Introduction
On May 29, 2006, the Appeals Chamber of the Special Court for Sierra Leone ruled that the Urgent De fence Motion Against Change of Venue filed by Karim A.A. Khan, the Provisionally Assigned Counsel representing former Liberian President Charles Ghankay Taylor, was inadmissible. The motion was therefore dismissed.[1]
Background to the Motion
International criticism of post-September 11 antiterrorism measures has come to a head with calls from the U.N. body monitoring the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, Degrading Treatment or Punishment1 for several changes in U.S. policy - among them, a call for closure of the four-and-a-half-year-old detention camp at Guantánamo.
As has been well documented,[1] the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) some time ago lost confidence that Iran's nuclear program is being carried out exclusively for peaceful purposes as required by the Nuclear Nonproliferation
[Insight Editor's note: This Insight differs from the usual ASIL Insight in that it concerns an action taken by the ASIL itself.
On May 4, 2006, Argentina instituted proceedings before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) against its neighbor Uruguay claiming that Uruguay has breached a bilateral treaty obligation to consult with Argentina before taking action on a pulp mill project affecting the River Uruguay, which partially constitutes the joint boundary of the two South American countries.
One year ago, a previous Insight (David Fidler, ?Indian Ocean Tsunami and International Law,? January 2005) acknowledged the existence of a rarely discussed framework of international laws, rules and principles concerning international disaster response operations, but noted that there are significant gaps in both its scope and implementation.