By Otto Spijkers

"What government is today’s champion of human rights?" This is the question raised, and answered, by Kenneth Roth, the executive director of Human Rights Watch, in his lecture at the Carnegie Council . Roth basically summarized the Human Rights Watch World Report of 2007. He said that the US can no longer credibly advocate rights that it flouts, and that the world must look for a new human rights champion.
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By Otto Spijkers

Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon addressed the young generation, represented by a group of students of the United Nations International School. He spoke to them about his own generation and said: "We are all complicit in the process of global warming. Unsustainable practices are deeply entrenched in our everyday lives. But in the absence of decisive measures, the true cost of our actions will be borne by succeeding generations, starting with yours." And then he pointed at the young students.

The South-Korean Secretary-General added: "Unfortunately, my generation has been somewhat careless in looking after our one and only planet. But I am hopeful that is finally changing. And I am also hopeful that your generation will prove far better stewards of our environment; in fact, looking around this hall today, I have a strong sense that you already are." I am not sure what the Secretary-General saw when he was looking around the United Nations General Assembly hall (where the conference took place), but what he saw seems to have comforted him. The International Strategy for Disaster Reduction created a simple computer game that will help the younger generation understand what to do in order to save the environment (it is called the Stop Disaster Game, and you can play the game here; each scenario takes between 10 and 20 minutes to play, depending on the disaster you are trying to prevent and your skill level).

I find this a bit troubling. First Ban Ki-Moon says that unfortunately the older generation was somewhat careless in looking after the environment, and then he tells the younger generation not to do the same. Al Gore uses a similar tactic. He tells the world that its behaviour patterns must change, but at the same time the Tennessee Center for Policy Research found out that Al Gore consumes more electricity every month than the average American household uses in an entire year. Al Gore does not seem to deny this, but he seems to say that he compensates this by campaigning for a healthier environment and by investing in clean energy. I think Al Gore’s documentary is extremely useful and I think he deserves his Oscar, but the problem remains.

I was thinking: can the younger generation not claim reparations from the older generation, in addition to being lectured on how not to make the same mistakes? Of course the young generation should do better than the previous generation.

The picture comes from the Living Sculptures Website. One can see Atlas who refuses to keep carrying the world on his shoulders.

by Otto Spijkers 

"Serbia is guilty! It was genocide in Bosnia." That’s what was written on a banner hanging outside the Peace Palace, where the International Court of Justice delivered the judgment in the genocide case between Bosnia and Serbia this morning. And the banner was right. The Court indeed ruled that genocide took place in Srebrenica. However, the Serbian state was only held responsible for a failure to prevent it and a failure to punish those responsible for it. And not for committing genocide.
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By Otto Spijkers

Bolton likes Ban Ki-Moon. At least he likes him better than the previous Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr. Kofi Annan. Of the latter Bolton says: "If he had spent less time moralizing and more time doing his day job, the United Nations may have been spared the oil-for-food scandal, procurement fraud and widespread sexual exploitation and abuse by its peacekeepers." What to make of such comments?
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By Otto Spijkers

An asteroid named Apophis is approaching earth. It may strike our planet on April 13, 2036. A group of astronauts, engineers and scientists recently called upon the United Nations to assume responsibility for a space mission to deflect it.
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By Otto Spijkers

A bronze man, facing UN Headquarters (see picture), uses a hammer to beat a sword into a plowshare. It is a statue in the United Nations Park in New York, made by the Russian artist Evgeniy Vuchetich. It has become a symbol of the work of the United Nations and its evolution: the United Nations does not only wish to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war; it also aims to promote the economic and social advancement of all peoples. How to implement these ideals in practice?
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By Otto Spijkers

Can a state commit genocide, and be held accountable for it? For example: can the Serbian state be held responsible for the genocide of Srebrenica in July 1995? This is the question Bosnia asked the International Court of Justice. The court will deliver the judgement in this case on 26 February 2007. One would perhaps be inclined to say that only individuals can commit crimes. However, genocide is not an ordinary crime.
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By Richard Norman

General Rupert Smith, a distinguished retired British officer, recently spoke at the Carnegie Council (a transcript is available hereand an audio file here or at Itunes). His new book, The Utility of Force, cuts through the insular and out-dated debate that has surrounded recent wars in Kosovo, Lebanon, Iraq, and Afghanistan, and shows up many of the false analogies made by both critics and defenders of these conflicts.
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By Otto Spijkers

Just one example of the lessons international lawyers can learn from comic books, especially Calvin & Hobbes.

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