[ This is a news tip that I am only sending to the reporters and columnists on
the PEGC distribution list. ]

I recently learned of a new journal article that is of great interest on the
issues of the Guantanamo POWs and the prospective DoD "military commissions":

    The Fletcher Forum of World Affairs Vol.27:2 Summer/Fall 2003.

    Interesting Times for International Humanitarian Law:
    Challenges from the "War on Terror"
    Gabor Rona

    Gabor Rona is Legal Advisor in the Legal Division of the International
    Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). He holds a B.A. from Brandeis University
    (1973), a J.D. from Vermont Law School (1978), and an LL.M. from Columbia
    University School of Law (1997). The views reflected in this article are
    those of the author. They do not necessarily represent the position of the
    ICRC. This article began as a lecture presented at the Centre Universitaire
    de Droit International Humanitaire, Geneva, Switzerland on January 21, 2003.


The full text of the article is available on my website at:

http://PEGC.no-
ip.info/geneva_project/archive/Journals/Rona_Interesting_Times.pdf


And there is a second pdf version with a table of contents at the ICRC website:

http://www.ihlresearch.org/portal/ihli/bounce.php?a=
http://www.icrc.org/Web/Eng/siteeng0.nsf/htmlall/447F65EFCF781DADC1256D720039FF3
C/$File/Rona_terror.pdf?OpenElement


The reason this is so interesting is that the author is a legal advisor with the
ICRC in Geneva. They don't comment much on the prisoner issues publicly, so even
with the above disclaimer the article presumably reflects their views to some
extent -- and regardless of that, this guy is a true expert on the law involved
and his article is first rate.

And here is the tip: I am informed that Mr. Rona will be debating none other
than Prof. Ruth Wedgwood of Johns Hopkins in Salzburg, Austria, next week.

I was given a tentative date of Tuesday, August 19; it is part of a 12 day
program on international criminal law at the Salzburg Law School; and that the
event organizer is Prof. Otto Triffterer (email: otto.triffterer@sbg.ac.at).

There is a web site for the Salzburg Law School on International Criminal Law
at:

http://www.triffterer.info/sls_2003/about.html