On May 23, 2014, the UK Court of Appeal (the Court) delivered the latest ruling in the case brought by the Chagos Islanders, Bancoult v. Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs. The Court held that a “cable” sent by the US Embassy in London to departments of the US Federal Government, the US Embassy in Mauritius and to the US military, which was published on Wikileaks, was admissible. The Court held, inter alia, that the provision of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, which renders certain diplomatic communications “inviolable,” would not be...
International Law in Brief
International Law in Brief (ILIB) is a forum that provides updates on current developments in international law from the editors of ASIL's International Legal Materials.
On May 23, 2014, independent United Nations human rights experts dealing with issues of slavery, migrants, and trafficking called on governments to adopt a legally binding treaty to address forced labor. According to a news article, the experts stressed that “[a] legally binding protocol is essential to fight forced labour and represents a crucial opportunity for more coherent international action to advance the eradication of slavery-like practices around the world.” According to new data released this week by a U.N. International Labour Office report , nearly 21 million people are...
On May 22, 2014, the Senate in the Dominican Republic unanimously passed a bill granting citizenship to Dominican-born children of immigrants. According to a news article, President Danilo Medina proposed the bill due to international outcry over a September 2013 ruling (Spanish language only) by the Constitutional Court of the Dominican Republic that denied citizenship to Dominicans of Haitian descent. According to a news article, “[t]hose born between 1929 and 1997 with proper documentation will be granted full citizenship; those born between 1997 and 2010 will need to apply for...
On May 21, 2014, the Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Court (ICC) confirmed the decision of Pre-Trial Chamber I, declaring admissible the case against Saif Al-Islam Gaddafi. According to the press release, “the Appeals Chamber was of the view that the Pre-Trial Chamber did not err in either fact or law when it concluded that Libya had fallen short of substantiating, by means of evidence of a sufficient degree of specificity and probative value, that Libya's investigation covers the same case that is before the Court.” President Song wrote a separate opinion and Judge Ušacka...
On May 20, 2014, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) welcomed the efforts of the Organization of American States Member States in the past six months aimed at protecting and promoting the rights of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Persons (LGBTI). According to a press release, recent developments include reform relating to the police, the justice and penitentiary systems, and political participation. The IACHR noted that such reforms occurred “[n]otwithstanding the persistence of high levels of discrimination and violence experienced by [LGBTI] persons in the...
On May 19, 2014, Trial Chamber I of the U.N. International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia began hearing the defense case in Prosecutor v. Ratko Mladić. According to news reports, the first witness called by Ratko Mladić was Mile Sladoje, a former assistant commander of a Serb battalion in Sarajevo, who “denie[d] ever being ordered by Mr Mladic to target civilians in a sniping campaign during the three-year siege of the city in which approximately 10,000 people were killed - most of them Muslims.” Mr. Mladić is the former Commander of the Army of Republika Srspka Main...
On May 15, 2014, the UK Supreme Court (the Court) held in the case of In the Matter of K (A child) (Northern Ireland) that, under the terms of the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction (the Convention) and the Brussels II Revised Regulation, K’s mother had been wrong to remove K from Lithuania because K’s grandparents enjoyed “rights of custody.” According to the press release, the Court held that the phrase “rights of custody” in Article 3 of the Convention should include informal, or “inchoate,” rights, “provided that the important distinction...
On May 14, 2014, the Trial Chamber of the Special Tribunal for the Lebanon (the Tribunal) issued an oral ruling setting June 18, 2014, as the date for the resumption of the trial in the Prosecutor v Ayyash et al. case. The case was adjourned on February 25, 2014, following joinder of the Prosecutor v. Merhi case to the Ayyash et al. case. According to the press release, any interlocutory appeal against the decision to resume must be filed within seven days.
On May 9, 2014, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) welcomed reforms to the Mexican Code of Military Justice that restrict the scope of military jurisdiction over human rights cases. According to a press release, “cases involving human rights violations committed by members of the military against civilians will be tried exclusively by the civilian justice system and not by military courts.” Mexico has instituted these reforms in the wake of past recommendations issued by the IACHR in its 1998 country report and four judgments previously issued by the Inter-American Court...
Court of Justice of the European Union Upholds “Right to be Forgotten” in Google Case (May 13, 2014)
On May 13, 2014, the Grand Chamber of the Court of Justice of the European Union (the Court) held in Google Inc. and Google Spain v. González that the operators of search engines can be obliged to erase, upon request, search results in the form of links that appear when the requesting person’s name is searched. According to the press release, the Court held that “if it is found, following a request by the data subject, that the inclusion of those links in the list is, at this point in time, incompatible with [Directive 95/46/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24...