On December 9, 2014, the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence released a report entitled, “Committee Study of the CIA’s Detention and Interrogation Program: Findings and Conclusions” (the Report). The Report found that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) had, among other things, used enhanced interrogation techniques that were ineffective while also withholding information regarding the severity of interrogation activities from the U.S. government and the media. After the Report’s release, United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture Juan Mendez issued a statement welcoming the...
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 2, 2014, the International Criminal Court’s Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) released a report entitled, “Preliminary Examination Activities 2014,” detailing the status of preliminary investigations into various situations to determine if they meet the legal criteria established by the Rome Statute to warrant investigation by the Court. The OTP is currently investigating U.K. authorities for “war crimes involving systematic detainee abuse in Iraq from 2003 until 2008.” The OTP is also conducting an investigation into all actors involved in the conflict in Afghanistan, including...
On December 8, 2014, a World Trade Organization (WTO) Appellate Panel (the Panel) overturned the original panel’s decision, ruling that the U.S. had not acted in accordance with WTO law when imposing duties on Indian steel imports. According to a news article, the WTO held that “the U.S. duties had wrongly penalized India for subsidizing steel exports by Tata Steel [and] the U.S. Department of Commerce had erred by saying [Indian state-run steel company] NMDC was a ‘public body’ under WTO rules.” The WTO also “asked the United States to bring [its duties on Indian steel] into line with...
On December 8, 2014, the International Criminal Court (the Court) recognized Palestine as an observer state and granted non-state party observer status. According to a news article, Palestine may now “ratify the Rome Statute, the treaty that established the International Criminal Court,” which could open the door to possible investigation and prosecution of war crimes in the Palestinian Territories. For now, the recognition is “symbolic but significant nonetheless, considering how elusive statehood has proved for the Palestinians.”
On December 5, 2014, Fatou Bensouda, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), announced that she was withdrawing charges against Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta, the President of Kenya. According to a news story, the judges of the ICC would not postpone the trial at Ms. Bensouda’s request in order to allow her to gather more evidence. Ms. Bensouda stated that she withdrew the charges “without prejudice to the possibility of bringing a new case should additional evidence become available.” She cited difficulty in gathering adequate evidence “to prove Mr. Kenyatta's alleged...
On December 5, the African Court of Human and Peoples’ Rights (the Court) ruled in Konate v. Burkina Faso (full text unavailable) that Burkina Faso was in violation of Article 9 (freedom of expression) of the African Charter, Article 19 (freedom of expression) of the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), and Article 44 (discriminating internal legislation) of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) treaty by having and enforcing legislation that criminalizes “defamation” in the press and that Mr. Konate’s appeal against his domestic...
On December 4, 2014, the European Court of Human Rights (the Court) ruled in Ali Samatar and Others v. France and Hassan and Others v. France (French only) that France had violated Article 5 § 3 (right to be brought promptly before a judge) of the European Convention on Human Rights when, upon their arrest in Somalia for piracy and transfer to France, the applicants were transferred to police custody instead of being taken directly to an investigating judge. According to the press release, the Court ruled that France did not violate Article 5§ 1 (right to liberty and...
On December 4, 2014, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) signed a Framework Agreement for Cooperation (the Agreement) in order to steer the activities of both organizations in the region over the next five years. According to the press release, the Agreements seeks to “pursue their common goals of ensuring sustainable survival, growth, full development and participation of children in line with the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Millennium Declaration and the Millennium Development Goals, as well as the global post...
On November 19, 2014, the England and Wales High Court (the Court) ruled in Rahmatullah v. the Ministry of Defence that Iraqi civilians who were arrested by British forces in Iraq, transferred to U.S. custody, held for years without a trial, and allegedly tortured while detained, may proceed with their case against the U.K. Ministry of Defence. The U.K. argued that the claims were barred by “the doctrine of state immunity and/or the doctrine of the foreign act of state [and] the doctrine of Crown act of state.” Referencing the UN Convention on Jurisdictional Immunities of States...
On December 2, 2014, the European Court of Human Rights (the Court) ruled in Urechean and Pavlicenco v. the Republic of Moldova that Moldova had violated Article 6 (right of access to court) of the European Convention on Human Rights when it did not allow the petitioners to sue then-President Voronin over defamatory remarks made about them on television. According to the press release, the Moldovan courts considered President Vornonin immune to such lawsuits under the Constitution of Moldova’s provision that a President may “not be held liable for opinions which he expressed in...