On September 5, 2014, United Nations agencies and partners of the Child Online Protection Initiative released new guidelines entitled, “Guidelines for Industry on Child Online Protection.” The guidelines “are aimed at establishing the foundation for safer and more secure use of internet-based services and associated technologies for today’s children and future generations.” According to a press release, the guidelines, which were “developed in alignment with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and the Children’s Rights and Business Principles,” seek to “provide advice...
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 September 4, 2014, a Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (the Court) ruled in Trabelsi v. Belgium that Belgium’s extradition of a Tunisian national to the US, where he is being prosecuted for terrorist offenses and is liable to life imprisonment, entailed a violation of Article 3 (prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment) of the European Convention on Human Rights (the Convention). According to the press release, “[t]he Court considered that the life sentence to which Mr Trabelsi was liable in the United States was irreducible inasmuch as US law provided for no...
On September 1, 2014, the UN Human Rights Council (the Council) held a “Special Session on the human rights situation in Iraq in light of abuses committed by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant and associated groups” after receiving a request for a special session from the Permanent Representative of Iraq to the Council. According to a press release, the Council also adopted a resolution requesting that the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights “urgently dispatch a mission to Iraq to investigate alleged violations and abuses of international human rights law” by these...
On August 29, 2014, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for a renewed commitment to a world free of nuclear weapons and nuclear tests. According to a news article, at the initiation of Kazakhstan, the UN General Assembly adopted Resolution 64/35 in December 2009, declaring August 29 the International Day against Nuclear Tests. The resolution “calls for increasing awareness and education ‘about the effects of nuclear-weapon-test explosions or any other nuclear explosions and the need for their cessation as one of the means of achieving the goal of a nuclear-weapon-free world.’” Accordingly...
On August 29, 2014, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights congratulated the Mexican Supreme Court for the adoption of a Protocol (Spanish only) involving sexual orientation and gender identity. According to a press release, the Protocol is “aimed at aiding judges in deciding cases related to sexual orientation and gender identity in conformity with human rights and internationally recognized and binding human rights standards.” Although not binding, “the Protocol identifies some common stereotypes and misconceptions about LGBTI persons, which usually hinder their right to access to...
On August 11, 2014, the Residual Special Court for Sierra Leone (RSCSL) granted Moinina Fofana Conditional Early Release, to be implemented after he has served six more months in prison. According to the press release, during his six remaining months in prison, the RSCSL Registrar and the Rwandan Prison Authorities “will certify that he understands the nature and seriousness of the crimes for which he was convicted, that he understands that what may be a legitimate cause does not justify the use of illegal means, and that he acknowledges his own responsibility and the leadership role he...
On August 26, 2014 the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 2172, which extends the mandate of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) until August 31, 2015. According to a news article, the Security Council “strongly called on all parties concerned to respect the cessation of hostilities, to prevent any violation of the Blue Line and to respect it in its entirety and to cooperate fully with the UN and the peacekeeping force.” UNIFIL is a peacekeeping force, “which was first established in 1978, [and] is tasked with ensuring that the area between the so-called Blue Line...
On August 22, 2014, an independent panel at the World Trade Organization (WTO) ruled against Argentina in response to complaints brought by the United States, the European Union, and Japan regarding “certain measures imposed by Argentina on the importation of goods.” According to a news article, “[t]he panel of three independent arbitrators found that Argentina's licensing rules violated WTO agreements, and urged the government of President Cristina Fernandez to bring them in line with international trade rules.” Argentina now has sixty days to submit an appeal of the panel’s decision to...
On August 18, 2014, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights published a report titled “Human Rights of Migrants and Other Persons in the Context of Human Mobility in Mexico.” The report’s purpose is to “assess the human rights situation of the international and domestic migrants in the context of human mobility in Mexico and to make recommendations to ensure that the migration and immigration policies, laws and practices in the United Mexican States . . . comport with the international human rights obligations it has undertaken to protect migrants, asylum seekers, refugees, victims...
On August 15, 2014, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 2170, “[e]xpressing its gravest concern that territory in parts of Iraq and Syria is under the control of Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and Al Nusrah Front (ANF).” Acting under Chapter VII, the Security Council “[d]eplores and condemns in the strongest terms the terrorist acts of ISIL and its violent extremist ideology, and its continued gross, systematic and widespread abuses of human rights and violations of international humanitarian law.” According to a news article, the “[o]ngoing turmoil in northern Iraq...