Search: extraterritorial sanctions

Opinio Juris and EJIL: Talk! are happy to announce that over the next few days we will both be hosting a discussion of Marko Milanovic’s recently published book: Extraterritorial Application of Human Rights Treaties: Law, Principles and Policy (Oxford Univ Press). Marko’s book examines the question when a State owes human rights obligations under a treaty to persons located outside its territory. This is a question on which there has been conflicting case law and much confusion. This [book] attempts to clear up some of this confusion, and expose its...

...the above-mentioned principles of international law:  Unauthorized intrusion of airspace by aircraft; Unauthorized crossing of borders by the military forces; Extraterritorial enforcement of jurisdiction (for example, the Eichmann case); Unauthorized covert intelligence operations (for example, the “Rainbow Warrior” incident) Any unauthorized intervention in state internal affairs;  The principle of territorial integrity also contains a specific rule regarding the border itself: the inviolability of frontiers. The rule has been elaborated in multiple documents, especially in those relating to the European and post-Soviet context such as: the Helsinki Final Act of 1975...

...a battlefield is, in law, still a law-enforcement space. Part I examined how States have justified and conducted foreign military or law-enforcement interventions against drug cartels, through three distinct legal models: the United States’ claim of extraterritorial self-defense, China’s consent-based cross-border enforcement on the Mekong, and Afghanistan’s joint operations grounded in host-State consent. Part II explores how other States—Colombia, Ecuador, and Mexico—have faced similar dilemmas in classifying drug-related violence. It examines how each has navigated the boundary between organized crime and armed conflict, and what these choices reveal about the...

...by the negotiating history. . Indeed, the draft text of Article 2 under consideration by the Commission on Human Rights in 1950 would have required that states ensure ICCPR rights to everyone “within its jurisdiction.” The United States, however, proposed the addition of the requirement that the individual also be “within its territory.” Eleanor Roosevelt, the U.S. representative and then-Chairman of the Commission emphasized that the United States was “particularly anxious” that it not assume any extra-territorial obligations. She explained that “[t]he purpose of the proposed addition [is] to make...

...have seen deeper discussion of the more fundamental issues at play here. Although contractors may appear to be “integrated into combat activities” as Judge Silberman claims in his majority opinion, how truly integrated can contractor personnel be when they are not subject to military command authority with the penal sanctions faced by military members for disobeying, can quit whenever they really don’t like something they’ve been told to do or not do, and ultimately do not enjoy combatant immunity for their otherwise criminal acts? Laura’s discussion would have benefited from...

...it is necessary to pass resolutions of a legislative character, respect for them will be enhanced by a process that ensures transparency, participation, and accountability. When the Council contemplates judicial functions, it should draw on existing institutions of international law. (v) Sanctions targeted at individuals have presented a challenge to the authority of the Council: legal proceedings have been commenced in various jurisdictions and there is evidence that sanctions are not always applied rigorously. The Council should be proactive in further improving “fair and clear procedures” to protect the rights...

...and liberal internationalists alike have appealed selectively to historical events and ideas as well as to legal decisions and standards to construct their case for the weakness and irrelevance (non-existence?) versus strength and importance of the international legal system in international affairs. One example is regularly countered by another. Mary Ellen claims that the existence of sanctions alone shows that actors who matter take international rules seriously. I suspect that Jack and Eric would retort that sanctions are yet another justification that the powerful clothe in some-time principle to further...

...redoubled our efforts to put financial pressure on those responsible for human rights abuses in Syria, including through three executive orders in the past year imposing increasingly severe sanctions. We have sought to ensure that Syrian nationals present in the United States are not forced to return to unsafe conditions, most notably by designating Syria for Temporary Protected Status under the federal immigration laws. We have strongly supported the work of the Human Rights Council and the Office of the High Commission for Human Rights in documenting and publicizing human...

...peaceful uses, not that in military programs. UN Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1540 requires all states to control nuclear materials and commodities (termed “related materials”) and to adopt and enforce civil and criminal penalties against the export, trans-shipment, and financing of transfers that would contribute to proliferation. But the resolution does not itself criminalize such activities, nor does it establish the robust jurisdictional and mutual assistance rules of the nuclear material treaties. Security Council resolutions imposing sanctions on North Korea and Iran establish quasi-criminal penalties (asset freezes and travel bans)...

...have caused harm, such as by leading to deaths at distribution points. To my knowledge, there is no direct precedent of this nature. However, the essence of the plea is in line with earlier resolutions and with the UN’s work to mitigate humanitarian suffering, even when caused indirectly. A striking example is the case of the UN comprehensive sanctions on Iraq in the 1990s. Comprehensive sanctions were blamed for causing widespread humanitarian harm, particularly to children. In response, the Assembly urged exemptions and adjustments, and its continued pressure contributed to...

...understandings, and derive from the morality of international behavior. The international community becomes most animated when it understands that a state’s activities amount to annexation, that they constitute territorial acquisition. Consider the following example: when Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990, the Security Council immediately imposed sanctions. While the delegates from Canada and Zaire referenced the illegality of the invasion and occupation of Kuwait, the ten states that sponsored Resolution 661 repeatedly held that sanctions were a direct response to Iraqi aggression and the use of force. When, days later, Iraq...

...either had to seek changes to the tax code or face sanctions through the WTO system. The President (and Congress) chose to change the tax code. The cost of non-compliance—trade sanctions with potentially significant economic effects—outweighed the cost of compliance—some companies being upset. These are the “hard cases” when it comes to compliance with international law because the mode of reasoning and decision-making is not primarily legal, but political (or diplomatic). In this form of decision making, the question of compliance is driven by an analysis of power: which is...