On March 1, 2023, Indian Minister of State Jitendra Singh encouraged G20 member states to commit to strict anti-corruption strategies leading up to the G20 New Delhi Summit on September 9-10, 2023. Singh believes the G20 are capable of addressing the “complex social, political and economic challenge” of corruption. In his statement, given to delegates representing the world’s twenty largest economies, Singh underscored the adverse financial effects of corruption in India. He recalled how Indian public sector banks lost approximately $272 billion due to fraud. Singh pointed to the systemic...
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 February 27, 2023, UN experts supported Armenia’s commitment to combat mercenaries and private security companies. The statement came during a visit by UN experts investigating Armenia’s legal frameworks following the ratification of the International Convention Against the Recruitment, Use, Financing and Training of Mercenaries during the visit. During the visit, the Deputy Foreign Minister of Armenia Vahe Gevorgyan stated that mercenarism has a regional character and pointed to Azerbaijan’s use of mercenaries during the Nagorno-Karabakh war in 2020. He further welcomed UN efforts to...
On February 28, 2023, a group of 60 civil and human rights organizations led by Human Rights Watch (HRW) pushed the United Nations to oppose Ethiopia’s request to end the mandate of the International Commission of Human Rights Experts on Ethiopia (ICHREE). This body was established by the United Nations Human Rights Council in 2021 and is tasked with investigating human rights abuses related to the Ethiopia-Tigray conflict. The ICHREE holds the responsibility to investigate and record human rights breaches in order to ensure victims of severe international crimes can receive justice. The...
On February 27, 2023, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and European Commission President Ursula von Der Leyen announced in a statement from Windsor Castle that they had come to an agreement for a new Windsor Framework which seeks to end the long-running conflict between the UK and EU following the UK’s exit from the EU over trade across the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, an EU member. According to Sunak, the agreement “safeguards sovereignty for the people of Ireland….The only EU law that...
On February 21, 2023, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, called upon Israel to halt its plans to reform the legal and judicial systems due to concerns about possible human rights violations. Just a week earlier, protestors had gathered outside of Israel’s unicameral legislature to protest the reforms proposed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanhyu’s government in December 2022. In particular, Türk condemned the proposal of limiting the Israeli...
On February 23, 2023, one day before the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution calling for “a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in Ukraine.” The resolution urges member states to support peace in the region and calls upon Russia to “completely and unconditionally withdraw all of its military forces from the territory of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders” and adhere to international...
On February 18, 2023, US Vice President Kamala Harris announced at the Munich Security Conference that the US has formally found that Russia committed crimes against humanity in Ukraine. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken supported the Vice President’s statement, adding that “members of Russia’s forces have committed execution-style killings of Ukrainian men, women, and children; torture of civilians in detention through beatings, electrocution, and mock executions; rape; and, alongside other Russian officials, have deported hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian civilians to Russia, including...
On February 5, 2023, Mali’s ruling junta made Guillaume Ngefa-Atondoko Andali, the head of the UN peacekeeping mission in Mali, a persona non grata and gave him 48 hours to leave the country. On February 7, UN Human Rights Chief Officer Volker Türk called the decision “regrettable” and encouraged Mali to reverse Andali’s expulsion. In addition, the UN has maintained that the doctrine of persona non grata is not applicable to UN personnel because it is contrary to the obligations of member states under the UN Charter, especially those concerning the privileges and immunities of UN staff....
On February 8, 2023, the UK Supreme Court rejected all three grounds of an appeal that challenged the constitutionality of the Northern Ireland Protocol. Part of the post-Brexit agreement between the UK and EU, the protocol ensures that trade between the Republic of Ireland, an EU member, and Northern Ireland can continue without the need for checks after the UK left the EU. The protocol was established under British law by section 7A of the European (Withdrawal) Act of 2018. The appellants relied on three grounds. First, they argued that the protocol contradicts Article VI of the Acts of...
By letter dated January 19, 2023, the Permanent Representative of Azerbaijan to the UN transmitted a press release from the Azerbaijani Ministry of Foreign Relations outlining its commencement of the first-ever interstate arbitration under the 1982 Bern Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats. The press release argues that Armenia engaged in "widespread deforestation, unsustainable logging, and pollution through significant construction and mining in the areas that were protected nature reserves" putting "over 500 wildlife species at risk in Azerbaijan."...