Video

With the deadline for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) rapidly approaching, various groups are convening to talk about what is next. Many have indicated an imperative need for the inclusion of a rule of law component in the post-2015 framework, either as a separate goal or as a necessary underpinning to accomplish all development goals. The American Society of International Law will host a diverse group of rule of law development experts to address the issues of legal reform and development in the context of the MDGs.

Customary international law is now coming up in a variety of contexts in U.S. courts, including civil suits under the Alien Tort Statute, the review of military commission proceedings in the "war on terror," and criminal prosecution of piracy. Is customary international law a form of federal law, as claimed by the Restatement (Third) of the Foreign Relations Law of the United States? How does its status in the U.S. legal system compare with the status of treaties? Even if it is not directly applicable as U.S.

Cyber threats pose national, economic, and personal risks to both the public and private sectors. The frequency and complexity of cyber attacks are rising exponentially and outpace policy and legal regulations of the area. In this context, the issue for international law is in the applicability of traditional concepts to the realities of cyber threats. This event, cosponsored by the American Society of International Law and the United Nations Association, will explore the legal aspects of selected areas of cyber security in the United States.

ASIL, in cosponsorship with its Lieber Society on the Law of Armed Conflict, will host a discussion of the United States's decade-long experience with military commission proceedings against detainees held at the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, featuring Jess Bravin, an award-winning Wall Street Journal reporter and author of The Terror Courts: Rough Justice at Guantanamo Bay. Bravin will summarize the findings in his book, which draws on more than a decade of first-hand reporting at Guantanamo and extensive interviews with insiders in the commission process.

Assuming efforts to achieve a negotiated resolution do not succeed, President Obama has made clear that the military option to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons remains on the table. Under what circumstance would the exercise of that option be consistent with domestic and international law? If the Security Council is blocked by Russia and China, what actions can the US or NATO take? Would authorization of the Congress be necessary? What about action by Israel?

The ongoing trial of Rios Montt represents the first time a national court has tried a former head of state for genocide and war crimes. Guatemala's former dictator Rios Montt and his military intelligence chief, Jose Mauricio Rodriguez, have been on trial since March for the deaths of some 1,700 Maya-Ixil people during the 1982-83 period, when Montt was head of state and defense minister, and the army waged a brutal counter-insurgency campaign in the area.

This course is the last installment of three programs in a series cosponsored by the American Society of International Law in partnership with the United Nations Association of the National Capital Area’s International Law Committee to address the issue of the use of force. When is it permissible? What is the role of the UN and how can it be carried out?

The American Society of International Law and ASIL Academic Partner American University Washington College of Law's Academy on Human Rights and Humanitarian Law are pleased to present a three-part continuing legal education (CLE) series to provide a forum for the better understanding and discussion of human rights and humanitarian law theory.This first course will focus on how human rights related to sexual and reproductive health are enshrined in the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), governmental obligations to implement those rights, and m

In the last two decades international criminal courts such as the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and the International Tribunal for Rwanda have issued judgments characterizing gender-based crimes as war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide, depending on the context in which the crimes had been perpetrated.

Interview with Ben Ferenzc