On November 6, 2016, reports circulated that Scotland would join the plaintiffs in the legal battle over Parliament’s role in Brexit. A British court ruled last week that Parliament had to authorize the process that would begin the country’s departure from the European Union; an appeal to the country’s highest court is expected before the end of the year. Nicola Sturgeon, the Scottish First Minister, said that “[t]he Scottish government had a representative observing proceedings throughout this case and we are currently considering whether we should now seek to become participants 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 November 4, 2016, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) published its report on the legal standards for persons in the context of human mobility. According to the press release, the purpose of the report “is to lay out the legal standards developed by the Inter-American Commission and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights . . . with regard to the scope and content of the human rights of migrants, asylum seekers, refugees” and other vulnerable groups. To do so, the report looks at the underlying causes of migration in the region, such as “growing socioeconomic...
On November 4, 2016, the Paris Agreement on climate change entered into force. The official summary states that the goal of the Agreement is “to strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change by keeping a global temperature rise this century well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius.” According to commentators, “the Paris Agreement is potentially pivotal, because it completes the paradigm shift from the bifurcated world of the Kyoto Protocol, which rigidly...
On November 4, 2016, the International Chamber of Commerce modified its Rules of Arbitration to improve transparency and efficiency in the arbitral process. According to the press release, the new rules will apply an expedited procedure automatically to all disputes under $2 million with a possibility to opt in for higher disputes. Under the expedited procedure rules, “there will be no Terms of Reference and the tribunal will have discretion to decide the case on documents only, with no hearing, no requests to produce documents and no examination of witnesses.” Also, the expedited rules...
On November 3, 2016, the justice minister of South Africa presented a bill to parliament that would allow the state to withdraw from the International Criminal Court. According to reports, “Pretoria last year announced its intention to leave after the ICC criticized it for disregarding an order to arrest Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir during a visit to South Africa. Bashir faces charges of orchestrating genocide and war crimes—charges that he dismisses.” The South African government said there was conflict between its obligations under the Rome Statute and its Diplomatic...
On November 3, 2016, the U.K. High Court ruled that before the U.K. can invoke Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, which would officially begin the process of withdrawing from the European Union, it must receive approval from Parliament. According to reports, the government was “relying on a power called the royal prerogative that lets the government withdraw from international treaties.” The Court ruled, however, that the royal prerogative was subject to parliamentary approval in this circumstance because invoking Article 50 would remove rights that were introduced by an act of Parliament...
On October 31, 2016, the United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 2314 condemning the use of chemical weapons in Syria. The resolution was passed in spite of Russia recently rejecting the UN’s findings that the Syrian government had used chlorine bombs at least three times in the last two years. The resolution also renewed the mandate of a joint investigation mechanism and stated that the Security Council would consider a further extension.
On October 30, 2016, the European Union and Canada signed the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) after overcoming various late obstacles to the process. The pact required unanimous agreement between the twenty eight members of the EU block. The EU says the agreement will boost trade with Canada by $13.2 billion a year and set “international standards” for trade. According to reports, opposition from Wallonia—a French speaking region of Belgium that claimed CETA “would undermine labor, environment and consumer standards,”—postponed the signing by a number of days. A separate...
On October 30, 2016, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in conjunction with the Oxford Institute for Ethics, Law and Armed Conflict and the Oxford Martin Programme on Human Rights for Future Generations launched the Oxford Guidance on the Law Relating to Humanitarian Relief Operations in Situations of Armed Conflict. According to the announcement, the project seeks to fill a void in legal analysis pertaining to the obligations of states under international humanitarian law to accept humanitarian relief under certain circumstances. Additionally, the project seeks to...
On October 27, 2016, the Papua New Guinea Supreme Court dismissed an application that would have sent asylum seekers currently being held on the isolated Manus Island to Australia. According to coverage of the ruling, the application would have given the government of Papua New Guinea thirty days to transfer the asylum seekers. As documented by a report from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Australia’s immigration laws send asylum seekers intercepted by boat to Manus Island or Nauru to be processed. The Court rejected the application on a technicality; the court filings...