D'Angelo Law Library Blog

The UN Resolution on Libya and International Law

 

The violence in Libya has escalated.  On March 1, 2011, the United Nations General Assembly suspended Libya from the Human Rights Council because of its ongoing violence against anti-government protesters.  On March 17, 2011, the UN adopted Resolution 1973 imposing a "no-fly zone" over Libya and authorizing "all necessary measures" to protect civilians in Libya.  China, Russia, Brazil, India, and Germany abstained.  In the past few days, the U.S., France, and the UK have conducted air strikes aimed at destroying Libyan government defense forces.  Below are links to selected news sources on the international and U.S. legal aspects of these actions:

• Update: Michael Ramsey's guest blog posts at Opinio Juris:  The Constitution and Libya; Declaring War and Libya:  A Comment on Past Practice; Declaring War and the Security Council
• Update: The Debate Over U.S. Libya Intervention (Matthew C. Waxman, Council on Foreign Relations, March 28, 2011)
• Update: Obama's Unconstitutional War (Bruce Ackerman, Foreign Policy, March 24, 2011)
• Update: A New Lease on Life for Humanitarianism:  How Operation Odyssey Dawn Will Revive RtoP (Stewart Patrick, Foreign Affairs, March 24, 2011)("responsibility to protect")
• Update: Why Congress Played No Role in the Libya Intervention (Eric Posner, The Volokh Conspiracy, March 21, 2011)
• Update: War Power:  The President's Campaign Against Libya is Constitutional (Jack Goldsmith, Slate, March 21, 2011)
• Update: The Folly of Protection:  Is Intervention Against Qaddafi's Regime Legal and Legitimate? (Michael W. Doyle, Foreign Affairs, March 20, 2011)
• A Critique of 'Humanitarian' Interventionism in Libya (Valentina Azarov, International Law Observer, March 20, 2011)
• The Libya UNSCR Helps the President's Domestic Constitutional Arguments (Jack Goldsmith, Lawfare, March 18, 2011)
• Libya No-Fly Operation:  What Comes Next? (Peggy McGuinness, Opinio Juris, March 18, 2011)
• Would Libya No-Fly Zone Require Congressional Authorization? (Peter Spiro, Opinio Juris, March 17, 2011)
• Could R2P Justify a No-Fly Zone in the Absence of Security Council Approval? (Natalie Oman, Opinio Juris, March 17, 2011)("responsibility to protect")
• It's Not Up to the President to Impose a No-Fly Zone Over Libya (Bruce Ackerman & Oona A. Hathaway, The Huffington Post, March 9, 2011)
• Intervening in Libya -- Domestic Law Authority (Jack Goldsmith, Lawfare, March 7, 2011)
• Humanitarian Intervention in Libya:  Follow-Up Post (Kenneth Anderson, Opinio Juris, March 7, 2011) 

Libya, the UN, and the ICC

The following sources are useful for an international legal perspective on the situation in Libya:

Peace Palace Library

• Update:  Libya and the International Criminal Court (ICC) (March 14, 2011)

The Telegraph

• Libya: African mercenaries 'immune from prosecution for war crimes' (February 28, 2011)

Coalition for the International Criminal Court (CICC)

• United Nations Security Council Refers Libya to the ICC:  ICC Prosecutor to Decide whether to Investigate Alleged Crimes Against Humanity (February 27, 2011) 

Opinio Juris

• Update:  Could the Prosecutor Decide Not to Investigate the Libyan Situation? (February 28, 2011)
• Can the Security Council Define the Limits of a “Situation”? (February 27, 2011)
• Security Council Refers the Situation in Libya to the ICC (February 27, 2011)
• Libya: Did Citizen Evacuations Stand in the Way of Better Policy? (February 26, 2011)
• The “Libya and Humanitarian Intervention” Meme (February 24, 2011)

IntLawGrrls

• ICC referral: sweet, or bittersweet? (February 27, 2011)
• Libya: Global Condemnations of Human Rights Violations (February 26, 2011)(links to selected international statements and developments)
• Human Rights Council call: Suspend Libya (February 25, 2011)

Chicago Celebrates Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and His Legacy

"We are tied in a single garment of destiny." - Martin Luther King, Jr.

