It was an honor to invited to testify before the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development in the Parliament of Canada’s House of Commons, on September 27, 2023, on issues relating to Canada’s economic sanctions laws, but I confess that the format was less than ideal. With each member of the committee allotted as little as five minutes for a question and an answer, it was really impossible to delve into the complexities of the issues being addressed, which was a real shame. My testimony was based on my report for policy makers on Economic Sanctions Under International Law, which was published in 2021.
International Law
International Law in Ukraine and Japan’s New Strategy at AALS
This year’s AALS Conference in San Diego, in the first week of January, was a good one! It was a pleasure to both moderate a fantastic panel on how the war in Ukraine is impacting international law, and to speak on another panel on the significance of Japan’s new National Security Strategy, which is a marked departure from its traditional position, and arguably inconsistent with the constitutional constraints in Art. 9, on the use of force and maintenance of armed forces.
Senate Testimony on Economic Sanctions
I was invited to testify before the Senate of Canada, Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, on issues relating to two pieces of legislation that form part of Canada’s economic sanctions laws. The full testimony can be found here (commencing half way through the full session), and a couple of clips of my answers to questions on the effectiveness of economic sanctions, and the lawfulness of secondary sanctions, were posted to YouTube by Senator Woo, and can be found here, and here. I was invited to testify in light of my report Economic Sanctions Under International Law: A Guide for Canadian Policy, published in 2021.
Climate Change as a National Security Issue at the ABA National Security Law Conference
It was an interesting experience to speak on a panel addressing the climate change crisis as a national security issue, at the ABA Annual Review of National Security Law Conference, on Nov. 17, 2022, along with Mark Nevitt of Emory Law, Erin Sikorsky of the Center for Climate and Security, and Marcus King of Georgetown University. With over 300 people in the room, mostly national security lawyers, there was a surprising mix of views on how seriously one should take climate change as a threat to national security, or as an issue that implicate national security thinking! Very interesting.