Showing posts with label Olga Symeonoglou. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Olga Symeonoglou. Show all posts
By Olga Symeonoglou

On April 25, the American Society of International Law and Georgetown University Law Center will host a one-day conference at Georgetown Law in honor of the 40th anniversary of the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act. The conference program will feature a keynote by Chief Judge Diane P. Wood, U.S. Court of Appeals (7th Circuit), as well as panels on: the origins of the FSIA; sovereign immunity in international law and practice, enforcement, terrorism, and human rights; and the Argentine Debt Case.
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April 18, 2016
By Olga Symeonoglou

On April 21, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and the American Society of International Law will host the first debate of the Young Arbitrator Debate Series. The debate is co-sponsored by ASIL’s Howard M. Holtzmann Research Center for the Study of International Arbitration and Conciliation. The question to be debated concerns third party funding; specifically, the assertion that “This House believes that Third Party Funding improves access to justice in international arbitration.” The debaters will be Jeffery Commission (senior counsel, Vannin Capital) and Mallory Silberman (associate, Arnold & Porter). The event is free but registration is required.
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April 15, 2016
By Olga Symeonoglou

On March 29 and 30, Georgetown Law is hosting a conference, Intersections in International Cultural Heritage Law. The conference is co-sponsored by the Cultural Heritage and the Arts Interest Group of the American Society of International Law and coincides with 
ASIL’s annual meeting March 30 – April 2.

There will be six panels: International Human Rights Law, Law of Armed Conflict, International Criminal Law, Extraterritorial Protection of Cultural Heritage, International Movement and Restitution of Cultural Artifacts, and World Heritage and the World Court.

There will be two keynote speakers. Professor Patty Gerstenblith, Distinguished Research Professor of Law and director of the Center for Art, Museum & Cultural Heritage Law at DePaul University College of Law will give a lunch keynote on March 29 on the Cultural Heritage of Syria and Iraq. On March 30, Sir Frank Berman, former Legal Adviser to the UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office and Roger O’Keefe, Professor of Public International Law at University College London will give the concluding keynote on the Case Concerning the Temple of Preah Vihear (Cambodia v. Thailand).
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March 16, 2016
By Olga Symeonoglou

ASIL, Greenberg Traurig, Pennsylvania State University Law, and the Penn State School of International Affairs cosponsored an event on the future of Arbitration in Africa last Friday, March 11. The panelists discussed the Legacy of the Eritrea-Ethiopia Claims Commission,  Institutions and Practice of International Commercial Arbitration in Africa, Challenges for Dispute Resolution in Africa, and Foreign Investment and Arbitration in Africa. The program was held at Greenberg Traurig LLP’s DC office (2101 L Street NW, Suite 1000). 
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March 15, 2016
By Olga Symeonoglou

"North Korea - Pyongyang" by stephan  is licensed under CC BY 4.0
On January 5, North Korea announced that it had tested a hydrogen bomb. The claim was met with skepticism because the size of the earthquake produced by the detonation – with a reported magnitude between 4.2 and 5.1 – did not reach the strength that a hydrogen bomb would cause.  

Hydrogen (or thermonuclear) bombs are far more powerful than atomic bombs. Atomic bombs create energy through fission (atoms splitting in half), while hydrogen bombs use the energy released from atomic fission to spark fusion (atoms fusing together). Only the United States, Russia, China, France, and Britain are known to have tested hydrogen bombs. 

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February 29, 2016
By Olga Symeonoglou

On February 18, the American Society of International Law, George Washington University Law School, and the American Bar Association’s Section of International Law will host a webcast with the U.S. Department of State Office of the Legal Adviser. The program – “Live from L: The Iran Nuclear Deal” – will feature speakers from the Office of the Legal Adviser, including Principal Deputy Legal Adviser Mary McLeod. The program is free, but registration is required to attend in person or to listen to the webcast.   


The Iran Nuclear Deal, which was reached on July 14, 2015, was implemented on January 16. The deal reduces sanctions on Iran in exchange for a reduction of nuclear capabilities.
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February 12, 2016
By Olga Symeonoglou

On February 4, a conference in London co-hosted by the United Nations, the United Kingdom, Kuwait, Germany, and Norway raised over $10 billion in humanitarian aid that will go to those affected by the civil war that has been raging in Syria. The money raised at the conference will supply food, medical care, and shelter, and will also go toward longer-term rebuilding. Despite this success, UN peace talks between the Syrian government and opposition were suspended by UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura until February 25 because of airstrikes on opposition forces by the Syrian government with support from Russia.
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February 11, 2016
By Olga Symeonoglou

