On December 19, 2016, the UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding immediate and unhindered access for the UN and its partners to deliver humanitarian assistance for the citizens in Aleppo and across Syria. The Security Council highlighted that it is alarmed by “the continued deterioration of the devastating humanitarian situation in Aleppo and by the fact that urgent humanitarian evacuations and assistance are now needed by a large number of Aleppo inhabitants.” The Council also noted its concern regarding the evacuations of civilians from Aleppo, stressing that they “must be...
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 December 19, 2016, la Cour de Justice de la République—a French court with jurisdiction over cases against current and former government officials—convicted Christine Lagarde of using government funds in a criminally negligent manner, though the court spared her a criminal record or any actual punishment. Lagarde served as the French finance minister under the Sarkozy administration and currently the managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). According to a news article, Lagarde still maintains the support of the IMF and various governments, including the United States...
On December 15, 2016, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights ruled in Khlaifia and Others v. Italy that Italy had violated the European Convention on Human Rights in regard to the holding of Arab Spring migrants in 2011 on the island of Lampedusa, then on ships in Palermo harbor, followed by their removal to Tunisia. According to the press release, the Court found “that their deprivation of liberty without any clear and accessible basis did not satisfy the general principle of legal certainty and was incompatible with the need to protect the individual against...
On December 15, 2016, the United Nations Security Council, acting under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations, passed a resolution calling for a framework to keep non-state actors from acquiring weapons of mass destruction. According to the press release, the resolution called upon member states to strengthen their national, legally-binding measures aimed at preventing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and endorsed a recent report on such measures that member states have already implemented. The resolution was passed in the wake of various deployments of chemical...
On December 15, 2016, the Federal Court of Australia ruled that Internet service providers (ISPs) in Australia must block websites that allow users to illicitly download copyrighted material. The Court ordered the ISPs to block the five named entities—Pirate Bay, Torrentz, TorrentHound, IsoHunt, and SolarMovie—and all their related websites through various methods. The ban only applies to the websites of these entities, and the Court would have to approve any additions.
On December 14, 2016, the Amsterdam District Court ruled (in Dutch) that various artifacts on loan from four museums in Crimea to the Allard Pierson Museum in Amsterdam should be returned to Ukraine and not Russian-controlled Crimea. According to the press release, the Crimean museums loaned the artifacts in 2014, prior to Crimea separating from Ukraine and joining the Russian Federation, after which the Allard Pierson Museum was unsure where to return the artifacts. Although “the District Court does not deliver a judgement on who is the rightful owner of the artefacts,” which the Court...
On December 13, 2016, the Colombian Constitutional Court ruled in favor of a plan to accelerate the implementation of the recently signed peace deal with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia—People's Army (FARC) through an expedited process that avoids the slower, normal route to legislative approval. According to a news article, the ruling “effectively prevents lawmakers from making changes to the deal signed by the government and the rebels Nov. 24.”The new agreement, which involves more concessions from the FARC, came after an initial peace deal was rejected by a plebiscite in...
On December 7, 2016, the International Court of Justice delivered its order in Immunities and Criminal Proceedings (Equatorial Guinea v. France) in response to Equatorial Guinea’s request for provisional measures, indicating that France must guarantee the protection of a building presented as housing the diplomatic mission of Equatorial Guinea in Paris in order to ensure its inviolability, while also rejecting France’s request to remove the case from the General List. According to the press release, in June 2016, “Equatorial Guinea instituted proceedings against France with regard...
On December 6, 2016, an International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) tribunal ruled that claims made by Churchill Mining PLC against the Republic of Indonesia should be thrown out as certain documents Churchill used to secure the initial licenses to exploit coal reserves in Indonesia were determined to be forged. The plaintiffs alleged that Indonesia improperly revoked their coal-mining rights in violation of the U.K.-Indonesia bilateral investment treaty, though the tribunal ultimately determined that the claims were “based on documents forged to implement a fraud...
On December 5, 2016, the European Council on Refugees and Exiles (Council) released a study analyzing the European Union’s “hot spot” approach to disproportionate migratory pressure within the Union. According to the press release, the Council’s study “reveals that the pressure in these countries is growing and the challenges in accessing protection are multiplying.” A senior policy advisor for the Council added that “[the program] is an experiment, a pilot model of registration and identification at the points of arrival that selects between people seeking asylum and people to be returned...