On April 13, 2015, in U.S. v. Slough, a U.S. federal judge sentenced four former private security guards for the killings of fourteen unarmed Iraqi civilians at Baghdad’s Nisour Square in 2007. One guard was sentenced to life in prison while three others were handed thirty-year sentences. In a press release, the United Nations Working Group on the use of mercenaries “endorse[d]” the sentences calling the case a “landmark trial” and reiterated that “[p]rivate military and security companies must always be held accountable for violations committed under international human rights...
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 April 1, 2015, the African Union and the Constitutional Jurisdictions of Africa signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) establishing a partnership aimed at promoting democracy, human rights, and the rule of law in Africa. According to the press release, “[u]nder the MOU the Commission and CCJA shall cooperate closely and undertake joint actions and activities to implement the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the 2002 African Union Declaration on the Principles Governing Democratic Elections in Africa, the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance and other...
On April 7, 2015, the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) Appellate Body issued its report in United States —Anti-dumping Measures on Certain Shrimp from Viet Nam rejecting Viet Nam’s claim that the Panel had acted inconsistently with the rules governing dispute settlement and upholding the Panel’s finding that Viet Nam had failed to establish its claim that a section of the Uruguay Round Agreements Act was inconsistent with articles of the Anti-Dumping Agreement. The Panel was established in 2013 to review Viet Nam’s complaint concerning “certain anti-dumping measures imposed by the...
On April 8, 2015, the Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) issued its judgment in Prosecutor v. Tolimir upholding the convictions and sentence of Zdravko Tolimir for crimes committed in Srebrenica in 1995. According to the press release, the Appeals Chamber confirmed “the Trial Chamber’s finding that Tolimir participated in two joint criminal enterprises (JCE): one to murder the able-bodied men of Srebrenica and the other to forcibly remove the Bosnian Muslim population from Srebrenica and Žepa.” The Chamber upheld Tolimir’s “...
On April 2, 2015, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea issued its advisory opinion regarding illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing activities. The opinion, which was delivered in response to a March 2013 inquiry by the Sub-Regional Fisheries Commission, addressed the obligations and liabilities of flag states in cases where IUU fishing activities are conducted by vessels sailing under their flags and “within the Exclusive Economic Zone of third party States;” assignment of liability in cases where a license is “issued to a vessel within the framework of an...
On April 2, 2015, Britain, Germany, Russia, China, France, and the United States (P5+1) announced the outline of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) regarding Iran’s nuclear program. According to the U.S. Department of State’s press release, the framework agreement addresses the following: limits on enrichment; Iran’s conversion of its nuclear facility at Fordow for use as a research center; inspections and transparency; reactors and reprocessing; sanctions; and phasing. With the goal of reaching a final agreement by June 30, the State Department indicated that the states...
On April 1, 2015, Palestine became a state party to the Rome Statute. According to the press release, the International Criminal Court’s vice president, Kuniko Ozaki, welcomed Palestine stating that “[a]ccession to a treaty is, of course, just the first step. As the Rome Statute today enters into force for the State of Palestine, Palestine acquires all the rights as well as responsibilities that come with being a State Party to the Statute. These are substantive commitments, which cannot be taken lightly.” Palestine submitted its application to join the Court in January 2015.
On March 29, 2015, the England and Wales High Court ruled in Al-Saadoon v. Secretary of State for Defence that the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) applies to cases where Iraqi soldiers were shot by British forces during security operations. The main proceedings brought by Al-Saadoon and others represent at least 1,000 cases alleging “ill-treatment, unlawful detention and, in some cases, unlawful killing of Iraqi civilians by British soldiers” during the British military involvement in Iraq between 2003 and 2009. The claimants sought “orders from the court to require the...
On March 27, 2015, the international co-investigating judge of the Extraordinary Chambers of the Courts of Cambodia charged Ao An, a seventy-nine-year-old former Khmer Rouge member, with crimes against humanity. According to the press release, the crimes include “murder, extermination, persecution on political and religious grounds, imprisonment, and other inhumane acts (namely inhumane conditions of detention).” According to one report, Ao An is “the third suspect charged this month in cases that many investigators and advocacy groups fear might go unheard because of the suspects’...
On March 27, 2015, an Egyptian court annulled a January decision by the Cairo Court for Urgent Matters designating Hamas a terrorist organization. The organization had been designated as such in February “based on lawsuits [] alleging that Hamas is responsible for multiple attacks against Egyptian security forces, which have resulted in casualties and deaths.” According to another report, the ruling was annulled after the lawyer who filed the initial suit withdrew it citing the need to remove “obstacles which Egypt’s political leadership might face in serving its role in the Palestinian...