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 April 9, 2020, the High Court of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Court of Appeal released its decision in Cases CACV 541, 542 & 583/2019 (jointly heard). A press summary from the Court states that it upheld the constitutionality of the Emergency Regulations Ordinance (ERO) as well as section 3(1)(b) of the Prohibition on Face Covering Regulation (PFCR) “relating to unauthorized assembly.” It ruled that sections 3(1)(c) and (d) and section 5 (which address public meeting, public procession, and police powers, respectively) were unconstitutional. The Court of First Instance...
On April 6, 2020, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights issued its judgment in Azul Rojas Marín et al. v. Peru [in Spanish only], holding that sexual orientation and gender identity and expression are protected under the American Convention on Human Rights. According to a press release from the Court, the case involved the 2008 arrest without cause and subsequent beating and rape of , Azul Rojas Marín, a Peruvian citizen and member of the LGBTI community. The Court found that her detention was discriminatory and therefore illegal and arbitrary in violation of her right to...
On April 7, 2020, the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) ruled in Knox v. Deane and others that only appeals from the Court of Appeals can be entertained by the Court in its appellate jurisdiction. A press release explains that Mr. Knox’s late mother had received an order from the High Court regarding her estate. Mr. Knox, representing his mother after her death, appealed the decision to the Court of Appeal. In 2016, the “court reserved its decision” and has not made a judgement since. In his appeal to the CCJ, Mr. Knox argued that this “should be treated as if it were a dismissal...
On April 8, 2020, the Council of Europe published a set of human rights guidelines on algorithms and automation. According to a press release from the Council of Europe, the guidelines are aimed at ensuring that state governments do not breach human rights in their "use, development or procurement of algorithmic systems." The guidelines also emphasize the importance of creating effective and transparent legal systems and regulatory frameworks that "prevent, detect, prohibit and remedy human rights violations" by the public and private sectors. The guidelines constitute an appendix in a...
On April 7, 2020, the Organization of American States published a "Practical Guide to Inclusive Rights-Focused Responses to COVID-19 in the Americas." As explained in a press release from the OAS, the guide addresses the concern that situation for vulnerable people, such as women, indigenous peoples, and the LGBTI community, worsens in the context of emergency situations, such as the current pandemic. Therefore, the guide stresses the need for states to emphasize the protection of the right to health of vulnerable groups. It consists of ten chapters, each of which addresses specific groups...
In Kukhalashvili and Others v. Georgia, the European Court of Human Rights ruled in favor of the applicants, stating that “[a] police operation to put down a riot in a prison used a disproportionate level of force.” The applicants were relatives of two men (A.B. and Z.K.) who had been inmates at Tbilisi Prison no. 5 in Georgia and were killed during a riot there in 2006. In their complaint, the applicants referred to ECHR Article 2 (right to life) and Article 13 (right to an effective remedy), arguing that “the State was responsible for the death of their relatives and that the...
On January 24, 2020, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled in favor of President Trump and the U.S. government in Saifullah Abdullah Paracha v. Donald J. Trump, et al. On April 4, 2020, the Court made their decision available to the public. The petitioner, Mr. Paracha, was apprehended by the U.S. government in July of 2003 “on the belief that he had provided financial and other support to members of the Taliban and Al-Qaeda.” After being interrogated at Bagram Air Force Base, he was taken to Guantanamo Bay and has been held there since. The Court’s decision...
In 2015, in response to the refugee crisis in Europe, the European Union (EU) Council passed a number of decisions, which required the relocation of a specific number of refugees from Greece and Italy to the other EU member states. The EU Commission brought a case to the Court of Justice of the European Union against Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic for failing to relocate the required number of people; on April 2, 2020, in its judgment Commission v. Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic, the Court ruled in favor of the Commission. According to a press release from the...
On March 30, 2020, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit issued its judgment on appeal in Servotronics, Inc. v. The Boeing Co. Servotronics, the appellant in the case, sought under 28 U.S.C. 1872 to obtain testimony from employees of Boeing, the appellee, who are residents in South Carolina, for use in an arbitration taking place in the United Kingdom. The district court ruled that the arbitral panel was not a "foreign tribunal" under section 1782, a statute which provides for "assistance to foreign and international tribunals and to litigants before such tribunals." ...
On March 31, 2020, the European Court of Human Rights ruled in favor of the plaintiff in Andreea-Marusi Dumitru v. Romania. In November 2005, Dumitru was shot and wounded by police in a Romanian train depot. In 2006, “the applicant lodged a criminal complaint for attempted murder.” Having been denied an appeal by the Bucharest District Court in 2015, Dumitru brought it to the ECHR in 2016. There she claimed violations of Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights, saying “the investigation … [into her injury by a police officer] had not complied with … [Romania’s]...