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Harold Koh: The Obama Administration and International Law

By Alliance Alert

The Obama Administration and International Law Harold Hongju Koh Legal Adviser, U.S. Department of State Annual Meeting of the American Society of International Law Washington, DC March 25, 2010 Since this is my first chance to address you as Legal Adviser, I thought I would speak to three issues. First, the nature of my job as Legal Adviser. Second, to discuss the strategic vision of international law that we in the Obama Administration are attempting to implement. Third and finally, to discuss particular issues that we have grappled with in our first year in a number of high-profile areas: the International Criminal Court, the Human Rights Council, and what I call The Law of 9/11: detentions, use of force, and prosecutions . . . Some, including a number of the panelists who have addressed this conference, have argued that there is really more Continuity than Change from the last administration to this one. To them I would answer that, of course, in foreign policy, from administration to administration, there will always be more continuity than change; you simply cannot turn the ship of state 360 degrees from administration to administration every four to eight years, nor should you. But, I would argue?and these are the core of my remarks today-- to say that is to understate the most important difference between this administration and the last: and that is with respect to its approach and attitude toward international law. The difference in that approach to international law I would argue is captured in an Emerging ?Obama-Clinton Doctrine,? which is based on four commitments: to: 1. Principled Engagement; 2. Diplomacy as a Critical Element of Smart Power; 3. Strategic Multilateralism; and 4. the notion that Living Our Values Makes us Stronger and Safer, by Following Rules of Domestic and International Law; and Following Universal Standards, Not Double Standards . . . [click the link to read more]

Full post as published by Constitutionally Correct on March 26, 2010 (boomark / email).