On February 2, 2016, the European Court of Human Rights ruled (only available in French) that the judgment against a Turkish Member of Parliament in a defamation suit violated Article 10 (freedom of expression) of the European Convention on Human Rights (Convention). According to the press release, Yücel Erdener served as a member of the Turkish parliament in 2002, when she commented on the then Prime Minister’s widely discussed health issues. A Turkish court committed Erdener to stand trial after the prosecutor had refused to indict arguing that “the mere fact of reporting on rumours in...
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 2, 2016, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that a self-regulatory body of Hungarian internet content providers and an internet news portal are not liable for offensive reader comments posted on their websites. According to the press release, the two companies used notice-and-take-down-systems, which allow users to indicate unlawful comments to the service providers who will remove them, as well as providing in their general terms and conditions that the writers themselves are accountable for their comments. In February 2010, the news portal posted a story about a real...
On January 28, 2016, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (Court) published its decision (only available in Spanish) in Kaliña y Lokono v. Surinam, recognizing two villages’ rights to juridical personality, right of collective ownership of their territory, and their right to environmental protection. The case arose from a claim by two villages, Kaliña and Lokono, arguing that the state had failed to recognize their juridical personality and their right of collective ownership over their traditional territory, to which they hold no legal title. The government had created nature...
On January 25, 2016, the internationally-recognized parliament of Libya voted to reject the unity government proposed by the UN to resolve the political and armed conflict in the country. According to a news report, Libya has two competing governments consisting of “the internationally-recognized authorities and parliament in Tobruk and the rebel-backed authority holding power in Tripoli.” The unity government was part of the Libyan Political Agreement signed in July and designed to create a bridge between the two rival factions. As another news article describes, critics of the unity...
On January 25, 2016, the UN Security Council (Council) adopted a resolution establishing a political mission in Colombia tasked with monitoring and verifying that the government forces and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia–People’s Army (FARC-EP) lay down arms and finalize the peace process laid out by the General Agreement to End the Conflict and Building a Stable and Lasting Peace signed in Cuba in 2012. The Council noted that both parties “foresee that the Final Peace Agreement will include a tripartite mechanism to monitor and verify the definitive bilateral ceasefire and...
On February 1, 2016, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that the Zika virus and the recent surge of neurological disorders and birth defects thought to be caused by it constitute an international public health emergency. According to a press statement, WHO experts agree that a causal link between the virus and microcephaly, a condition that causes babies to be born with unusually small heads and damaged brains, is strongly suspected but requires coordination of “international efforts to investigate and understand this relationship better.” They further cited the “patterns of...
On January 21, 2016, the U.K. announced sanctions against two men thought to be the killers of Alexander Litvinenko, a former KGB officer and critic of the Russian government. According to a news report, Litvinenko died in London in 2006 from radiation poisoning. An official report produced for the British parliament concluded that there is a “strong probability” that the murder was ordered by the Russian security service FSB and “probably approved” by Russian President Putin. The British Treasury’s notice imposes asset freezes against the two men, which will be added to already existing...
On January 21, 2016, the European Court of Human Rights (Court) ruled (judgment only available in French) that Greek authorities had treated a criminal complaint lodged by a human trafficking victim in a manner incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights (Convention). According to the press release, the case concerned L.E., a Nigerian national who was brought to Greece by K.A., who confiscated her passport and forced her into prostitution after their arrival in Europe. After having filed for asylum, L.E. brought a criminal complaint against K.A. and his partner D.J. arguing...
On January 21, 2016, the European Court of Human Rights (Court) ruled (judgment only available in French) that defamation judgments against the chairman of a French television channel and a reporter interfered with their right to freedom of expression under Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights. According to the press release, the case arose from the controversy about a “documentary on the France 3 television channel concerning complaints lodged by families of the victims of the 11 September 2001 attacks.” Saudi Prince Turki Al Faisal bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud was interviewed...
On January 20, 2016, the Court of Justice of the European Union (Court) ruled that in the area of competition law, the leniency programs of the EU and those of member states can coexist autonomously. According to the press release, the European Competition Network (ECN) ensures the coherent application of competition laws between the European Commission and member states. In 2006, the ECN adopted a leniency program, designed “to promote the uncovering of unlawful conduct by encouraging participants in cartels to report them” and “based on the principle that the competition authorities are...