At the Twelfth Session of the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ASP), which concluded on November 28, 2013, the ASP adopted several new rules and amendments to its Rules of Procedure and Evidence. According to the press release, new rules 134 bis, ter and quater pertain to “the use of video technology, excusal from presence at trial and excusal from presence at trial due to extraordinary public duties.” Notably, rule 134 quater provides that “[a]n accused subject to a summons to appear who is mandated...
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 November 26, 2013, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights ruled, by nine votes to eight, in X v. Latvia that Latvia had violated Article 8 (right to respect for private and family life) of the European Convention on Human Rights (European Convention) because its courts had not considered an arguable allegation of “serious risk” to a child when ordering the child’s return to Australia, her country of origin. According to the press release, the Grand Chamber ruled that, in ordering the return of the child pursuant to the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of...
On November 26, 2013, Trial Chamber V(b) of the International Criminal Court reconsidered its previous decision excusing the accused from continuous presence at trial in the Prosecutor v. Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta case in light of an October 2013 Judgment of the Appeals Chamber on the same issue in the Prosecutor v. William Samoei Ruto and Joshua Arap Sang case. According to the press release, the majority, Judge Eboe-Osuji dissenting, held that “as a general rule, Mr Kenyatta must be present at trial,” and that “any future requests to be excused from attending parts of the...
On November 27, 2013, South Africa’s Supreme Court of Appeal held in National Commissioner of the South African Police Service v. Southern African Human Rights Litigation Centre that the South African Police Service (SAPS) is empowered to investigate alleged crimes against humanity committed in Zimbabwe against Zimbabwean nationals “whether or not the alleged perpetrators are present in South Africa.” In so doing, the Court of Appeals reversed the North Gauteng High Court’s May 2012 ruling in favor of the SAPS’s decision not to investigate torture as a crime against humanity...
On November 20, 2013, Afghanistan released a draft of the Security and Defense Cooperation Agreement between the United States of America and the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (Agreement). If approved by Afghanistan, the agreement will govern the role of U.S. troops in Afghanistan from January 1, 2015 to 2024 and beyond, unless terminated by the parties. . As outlined in Article 2 which addresses the purpose and scope of the agreement, “the Parties shall continue to foster close cooperation to strengthen security and stability in Afghanistan,” but “[u]nless otherwise mutually agreed,...
On November 24, 2013, Iran signed a Joint Plan of Action with six nations in Geneva’s Palace of Nations that brings a freeze to Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for temporary relief on various economic sanctions. The six nations, known as PS5+1 (or E3+3), are: China, France, Germany, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The Preamble of the Joint Plan of Action states: “the goal for these negotiations is to reach a mutually-agreed long-term comprehensive solution that would ensure Iran’s nuclear program will be exclusively peaceful.” The deal is subject to...
On December 3, 2013, Transparency International released its 2013 Corruption Perceptions Index, which ranks countries and territories based on the perceived level of corruption of their public sectors. Each country or territory is given a numeric score ranging from zero to one hundred, where zero means a country is perceived as highly corrupt and one hundred means a country is perceived as very clean. The 2013 Index includes 177 countries and territories. Afghanistan, North Korea, and Somalia were ranked the most corrupt, while Finland, New Zealand, and Denmark were ranked the least. This...
On November 22, 2013, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (Tribunal), according to the press release, “ordered that the vessel Arctic Sunrise and all persons detained in connection with the dispute be released and allowed to leave the territory and maritime areas under the jurisdiction of the Russian Federation upon the posting of a bond in the amount of 3.6 million euros.” On October 21, 2013, the Netherlands submitted a request to the Tribunal for the prescription of provisional measures under article 290 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea in...
On November 18, 2013, the United Nations Security Council, acting under Chapter VII, condemned all acts of piracy committed at sea off the coast of Somalia and called upon Somali authorities “to pass a complete set of anti-piracy laws without delay.” The Security Council urged States, working with the relevant international organizations, to adopt legislation to facilitate prosecution of suspected pirates. The resolution recognized that “on-going instability in Somalia contributes to the problem of piracy and armed robbery at sea off the coast of Somalia, while piracy, in turn, exacerbates...
On November 13, 2013, Saudi Arabia officially rejected a seat on the United Nations Security Council, following its October 18, 2013 announcement that it would do so. According to a news story, now that the seat remains vacant, the Group of Asia Pacific States, a bloc of General Assembly members, “must now choose among themselves at least one replacement candidate.” If more than one state is interested in the seat, a special election may be held. The decision by Saudi Arabia to reject the seat is “widely seen as part of a broader display of the country’s anger at the United States over...