On August 31, 2015, U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Jose Cabranes held in EM Ltd. v. Banco Central de la Republica Argentina (BCRA) that Argentina’s central bank has the ability to invoke its sovereign immunity to avoid liability in a suit brought by U.S. investment firms because no exceptions to the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA) applied in the case. It overruled the District Court’s finding that BCRA had waived its sovereign immunity because Argentina imputed its waiver of sovereign immunity for a Fiscal Agency Agreement (which included the bonds in question) on...
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 August 28, 2015, the UN Security Council welcomed the signatures of South Sudan’s President Kiir and Riek Machar Teny, who signed on behalf of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army in Opposition, on the Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan. The Security Council stated that the signing of the agreement is “the first step in reversing the difficult political and economic situation, and humanitarian, and security catastrophe resulting from this crisis, calls upon the parties, with support from the United Nations and international community, to fully implement...
On August 27, 2015, the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued a statement regarding a $1,700,100 settlement reached with Swiss bank UBS “for 222 apparent violations of the Global Terrorism Sanctions Regulations, 31 C.F.R. part 594.” According to the settlement notice, UBS processed transactions involving securities held in the U.S. for a client who had been designated by OFAC in 2001 as a person who commits, threatens to commit, or supports terrorism. Even though UBS reacted to sanctions that Switzerland imposed against the client by placing blocks and restrictions on...
On August 27, 2015, the European Court of Human Rights (the Court) ruled in Parillo v. Italy that a ban prohibiting a woman from donating embryos resulting from in vitro fertilization to scientific research was not a violation of Article 8 (right to respect for private and family life) of the European Convention on Human Rights. The Court found Article 8 applicable to the facts of the case because “the applicant’s ability to exercise a conscious and considered choice regarding the fate of her embryos concerns an intimate aspect of her personal life and accordingly relates...
On August 28, 2015, the UN Security Council welcomed the signatures of South Sudan’s President Kiir and Riek Machar Teny, who signed on behalf of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army in Opposition, on the Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan. The Security Council stated that the signing of the agreement is “the first step in reversing the difficult political and economic situation, and humanitarian, and security catastrophe resulting from this crisis, calls upon the parties, with support from the United Nations and international community, to fully implement...
On August 25, 2015, the Prime Ministers of Kosovo and Serbia agreed to finalize four agreements regarding the normalization of relations between Belgrade and Pristina at a European Union-facilitated dialogue. High Representative/Vice President Federica Mogherini issued a statement regarding the successful negotiations, noting that Serbia and Kosovo agreed to “finalize implementation arrangements of four key agreements: on energy, telecoms, establishment of the Association/Community of Serb majority municipalities as well as the Freedom of Movement/Mitrovica Bridge.” The plan for the...
Arbitral Tribunal Orders Russia to Pay Compensation for Seizure of Greenpeace Ship (August 14, 2015)
On August 14, 2015, a tribunal constituted under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (the Convention) rendered its award on the merits in Arctic Sunrise Arbitration (Netherlands v. Russia), ordering Russia to pay compensation for seizing and arresting the Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise and its thirty crewmembers during a protest against offshore drilling in Arctic waters in 2013. The Court decided that “by boarding, investigating, inspecting, arresting, detaining, and seizing the Arctic Sunrise without the prior consent of the Netherlands, and by arresting,...
On August 26, 2015, a Guatemalan court held that that former dictator Efraín Ríos Montt may stand trial for genocide and crimes against humanity but that he may not be sentenced as he suffers from dementia. The charges relate to Ríos Montt’s actions during Guatemala’s civil war under his dictatorship in 1982 and 1983. According to a news article, the court found that “the law allows for a special trial where all evidence and witnesses will be presented behind closed doors with a representative of Ríos Montt. He can be found guilty or not guilty, but will not receive a sentence because of...
On August 24, 2015, the Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Irina Bokova, condemned the destruction of the ancient temple of Baalshamin in the Syrian site of Palmyra, a UNESCO World Heritage site. According to a news article, Syrian’s head of antiquities stated that Islamic State militants used explosives in the temple on August 23 and that “[t]he cella (inner area of the temple) was destroyed and the columns around collapsed.” The Director-General stated that “[s]uch acts are war crimes and their perpetrators must be...
On August 24, 2015, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) issued provisional measures in The “Enrica Lexie” Incident (Italy v. India) that ordered Italy and India to “both suspend all court proceedings and . . . refrain from initiating new ones which might aggravate or extend the dispute.” The case, which Italy brought to the Tribunal in July 2015, concerns an incident in which two Italian marines allegedly killed two Indian fishermen in 2012. According to the press release, the provisional measures were instituted by Italy to request that India “refrain from...