Marissa Zupancic is JURIST’s Washington DC Correspondent, a JURIST Senior Editor and a 3L at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. She’s stationed in Washington during her Semester in DC. Georgetown University hosted a conference on Monday covering the 75th anniversary of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), a military alliance of more than 30 [...]
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Explainer Part II: The Israel-Hamas War and the International Court of Justice
The ongoing conflict engulfing Israel and Palestine continues to raise significant issues of international law and policy. My earlier contribution focused on the jurisdiction and substantive law of the International Criminal Court (ICC). Here I address the ongoing litigation before the International Court of Justice (ICJ or Court). Because the crime of genocide can be [...]
Is Canada’s Decision to Suspend UNRWA Funding a Failure in Its Duty to Prevent Genocide?
In January, reports emerged alleging the involvement of United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) employees in the October 7, 2023 attack conducted by Hamas. Reacting to it, several state parties, including Canada, suspended funding to UNRWA, an institution that is considered a vital lifeline in Gaza. Ahmed [...]
UN judges expand war crime convictions of former Serbian security officials
The UN International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (IRMCT) on Wednesday expanded the convictions and increased the sentences of two individuals who helped to murder and deport non-Serbs during the Balkan wars. The two, Jovica Stanišić and Franko Simatović, are former Serbian security officials. The IRMCT’s Appeals Chamber dismissed the men’s appeals of their convictions [...]
Hague trial of former Kosovo president and Kosovo Liberation Army officers set to start
The Kosovo Specialist Chambers in the Hague Friday announced the trial of four former Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) members is due to begin Monday. The former Prime Minister of the Provisional Government of Kosovo (PGoK), Hashim Thaçi is amongst those who will stand trial. He and his co-conspirators are accused of crimes against humanity and [...]
Corruption was endemic throughout the Trump administration. Throughout the entire length of his administration, corruption and high turnover was a daily occurrence, threatening the strength and integrity of government institutions and, in some cases, indirectly resulting in the deaths of Americans. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was in no way immune to allegations of [...]
Former guerrilla unit commander found guilty of war crimes by special court investigating Kosovo War
Trial Panel I Friday announced its judgement in Specialist Prosecutor v. Salih Mustafa, finding Mustafa guilty of four counts of war crimes including arbitrary detention, cruel treatment, torture and murder. The verdict is the first case at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers, an EU-backed special court to investigate the Kosovo War, to involve war crime charges. [...]
European Commission recommends Bosnia and Herzegovina as candidate for EU membership
The European Commission (EC) Wednesday recommended Bosnia and Herzegovina be granted candidate status for accession to the European Union (EU). In a press release, the EC announced Bosnia and Herzegovina’s candidate status. The EC emphasized that the candidate status dictates that Bosnia and Herzegovina take steps towards reinforcing democracy, functionality of state institutions, rule of [...]
When International Legal Obligations Are Contradictory: America’s Dilemma in Ukraine
Ongoing Russian crimes against Ukraine are egregious and overlapping. Most conspicuous of these crimes are Vladimir Putin’s acts of aggression and of genocide. Jurisprudentially, even if Putin lacks any confirmable “intent to destroy” specific Ukrainian populations, Russia’s law-breaking behavior would still rise to the level of other relevant criteria or standards. Most recognizable, in this [...]
EU Candidate Status for Ukraine and Its Subsequent Implications
On June 23, 2022, in a “historic moment” for Kyiv, Ukraine was granted candidate status by the European Union (EU) in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Apart from being a geopolitical step, this move manifests the fact that the West has rallied behind Ukraine against the invasion by Russian forces. Moldova also officially [...]