On January 9, 2015, the UN International Commission of Inquiry on the Central African Republic released a report summarizing the investigation of the conflict in the Central African Republic, which began in 2013, with the primary purpose of identifying and holding accountable “perpetrators of violations and abuses of human rights and humanitarian law.” The report found that “ample evidence” existed that “human rights violations and abuses were committed by all parties,” over the past two years, including rape, murder, recruitment of child soldiers, torture, and burning of homes. The report...
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 January 8, 2015, the war crimes division of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina (the Court) confirmed genocide charges against Dragomir Vasic, Danilo Zoljić, and Radomir Pantić over the executions of Srebrenica Muslims during the Bosnian Civil War in 1995. According to the press release, the Court found that the defendants, acted both alone and in collusion with two other co-defendants to commit the criminal offense of genocide in violation of Article 171 (in conjunction with Articles 29 and 31) of the Criminal Code of Bosnia. The defendants are charged with having “aided and abetted...
On January 1, 2015, the Registrar of the International Criminal Court (ICC) received a document from the Palestinian government declaring Palestine's acceptance of the jurisdiction of the ICC since June 13, 2014. On January 7, 2015, the President of the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute received Palestine’s deposit of instruments of accession to the Rome Statute of the ICC and to the Agreement on the Privileges and Immunities of the International Criminal Court (APIC). As stated in the depository notifications from the UN Secretary-General, the Rome Statute will enter into...
On January 2, 2015, President Obama signed an Executive Order authorizing the imposition of additional sanctions against the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) and the Workers’ Party of Korea. According to the press release, the Executive Order “escalates financial pressure on the Government of North Korea, including its agencies, instrumentalities, and controlled entities, by authorizing targeted sanctions that would deny designated persons access to the U.S. financial system and prohibit U.S. persons from engaging in transactions or dealings with it.” The sanctions are in...
On December 23, 2014, the UN Human Rights Office and the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) released a joint report entitled, “Update on Violations of International Human Rights and Humanitarian Law During the Ongoing Violence in Libya” (the Report). Based on evidence gathered between September and mid-December 2014, the Report found that widespread international human rights “abuses persist, causing hundreds of deaths, mass displacement and a humanitarian crisis in many areas [of Libya].” According to a news article, the Report “documents indiscriminate shelling of civilian areas, the...
On December 5, 2014, the British Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT) ruled that U.K. security services’ programs of mass surveillance are lawful and human rights compliant. The IPT determined that in regard to the programs at issue, “the law gives individuals an adequate indication as to the circumstances in which and the conditions upon which the Intelligence Services are entitled to resort to interception, or to make use of intercept” and that there is no violation of Articles 8 (right to respect for private and family life) or 10 (freedom of expression) of the European Convention on...
On December 18, 2014 the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution (draft version) condemning “ongoing systemic, widespread and gross violations of human rights” in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and calling for the Security Council to consider referring the country to the International Criminal Court (ICC) to face charges of crimes against humanity. According to a press report, the General Assembly resolution, backed by a UN Commission of Inquiry report published in February, “lists examples of torture . . . describes a system of political prison camps, the forcible...
On December 10, 2014 the UN General Assembly adopted the United Nations Convention on Transparency in Treaty-based Investor-State Arbitration (the Convention), expanding the application of the UNCITRAL Rules on Transparency in Investor-State Arbitration (Transparency Rules) to cover all Investor-State Arbitrations initiated under investment treaties existing prior to April 1, 2014, irrespective of the applicable arbitration rules. According to a press release, “the Convention constitutes the efficient and flexible mechanism by which the Transparency Rules will apply to disputes arising...
On December 18, 2014, the Governing Council of the United Nations Compensation Commission—which was established “to process claims and pay compensation for losses and damage suffered as a direct result of Iraq’s unlawful invasion and occupation of Kuwait in 1990-91”—decided to postpone Iraq’s required payment into the Kuwaiti compensation fund. According to the press release, the Governing Council, “[n]oting the extraordinarily difficult security circumstances in Iraq and the unusual budgetary challenges associated with confronting this issue, the Governing Council adopted decision 272 (...
On December 18, 2014, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruled that the draft agreement providing for the accession of the EU to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (ECHR) is not compatible with EU law. In 2009, the Lisbon Treaty made it a treaty obligation for the EU to accede to the ECHR, and in 2013, the Council of Europe and the EU concluded the Draft Agreement on Accession of the European Union to the European Convention on Human Rights, which attempted to make the adjustments to both institutions in order to allow a non-state...