On December 16, 2015, the International Court of Justice (Court) issued its decision in the joined cases concerning Certain Activities carried out by Nicaragua in the Border Area (Costa Rica v. Nicaragua) and Construction of a Road in Costa Rica along the San Juan River (Nicaragua v. Costa Rica). According to the press release, Costa Rica alleged “that Nicaragua invaded and occupied Costa Rican territory, that it dug a channel thereon, and that it conducted works (notably dredging of the San Juan River) in violation of its international obligations,” while Nicaragua...
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 15, 2015, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) Appeal’s Chamber ordered a retrial for two Serbian officials, who had been acquitted in 2013 for failure to prove their crimes beyond a reasonable doubt. According to the press release, Stanišić and Simatović had been accused of participating in a joint criminal enterprise, which had committed a number of crimes with the “purpose of . . . the forcible and permanent removal of the majority of non-Serbs” from certain areas. The indictment alleges that they were involved in the planning and execution...
On December 12, 2015, the UN Secretary-General issued a press statement characterizing the Paris Agreement (Agreement) as a “monumental triumph.” The Agreement was reached after two weeks of negotiations at the United Nations climate change conference, and contained the pledge of 195 parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to take joint action in combating climate change. In particular, the Agreement contains provisions dealing with the following: “[M]itigation – reducing emissions fast enough to achieve the temperature goal; a transparency system and global stock...
On December 8, 2015, the European Court of Human Rights (Court) ruled in Z.H. and R.H. v. Switzerland that Switzerland was under no obligation to recognize the marriage between two Afghani nationals, entered into in a religious ceremony in Iran, who were fourteen and eighteen years of age at the time. According to the press release, the case arose out of the separate consideration of the asylum applications of Ms. Z.H. and Mr. R.H., and the man’s subsequent expulsion from Switzerland. Switzerland refused to consider the marriage, citing that “their alleged religious marriage...
On December 4, 2015, the European Court of Human Rights ruled in Zakharov v. Russia that the system for secret surveillance of mobile phones in Russia violated Article 8 (right to respect for private life and correspondence) of the European Convention of Human Rights (Convention). According to the press release, Roman Zakharov, a Russian national and subscriber of several mobile service providers, filed for an injunction in a Russian court, arguing that “pursuant [to a not generally accessible regulation] the mobile network operators had installed equipment which permitted the...
On December 1, 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court (Court) decided in OBB Personenverkehr AG v. Sachs that a California resident could not recover against the state-owned Austrian railway under the commercial activity exception to the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA). Carol Sachs, a California resident, had purchased tickets for a train journey in Europe online from a travel agency based in Massachusetts. At a train station in Austria, she had taken a fall on the platform and been seriously injured. Sachs argued that “her suit falls within the Act’s commercial activity exception,...
On December 1, 2015, the European Court of Human Rights (Court) ruled (judgment only available in French) in Cengiz and Others v. Turkey that blocking users’ access to YouTube without a legal basis violated Article 10 (freedom of expression) of the European Convention on Human Rights (Convention). According to the press release, a Turkish criminal court had blocked access to YouTube, citing a “[l]aw regulating Internet publications and combating Internet offences” and finding that the website contained ten videos that fell under the legislation as they were “insulting to the...
On October 19, 2015, the U.K. High Court (Court) ruled that a suit brought by the Western Sahara Campaign UK (WSCUK or Campaign) against Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and the Secretary of State for the Environment and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) regarding a trade agreement with Morocco should be heard by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). According to this statement by Leigh Day, the firm representing WSCUK, the Campaign “is an independent voluntary organisation founded in 1984 with the aim of supporting the recognition of the right of the Saharawi people of Western...
On November 30, 2015, the High Court of Justice in Northern Ireland (Court) ruled that aspects of Northern Ireland’s abortion laws are incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights (Convention). According to a news report, Northern Ireland permits abortions only “in cases where a woman’s life is threatened or where there is a permanent or serious risk to her well-being.” The Court found that the current laws regarding abortion violate Article 8 (right to respect for private and family life) of the Convention, as they provide no provisions dealing with sexual abuse or incest...
On November 28, 2015, Russia imposed trade sanctions on Turkey in response to the downing of a Russian fighter jet a few days earlier. According to a news report, Russian Prime Minister Medvedev stated “that the focus of the sanctions would be on ‘introducing limits or bans’ on Turkish economic interests in Russia, in addition to a ‘limitation of the supply of products.’” The Executive Order signed by President Putin forbids extension of employment contracts for Turks working in Russia after January 1, 2016 and prohibits the sale of vacation packages for stays in Turkey as well as charter...