Harvard ILJ

Earlier this month, a senior U.S. Department of State official indicated that the United States and China, following years of consideration and five months of expedited negotiations, will soon have the draft text of a Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT).  The agreement would further liberalize the trade relationship between the United States and China, as well [...]

In its decision in Oršuš and Others v. Croatia on Tuesday (3/16), a seventeen-member Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) held that the policy of Croatian primary schools distinguishing among students based on their grasp of the Croatian language resulted in discriminatory segregation of Roma students in violation of the European [...]

On February 18th and 19th, ministers representing 47 nations from the Council of Europe convened in Interlaken, Switzerland to address the need for urgent reforms to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). The resulting Interlaken Declaration now sets in motion a process for developing future reforms and the continued existence of the ECtHR. The [...]

On Tuesday, March 9, Harvard Law School, the Harvard Human Rights Program, and UNICEF will sponsor the panel discussion “Children and Transitional Justice.” Archbishop Desmond Tutu will participate by video, along with Yasmin Sooka of the Foundation for Human Rights, South Africa, Susan Bissell, Global Chief of Child Protection for UNICEF, Sharanjeet Parmar of Global [...]

In Ahmet Arslan and Others v. Turkey, the European Court of Human Rights overturned, by a vote of 6-1, a 1997 decision by the Turkish courts convicting 127 Turkish nationals of breaking two laws, one against wearing headgear and the other against wearing religious clothing in public other than for religious ceremonies. The applicants, members of a religious [...]

On February 20th of this year, a major ceasefire treaty was signed between the Darfuri Justice and Equality Movement (Jem) and the government of Sudan. Jem is only one of the many militant groups in the Darfur region. However, it has presented a significant threat to the Sudanese government. President Omar al-Bashir had made the [...]

The European Court of Human Rights, on February 11th, issued two non-final Chamber judgments concerning disappearances in Chechnya. In the two cases, Guluyeva and Others v. Russia and Dubayev and Bersnukayeva v. Russia, the applicants alleged that Russian servicemen had abducted their relatives and that domestic authorities failed to conduct an effective investigation into their [...]

On February 7,  a pre-trial chamber of the International Criminal Court (ICC) unanimously declined to confirm charges against Sudanese rebel leader Bahar Idriss Abu Garda. Mr. Abu Garda is the first person to appear voluntarily before the court. He had been charged with being a direct or indirect co-perpetrator of several war crimes, including murder, [...]

After numerous false starts, negotiations between the two parties to the decades-old stalemate in Cyprus seem to be moving forward again, this time with the assistance of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. Mr. Ban Ki-moon recently made his first official visit to Cyprus. The island nation has been divided into a Greek-speaking south and a [...]

Two trade ministers from the developing world have publicly voiced doubts about the willingness and ability of the United States to reach a global trade agreement during 2010.  Their criticism calls into question the ability of leaders of the G20 nations to follow through on their September 2009 promise to conclude a trade agreement this [...]

Justice Albie Sachs, who served on the Constitutional Court of South Africa until October 2009 and author of the recently published book The Strange Alchemy of Life and Law, will speak at Harvard Law School on February 5 at 3:00 pm in Austin North. The program is sponsored by the Harvard Law School Office of [...]

Speaking at a press conference in Strasbourg, Jean-Paul Costa, President of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), expressed three reasons for optimism about reform measures for the Court in 2010. Firstly, the Treaty of Lisbon opens the way for the European Union’s participation in the European Convention on Human Rights, strengthening the role of [...]