On September 27, 2016, in The Prosecutor v. Ahmad Al Faqi Al Mahdi, Trial Chamber VIII of the International Criminal Court (ICC) found Al Mahdi guilty of war crimes based his destruction of cultural property in Timbuktu, Mali. According to the press release, the Chamber sentenced Al Mahdi to nine years' imprisonment after he “admitted guilt to the war crime consisting in attacking 10 historic and religious monuments.” The Chamber considered a number of factors in determining the sentence, particularly that “all the sites but one were UNESCO World Heritage sites.” According 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 September 22, 2016, the compliance panel of the World Trade Organization (WTO) circulated a report on the EC and Certain Member States — Large Civil Aircraft dispute that assessed the state of compliance by the EU (referred to as the EC or European Communities in the context of the WTO) and certain member states with a previous ruling by the Appellate Body (AB). The AB’s report upheld the initial panel report, which found that the EU was providing subsidies to Airbus through certain measures that caused serious prejudice to the interests of the United States within the meaning...
On September 20, 2016, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) handed down a ruling in European Federation for Cosmetic Ingredients v. Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills that addressed restrictions on cosmetic products containing ingredients tested on animals. According to the press release, the Court ruled that introducing products with ingredients that have been tested on animals to “the EU market may be prohibited where that testing has been conducted outside the EU in order to market the product in third countries and where the results of that...
On September 20, 2016, outgoing UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon delivered an address to the UN General Assembly touching on a number of matters, including a commitment to provide a compensation package for the victims of the Haitian cholera outbreak tied to the UN’s actions there. According to commentary on the developments, this pledge is an about-face from the UN’s previous stance of refusing to provide compensation to the victims. Commentators have attributed the UN’s shift in policy to a report by the Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights and possibly a recent ...
On September 16, 2016, the Appellate Body (AB) of the World Trade Organization (WTO) issued its report in India — Certain Measures Relating to Solar Cells and Solar Modules, upholding the panel report handed down in April 2016. According to the WTO summary of the dispute, the United States requested consultations on February 6, 2013, regarding certain Indian measures that imposed a form of domestic content requirement (DCR) for solar cells and solar modules, claiming that such measures violated Article III:4 of the General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs (GATT) and Article 2.1 of...
On September 14, 2016, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Fatou Bensouda, published a policy paper that lays out the procedure of the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) for selecting and prioritizing cases. According to the press release, this paper works in conjunction with a previous policy paper that explains the process of opening investigations into situations as a whole. The OTP formulated the new paper based on the applicable legal framework, jurisprudence of the Court, operational experience of the OTP, national and international judicial practice, and extensive...
On September 13, 2016, the Court of Justice of the European Union held that European Union (EU) law does not allow member states to expel non-EU nationals from EU territory or automatically refuse them a residence permit when the individual is the sole caretaker of an EU citizen that is a minor and the sole ground for expulsion or refusal is the caretaker’s criminal record. The ruling resolved two separate cases, Alfredo Rendón Marín v. Administración del Estado and Secretary of State for the Home Department v. CS, which addressed similar questions of EU law. According...
On September 13, 2016, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants. According to the press release, the “Member States agreed to a set of commitments, among them acknowledging a shared responsibility to manage large movements of refugees and migrants in a humane, sensitive, compassionate and people-centred manner.” Additionally, “the Assembly underlined the importance of working collectively and, in particular, with origin, transit and destination countries, noting that ‘win-win’ cooperation in that area would have profound benefits for...
On September 9, 2016, the United Nations Security Council issued a press statement condemning the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) for conducting its fifth underground nuclear test. According to reports, the detonation produced a more powerful yield than North Korea’s previous tests, indicating progress towards nuclear warheads capable of being mounted on ballistic missiles. In its statement, the Security Council condemned the DPRK’s continued pursuit of a nuclear weapons program, which threatens international peace and security and flagrantly disregards a number of Security...
On September 7, 2016, the WTO Appellate Body issued its report in United States — Anti-Dumping and Countervailing Measures on Large Residential Washers from Korea, reversing parts of the panel report handed down in March, which had found that the American method of calculating anti-subsidy duties was correct. According to a news report, the dispute arose after the U.S. Department of Commerce had imposed up to 82 percent of anti-subsidy duties on Korean-made washers after a complaint from U.S. manufacturer Whirlpool, who had argued that the Korean machines were sold below their...