On January 30, 2014, the ICTR Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) released a manual entitled Prosecution of Sexual Violence: Best Practices Manual for the Investigation and Prosecution of Sexual Violence Crimes in Post-Conflict Regions. According to the press release, the manual “draws on the OTP’s nearly 20-year experience in prosecuting sexual violence crimes perpetrated during the 1994 Rwandan Genocide.” The manual is “divided into the three principal stages of prosecution: investigation, pre-trial and trial, and appeal and post-appeal,” and “is intended to be a resource to help...
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 January 29, 2014, the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom (the Court) decided I.A. v. Secretary of State for the Home Department, unanimously dismissing the appeal against an immigration judge’s refusal to grant asylum to I.A., despite the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) having granted him refugee status. The Court held that the national decision maker is required to pay “close attention to the UNHCR decision” and give “considerable pause before arriving at a different conclusion,” such that “[a] claimant for asylum who has been accorded refugee status by UNHCR starts...
On January 27, 2014, the International Court of Justice rendered its Judgment in the case concerning the Maritime Dispute (Peru v. Chile) and defined the course of the maritime boundary between Peru and Chile. According to the press release, the Court, in reaching its conclusion, considered whether there was an agreed maritime boundary between Peru and Chile, as well as the nature, extent, and starting-point of the agreed maritime boundary. The Court also ruled on the course of the maritime boundary from “Point A,” which was the “endpoint of the existing maritime boundary.” The...
On January 27, 2014, the United Nations Security Council adopted a resolution calling on member States to prevent and suppress the financing of terrorist actions. According to the press release, the resolution calls on “all Member States to prevent terrorists from benefiting directly or indirectly from ransom payments or political concessions, and further, to secure the safe release of hostages.” The resolution also calls for: cooperation on incidents of kidnapping and hostage-taking by terrorists; continued expert discussions on kidnapping by terrorists within the United Nations and...
On January 24, 2014, the Caribbean Court of Justice ruled in The Attorney General of Belize v. Zuniga et al. case that most of the challenged amendments to Belize’s Supreme Court of Judicature Act were constitutional. The dispute arose out of a 2005 Accommodation Agreement between the Government and Belize Telemedia Limited. According to the press release, the Government subsequently “attempt[ed] to restrain the Respondents from enforcing an international arbitral award. These events ultimately led to the passage of the New Legislation.” This new legislation was challenged, and...
On January 23, 2014, the United Nations Compensation Commission (UNCC) issued $1.03 billion USD in damage claims to the Government of Kuwait arising out of the 1990 Iraqi invasion. According to the press release, the government of Kuwait submitted the claim on behalf of the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation for oil production and sales losses as a result of damages incurred by Kuwait’s oil fields during the invasion. The UNCC was established in 1991 as a subsidiary organ of the UN Security Council. It has received nearly three million claims, which fall into six categories: “four are for...
On January 20, 2014, the England and Wales Court of Appeal (Civil Division) decided R (on the application of Khan) v. Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, a case regarding a claimant from Waziristan whose father was allegedly killed in a drone strike operated by the CIA. The claimant’s primary case on appeal was that a UK General Communications Headquarters officer who passes locational intelligence to the United States “is not entitled to rely on the defence of combatant immunity” and thus may commit an offence under the Serious Crime Act 2007. The Court...
On January 14, 2014, the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office submitted an official response to questions posed by the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee “regarding the United Kingdom’s position on humanitarian intervention and the responsibility to protect.” In the response, the government articulated its position that “intervention may be permitted under international law in exceptional circumstances where the UN Security Council is unwilling or unable to act in order to avert a humanitarian catastrophe subject to . . . three conditions.” These conditions require that that...
On January 23, 2014, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) expressed concern about the recent entry into force of Law 30151, which amends Article 20(11) of Peru’s Criminal Code. The relevant provision exempts from liability to criminal prosecution any “personnel of the Armed Forces or National Police of Peru who cause injury or death in the performance of their duties and through the use of their weapons or other means of defense.” The IACHR recalled Peru’s duty, pursuant to the American Convention on Human Rights, to effectively investigate any deprivation of the right...
On January 23, 2014, the Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia partially granted the appeals of both the Defence and the Prosecution in the Prosecutor v. Šainović et al. case. According to the press release, the Appeals Chamber reduced the sentences of Nikola Šainović, Sreten Lukić, and Vladimir Lazarević, while affirming the sentence of Nebojša Pavković. The Appeals Chamber also concluded, Judge Tuzmukhamedov dissenting, that “specific direction” is not an element of the aiding and abetting mode of liability. The accused are “four...