On November 4, 2014, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) released a General Recommendation/General Comment on states’ obligations regarding harmful practices against women and girls. The objective “is to clarify the obligations of States parties to [the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women] and [the Convention on the Rights of the Child] by providing authoritative guidance on legislative, policy and other appropriate measures that must be taken to ensure full compliance with...
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 30, 2014, the United Nations Human Rights Committee issued an authoritative commentary in regard to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), entitled, “General Comment No.35 – Article 9: Liberty and security of person.” According to a press release, the General Comment discusses states’ obligations relating to Article 9 of the ICCPR and covers a range of issues, “including the definition of arbitrary detention and the procedural safeguards necessary for avoiding unlawful and arbitrary detention, such as the 48-hour standard for promptly bringing a...
On August 25, 2014, a Tribunal established under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) at the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) dismissed all claims brought by Apotex Holdings Inc. and Apotex Inc. against the United States. According to a press release, the case concerned a prior arbitration from 2012 where Apotex argued that when the U.S. Federal Drug Administration (FDA) implemented an “Import Alert” on two Apotex facilities in Canada, the U.S. violated “obligations under NAFTA Chapter Eleven to accord Apotex and its U.S. investments national...
On November 4, 2014, the Dominican Constitutional Court (the Court) ruled (Spanish only) unconstitutional the instrument the Dominican Republic deposited with the Organization of American States in 1999 accepting the competence of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR). According to a news article, the Court found that “the Senate never issued a resolution to ratify the February 1999 agreement with the rights court as required by the Dominican constitution. Ten judges voted in favor of the ruling, while three judges voted against it.” The Court made its ruling “in response to a...
On November 4, 2014, the European Court of Human Rights ruled in Tarakhel v. Switzerland that if Swiss authorities sent a family of asylum seekers back to Italy under the Dublin Regulation without first obtaining individual assurances of their care, Switzerland would be in violation of the European Convention of Human Rights (the Convention). According to the press release, the Court found that if Switzerland sent the family back to Italy without “sufficient assurances that . . . the applicants would be taken charge of in a manner adapted to the age of the children and that the...
On October 30, 2014, a U.K. Court of Appeal (the Court) ruled that a Libyan man can sue top U.K. officials for their complicity in his 2004 rendition from China to Libya, where he was allegedly imprisoned and tortured. In its decision, the Court held that “state immunity does not bar these proceedings” and that the respondents “are not entitled to any immunity before the courts in this jurisdiction.” Although the Court found applicable the act of state doctrine, which is used to prevent courts from inquiring into matters where another state is involved, the Court held that “the present...
On October 30, 2014, the European Court of Human Rights (the Court), ruled in Shvydka v. Ukraine that Ukraine violated the European Convention of Human Rights (the Convention) by detaining Ms. Shvydka for ten days for protesting against former Ukrainian President Yakunovich. According to the press release, the Court found that Ukraine had violated Article 10 (freedom of expression) and article 2 of Protocol 7 (right of appeal in criminal matters) after Ms. Shvydka “was arrested and convicted of petty hooliganism and sentenced to ten days’ administrative detention” for removing a...
On October 30, 2014, a Tribunal at the Permanent Court of Arbitration (the Tribunal) ruled that the joint Singapore-Malaysia venture M-S Pte Ltd owed no development charges to Singapore related to three parcels of land in Singapore. According to the press release, the Tribunal determined that “M-S Pte Ltd, would [not] have been liable to pay development charges in the amount of S$1.47 billion on three parcels of former railway land . . . if the said parcels had been vested in M-S Pte Ltd and if M-S Pte Ltd had actually developed the lands in accordance with the proposed land uses set out...
On October 23, 2014, the European Court of Human Rights (the Court) ruled in Mamazhonov v. Russia that Russia had violated the European Convention of Human Rights (the Convention) by failing to properly examine Mr. Mamazhonov’s claims that he would be at risk of inhumane treatment and torture if extradited to Uzbekistan and failing to put in place protective measures upon his release from detention in Russia. According to the press release, the Court ruled that Russia had violated Article 3 (prohibition of inhumane or degrading treatment), as the Russian authorities “failed to...
ICTY Allows Prosecution to Reopen Mladic Case to Present Evidence from Mass Grave (October 23, 2014)
On October 23, 2014, the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) ruled that the Prosecution may re-open its case in chief in Prosecutor v. Mladic to present new evidence gathered from a newly discovered mass grave in Bosnia and Herzegovina. According to the press release, “the Judges also found that the fresh evidence was relevant to the case, and had probative value, noting especially the Prosecution submission ‘that the Material clarifies the organised and large-scale nature of killings in Prijedor, and the VRS’s [Army of Republika Srpska] role therein...