On January 13, 2016, Tamara Fields, the widow of a man killed during a terrorist attack in Jordan, filed suit against Twitter, alleging that the social media network has violated federal law prohibiting the support of terrorist organizations. According to the complaint, “Twitter has knowingly permitted the terrorist group ISIS to use its social network as a tool for spreading extremist propaganda, raising funds and attracting new recruits. This material support has been instrumental to the rise of ISIS and has enabled it to carry out numerous terrorist attacks, including the November 9,...
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 13, 2016, the European Commission initiated its inquiry into recent developments in Poland and their impact on the rule of law as a fundamental value of the European Union. According to the press release, “the political and legal dispute concerning the composition of the Constitutional Tribunal . . . [and] the changes in the law on the Public Service Broadcasters” prompted the assessment under the Rule of Law Framework. According to a news report, the new laws allow the government “to appoint more sympathetic judges to the nation’s Constitutional Tribunal . . . [and] rein in the...
On January 11, 2016, the European Commission decided that a corporate tax break Belgium had granted to thirty-five companies violates EU state-aid rules. According to the press release, “[t]he scheme reduced the corporate tax base of the companies by between 50% and 90% to discount for so-called "excess profits" that allegedly result from being part of a multinational group.” The EU Commissioner for competition policy stated, “It distorts competition on the merits by putting smaller competitors who are not multinational on an unequal footing.” In addition to ending the special tax deals...
On January 6, 2016, TransCanada filed suit in U.S. federal court in Texas, alleging that President Barack Obama's refusal to approve the pipeline project Keystone XL violates provisions of the North American Free Trade Agreement and the U.S. Constitution. According to a news report, the pipeline was intended to connect Canadian oil sands with American refineries, but was heavily criticized by environmental groups arguing that oils sands are a particularly polluting energy source. Obama explained his decision by noting that an approval of the pipeline would undermine U.S. leadership in the...
On January 6, 2016, the UN Secretary-General issued a press release strongly condemning the underground nuclear testing that North Korea announced had taken place that day. The Secretary-General stressed that “[t]his test once again violates numerous Security Council resolutions despite the united call by the international community to cease such activities [and] is also a grave contravention of the international norm against nuclear testing.” He further pointed out that the test could have a “profoundly destabilizing” effect in the region. According to a news report, the Security Council...
On January 5, 2016, the European Court of Human Rights (Court) ruled in Frumkin v. Russia that Russia had violated the European Convention on Human Rights (Convention) by failing to ensure the peaceful conduct of a political rally in Bolotnaya Square and by arresting and detaining of one of the protesters. According to the press release, authorities had unexpectedly moved the planned route for the rally, which caused confusion amongst the protesters and eventually led to the termination of the demonstration by the police. Yevgeniy Frumkin, a Russian citizen, was unable to leave...
On December 31, 2015, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) formally closed after twenty-one years and forty-five judgments delivered in an effort to hold those accountable for the genocide in Rwanda of more than 800,000 people. According to a news report, the Security Council, which had initiated the tribunal in 1994, issued a statement reaffirming its “strong commitment to justice and the fight against impunity.” The ICTR was the first international tribunal to adjudicate the crime of genocide, sentencing “61 people to terms of up to life imprisonment for their roles in...
On December 31, 2015, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law suspending Russia’s free trade agreement with Ukraine starting January 1, 2016. According to a news report, this move had been foreshadowed after negotiations between Russia, the EU, and Ukraine ended with no results earlier in December. At that time, Russian Trade and Economic Development Minister Alexei Ulyukayev noted that “[i]t’s a very probable scenario that there won’t be an agreement before 1 January and the non-preferential trade regime will be introduced,” adding that “extraordinary efforts” are required to reach...
On December 28, 2015, Japan and South Korea concluded an agreement to resolve the dispute about “comfort women”—Korean women forced into sexual servitude for Japanese soldiers during World War II. According to a news report, the agreement includes an official apology by Japan and the payment of $8.3 million, coming directly from the Japanese government, to a foundation set up by the South Korean government to provide medical, nursing, and other services to the victims. In a press statement, the UN Secretary-General welcomed the agreement, expressing hope “that the agreement will...
On December 22, 2015, the European Court of Human Rights (Court) ruled (judgment only available in French) that implementing a mutual assistance agreement in tax matters between Switzerland and the United States did not breach the European Convention on Human Rights (Convention). According to the press release, “the case concerned the transmission to the US tax authorities of the applicant’s bank account details in connection with an administrative cooperation agreement between Switzerland and the USA.” In 2008, U.S. tax authorities discovered that Swiss bank UBS had thousands of bank...