On June 27, 2014, the U.S. ambassador to Mozambique made a statement regarding a shift in U.S. antipersonnel land mine policy and the prospect of U.S. accession to the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on Their Destruction (Convention). According to a news article, on the last day of the Third Review Conference of the Convention, the ambassador stated that the U.S. was “diligently pursuing solutions that would be compliant with the convention and that would ultimately allow [the U.S.] to accede to the convention.” 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 June 27, 2014, the Office of the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights published a report on freedom of expression and the internet. According to a press release, “[t]he report lays out the general principles that must serve as a guide for the protection of the right to freedom of thought and expression in the digital environment, systematizes standards on this issue, and analyzes relevant best practices and international doctrine and jurisprudence.” The report was published “[i]n light of the great challenges to full protection of...
On June 25, 2014, the European Court of Human Rights and European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights launched an update to its Handbook on European Law Relating to Asylum, Borders and Immigration. According to the press release, the Handbook is “the first comprehensive guide to European law in the areas of asylum, borders and immigration, taking into account both the case-law of the [European Convention on Human Rights] and that of the Court of Justice of the European Union.” It also contains the relevant EU Regulations and Directives, as well as references to the European Social Charter...
On June 25, 2014, both the Defense and the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) in the Prosecutor v. Germain Katanga case gave notice of the discontinuance of their appeal before the Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Court (the Court) against the judgment (French language only) rendered by Trial Chamber II on March 7, 2014 (see this previous ILIB post). According to the press release, Germain Katanga “accepted the judgment of the Court and its conclusions on its role as well as his conduct,” and also indicated that he did not intend to appeal against the sentence imposed on...
On June 20, 2014, the East African Court of Justice at Arusha, First Instance Division (the Court), issued its decision in African Network for Animal Welfare v. Attorney General of the United Republic of Tanzania. The Court held that the proposal by Tanzania to build a highway across the Serengeti National Park was unlawful and issued an injunction restraining Tanzania from operationalizing the proposal. According to the press release, the Court found that the proposal infringed multiple articles of the Treaty for the Establishment of the East African Community, including Article...
On June 13, 2014, the African Court on Human and People’s Rights (the Court) issued its ruling on reparations in Reverend Christopher Mtikila v. United Republic of Tanzania. The Court held that Reverend Mtikila was not entitled to reparations for Tanzania’s enactment of a Constitutional amendment requiring election candidates to be a member of a political party, which the Court found, in its earlier judgment of June 14, 2013, to breach Articles 2 (freedom from discrimination), 3 (equal protection), 10 (freedom of association), and 13(1) (right to participate in government) of the...
On June 23, 2014, the International Campaign to Ban Landmines released a series of reports coinciding with the Third Review Conference of the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on Their Destruction. The Treaty prohibits States Parties from using, developing, producing, acquiring, stockpiling, retaining or transferring antipersonnel mines. According to the reports, “[o]ne of the most significant achievements of the treaty has been the degree to which any use of antipersonnel mines by any actor has been stigmatized...
On June 23, 2014, the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) of the International Criminal Court published its Report following the conclusion of the preliminary examination into the situation in the Republic of Korea. According to the press release, the Prosecutor “determined that, at this stage, the Rome Statute requirements to seek authorization to initiate an investigation have not been satisfied.” The OTP concluded, in relation to the sinking of a South Korean warship in March 2010, that “the alleged attack was directed at a lawful military target,” and, in relation to the shelling of South...
On June 19, 2014, a Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (Third Section) (the Court) declared inadmissible the application in Stichting Ostade Blade v. the Netherlands, holding that the perpetrator of a series of bomb attacks in Arnhem, who wrote to a magazine claiming responsibility for the attacks (the Letter), was not a journalistic source attracting protection under Article 10 (freedom of expression) of the European Convention on Human Rights. The magazine claimed a violation of its rights to protect its journalistic sources when, after the magazine announced that it...
On June 19, 2014, the Court of Justice of the European Union (the Court) issued its decision in Jessy Saint Prix v. Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, holding that “a woman who gives up work or seeking work, because of the physical constraints of the late stages of pregnancy and the aftermath of childbirth can retain the status of ‘worker’” within the meaning of Article 45 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and Article 7 of Directive 2004/38 on the right of free movement and residence of Union citizens. According to the press release, the Court found...