On October 31, 2016, the United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 2314 condemning the use of chemical weapons in Syria. The resolution was passed in spite of Russia recently rejecting the UN’s findings that the Syrian government had used chlorine bombs at least three times in the last two years. The resolution also renewed the mandate of a joint investigation mechanism and stated that the Security Council would consider a further extension.
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 October 30, 2016, the European Union and Canada signed the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) after overcoming various late obstacles to the process. The pact required unanimous agreement between the twenty eight members of the EU block. The EU says the agreement will boost trade with Canada by $13.2 billion a year and set “international standards” for trade. According to reports, opposition from Wallonia—a French speaking region of Belgium that claimed CETA “would undermine labor, environment and consumer standards,”—postponed the signing by a number of days. A separate...
On October 30, 2016, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in conjunction with the Oxford Institute for Ethics, Law and Armed Conflict and the Oxford Martin Programme on Human Rights for Future Generations launched the Oxford Guidance on the Law Relating to Humanitarian Relief Operations in Situations of Armed Conflict. According to the announcement, the project seeks to fill a void in legal analysis pertaining to the obligations of states under international humanitarian law to accept humanitarian relief under certain circumstances. Additionally, the project seeks to...
On October 27, 2016, the Papua New Guinea Supreme Court dismissed an application that would have sent asylum seekers currently being held on the isolated Manus Island to Australia. According to coverage of the ruling, the application would have given the government of Papua New Guinea thirty days to transfer the asylum seekers. As documented by a report from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Australia’s immigration laws send asylum seekers intercepted by boat to Manus Island or Nauru to be processed. The Court rejected the application on a technicality; the court filings...
On October 26, 2016, the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution admonishing the Untied States for its role in the continuing economic, commercial, and financial embargo against Cuba. According to news reports, the vote occurs on an annual basis with the United State historically voting no until this year, when it abstained. The United States has recently been pursuing a relaxing of tensions with Cuba by restoring diplomatic ties and easing various aspects of the long-standing restrictions. The symbolic vote at the United Nations came just days before the death of Fidel Castro...
On October 25, 2016, in Khan v. Obama, a federal judge from the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia dismissed a habeas corpus lawsuit by a former detainee of Guantanamo Bay seeking to clear him of any affiliation with terrorism. According to reports, previous courts had upheld the detention of Shawali Khan based on information that was not provided to the defense at the time. The government later changed its mind on the information’s credibility and transferred Khan to a different facility. The judge based his dismissal on the mootness of the case as Khan was no longer...
On October 21, 2016, Trial Chamber II of the International Criminal Court approved and ordered the implementation of a proposal by the Trust Fund for Victims (TFV) for symbolic collective reparations of the victims in the case of Thomas Lubanga Dyilo. In July 2016, the Chamber requested that the TFV conduct a study on the feasibility of implementing symbolic collective reparations, which “may take the form of, inter alia, a commemoration and/or building a statute for child soldiers who have suffered from the events.” According to the press release, “[t]he Chamber agreed with the TFV that...
On October 21, 2016, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled in Al Shimari v. CACI that the former inmates of Abu Ghraib may continue their legal case against the civilian military contractors that they allege tortured them. According to coverage of the decision, “[t]he case had previously been dismissed under the political question doctrine, but the court held the doctrine does not prevent the judiciary from deciding the case.” Agents of the defendant, CACI Premier technology, allegedly subjected the plaintiffs to various forms of torture during their time in the...
On October 19, 2016, the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled in Breyer v. Bundesrepublik Deutschland that website operators may have legitimate interests in maintaining records of the internet protocol addresses (IP addresses) of digital visitors to their sites. According to the press release, the plaintiff brought an action seeking an injunction against the German government websites on which he consults as a contractor that would prevent them for storing his IP address. The Court ruled that “according to EU law, the processing of personal data is lawful, inter alia, if...
On October 15, 2016, almost 200 countries endorsed the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol. According to the press release, the amendment will “reduce the emissions of powerful greenhouse gases, hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), in a move that could prevent up to 0.5 degrees Celsius of global warming by the end of this century.” The amendment calls for developed countries to start reducing their consumption of HFCs by 2019 and for developing countries to freeze their levels of HFCs by 2024 for some states and 2028 for others. Manufacturers have used HFCs to replace chlorofluorocarbons (...