Yesterday, a federal appeals court in Washington, D.C. reversed a lower court ruling that would have immediately transferred and released into the United States 17 detainees who have been cleared of terrorism charges after seven years of detention at the Guantanamo military base. In Kiyemba v. Obama, the court asserted that the detainees have a right to release but that the court lacks the authority "to order an alien held overseas brought into the sovereign territory of a nation and released into the general population." More

Last Friday, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., Philippe Kirsch, President of the International Criminal Court, and Judge Patricia Wald, former Judge of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, spoke on the future of the ICC and the upcoming review conference of the Rome Statute. The following provides a summary of what Mr. Kirsch said, a transcription of Judge Wald's speaking notes, a quick overview of the Q&A, and my brief commentary. More

The 2009 Annual Conference of the British Institute of International and Comparative Law will be held on Friday, 5 June 2009 in London. The theme of the conference is "Business and International Law." This Call for Papers is for new scholars to submit a proposal for a paper to be delivered at the conference. It is designed to encourage new academics, doctoral and masters students, and new legal professionals. The deadline is Monday, 16 March 2009. More

Mercedeh Momeni, an international law attorney and women's rights advocate, shared her thoughts on combating violence against women and the effect of international law at a luncheon attended by roughly 50 people. The luncheon was sponsored by the United Nations Association in Washington, D.C. and the Africa Interest Group of the Young Professionals for International Cooperation. Ms. Momeni previously served as Associate Legal Officer at the ad hoc UN International Criminal Tribunals for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia. She also investigated the genocide in Darfur as a member of the Atrocities Documentation Team of the U.S. Department of State. More

The U.S. Department of State seeks to establish a funding mechanism under its auspices for a permanent "Civilian Response Corps," staffed by a core of federal employees and a reserve of civilian experts. These specialists would deploy to the world's hot spots of low-intensity armed conflicts and post-conflict situations to provide police, corrections, criminal justice, and rule of law functions. In theory, the State Department would harmonize the stabilization and reconstruction efforts of civilian and military actors across all agencies of the government. A 600-person pilot project, costing $55 million, is scheduled to be deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq by November 2009, with the hiring of police and justice experts now in progress. These civilians will be provided some training with the military, according to the coordinator of the project. He did not say whether contractors would be trained in the law of war, humanitarian law, and international human rights standards. Like the civilian contractors of private military and security companies, any nonmilitary justice and police contractors will be accountable to their contracts under U.S. law. Their accountability under U.S. criminal law, the domestic laws of the host state, and international law is far less clear. Yesterday, the U.S. Commission on Wartime Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan held its first meeting to explore and possibly to recommend legislation to expand U.S. extraterritorial criminal jurisdiction over nonmilitary security contractors. More