face of yet another unlawful, foolhardy, and tragic conflict.

On this day

On March 14, ...
... 1991, 6 men arrested in 1974 following pub bombings that killed 21 persons were freed after 16 years in prison when a British court quashed their convictions based on evidence of misconduct by police and prosecutors. Representing the exonerated men, who'd become known as the Birmingham Six, was Gareth Peirce (above), a British barrister known for her representation of persons accused of terrorist acts. Among the recent clients of Peirce, whom the BBC's described as "an unreconstructed, old-fashioned, radical lawyer": some of the men whom the United States has detained at Guantánamo. (photo credit)
... 2005, political turmoil touched off by the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri exactly 1 month earlier -- Lebanon's "Cedar Revolution" -- continued. The Associated Press reported that

symbols of Syrian power began coming down ... as Syrian military intelligence agents emptied their offices in Beirut and Tripoli and workers took down an imposing portrait of Syria's president in the capital's seaside boulevard. Lebanese citizens quickly hoisted their national flag -- red and white with a green cedar tree in the middle -- near the sites.

As we've posted, a Special Tribunal for Lebanon, charged with adjudicating crimes related to the Hariri killing, has been authorized but is not yet in operation.

Newest tribunal on the international block

Among the anniversaries just marked was that of the February 14, 2005, assassination of Rafiq Hariri, former Prime Minister of Lebanon (flag at right). Hariri died in Beirut, along with more than a dozen others, when a bomb exploded near his motorcade. Suspicions that some other state -- Syria, for example -- might be behind the incident made the incident a political hot potato. After much wrangling, last May the U.N. Security Council , by Resolution 1757 (2007), established the Special Tribunal for Lebanon. It joined a host of other ad hoc tribunals charged with adjudicating crimes in places like Sierra Leone, Cambodia, Rwanda, and the former Yugoslavia. (A Burundi tribunal also appears to be forthcoming.)
Thus it was fitting that members of ASIL-West, the regional pilot project of the American Society of International Law, met in San Francisco last week to hear about the new Lebanon Tribunal from the State Department's Assistant Legal Adviser for African and Near Eastern Affairs, Linda Jacobson. That session prompts this review of the progress of that Tribunal in these months since the Security Council's action last spring.
The jurisdiction of the Tribunal has the potential to encompass a number of incidents. Article 1 of its Statute refers not only to "the attack of 14 February 2005, but also to "other attacks that occurred in Lebanon between 1 October 2004 and 12 December 2005, or any later date decided by the Parties and with the consent of the Security Council, are connected" to the 1st attack. "Connection" is defined broadly, to include linkage by "criminal intent (motive), the purpose behind the attacks, the nature of the victims targeted, the pattern of the attacks (modus operandi) and the perpetrators."
Unlike in other hybrid tribunals, in Article 2 the applicable law is not international but rather, exclusively, national law:

► provisions of the Lebanese Criminal Code relating to the prosecution and punishment of acts of terrorism, crimes and offences against life and personal integrity, illicit associations and failure to report crimes and offences, including the rules regarding the maerial elements of a crime, criminal participation and conspiracy; and ...
► ... Lebanese law ... on 'Increasing the penalties for sedition, civil war and interfaith struggle.

Like many hybrid tribunals, this one will be situated at The Hague. And as in other hybrids, in this Tribunal positions will be divided between Lebanese and "internationals," both appointed by the U.N. Secretary-General from selection lists provided by states. To date a Chief Prosecutor's been named -- Daniel Bellemare of Canada, a founder and vice president of the International Association of Prosecutors. Bellemare's also serving as Commissioner of the U.N. International Independent Investigation Commission that's setting up the Tribunal. Judges too have been appointed, according to a a recent Los Angeles Times editorial.
But that same editorial reports that Syria (flag at right) is trying to thwart full implementation of the Tribunal. Last Thursday's anniversary thus was marked not by the gaveling to order of a new Tribunal, but rather by promises, from U.S. officials like President George W. Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as well as the U.N. Secretary-General's office, to keep on pushing toward that end.

On February 8, ...

... 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.

The Forced Migration Count

Kelly O'Donnell and Kathleen Newland, both of the Migration Policy Institute, have just released a new report on the humanitarian crisis in Iraq. The facts and figures are grim:
► Between September and December 2007, over 45,000 Iraqis returned from Syria to Iraq. Almost 70 percent returned not because of improved security, but because they could not afford to live in Syria, as they faced stricter visa policies and difficulty finding work.
► As reported here, Syria introduced visa restrictions for Iraqis in October 2007. Prior to these restrictions, an estimated 2,000 Iraqis entered Syria each day. Jordan closed its borders in 2005, and Saudi Arabia is building a 560-mile border fence with Iraq to keep out undocumented immigrants. In Lebanon, Iraqis have no legal status; the government detains them indefinitely until they agree to return to Iraq.
► Of an estimated 2.2 million externally displaced, only 5,000 Iraqis had been resettled in third countries by December 2007. Although the United States allocated space for 7,000 Iraqi refugees and the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) referred over 10,000 Iraqis to the U.S., only 1,608 Iraqis were resettled to the United States during fiscal year 2007.
► Iraqi asylum claims in the 36 industrialized countries that report data to UNHCR more than doubled in the first six months of 2007 compared to the first six months of 2006.
► UNHCR estimates that 60,000 Iraqis per month, or just over 80 people each hour, are being displaced within Iraq.
► Due to restrictions on internal movement within Iraq, many of the 2.3 million internally displaced are forced to return to neighborhoods plagued by the sectarian violence they were trying to flee. Former employees of the US government are particularly at risk. (photo credits here and here)
In the words of Newland (right) and O'Donnell, "the international response to the humanitarian crisis resulting from the war in Iraq is, thus far, wholly inadequate . . . [U]rgent action, beginning today, is needed to build toward an enduring, comprehensive solution . ..."
'Nuff said.

Iraqi Refugees in Their Own Voices

The plight of Iraqi refugees is finally making headlines in US papers, with Lebanon offering the choice between "rot[ting] in jail" there or returning "to Iraq [to] face death" and Syria closing its borders to new arrivals. As waves of Iraqis refugees return, the American military says that the Iraqi government lacks "a plan to absorb the influx and prevent it from setting off a new round of sectarian violence." (You know things are bad when the U.S. military accuses you of lacking a plan for Iraq's future.) But amidst all of the debate, one voice is sorely lacking -- that of the Iraqi refugees themselves. My friend Kalyanee Mam (pictured at right), a Cambodian refugee herself, has created a documentary, Between Earth & Sky, presenting the stories of Iraqi refugees and internally displaced. (You can view the trailer here.) To raise awareness around this vitally important issue, she is organizing panel discussions and presenting clips from the documentary at law schools around the country, most recently the University of Michigan. (You can contact her here if you'd like to bring the documentary to your school.) While we're on the topic of good causes, the Iraqi Student Project is working to obtain tuition waivers at U.S. undergraduate institutions for Iraqi students and The List Project, started by Kirk Johnson (whose story George Packer described in the New Yorker) seeks to identify "the Iraqis whose lives were imperiled because they believed in us enough to come help in our state-building effort" and bring them to the U.S. as refugees. So what are you waiting for? Even if our government is woefully slow to protect Iraqis, you can take action now. (Photo credits to Kalyanee Mam).