The G20 Leaders’ Summit, a global economic summit, took place on November 15 and 16 in Antalya, Turkey. The G20 members are 20 of the world’s largest economies, with guest countries and international organizations invited each year. The summit followed only days after the attacks in Beirut and Paris, which took up a large part of the discussion that is usually reserved for economics. The member countries agreed that something needs to be done about ISIS and Syria, but are at odds about what the solutions should be. A communiqué detailing the summit’s agenda for the coming year was published at the end of the summit, including goals related to economic growth and recovery, unemployment, trade, economic stability, sustainable development, and climate change. 
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November 19, 2015
By Olga Symeonoglou

On November 16, ASIL and the American Red Cross are co-sponsoring an event, “Conflicts & Conventions: Government Accountability on Torture.” It will take place at the American Red Cross National Headquarters in Washington, D.C. from 9:30 – 11:00 a.m. The discussion will focus on measures used by the U.S. and other governments to address accountability for torture. Speakers include Ambassador Stephen Rapp, Juan Méndez, and Naureen Shah. The event is free but registration is required.
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November 15, 2015
By Olga Symeonoglou


A fight has been slowly making its way through the U.S. court system over 44 artworks that were once part of the largest private art collection in pre-World War II Hungary. The case, de Csepel v. Republic of Hungary, was brought in 2010 by three heirs of Baron Mór Lipót Herzog, a Jewish-Hungarian banker and art collector whose collection included over 2,500 works when he died in 1934.

After Herzog’s death, his collection passed to his widow, who died in 1940. The collection was then divided among their three children, Erzsébet, István, and András. The plaintiffs are their heirs. David L. de Csepel, a U.S. citizen, is Herzog’s great-grandson and grandson of Erzsébet, and the other two plaintiffs are Herzog’s granddaughters, Angela Maria Herzog and Julia Alice Herzog, heirs of András who are Italian citizens.

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October 19, 2015
By Olga Symeonoglou

On October 15, Americans for Democracy & Human Rights in Bahrain (ADHRB) and the Georgetown Journal of International Law are hosting a discussion, “Arbitrary Justice in Saudi Arabia.” The focus will be on due process violations in the Saudi criminal justice system. The event will be held from 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM at Georgetown University Law Center (McDonough Room 140). RSVP to jde46@georgetown.edu.   
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October 13, 2015
By Olga Symeonoglou

On October 6, the European Court of Justice invalidated the Safe Harbor pact, ruling that the privacy rights of European citizens are being violated by American companies. For fifteen years, the safe harbor agreement allowed U.S. companies to transfer data of European citizens overseas, but the ECJ found that this violated Europeans’ privacy rights because the U.S. government would have access to their personal information. The ruling comes as a shock to many companies that have relied on the data transfer agreement, but a new agreement is in the works.
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October 12, 2015

By Olga Symeonoglou

The UN General Assembly passed a resolution on September 10 that will allow the flags of non-member observer States to fly at the United Nations headquarters and offices. The two non-member observer states are Palestine and the Holy See. The resolution was initiated by Palestine, without support from the Vatican. 119 countries voted in favor of the resolution, 45 abstained (mostly EU countries), and eight voted against it, including Israel and the United States. Palestine sees this as a “step towards UN membership,” while Israel starkly opposed the resolution.
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September 16, 2015
By Olga Symeonoglou

A U.S. official has anonymously confirmed the presence of sulfur mustard on weaponry used in attacks in Syria and Iraq. It is not clear whether the Islamic State is manufacturing the chemical weapon or using caches of it found in either Iraq or Syria. It seems unlikely that the U.S. would have overlooked any chemical weapons in Iraq, and Syria gave up its chemical weapons pursuant to a 2013 UN Security Council Agreement. Some have also suggested the Syrian regime or the rebels could be responsible for using sulfur mustard, which is banned under the Chemical Weapons Convention.
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September 16, 2015
By Olga Symeonoglou

As the number of refugees entering European countries increases, the balance between the European Union’s authority and the sovereignty of its member states is threatened. Countries are divided on whether to be welcoming or to close their doors, begging the question: who makes the call? Some, including German chancellor Angela Merkel, French president François Hollande, and EU President Donald Tusk, are calling for an equal distribution of the refugees throughout the EU. Hungarian prime minister Vitor Orbán, insists that stricter immigration rules are in order and disagrees with the forthcoming EU proposal, which could include a requirement that countries who do not take in refugees give support to those who do. Hungary is one of the main entry points into Europe, and the Schengen zone.
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September 12, 2015
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