On October 20, 2015, the European Court of Human Rights (Court) ruled in Vasiliauskas v. Lithuania that the conviction of a state security officer for genocide was a violation of Article 7 (no punishment without law) of the European Convention on Human Rights (Convention). The conviction had been based on Lithuania’s new criminal code, which had been adopted in 2003 and included social and political groups in the definition of genocide. The Court found that “it [is] clear that the applicant’s conviction was based upon legal provisions that were not in force in 1953 and that such...
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 1, 2015, Somalia ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child, depositing its ratification instrument at the United Nations headquarters during the annual treaty event. According to a news report, Somalia became “the 196th State party to the most widely ratified human rights treaty in history.” The Convention was adopted in 1989 and protects the human rights of children, including “the right to life, to health, to education and to play, as well as the right to family life, to be protected from violence and from any form of discrimination, and to have their views heard.”...
On October 15, 2015, the European Court of Human Rights (Court) decided in L.M. and Others V. Russia that the deportation of three refugees to Syria was a violation of the European Convention on Human Rights. The case concerns one stateless Palestinian and two Syrian nationals who had entered Russia in 2013 and petitioned for refugee status, stating that “they feared for their lives if returned to Syria and referred to information about the ongoing and widespread conflict there.” After the Russian Court denied their claims, finding them too general in nature and their motives to...
On October 15, 2015, the European Court of Human Rights ruled in Perinçek v. Switzerland that the conviction of a Turkish politician for statements made in Switzerland about the Armenian people in the Ottoman Empire was a violation of Article 10 (freedom of expression) of the European Convention on Human Rights (Convention). Mr. Perinçek had stated, “[T]his is the truth, there was no genocide of the Armenians in 1915” and had characterized the actions by Turkish forces as “a battle between peoples and we suffered many casualties.” The Court acknowledged that the Armenian...
On October 15, 2015, the Court of Justice of the European Union (Court) ordered (judgment not available in English) Greece to pay a fixed sum of €10 million and a periodic fine of €3.64 million per semester of delay for its delay in implementing the directive on urban waste water treatment. According to the press release, the present case arose out of Greece’s failure to comply with a 2007 judgment ordering it to implement the directive. The Court found that Greece had still not completed this process and ordered the payment of a fine to ensure full compliance with its earlier judgment....
On October 14, 2015, the United Nations Security Council (Council) adopted a resolution extending the mandate of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) for one year and affirmed its intention to review the “stability and security conditions on the ground, in order to consider the possible withdrawal of the Mission” at that time. The Council welcomed the “organization of the first round of legislative elections” and stressed the need to improve the judicial and correctional system in Haiti. It “reiterate[ed] that the Haitian National Police’s capacity-building remains...
On October 13, 2015, the United Nations Security Council (Council) adopted a resolution designed “to integrate women, peace and security concerns across all country-specific situations on the Security Council’s agenda.” The Council highlighted the “differential impact on the human rights of women and girls of terrorism and violent extremism, including in the context of their health, education, and participation in public life.” It urged all UN entities to include “women’s needs and gender perspectives” in their work, especially in policy decisions and planning processes. The Council also...
On October 8, 2015, the United Nations Security Council (Council) adopted a resolution under Chapter VII authorizing the European Union or individual states to board, inspect, and seize vessels suspected of smuggling migrants. The resolution is intended to disrupt the smuggling activities and “save the threatened lives of migrants or of victims of human trafficking.” It authorizes inspection of vessels where there are “reasonable grounds to suspect [they] are being used for migrant smuggling or human trafficking from Libya” after “good faith efforts” to obtain consent from the flag state....
On October 8, 2015, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (Court) published a decision (only available in Spanish) it had made last month, holding Chile responsible for violation of the right to judicial protection in Article 25 of the Inter-American Convention of Human Rights. According to the Court, Chile failed to annul criminal convictions which were based on proceedings that had included evidence and confessions obtained under torture during the military dictatorship. The Court also found Chile responsible for the twelve-year delay in investigating the torture incidents after...
On October 7, 2015, the Spanish Supreme Court (Court) upheld a lower court’s decision to dismiss a case investigating the Rwandan genocide. According to the press release (only available in Spanish), the Court found that the case did not satisfy the jurisdictional requirements for Spanish courts, namely that a Spanish citizen is the victim or the suspected perpetrator, or is present on Spanish territory. The Court stressed that the dismissal was not final and that the proceedings may be taken up again at a later time should any of the jurisdictional requirements be met.