On June 21, 2016, the International Criminal Court sentenced Jean-Pierre Bemba Gombo to eighteen years’ imprisonment. The sentence follows Bemba’s March 21, 2016 conviction on two counts of crimes against humanity (murder and rape) and three counts of war crimes (murder, rape, and pillaging). In the trial’s guilt phase, the Court found that Bemba effectively acted as a military commander and knew that the soldiers under his effective authority and control were committing or about to commit the charged crimes. In determining Bemba’s sentence, the Court balanced the gravity of the crimes;...
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 June 21, 2016, the European Court of Human Rights Grand Chamber held in Al-Dulimi and Montana Management Inc. v. Switzerland that in its implementation of Security Council Resolution 1483, Switzerland violated the applicants’ right to a fair hearing under Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights. Resolution 1483 imposed an obligation on states to “freeze without delay” the financial assets of individuals or entities connected with the government of Saddam Hussein. Pursuant to this resolution, Switzerland froze the applicants’ Swiss assets. The applicants challenged...
On June 20, 2016, the United States Supreme Court delivered its opinion in RJR Nabisco v. European Community, where it applied the presumption against extraterritoriality to the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), holding that RICO applies to acts conducted outside the United States only where the statutes that criminalize the underlying acts allow for it. The case tracks the Court’s extraterritoriality jurisprudence in Morrison v. National Australia Bank and Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum. The European Community and twenty-six of its...
On June 16, 2016, the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic released a report concluding that the Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham (ISIS) has committed genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes against the Yazidis. These crimes are defined in the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. According to the report, ISIS has engaged in “killings; sexual slavery, enslavement, torture and inhuman and degrading treatment and forcible transfer causing serious bodily...
On June 14, 2016, the Court of Justice of the European Union delivered its judgment in Commission v. United Kingdom, holding that the U.K. can require child benefit and child tax credit recipients to have a right to reside in its territory. In April 2004, the EU adopted Regulation No. 883/2004, wherein it established a series of common principles to be observed by member states in the sphere of social security, amongst them the principle prohibiting discrimination on the basis of nationality. The EU Commission subsequently received a number of complaints from non-British EU...
On June 13, 2016, the United Nations Security Council, in Resolution 2291, extended the mandate of the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) until December 15, 2016. The Mission’s mandate includes supporting the implementation of the Libyan Political Agreement of December 17, 2015, supporting the Government of National Accord (GNA) created by that agreement, and supporting the formation of the country’s security arrangements and “subsequent phases of the Libyan transition process.” Expressing “grave concern at the rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation in Libya,” the Council further...
On June 10, 2016, the Caribbean Court of Justice ruled in Maurice Tomlinson v. the State of Belize and the State of Trinidad and Tobago that homosexual CARICOM citizens enjoy full freedom of movement guaranteed under the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas (RTC). According to the press release, Maurice Tomlinson, a citizen of Jamaica, had brought suit against Belize and Trinidad and Tobago, alleging that the two states violated their obligations under the RTC “because their respective Immigration Acts contained provisions which sought to prohibit homosexuals from entering the two States...
On June 9, 2016, the Human Rights Committee issued its findings in a case involving Ireland’s abortion laws, ruling that they subjected women to discrimination and cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment. According to a news report, AM, an Irish woman whose fetus had been diagnosed with a congenital birth defect which would cause its death in the womb or shortly after birth, was forced to choose between carrying the pregnancy to term or traveling abroad for an abortion. AM traveled to the U.K. to undergo the procedure and was forced to leave the hospital twelve hours after its completion as...
On June 7, 2016, the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled in Affum v. Préfet du Pas de Calais that non-EU citizens cannot be imprisoned for illegally crossing an internal Schengen area border before the return procedure has been completed. According to the press release, French police officers intercepted Sélina Affum, a citizen of Ghana, at the entry to the Channel Tunnel when she was travelling on board a bus from Belgium to London. There, she was taken into custody on grounds of her illegal entry into France and French authorities requested that Belgium readmit Affum...
On June 2, 2016, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon released his annual report on grave violations of the rights of children in armed conflict. Issued pursuant to Resolution 1379, the report contains what news reports describe as a “blacklist” of violators. Notably, this year’s report—which is dated April 20, 2016—includes the Saudi Arabia-led coalition combatting Houthi rebels in Yemen. The report states, “In Yemen, owing to the very large number of violations attributed to the two parties, the Houthis/Ansar Allah and the Saudi Arabia-led coalition are listed for killing and...