On June 17, 2014, the U.S. Ambassador, Samantha Power, wrote a letter to the U.N. Security Council stating that the U.S. raid that seized the suspected leader of the 2012 attack on the American Consulate in Benghazi, Libya is legal under international law. According to a news article, Abu Khatttalah was captured in Libya “without the knowledge or permission of the Libyan government.” The letter stated that, in accordance with Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations, the measures were “necessary to prevent such armed attacks, and were taken in accordance with the United States’...
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 12, 2014, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (the Court) decided Fernández Martínez v. Spain, finding—by a majority of 9 to 8—that there was no violation of Article 8 (right to respect for private and family life) of the European Convention on Human Rights when Mr. Martínez’s contract to teach religion in a State school was not renewed. According to the press release, Mr. Martínez, a former Catholic priest with a Papal dispensation from celibacy, appeared in a newspaper article “indicating [his] disagreement with the Church’s position on abortion,...
On June 12, 2014, Pre-Trial Chamber I of the International Criminal Court confirmed, by majority, the charges against Laurent Gbagbo, the former President of Côte d’Ivoire. According to the press release, Gbagbo will face four charges of crimes against humanity, namely murder, rape, persecution, other inhumane acts or—in the alternative—attempted murder. The crimes are alleged to have been committed in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire “between 16 and 19 December 2010 during and after a pro-Ouattara march . . . on 3 March 2011 at a women’s demonstration in Abobo, on 17 March 2011 by shelling a...
On June 11, 2014, an International Protocol on the Documentation and Investigation of Sexual Violence in Conflict was published at the Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict. According to a news article, the Protocol’s main purposes “is to promote accountability for crimes of sexual violence under international law.” Its contents include “a template for personal data to be collected from survivors and witnesses, tips on carrying out interviews and gathering testimonies, and guidance on photographing, filming and sketching crime scenes, and on the collection of physical evidence...
On June 11, 2014, the International Labour Organization adopted a legally binding Protocol that seeks to strengthen efforts to combat forced labor. According to a press release, “[t]he new Protocol brings the existing ILO Convention 29 Concerning Forced Labour, adopted in 1930, into the modern era to address practices such as human trafficking.” As such, “[t]he Protocol strengthens the international legal framework by creating new obligations to prevent forced labour, to protect victims and to provide access to remedy, such as compensation for material and physical harm.” The Protocol was...
On May 20, 2014, an arbitral tribunal (the Tribunal) convened under the terms of a bilateral investment treaty between the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Czech and Slovak Republic (the Treaty), and operating under UNCITRAL Rules, found that it did not have jurisdiction over a claim brought by Achmea B.V. against the Slovak Republic because Achmea B.V. had failed to state a prima facie case. Notwithstanding this, the Tribunal held that there was a “dispute,” which was also a requirement for jurisdiction to exist, because “it suffices if it is established that there is a...
On June 9, 2014, Pre-Trial Chamber II of the International Criminal Court (the Court) unanimously confirmed the charges against Bosco Ntaganda, the former alleged deputy chief of the staff of the Forces Patriotiques pour la Libération du Congo (FPLC), and committed him for trial before a Trial Chamber. Ntaganda is charged with eighteen counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity, relating to the activities in Ituri Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo, between August 2002 and December 2003. According to the press release, the Court found that “as part of the widespread and...
On June 5, 2014, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Fatou Bensouda, published a Policy Paper on Sexual and Gender-Based Crimes. According to the press release, the comprehensive policy paper will “guide the Office of the Prosecutor in its work in fighting against impunity for sexual and gender-based crimes, and promote transparency and clarity, as well as predictability in the application of the legal framework of the Rome Statute to such crimes.” The Policy Paper was promulgated following “a process of extensive consultations, gathering input from staff in the Office, the...
On June 5, 2014, the General Assembly adopted Resolution 68/274 (draft only), which “[r]ecognizes the right of return of all internally displaced persons and refugees and their descendants, regardless of ethnicity, to their homes throughout Georgia, including in Abkhazia and the Tskhinvali region/South Ossetia.” According to a press release, the resolution was adopted out of concern “about forced demographic changes, as well as the humanitarian situation resulting from armed conflict in Georgia.” The resolution was passed by recorded vote of 69 in favor, 13 against, and 79 abstentions. ...
On June 2, 2014, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Bond v. United States that the Chemical Weapons Convention Implementation Act of 1998 (the Act), which implements the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction and makes a federal crime the use or possession of a chemical weapon, did not apply to a “purely local” assault involving the use of chemicals in Pennsylvania. Petitioner Carol Anne Bond, a microbiologist, had spread toxic chemicals on the property of her husband’s mistress and subsequently...