On July 14, 2007, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a federal decree "On Suspending the Russian Federation's Participation in the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe and Related International Agreements."[1] Beyond the political fallout, Russia's decree raises several questions about when a state can suspend its treaty obligations and the legal consequences that flow from such a suspension.
On May 15, 2007, President George W. Bush "urge[d] the Senate to act favorably on U.S. accession to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea during this session of Congress."[1] In doing so, the President identified four benefits to U.S. interests when the U.S. joins the Convention.
Introduction
As a party to the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations (VCCR), the United States has an obligation to ensure that a detained national of another party to the treaty is informed of the right to contact his or her consulate and request consular assistance.[1] The notification requirement of Article 36 of the VCCR has been at the center of a series of U.S.
On April 29, 2007, the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC)[1] marks the tenth anniversary of its entry into force. Along with the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) and the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC), the CWC forms an important part of the international law supporting disarmament and non-proliferation concerning weapons of mass destruction.
Recently, David Hicks, an Australian interned for over five years in Guantanamo Bay, became the first individual sentenced under the newly-constituted Military Commission process. Hicks pleaded guilty to one count of intentionally providing material support to al-Qaeda in the context of an armed conflict against the U.S.[1] and will be repatriated to Australia to serve a further nine months of imprisonment.
On March 5, 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court announced its opinion in Sinochem International Co. Ltd. v. Malaysia International Shipping Corporation,[1] one of only a few Supreme Court decisions to deal squarely with the doctrine of forum non conveniens. The Court held that federal district courts need not establish jurisdiction prior to dismissing transnational litigation on the basis of forum non conveniens.
On February 26, 2007, the International Court of Justice issued its judgment in the Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Bosnia and Herzegovina v. Serbia and Montenegro).[1] The case marked the first time that a country sued another country for breaches of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide ("the Convention").
On February 20, 2007, a divided panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit issued an important decision in long-running litigation brought by detainees held by the United States at the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba military facility.[1] Disposing of a score of consolidated appeals involving 63 foreign nationals, the two-judge majority in Boumediene v.
On February 13, 2007, the governments taking part in the fifth round of the Six-Party Talks concerning nuclear disarmament of North Korea released an action plan designed to lead to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula (February 13 Action Plan).[1] China, Japan, Russia, South Korea, the United States, and North Korea (formally called the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, or DPRK) agreed to specific initial actions and timetables that support the obje