A new issue of the Goettingen Journal of International Law is out, including a special section on the International Criminal Court; Bernhard Kuschnik (EICC): Humaneness, Humankind and Crimes against Humanity; and Johanna Fournier (Bucerius): Reservations and the Effective Protection of Human Rights. Andreas Follesdal (Oslo): Universal Human Rights as a Shared Political Identity: Necessary? Sufficient? Impossible? A review of The Last Utopia: Human Rights in History by Samuel Moyn (and more and more and more and more). An interview with Jean Bricmont on the abuse of human rights discourse, relations with Iran and the value of international law. Onur Bakiner (Yale): History, Ethics, Politics: Rethinking the Legacy of Truth Commissions. A review of United Nations Justice: Legal and Judicial Reform in Governance Operations by Calin Trenkov-Wermuth. Eric Reeves on the annoyance of international justice. The July conviction of Kaing Guek Eav, better known as Duch — the 68-year-old head of the Khmer Rouge’s leading torture center — by a special UN–Cambodian criminal court has been seen as a breakthrough in international justice. A review of The Politics of Genocide by Edward Herman and David Peterson (and more). If we’ve learned anything from the trials for genocide and crimes against humanity in Rwanda, Bosnia, and now Cambodia, it’s that they don’t dispense victor’s justice — the sentences lean toward the light side. Paul Kagame is proving to be a pliant Western ally, but a shocking new UN report shows why the Rwandan president can no longer claim to be a victim — and it's time to hold him accountable (and more and more). A review of A Time for Machetes: The Rwandan Genocide — The Killers Speak by Jean Hatzfeld.
