International Organizations

Introduction

In late May 2003, the World Health Assembly of the World Health Organization (WHO) will consider adoption of the Framework Convention for Tobacco Control (FCTC). The Intergovernmental Negotiating Body agreed on the proposed FCTC in early March 2003 and transmitted the treaty to the World Health Assembly. [1] The FCTC represents the first time in WHO's history that it has exercised its powers to adopt a treaty under Article 19 of its Constitution. [2] The FCTC is an important international legal development in the area of global public health.

            Relying on U.N. Security Council Resolution 1441 (2002) and on the sovereign authority of the United States to use force in assuring its own national security, President Bush has said that the United States and its allies will use armed force to disarm Iraq if Saddam Hussein and his sons do not leave Iraq within a 48-hour deadline.

 

On January 16, 2003, the WTO Appellate Body (AB) ruled that the U.S. Continued Dumping and Offset Act of 2000 (CDSOA) (also referred to as the "Byrd Amendment") is inconsistent with the WTO Agreement on Implementation of Article VI of the GATT (the "Anti-Dumping (AD) Agreement") and the Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures  (the "SCM Agreement"). [1]

           On January 10, 2003, North Korea announced (a) that it was withdrawing from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT), effective immediately, and (b) that its withdrawal from the NPT left it free from the binding force of its Safeguards Agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

 

The U.N. Secretary-General's High-Level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change has issued a lengthy report setting out a broad framework for collective security. [1]   It touches on several issues of international law and organization, including some important ones that are the focus of this Insight.  

 

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.