On May 12, 2014, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (the Court) in Cyprus v. Turkey ordered Turkey to pay Cyprus €90,000,000 (approximately $123,400,000) in relation to breaches of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). According to the press release, Turkey committed such violations in the context of “military operations it had conducted in northern Cyprus in July and August 1974, the continuing division of the territory of Cyprus and the activities of the ‘Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.’” Although the Court identified those breaches in its...
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 8, 2014, the Caribbean Court of Justice (the Court) delivered its judgment in Rudisa Beverages v. Guyana, declaring certain provisions of the Customs Act of Guyana inconsistent with the free movement provisions in the Revised Treaty of Chaguarmas (RTC). According to the press release, the Court held that “Article 87 of the RTC imposed an absolute prohibition on import duties on goods of Community origin” and thus precluded the provisions of the Customs Act of Guyana that impose an environmental tax on all imported non-returnable beverage containers but not on those made by...
On May 8, 2014, the Caribbean Court of Justice (the Court) granted special leave to commence proceedings pursuant to Article 222of the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas in the case of Tomlinson v. Belize and Trinidad & Tobago. According to the press release, the application “challenges the provisions of the Immigration Acts of Belize and Trinidad & Tobago which prohibit the entry of homosexuals into the jurisdiction.” In holding that Mr. Tomlinson, a Jamaican national, satisfied the requirement of establishing prejudice under Article 222(b), the Court found, according to the...
On May 8, 2014, the United Nations Mission in the Republic of South Sudan (UNMISS) issued a report, entitled “Conflict in Southern Sudan: A Human Rights Report,” documenting international legal crimes committed by both sides during the country’s civil war. The report, drawing on more than 900 interviews with victims and witnesses, states that there are reasonable grounds to believe that “gross violations of human rights and serious violations of humanitarian law . . . have been perpetrated in the context of the on-going conflict” in South Sudan. Such crimes may include “extrajudicial...
On May 1, 2014, the Intergovernmental World Nature Organization (WNO) treaty entered into force. The treaty establishes the World Nature Organization, an intergovernmental organization with the core objective of “promot[ing] sustainable development, information and knowledge transfer among states, organizations and the economic sector, as regards preserving the natural environment, environmentally-friendly technologies, green economies, renewable energies, protection of resources, protection of water, forest, air, oceans and climate.” According to a press release, the WNO founding...
On May 6, 2014, the United States, United Kingdom, France, China, and Russia signed the Protocol to the Central Asian Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone (CANWFZ) Treaty. According to a press release, “[t]he Protocol provides legally-binding assurances not to use or threaten to use nuclear weapons against CANWFZ treaty parties.” Five Central Asian states—Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan—are party to the treaty, which prohibits the states from “stationing of nuclear weapons within their territories.” The U.S. is not eligible to become a party to the treaty itself, but...
On May 6, 2014, according to a news article, the Vatican appeared for the second day before the U.N. Committee Against Torture in Geneva. During the hearings, the Vatican disclosed to the Committee that it had dismissed 848 priests in the past decade for sexual abuse of children and compensated victims billions of dollars. Final committee observations are due on May 23, 2014.
On May 4, 2014, according to a U.N. press release, Palestine acceded to five human rights treaties: The Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment; The International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination; The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women; The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities; and The Convention on the Rights of the Child. In addition, Palestine will become party to The Convention on the Rights of the Child on May 7 and will join both the...
On May 2, 2014, the UK High Court issued its decision in Serdar Mohammed v. Ministry of Defence, holding that the detention beyond ninety-six hours of Serdar Mohammed (SM), who was captured by UK armed forces in Afghanistan in 2010, was unlawful and that, under Article 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights (the Convention), the UK Government is liable to compensate him. The Court reasoned that, although the original arrest and ninety-six-hour detention of SM was lawful under authorizations given to the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) by United Nations...
On May 2, 2014, the Constitutional Court of Colombia ruled (Spanish only) that the Territorial and Maritime Dispute (Nicaragua v. Colombia) judgment by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) could not take effect without a treaty between Colombia and Nicaragua. According to a news article, in the judgment, rendered in November 2012, the ICJ “reduced the area of ocean that belonged to Colombia around its cluster of Caribbean islands, determining that a section of their maritime shelf belonged to Nicaragua.” According to the article, the Constitutional Court’s ruling “upholds the...