On January 27, 2014, the United Nations Security Council adopted a resolution calling on member States to prevent and suppress the financing of terrorist actions. According to the press release, the resolution calls on “all Member States to prevent terrorists from benefiting directly or indirectly from ransom payments or political concessions, and further, to secure the safe release of hostages.” The resolution also calls for: cooperation on incidents of kidnapping and hostage-taking by terrorists; continued expert discussions on kidnapping by terrorists within the United Nations and...
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 January 24, 2014, the Caribbean Court of Justice ruled in The Attorney General of Belize v. Zuniga et al. case that most of the challenged amendments to Belize’s Supreme Court of Judicature Act were constitutional. The dispute arose out of a 2005 Accommodation Agreement between the Government and Belize Telemedia Limited. According to the press release, the Government subsequently “attempt[ed] to restrain the Respondents from enforcing an international arbitral award. These events ultimately led to the passage of the New Legislation.” This new legislation was challenged, and...
On January 23, 2014, the United Nations Compensation Commission (UNCC) issued $1.03 billion USD in damage claims to the Government of Kuwait arising out of the 1990 Iraqi invasion. According to the press release, the government of Kuwait submitted the claim on behalf of the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation for oil production and sales losses as a result of damages incurred by Kuwait’s oil fields during the invasion. The UNCC was established in 1991 as a subsidiary organ of the UN Security Council. It has received nearly three million claims, which fall into six categories: “four are for...
On January 20, 2014, the England and Wales Court of Appeal (Civil Division) decided R (on the application of Khan) v. Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, a case regarding a claimant from Waziristan whose father was allegedly killed in a drone strike operated by the CIA. The claimant’s primary case on appeal was that a UK General Communications Headquarters officer who passes locational intelligence to the United States “is not entitled to rely on the defence of combatant immunity” and thus may commit an offence under the Serious Crime Act 2007. The Court...
On January 14, 2014, the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office submitted an official response to questions posed by the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee “regarding the United Kingdom’s position on humanitarian intervention and the responsibility to protect.” In the response, the government articulated its position that “intervention may be permitted under international law in exceptional circumstances where the UN Security Council is unwilling or unable to act in order to avert a humanitarian catastrophe subject to . . . three conditions.” These conditions require that that...
On January 23, 2014, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) expressed concern about the recent entry into force of Law 30151, which amends Article 20(11) of Peru’s Criminal Code. The relevant provision exempts from liability to criminal prosecution any “personnel of the Armed Forces or National Police of Peru who cause injury or death in the performance of their duties and through the use of their weapons or other means of defense.” The IACHR recalled Peru’s duty, pursuant to the American Convention on Human Rights, to effectively investigate any deprivation of the right...
On January 23, 2014, the Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia partially granted the appeals of both the Defence and the Prosecution in the Prosecutor v. Šainović et al. case. According to the press release, the Appeals Chamber reduced the sentences of Nikola Šainović, Sreten Lukić, and Vladimir Lazarević, while affirming the sentence of Nebojša Pavković. The Appeals Chamber also concluded, Judge Tuzmukhamedov dissenting, that “specific direction” is not an element of the aiding and abetting mode of liability. The accused are “four...
On January 22, 2014, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the application for stay of execution of sentence to death and petition for writ of certiorari of Mexican national Edgar Tamayo. He was then executed via lethal injection in Texas. According to a news story, Tamayo was arrested in 1994 on charges of murdering a police officer and authorities failed to advise him of his right under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations to notify Mexican diplomats. Tamayo’s case was one of those considered by the International Court of Justice in the 2004 case Avena and Other Mexican Nationals (...
On January 17, 2014, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights issued its Report on the Use of Pretrial Detention in the Americas. According to the press release, the Report states that “excessive use of pretrial detention[] runs counter to the very essence of democratic rule of law, which prohibits its use as a sort of anticipated punishment or swift justice without trial.” The press release also notes that the Report urges for “extreme precautions” to be put in place whenever pretrial detention is applied “in order to respect due process rights.” The Spanish language report is now...
On January 16, 2014, the first trial at the Special Tribunal for Lebanon began in Prosecutor v. Ayyash et al. According to the press release, the trial commenced with opening statements by the Prosecutor, which will be followed by those of the legal representatives of the victims, as well as the defense counsel for Mr. Badreddine and Mr. Oneissi. Given that the accused—Salim Jamil Ayyash, Mustafa Amine Badreddine, Hussein Hassan Oneissi, and Assad Hassan Sabra—are still at large, the proceedings are being held in absentia.