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...
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 12, 2013, acting under Chapter VII, the Security Council issued Resolution 2123 in which it reaffirmed its support for the Peace Agreement and Dayton Paris Agreement on implementing the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina of 10 November 1995. The Security Council reminded the parties that pursuant to the Agreement, “they have committed themselves to cooperate fully with all entities involved in the implementation of this peace settlement.” The Security Council welcomed NATO’s continued presence, and the European Union’s “intention to maintain an EU military operation (EUFOR...
On November 22, 2013, the International Court of Justice delivered an order on Costa Rica’s request for the indication of new provisional measures in the Case Concerning Certain Activities carried out by Nicaragua in the Border Area (Costa Rica v. Nicaragua), which has been joined with the Case Concerning Construction of a Road in Costa Rica along the San Juan River (Nicaragua v. Costa Rica). In November 2010, Costa Rica instituted proceedings against Nicaragua due to “the incursion into, occupation of and use by Nicaragua’s army of Costa Rican territory”, as well as for...
On November 12, 2013, the United Nations General Assembly elected fourteen countries to serve on the United Nations Human Rights Council, including Algeria, China, Cuba, France Maldives, Mexico, Morocco, Namibia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Viet Nam, Russia, and the United Kingdom. According to the news story, these countries will serve for a term of three years beginning on January 1, 2014, and are not eligible for immediate re-election after serving two consecutive terms. The Council is composed of forty-seven Member States and is “responsible...
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights expressed deep concern over a recent ruling of the Constitutional Court of the Dominican Republic which upheld a 2010 constitutional amendment excluding the Dominican-born children of undocumented Haitian migrants from Dominican citizenship. According to a news report, the Constitutional Court additionally ordered retroactive application of the amendment, instructing authorities to commence an audit of all birth records dating back to June 1929 so as to determine who, under the amendment, is not entitled to Dominican citizenship. According to...
The Grand Chamber of the European Union Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled in the case of Bundesrepublik Deutschland v. Kaveh Puid that, according to the press release, “[w]here a Member State may not transfer an asylum seeker to the State competent to examine his application because of a risk of infringement of his fundamental rights in the latter, the Member State is required to identify another Member State as responsible for the examination.” The ECJ further found that “a finding that it is impossible to transfer an asylum seeker to the Member State initially identified as...
On November 12, 2013, the United Nations Security Council adopted a resolution extending the deployment of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) until October 31, 2014. According to the news story, the authorization provides “a temporary boost for the African Union peacekeeping force in Somalia of over 4,000 troops and an expanded logistical package so it can maintain basic security and respond to the evolving threats from Al-Shabaab insurgents.” The Security Council resolution underlined that “the increases in force are to provide a short-term enhancement of AMISOM’s military...
The Arbitral Tribunal established under Annex VII of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea in the ARA Libertad Arbitration (Argentina v. Ghana) issued a Termination Order in the case. According to the press release, Argentina initiated the arbitration following the detention of the Argentine frigate ARA Libertad in the Port of Tema, Ghana, in October 2012, and the subsequent legal actions taken by Ghana. In the Agreement signed by the parties in September at the Peace Palace in The Hague, the parties agreed that a judgment of the Supreme Court of Ghana as well as...
In a pair of reports issued this month, entitled Afghanistan: Survey of Commercial Cannabis Cultivation and Production 2012 and Afghan Opium Survey 2013, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Afghanistan’s Ministry of Counter-Narcotics found drug cultivation to be on the rise in Afghanistan. Regarding cannabis production, according to the news story, “while the total area of Afghan farmland used for cannabis cultivation fell by seventeen percent in 2012, there was still an eight percent rise in overall production of cannabis compared to 2011.” Regarding opiate production, also according...
The European Court of Justice ruled that, according to the press release, “[h]omosexual applicants for asylum can constitute a particular social group who may be persecuted on account of their sexual orientation.” According to European Council Directive 2004/83/EC, a refugee is anyone who “owing to well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country.” ...