On November 24, 2017, the African Court of Human and People’s Rights (AfCHPR) held that Rwanda violated Ingabire Victoire Umuhoza’s right to freedom of opinion and expression and her right to an adequate defense. Ingabire is a Rwandan national who founded a political opposition party while living abroad from 1993–2010 and intended to register her party and run for president in the 2010 elections. Upon her return to Rwanda in January 2010 she gave a speech at the Genocide Memorial Centre in Kigali, where she spoke about reconciliation and ethnic violence, and after which she was charged...
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.
ICTY Convicts Ratko Mladić for Genocide, War Crimes, and Crimes Against Humanity (November 22, 2017)
On November 22, 2017, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) convicted Ratko Mladić, former Commander of the Main Staff of the Bosnian Serb Army, of genocide, crimes against humanity, and violations of the laws or customs of war. The crimes concern acts committed by Serb forces during the 1992–1995 armed conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). According to the press release, “Mladić was convicted of genocide and persecution, extermination, murder, and the inhumane act of forcible transfer in the area of Srebrenica in 1995; of persecution, extermination,...
On November 20, 2017, the International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda issued a formal request to the Pre-Trial Chamber to begin an investigation into alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in the context of the ongoing situation in Afghanistan. According to the press release, the Prosecutor believes there is a reasonable basis to believe the following crimes have occurred: “i. Crimes against humanity and war crimes by the Taliban and their affiliated Haqqani Network; ii. War crimes by the Afghan National Security Forces ("ANSF"), in particular, members of...
On November 6, 2017, the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 2382, in which they recognize the importance of UN policing and support and discuss implementing strategic guidance framework for police peacekeeping. The Security Council resolved “to include, on a case by case basis, policing as an integral part of the mandates and decision-making structures of United Nations peacekeeping operations and special political missions.” The Security Council also agreed “to continue to promote and support the finalization and operationalization of the Strategic Guidance Framework for...
On October 27, 2017, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) published a report on the human rights of indigenous women in the Americas. The IACHR has consistently received information regarding numerous human rights violations of indigenous women in the Americas and this report aims to “constitute an important step forward in dealing with the specific priority situation of indigenous women with the goal of promoting that States and the international community undertake further research and analysis of these topics.” The report documents the ways indigenous women have...
On October 18, 2017, the U.K. Supreme Court ruled in two joined cases in favor of two Moroccan nationals who were employees at the Libyan and Sudanese embassies in London, were dismissed from their positions, and filed claims against Libya and Sudan in the Employment Tribunal. Their claims were based on European Union law as well as domestic U.K. law, and the Employment Tribunal dismissed them on the basis that the states were entitled to immunity under the State Immunity Act 1978. The press summary notes that “the 1978 Act renders a foreign state immune from the jurisdiction of a UK court...
On October 18, 2017, the U.K. Supreme Court ruled in Reyes v. Al-Malki and another that the Employment Tribunal in the United Kingdom had jurisdiction to hear claims of Ms. Reyes, a Filipino domestic servant, against her employer Mr. Al-Maliki, a member of the diplomatic staff of the Saudi Arabian embassy in London, under the exception to diplomatic immunity contained in the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. Reyes had brought a claim arguing that she was the victim of trafficking and a Court of Appeal had determined that the Employment Tribunal lacked jurisdiction due to...
On October 18, 2017, the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled in Ypourgos Ethnikis Pedias kai Thriskevmaton v. Maria-Eleni Kalliri that a law requiring a minimum height for entry into a police school regardless of an individual’s sex may constitute unlawful discrimination against women. According to the press release, the Court found that a minimum height requirement for men and women constituted indirect sex discrimination because women were far more often at a disadvantage than the men. However, the Court stated that such a law would not be discriminatory where two...
On October 17, 2017, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) ruled in Navalnyye v. Russia that a Russian court’s criminal conviction of Aleksey Navalnyy, an opposition leader, and his brother Oleg Navalnyy, an entrepreneur, for fraud and money laundering was arbitrary and unfair because it was based on the unforeseeable application of criminal law. The case concerned an agreement between two companies—Yves Rocher Vostok and Multidisciplinary Processing (MPK)—and Chief Subscription Agency, which was set up by a company that the applicants and their parents had acquired 2007. The...
On September 28, 2017, United Nations Environment released its report “Towards a Pollution-Free Planet,” which is meant to serve as call to action for governments, businesses, local authorities, civil society, and individuals with the aim of preventing and reducing pollution globally. The report is broken into three parts: “In Part 1 . . . the evidence on pollution is presented. Part 2 discusses ongoing responses, challenges to effective actions, and the opportunities that existing multilateral environmental agreements and the Sustainable Development Goals provide to reduce pollution. Part...