On January 17, 2017, the European Court of Human Rights ruled in the Case of A.H. and Others v. Russia that Russia unlawfully discriminated against American nationals by banning them from adopting Russian children. According to the press release, Russia’s actions violated Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which covers the right to respect for private and family life. President Vladimir Putin of Russia signed a bill in December 2012 that included a ban that prevented U.S. citizens from adopting Russian children. The ban was part of a bill drafted in response to...
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 16, 2017, the High Administrative Court of Egypt blocked the transfer of two uninhabited Egyptian islands in the Red Sea, Tiran and Sanafir, to Saudi Arabia. According to a news article, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi stated that “the islands had always belonged to Saudi Arabia and that Riyadh had asked Egypt to station troops there in 1950 to protect them,” while the group of attorneys challenging the move “argued that a 1906 maritime treaty between Egypt and the Ottoman Empire stated that the islands were Egyptian.” The Court determined that the government failed to...
On January 12, 2017, outgoing President Yahya Jammeh of the Gambia asked the Supreme Court for an injunction that would bar his successor, President-Elect Adama Barrow, from entering office. Jammeh lost reelection in December, initially accepting the results but ultimately rejecting the outcome and claiming the election was rife with “irregularities.” He had been in power for twenty-two years after seizing the presidency during a coup in 1994. According to a news article, he declared a state of emergency on January 17, 2016, just days before his mandate ends. Numerous high level...
On January 10, 2017, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) ruled in Osmanoǧlu and Kocabaş v. Switzerland (only available in French) that Switzerland did not violate the right to freedom of religion enshrined in Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) when it fined the parents of two Muslim girls for refusing to send their children to mandatory mixed gender swimming activities at their school. The applicants were two Swiss nationals with joint Turkish citizenship living in Basle, Switzerland. According to the press release, the Court “found that by giving...
On January 9, 2017, the governments of Australia and Timor Leste agreed to “an integrated package of measures intended to facilitate the conciliation process and create the conditions conducive to the achievement of an agreement on permanent maritime boundaries in the Timor Sea.” According to a trilateral joint statement issued by the two governments and the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA), part of this package will be the termination of the 2006 Treaty on Certain Maritime Arrangements in the Timor Sea pursuant to Article 12(2) of that treaty. With an eye to stability and...
On January 6, 2017, the U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence released a report detailing a Russian campaign to influence the recent U.S. presidential elections. The report is a truncated version of a highly classified report assembled by various U.S. intelligence and law enforcement agencies. The report states that the alleged election tampering “represent[s] the most recent expression of Moscow's longstanding desire to undermine the US-led liberal democratic order" and that "these activities demonstrated a significant escalation in directness, level of activity, and scope...
On December 31, 2016, the United Nations Security Council passed a resolution welcoming the efforts of Russia and Turkey to end the violence in Syria and “jumpstart a political process.” The Security Council also reiterated “its call on the parties to allow humanitarian agencies rapid, safe and unhindered access throughout Syria, as provided for in its relevant resolutions.” The Council stated that it looked forward to the upcoming meeting in Astana, Kazakhstan, between the Syrian government and opposition groups, viewing it as “as an important part of the Syrian-led political process”...
On December 28, 2016, the White House announced an executive order increasing sanctions against Russia in response to alleged cyberattacks intended to interfere with the U.S. presidential election. The executive order sanctioned four Russians and five Russian entities and listed additional sanctions for any individual deemed to be responsible for engaging in “cyberenabled activities” that have “contributed to, a significant threat to the national security, foreign policy, or economic health or financial stability of the United States.” According to a statement by President Barack Obama,...
On December 23, 2016, the United Nations Security Council passed a resolution condemning Israel’s actions “aimed at altering the demographic composition, character and status of the Palestinian Territory occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem, including, inter alia, the construction and expansion of settlements, transfer of Israeli settlers, confiscation of land, demolition of homes and displacement of Palestinian civilians, in violation of international humanitarian law and relevant resolutions.” The Security Council also condemned “all acts of violence against civilians, including...
On December 21, 2016, the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled in joined cases Tele2 Sverige AB v. Post-och telestyrelsen and Secretary of State for the Home Department v. Watson and Others that EU member states may not impose general and indiscriminate obligations on electronic communications services providers to retain data. According to the press release, the Court found that legislation requiring the general and indiscriminate retention of data does not include a requirement that the data be linked to a threat to public security, and therefore, this type of...