Search: extraterritorial sanctions
20 Nov Judging the “Power” of International Law
...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...
17 Sep Uniting for Peace in Gaza: A Test for the General Assembly
...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...
11 Sep Libya and International Justice Symposium: Justice, Delayed
...system has collapsed. Lawyers, judges and prosecutors are also prime targets of militias. The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has a mandate to investigate war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide in Libya yet the prosecutor has issued only one arrest warrant since 2011: against Mahmoud el-Werfalli, a commander linked to the LNA, for extrajudicial executions. The UN sanctions have been underused: only eight people have been listed for individual targeted sanctions since the 2011 revolution, including two militia commanders and six people involved in trafficking. Attempts to...04 Apr Guest-Post: Nuclear Trafficking as an International Crime?
...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)...
18 Jun Framing Prolonged Occupation
...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...26 Jan Self-Interest and Compliance
...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...26 Mar Does Assad Spouse Have a Right to Keep UK Citizenship?
The Brits are looking to strip Asma al-Assad of her UK citizenship, this in the wake of the imposition of various sanctions on her and family members of other Assad associates. Familial sanctions are an increasingly common practice, on the theory that you really get at the bad guys when you deprive their spouses of shopping trips to world capitals. (In Mrs. Assad’s case, the theory seems pretty plausible, in light of the recent email cache revealing her attention to trivial luxury purchases while Homs burned.) But so long as...