On May 20, 2014, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) welcomed the efforts of the Organization of American States Member States in the past six months aimed at protecting and promoting the rights of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Persons (LGBTI). According to a press release, recent developments include reform relating to the police, the justice and penitentiary systems, and political participation. The IACHR noted that such reforms occurred “[n]otwithstanding the persistence of high levels of discrimination and violence experienced by [LGBTI] persons in 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 May 19, 2014, Trial Chamber I of the U.N. International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia began hearing the defense case in Prosecutor v. Ratko Mladić. According to news reports, the first witness called by Ratko Mladić was Mile Sladoje, a former assistant commander of a Serb battalion in Sarajevo, who “denie[d] ever being ordered by Mr Mladic to target civilians in a sniping campaign during the three-year siege of the city in which approximately 10,000 people were killed - most of them Muslims.” Mr. Mladić is the former Commander of the Army of Republika Srspka Main...
On May 15, 2014, the UK Supreme Court (the Court) held in the case of In the Matter of K (A child) (Northern Ireland) that, under the terms of the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction (the Convention) and the Brussels II Revised Regulation, K’s mother had been wrong to remove K from Lithuania because K’s grandparents enjoyed “rights of custody.” According to the press release, the Court held that the phrase “rights of custody” in Article 3 of the Convention should include informal, or “inchoate,” rights, “provided that the important distinction...
On May 14, 2014, the Trial Chamber of the Special Tribunal for the Lebanon (the Tribunal) issued an oral ruling setting June 18, 2014, as the date for the resumption of the trial in the Prosecutor v Ayyash et al. case. The case was adjourned on February 25, 2014, following joinder of the Prosecutor v. Merhi case to the Ayyash et al. case. According to the press release, any interlocutory appeal against the decision to resume must be filed within seven days.
On May 9, 2014, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) welcomed reforms to the Mexican Code of Military Justice that restrict the scope of military jurisdiction over human rights cases. According to a press release, “cases involving human rights violations committed by members of the military against civilians will be tried exclusively by the civilian justice system and not by military courts.” Mexico has instituted these reforms in the wake of past recommendations issued by the IACHR in its 1998 country report and four judgments previously issued by the Inter-American Court...
Court of Justice of the European Union Upholds “Right to be Forgotten” in Google Case (May 13, 2014)
On May 13, 2014, the Grand Chamber of the Court of Justice of the European Union (the Court) held in Google Inc. and Google Spain v. González that the operators of search engines can be obliged to erase, upon request, search results in the form of links that appear when the requesting person’s name is searched. According to the press release, the Court held that “if it is found, following a request by the data subject, that the inclusion of those links in the list is, at this point in time, incompatible with [Directive 95/46/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24...
On May 12, 2014, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (the Court) in Cyprus v. Turkey ordered Turkey to pay Cyprus €90,000,000 (approximately $123,400,000) in relation to breaches of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). According to the press release, Turkey committed such violations in the context of “military operations it had conducted in northern Cyprus in July and August 1974, the continuing division of the territory of Cyprus and the activities of the ‘Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.’” Although the Court identified those breaches in its...
On May 8, 2014, the Caribbean Court of Justice (the Court) delivered its judgment in Rudisa Beverages v. Guyana, declaring certain provisions of the Customs Act of Guyana inconsistent with the free movement provisions in the Revised Treaty of Chaguarmas (RTC). According to the press release, the Court held that “Article 87 of the RTC imposed an absolute prohibition on import duties on goods of Community origin” and thus precluded the provisions of the Customs Act of Guyana that impose an environmental tax on all imported non-returnable beverage containers but not on those made by...
On May 8, 2014, the Caribbean Court of Justice (the Court) granted special leave to commence proceedings pursuant to Article 222of the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas in the case of Tomlinson v. Belize and Trinidad & Tobago. According to the press release, the application “challenges the provisions of the Immigration Acts of Belize and Trinidad & Tobago which prohibit the entry of homosexuals into the jurisdiction.” In holding that Mr. Tomlinson, a Jamaican national, satisfied the requirement of establishing prejudice under Article 222(b), the Court found, according to the...
On May 8, 2014, the United Nations Mission in the Republic of South Sudan (UNMISS) issued a report, entitled “Conflict in Southern Sudan: A Human Rights Report,” documenting international legal crimes committed by both sides during the country’s civil war. The report, drawing on more than 900 interviews with victims and witnesses, states that there are reasonable grounds to believe that “gross violations of human rights and serious violations of humanitarian law . . . have been perpetrated in the context of the on-going conflict” in South Sudan. Such crimes may include “extrajudicial...