Raymond Wacks

Raymond Wacks, Emeritus Professor of Law and Legal Theory, is the author of seventeen books including The Rule of Law Under Fire?

Thursday

Raymond Wacks

The ECHR cannot be fixed

From our UK edition

The interminable, and largely bogus, debate about our continued commitment to the Convention normally concerns its abuse by migrants. This week, the Prime Minister announced that the interpretation by judges of the ECHR undermined the government’s attempts to deport illegal immigrants. He specifically mentioned Article 3 (the prohibition of torture) and Article 8 (the right to privacy and family life). He nevertheless defended the UK’s membership of the Convention, saying that ministers ‘need to look again at the interpretation of some of these provisions, not tear them down’.  Really? Rip van Starmer may have suddenly discovered that there are problems with the ECHR following the rise of Reform, but he is irrational to think that it can be fixed by tweaking its interpretations.

Friday

Raymond Wacks

Trump’s sanctions will hit the ICC hard

From our UK edition

Donald Trump's decision to impose sanctions against the International Criminal Court (ICC) could sound the death knell of this important judicial body. The US president condemned the Court's 'illegitimate and baseless actions targeting America and our close ally Israel.' Trump's response came after the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu last November over alleged war crimes in Gaza, as well as a warrant for a Hamas commander. As a supporter of the ICC, I regret that its credibility has – at a stroke – been grievously diminished by this exercise of prejudice The ICC, despite its obvious bias in this case, performs a crucial role as the legitimate forum in which genocide and other heinous crimes may be judged and penalised.

Sunday

Raymond Wacks

Israel isn’t an ‘apartheid state’ – and I should know

From our UK edition

Israel's critics want you to acknowledge its uniqueness as the only country to enjoy the triple distinction of being a colonial, genocidal, and an apartheid state. Whether Israel is, or was, colonial I leave to the historians and political scientists. The question of genocide will eventually be decided by the International Court of Justice. In respect of the third transgression, however, as someone born and bred in apartheid South Africa, I may be able to shed some light, and expose the deficiencies of this increasingly pervasive analogy. The reckless invective that labels Israel an 'apartheid state' is a grotesque injustice Israel is far from a paragon of virtue.

Monday

Raymond Wacks

The real mistake of Roe v. Wade

From our UK edition

The jurist, Ronald Dworkin, once described the vehemence of the dispute over abortion as ‘America’s new version of the terrible seventeenth-century European civil wars of religion. Opposing armies march down streets or pack themselves into protests at abortion clinics, courthouses, and the White House, screaming at and spitting on and loathing one another. Abortion is tearing America apart.’ That’s exactly what we see today. The US Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe decision has, of course, for almost half a century been an ideological football. Last week’s leaked draft of what appears to be a volte face by the Court merely revived the acrimony and rancour that the issue inexorably generates.