Monday, January 17, 2011, is the 25th anniversary of the first Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday.  The University commemorated Dr. King's work with programs listed in the MLK Week schedule.  Judith Jamison, the Artistic Director of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, delivered the keynote speech.  The University designated today as a day of community service to acknowledge the important role of civic engagement in Reverend King's message.  Sunday, the University will host a musical and liturgical celebration of Dr. King's legacy at Rockefeller Chapel.  

The Chicago Sinfonietta is also holding its annual MLK, Jr. tribute concert, A Dream Unfolds (Jan. 15-17).  Other tributes to the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. are taking place elsewhere in Chicago and nationwide.

Martin Luther King, Jr. worked for peace and justice throughout the world.  As he said, "Injustice anywhere, is a threat to justice everywhere."  He influenced international legal reforms, and popular movements for peace, civil rights, and human rights worldwide.  The following bibliographies list works that focus on Dr. King's continuing legacy.

• The Legal Legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.:  Selected International Resources (2008).
• The Legal Legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.:  Selected Resources (2007).
• Martin Luther King, Jr., Civil Rights Activists & the Law: Selected D’Angelo Law Library Resources (2007).
• The Legal Legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.:  Selected Resources (2005).

 

The following list supplements the bibliographies:

GET Your United Nations Treaties Here...and More!

The United Nations Law Collection (UNLC), located in HeinOnline at http://heinonline.org.proxy.uchicago.edu/HOL/Index?collection=unl&set_as_cursor=clear, includes PDFs of multilateral and bilateral treaties published in the United Nations Treaty Series (U.N.T.S.).  You can retrieve UN treaty PDFs by using the Get Citation feature.

Besides being able to get U.N.T.S. (and L.N.T.S.) treaties by citation, you can also search for treaties by Title, Popular Name, Country/Party, Text, Signature Date, Signature Place, Treaty Description, and "Kavass Subjects".  With this last feature, you can search for all treaties on "piracy", for instance.  Note that not all treaties are tagged with "Kavass Subjects", so use a combination of searches to be thorough.  The UNLC has a separate list of "International Agreements By Popular Name" and links to "Scholarly Writings" of over 50 faculty members.  The UNLC includes an external link to the free United Nations Audiovisual Library of International Law (AVL) - another source for UN law publications in PDF.

There is a "Treaties and Agreements Library" in HeinOnline.  This includes sources of treaties and other international agreements to which the U.S. is a party.  It does not include the U.N.T.S.  The U.N.T.S. is an alternate source of treaties to which the U.S. is a party.  It also includes non-U.S. treaties.  To access the U.N.T.S., you need to use the separate United Nations Law Collection in HeinOnline.  

The United Nations Law Collection also includes PDF versions of Multilateral Treaties deposited with the Secretary-General (for status of treaties, texts of declarations and reservations), the League of Nations Treaty Series (L.N.T.S.); ICJ Reports of Judgments, Advisory Opinions and Orders; Reports of International Arbitral Awards (R.I.A.A.); ICJ, International Law Commission (ILC), and UNCITRAL yearbooks; Documents of the United Nations Conference on International Organization (San Francisco, 1945); reports of proceedings of UN conferences; the Treaty Handbook; and other UN law publications.

Forthcoming updates to the United Nations Law Collection will contain ICJ Pleadings and Oral Arguments, the ICJ Bibliography, and Judgements of the United Nations Administrative Tribunal (UNAT).  Stay tuned!

3 New United Nations Law Databases

The UN has unfurled three new free databases:

United Nations Treaty Collection (actually a re-launch; including the United Nations Treaty Series (UNTS) and a real-time update of status info via Multilateral Treaties Deposited with the Secretary-General)

http://treaties.un.org/

Yearbook of the United Nations (full-text PDF from 1946-2005; the UN Yearbook is a great research starting point as it references relevant documents on a topic)

http://unyearbook.un.org/

Audiovisual Library of International Law (includes a "Historic Archives" section containing full-text PDF of significant treaties and lists of related preparatory works/"travaux preparatoires" and other documents, a "Lecture Series" with videos, and a "Research Library" with related web-based links)

http://untreaty.un.org/cod/avl/index.html

Stay tuned as we'll soon have access to HeinOnline's United Nations Law Collection!