Search Results for: blackwater

Haitian security forces, partnered with US-based private contractors, conducted a series of drone strikes over the last year in densely populated urban areas to target members of criminal groups, but consequently killing and injuring civilians, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Tuesday. Reports attribute the strikes to a task force controlled by Haitian Prime Minister Alix [...]

Professor Andrew Clapham of the Geneva Graduate Institute is a leading expert in the interplay of war and international law. In his timely new book “War,” Clapham explores the modern relevance of the concept of war and how it shapes our understanding of rights and obligations in both national and international law, questioning whether the [...]

A US federal judge ordered a retrial on Friday in a case involving allegations that Virginia-based military contractor CACI Premier Technology, Inc. (CACI) contributed to the abuse and torture of detainees at Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison two decades ago. Judge Leonie Brinkema granted the plaintiffs’ motion for a new trial and denied CACI’s motion for [...]

The fact that a person who committed an act which constitutes a crime under international law acted as Head of State or responsible Government official does not relieve him from responsibility under international law Principles of International Law Recognized in the Charter of the Nuremberg Tribunal and in the Judgment of the Tribunal (1950) (Principle [...]

“So far from it being unjust to punish him, it would be unjust if his wrongs were allowed to go unpunished.” Nuremberg Tribunal (1946) At the beginning of 2024, former President Donald J. Trump’s most conspicuously unsupportable legal claim has been his personal immunity from criminal prosecution. With this claim, Mr. Trump and his lead [...]

“Each state is expected, perpetually, to aid and enforce the law of nations, as part of the common law, by inflicting an adequate punishment upon the offenses against that universal law.” William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Law of England (Book 4) After January 6, 2021, it was disclosed by the special investigating committee of the [...]

In jurisprudential matters, whether national or international, precedent remains vitally important. When former (and possibly future) US President Donald J. Trump issued illegal pardons to selected American officials for established crimes against international law, the consequences reverberated in other countries. Now, with still-mounting Russian crimes against Ukraine –  crimes of war; crimes against peace; and crimes [...]

“States shall not take….any measures which may be prejudicial to the international obligations they have assumed in regard to the detection, arrest, extradition and punishment of persons guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity.” – Principles of International Cooperation, General Assembly Resolution, 1973 “It’s not surprising that a criminal like Trump pardons other criminals, [...]

As usual, Trump doesn’t see the link between his Blackwater pardons and potential retaliation on Soleimani’s death anniversary. US President Trump does not understand foreign policy. As usual, he cannot fathom the links between his at-first-sight isolated decisions and the larger US foreign policy and security picture. Look no further than his recent Blackwater pardons [...]

UN rights experts attached to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights Wednesday condemned President Trump’s December 22 pardoning of four former Blackwater contractors, asserting that the pardons violated international law. The Chair-Rapporteur of the Working Group on the use of mercenaries, Jelena Aparac, called the pardons an “affront to justice to the [...]