On November 12, 2013, the United Nations Security Council adopted a resolution extending the deployment of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) until October 31, 2014. According to the news story, the authorization provides “a temporary boost for the African Union peacekeeping force in Somalia of over 4,000 troops and an expanded logistical package so it can maintain basic security and respond to the evolving threats from Al-Shabaab insurgents.” The Security Council resolution underlined that “the increases in force are to provide a short-term enhancement of AMISOM’s military...
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.
The Arbitral Tribunal established under Annex VII of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea in the ARA Libertad Arbitration (Argentina v. Ghana) issued a Termination Order in the case. According to the press release, Argentina initiated the arbitration following the detention of the Argentine frigate ARA Libertad in the Port of Tema, Ghana, in October 2012, and the subsequent legal actions taken by Ghana. In the Agreement signed by the parties in September at the Peace Palace in The Hague, the parties agreed that a judgment of the Supreme Court of Ghana as well as...
The European Court of Justice ruled that, according to the press release, “[h]omosexual applicants for asylum can constitute a particular social group who may be persecuted on account of their sexual orientation.” According to European Council Directive 2004/83/EC, a refugee is anyone who “owing to well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country.” ...
The International Court of Justice issued a Judgment in the case concerning the Request for Interpretation of the Judgment of 15 June 1962 in the Case concerning the Temple of Preah Vihear (Cambodia v. Thailand). According to the press release, the ICJ declared unanimously “that the Judgment of 15 June 1962 decided that Cambodia had sovereignty over the whole territory of the promontory of Preah Vihear, as defined in paragraph 98 of the present Judgment, and that, in consequence, Thailand was under an obligation to withdraw from that territory the Thai military or police forces,...
The Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights ruled in Söderman v. Sweden that Sweden violated Article 8 (right to respect for private life) of the European Convention on Human Rights when it failed to protect a minor against a violation of her personal integrity. According to the press release, Eliza Söderman, who in 2002 was fourteen years old, had been secretly filmed naked by her stepfather. Her stepfather was ultimately acquitted of charges of sexual molestation by a Swedish appeals court on the grounds that the molestation provision did not...
A new UN-backed report, titled “After Trafficking: Experiences and Challenges in the (Re)integration of Trafficked Persons in the Greater Mekong Sub-region,” finds that victims of human trafficking are not given adequate help for reintegration into their communities. The study was commissioned by the Governments of the Coordinated Mekong Ministerial Initiative against Trafficking (COMMIT) and was prepared by the NEXUS Institute with support from the United Nations Inter-agency Project on Human Trafficking (UNIAP) and civil society partners. According to the news story, the report focuses...
On October 29, 2013, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution calling for an end to the economic, commercial, and financial blockade imposed by the United States against Cuba. According to the news story, this is the twenty-second consecutive year that the General Assembly has adopted a resolution on the matter. Passed by a vote of 188 member states in favor, two against (the United States and Israel), and three abstaining (Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, and Palau), the General Assembly again urged all member States “that have and continue to apply such laws and...
The International Crimes Tribunal Bangladesh reportedly sentenced Chowdhury Mueen Uddin and Ashrafuzzaman Khan to death following a trial conducted in abstentia. The men were found guilty of “‘aiding, abetting, instructing, ordering, encouraging and providing moral support to’ the killers of the 18 people . . . who supported the independence movement.” The Tribunal found that the victims were executed to “paralyze the nation” by killing the “most notable intellectuals belong to different professions.” Both men currently live in the UK and the US, respectively.
In a separate...
The EU Commission has found that the UK’s “patent box” scheme—adopted earlier this year and providing a 10% rate of corporation tax for income derived from patents—violates the EU Code of Conduct for Business Taxation, which aims to prevent countries from operating policies that result in harmful tax competition. According to a recent article, the patent box violates the code for two reasons. First, it is not “sufficiently linked to real economic activity” given that “it would allow companies that are merely managed in the U.K. to claim the credit, regardless of whether the actual ‘...
A Trial Chamber of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon held its first pre-trial conference in the Ayyash et al. case. According to the press release, Presiding Judge David Re stated that the Trial Chamber intends to start trial on January 13, 2014, and called upon the parties “to cooperate with the Trial Chamber so that it will be able to meet the start of trial expeditiously.” Judge Re also noted that the twelve motions currently pending before the Trial Chamber may impact the date on which trial begins. The Trial Chamber also heard from the Office of the Prosecutor, Defence...