International Organizations

On November 10, a dispute-settlement panel of the World Trade Organization (WTO) condemned the United States for banning online gambling. [1]   It did so at the request of one of the smallest countries in the world, Antigua and Barbuda.  The case was triggered when in 2000 a U.S. court sentenced Jay Cohen, a U.S. national and founder of the World Sports Exchange, to 21 months in jail for selling gambling services to U.S. citizens from the island of Antigua, in violation of the 1961 Wire Communications Act. 

 

One of the lead items on the agenda at the International Atomic Energy Agency Board of Governors meeting on 25 November 2004 will be to determine whether Iran is in compliance with its obligations under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT), and if not, whether to refer Iran to the UN Security Council for possible enforcement action.

 

            Under the headline quoted above, the New York Times on June 23 reported that the United States bowed to opposition within the U.N. Security Council and dropped its effort to obtain a Security Council resolution that would immunize its troops from prosecution in the International Criminal Court (ICC). [1]   It is important to understand just what this does and does not mean, particularly in the context of the continued presence of substantial numbers of U.S. military personnel in Iraq after the sovereign Interim Government of Iraq took office on June 28.

 

It is well known that overfishing has led to the collapse of several commercially valuable fish species and the decline of others. [1] In this context, WTO Members agreed during the WTO Ministerial Conference held in Doha (Qatar) in November 2000, to launch negotiations with the aim to "clarify and improve WTO disciplines on fisheries subsidies, taking into account the importance of this sector to developing countries." [2]