Stephanie Carvin

Duch-ing the issue: International Justice in Cambodia?

by Stephanie Carvin | 3 August, 2010 | Various and Sundry

Lots happening on the international law front – A Spanish judge (not Garzon!) has indicted three American soldiers who fired upon a hotel in Iraq which resulted in the death of a Spanish journalist. (Those Spanish judges sure love their universal jurisdiction...) Also, the Cluster Munitions Treaty came into effect.But perhaps the biggest international law story of the week was that of the conviction of Kaing Guek Eav or “Duch” by the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia for the Prosecution of Crimes Committed During the Period of Democratic Kampuchea (aka Cambodia...

UN Passes “Right to Water”: Diplomacy everywhere but not a drop to drink.

by Stephanie Carvin | 29 July, 2010 | Various and Sundry

Yesterday the General Assembly passed a non-binding resolution declaring “the right to safe and clean drinking water and sanitation as a human right that is essential for the full enjoyment of the right to life."The vote passed with 122 countries voting and 41 countries abstaining, including United States, Britain, Canada, Australia – but also other nations like Botswana and Turkey. On the other hand, China, Russia, Germany, France, Spain and Brazil backed the resolution.This vote comes after many years of debate. Water, increasingly seen as a strategic issue and a natural resource, is not...

Why states shouldn’t count on Facebook for foreign policy

by Stephanie Carvin | 25 July, 2010 | Various and Sundry

My colleague, Ben O’Loughlin at Royal Holloway, has written a blog post on the potential consequences of states in the West, particularly the US and UK, increasingly relying on informal social networking of its citizens to promote foreign policy priorities. This would be a move away from the kind of ham-fisted attempts at public diplomacy seen in the wake of 9/11 aimed at getting Arab states to “like” the west to allowing every day citizens to debate the international issues of the day.Thus, “The War on Terror” becomes the “The Long Change” – or changing people’s minds.However, Ben points...

Kosovo: Countrified!

by Stephanie Carvin | 22 July, 2010 | Featured

Just in case you were in suspense, the ICJ has declared that Kosovo's declaration of independence to be legal. Unsurprisingly, the Kosovars are happy, the Serbs are not happy and countries with independence movements are probably a bit more nervous. As the Guardian reports:The ruling is expected to have profound ramifications on the wider international stage, bolstering demands for recognition by territories as diverse as Northern Cyprus, Somaliland, Nagorno-Karabakh, South Ossetia, Abkhazia and Transnistria.Still, it was unlikely that a negative ruling would have meant the end of such...

International Justice Day

by Stephanie Carvin | 17 July, 2010 | Featured

Today is International Justice Day – at least according to the Coalition for the International Criminal Court. (What?! Aren’t you celebrating?!)It comes at an interesting time. The ICC ruled this past week that the charge of Genocide may be included as part of the allegations against Sudanese President Bashir. Secondly, the ICJ will be ruling next week on Kosovo’s declaration of independence.While both of these may suggest that international justice is strengthening throughout the system, I wonder if these events may actually demonstrate the opposite in some ways.First, there is hope that...

Fatwas and Football…erm… Soccer (or Bend It Like Osama)

by Stephanie Carvin | 9 July, 2010 | Featured

I’ve noticed that there has been little ‘quacking’ (ugh, I finally went there) on the blog on the subject of the World Cup. This might be due to the fact that I think pretty much all of us, regardless of location, are North American where ‘soccer’ is a fabulous summer sport if you are a female university student or a 9 year old. (Actually, that’s not fair – I went to a DC United game last fall and had a blast. It's a well-kept secret that US soccer fans actually know how to have a good time.)But do you know is paying attention to the World Cup? Radical Islamic militants.That’s right. Osama...

It’s radical, man.

by Stephanie Carvin | 7 July, 2010 | Various and Sundry

Through the very good King’s of War blog I was directed to a post on Jihadica on the recent emergence of an apparent Al-Qaida affiliated English-language publication called “Inspire”. While the author suggests that this has thrown Western media into a panic, there was very little to actually be worried about (other than the fact that it might contain a computer virus).The bottom line is that Inspire is a drop in an ocean of jihadi propaganda. The recent media coverage suggests that otherwise educated observers don’t seem to realise 1) how large and 2) how old that ocean is. I find this both...

Happy Canada Day!

by Stephanie Carvin | 1 July, 2010 | Various and Sundry

For Canada Day I wanted to post my favourite Canadian short film ever - The Sweater by Sheldon Cohen. It's based on the story by Roch Carrier (who narrates with the most awesome Quebecois accent ever). It's so popular among both Anglo and Franco-Canadians that they printed an excerpt on our $5 Bill.I just feel that it really helps to understand what Canada "is" because we're so often defined by what we're not.Quite frankly, we make Constitutional Monarchy look pretty sexy. And here is some Stan Rogers. Because he's awesome. PS: Go Leafs Go!

Some NPT Reading… if you’re out of summer novels.

by Stephanie Carvin | 24 June, 2010 | Various and Sundry

International Affairs – the (increasingly policy oriented) official journal of the Royal Institute of International Affairs (aka Chatham House) has published a “virtual” issue of articles on the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) dating back to 1968 and going up to the present. It includes one by Hedley Bull published in 1975 which (although very much dated) highlights the dilemmas of nuclear diplomacy during the period of detente and when India shocked the world by conducting a nuclear explosion in 1974 and China re-emerged as a major player on the world stage.Not exactly beach-y kind of summer...

The ICC Review Conference : The Belgium Amendment

by Stephanie Carvin | 15 June, 2010 | Various and Sundry

For those of you who are international law junkies (– and really, who isn’t?) ASIL has a very interesting blog on the ICC Review Conference that took place over the last two weeks in Kampala, Uganda. David Scheffer, a notable scholar on both the ICC and international criminal justice, has a really interesting post summarizing most of the decisions that were made.Of course one of the most interesting developments is, of course, the crime of aggression. However, what I find to be more interesting is the expansion of the prohibition of weapons banned in international armed conflict (including...

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