Dr Aurel Sari
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Publications

2014 March

Ukraine Insta-Symposium: When does the Breach of a Status of Forces Agreement amount to an Act of Aggression?

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This post examines the deployment of Russian troops in Crimea as part of a symposium on the Crimea crisis convened by Opinio Juris.I argue that a strong case can be made that the Russian Federation is in material breach of the Black Sea Fleet Status of Forces Agreement and as such is responsible for committing an act of aggression within the meaning of Article 3(e) of the Definition of Aggression.

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2013 December

Derogations from the European Convention on Human Rights in Deployed Operations

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The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) is a key component of the legal framework governing the activities of the British armed forces. In recent years, the Convention’s application to military operations has come under growing criticism, leading commentators to call upon the Government to derogate from the ECHR during deployed operations. It is not immediately clear, however, whether or not derogations are in fact available to the UK in such circumstances. The purpose of this submission is to shed some light on this issue.

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2013 October

Better Get A Lawyer: Are Legal Constraints Defeating Britain’s Armed Forces on the Battlefield?

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In October 2013, the Policy Exchange, a British think tank dedicated to the development and promotion of new policy ideas, published a Report entitled ‘The Fog of Law: An Introduction to the Legal Erosion of British Fighting Power’. The Report makes fascinating reading and deserves serious attention. Written by Thomas Tugendhat and Laura Croft, its aim is to explain how the cumulative effect of legal developments taking place over the past decade has undermined the ability of Britain’s armed forces to operate effectively on the battlefield. In this post, I offer some critical thoughts on the report.

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2013 March

UN Peacekeeping Operations and Article 7 ARIO: The Missing Link

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This note argues that the solution adopted by the Articles on the Responsibility of International Organizations to the question of attributing wrongful conduct in the cotext of peace support operations is misguided, as it deliberately ignores the legal and institutional status of national contingents, does not reflect consistent international practice and may not serve the best interests of potential claimants.

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2012 December

CLEER Working Paper 2012/6

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The purpose of this working paper is to assess the role of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the crisis management operations led by the EU. It brings together contributions from recognized experts originally presented at the Centre for the Law of EU External Relations (CLEER) of the TMC Asser Institute at The Hague.

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2012 February

HPCR Live Seminar

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On 26 January 2012, I contributed to an online seminar on Regulating the Conduct of Military Personnel in Peace Operations, hosted by the Program on Humanitarian Policy and Conflict Research at Harvard University. Repeated reports about human rights abuses committed by members of peace support operations have raised important questions about the legal framework applicable to peace operations and the need to hold the perpetrators of such abuses to account. My contribution focused on the role of status of forces agreements in this context.

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