On March 27, 2014, Charles Blé Goudé made his first appearance before a Single Judge of Pre-Trial Chamber I at the International Criminal Court (ICC). Charles Blé Goudé, a national of Côte d’Ivoire, allegedly “bears individual criminal responsibility, as indirect co-perpetrator, for four counts of crimes against humanity, namely murder, rape and other forms of sexual violence, persecution, and other inhuman acts, allegedly committed in the territory of Côte d’Ivoire” between December 16, 2010 and April 12, 2011. According to the press release, the Single Judge “verified the identity of...
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 March 27, 2014, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution declaring that the Crimean referendum that led to the peninsula’s annexation by Russia has “no validity” and “cannot form the basis of any alteration of the status of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea.” The resolution also called on other States “to desist and refrain from actions aimed at the partial or total disruption of the national unity and territorial integrity of Ukraine” and urges States “not to recognize any alteration of the status of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea. . . on the basis of the above-...
On March 19, 2014, the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 2146. Acting under Chapter VII, the Security Council condemned the illicit export of crude oil from Libya. The Security Council authorized States to inspect vessels on the high seas, and using “all measures commensurate to the specific circumstances . . . to return the crude oil, with the consent of and in coordination with the Government to Libya, to Libya.” These inspections may only be “carried out by warships and ships owned or operated by a State and used only on government non-commercial service.” The...
On March 18, 2014, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit (the Court) heard oral argument in Al Shimari v. CACI et al. The case concerns four former Iraqi detainees who claim they were tortured at Abu Ghraib prison by the U.S. military contractor, CACI International. A district court judge had previously dismissed the case, finding that the Alien Tort Statute could not apply to violations occurring outside the United States, and that the remaining common law claims were barred because Iraqi law applied.
On March 13, 2014, Ukraine filed an application with the European Court of Human Rights against the Russian Federation and requested interim measures, indicating that Russia “should refrain from measures which might threaten the life and health of the civilian population on the territory of Ukraine.” According to the press release, the Court granted the interim measures on the same day, “[calling] upon both Contracting Parties concerned to refrain from taking any measures, in particular military actions, which might entail breaches of the Convention rights of the civilian population,...
On March 10, 2014, the ICSID Arbitral Tribunal (the Tribunal) rejected Venezuela's request for reconsideration of the Tribunal’s September 2013 Decision. In the September Decision, the Tribunal found, first, that it had jurisdiction over the dispute regarding Venezuela’s taking of ConocoPhillips oil assets located in the country and, second, that Venezuela had breached its obligations under Article 6(c) of the BIT "to negotiate in good faith for compensation for its taking of the ConocoPhillips assets. . . ." (See previous ILIB post here.) Finding that it did not have the power to...
On March 17, 2014, by Executive Order, President Obama imposed asset freezes and travel bans on eleven people, as listed on the White House Fact Sheet including Dmitry Rogozin, the Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, Valentina Matviyenko, Head of the Federation Council, and Vladimir Konstantinov, the speaker of the Crimean parliament. This is further to an Executive Order of March 6, 2014, “finding that the actions and policies of the Government of the Russian Federation with respect to Ukraine – including the recent deployment of Russian Federation military forces in the...
On March 12, 2014, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (the Court) awarded between 29,400 and 72,770 Euros to each applicant for the breaches of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) that it had previously found in Kurić v Slovenia. According to the press release, the applicants, former citizens of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, “belong to a group of persons known as the ‘erased’, who on 26 February 1992 lost their status as permanent residents following Slovenia’s declaration of independence in 1991.” The applicants requested just...
On March 11, 2014, the European Commission, the executive body of the European Union (EU), adopted a new framework to strengthen the rule of law in the EU. Designed to address “systemic threats to the rule of law,” according to the press release, “the new . . . framework will be complementary to infringement procedures . . . and to the so-called 'Article 7 procedure' of the Lisbon Treaty which . . . allows for the suspension of voting rights in case of a ‘serious and persistent breach’ of EU values by a Member State.” Additionally, the framework “establishes an early warning tool...
On March 11, 2014, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) released a report identifying the situation in Syria as “the most damaging conflict for children in the region’s recent history.” According to the press release, the report “focuses on the immense damage caused to the 5.5 million children now affected by the conflict and calls for an immediate end to the violence and increased support for those affected.” The report discusses specific issues that Syrian children face due to the conflict, such as the challenges that come with “living as refugees . . ., malnutrition and illness...