Search: extraterritorial sanctions
25 Oct The Inter-American Court’s Advisory Opinion on Asylum and Its Impact for the Human Rights of Refugees Worldwide
...human rights system. This will be the focus of this piece. The Inter-American Court, taking into consideration all asylum treaties, and, in particular, the Geneva Convention relating to the status of refugees of 1951, has held that the right to seek and receive asylum through recognition of refugee status “sets certain specific obligations upon the State: i) the obligation of non-refoulement and its extraterritorial application; ii) the obligation to allow to file asylum applications and not to push back at the border; iii) the obligation not to criminalise or sanction...16 Dec Using State Tort Laws to Combat Terrorism Abroad
million against Iran. But it did so on the basis of state tort laws for wrongful death, battery, and the intentional infliction of emotion distress. That’s right, the state tort laws of Georgia, Florida, North Carolina, New York, Texas, Virginia, and the District of Columbia were applied extraterritorially to combat terrorism in Beirut. Notably absent from this decision, or any other Dammarrell decision, is the word “extraterritorial.” There was absolutely no discussion of the presumption against extraterritoriality for this patchwork of state tort laws. I am a strong advocate of...
17 Jul Symposium on PMSCs: Ukraine’s New Bill on PMSCs – A Possible Pandora’s Box for Operations Abroad?
...jurisdiction. However, no investigation against PMSC personnel has been initiated by the Court. Even in countries like South Africa where the legal framework contemplates special provisions for applying its regulations beyond its border, no steps have been taken to prosecute alleged violations against civilians. In the case of Ukraine, serious accountability gaps remain, as there is no clear legal provision ensuring extraterritorial application of the Draft Law on PMSCs. The aforementioned examples, along with dozens of other cases, illustrate that prosecution, accountability, and oversight of PMSC activities during armed conflicts...
14 May Did They Forget Something? Georgia v Russia (II) and Property Rights
...breakaway region of South Ossetia in August 2008 (More on the facts here). Even though the Court found numerous violations of human rights committed by Russia after the cessation of active hostilities and signing of a ceasefire agreement on 12 August (the right to life, prohibition of inhuman and degrading treatment, the right to property and housing rights, the right to liberty and the freedom of movement), the judgment has been criticised (e.g. here and here) due to the Court’s determination that Russian Federation did not exercise extraterritorial jurisdiction during...
18 Dec The War on Drugs is not a War (Part I): Foreign Military Interventions Against Drug Cartels
...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. Counternarcotics Playbooks Tested: Military Interventions against Narcos United States: Extraterritorial Self-defence The current U.S. approach appears episodic, externally oriented, and largely unilateral, consisting of a series of air-to-surface strikes against small maritime craft in the Caribbean and, more recently, the eastern Pacific. These operations are publicly justified as defence actions against “narco-terrorist” vessels allegedly linked to Venezuelan or Colombian networks. Since early September 2025, several such strikes...09 Jun Emailing Does Not Pass the Kiobel Test: US Court Dismisses ATS Case Against Anti-Gay Pastor
Distracted by #ComeyDay and other international crises, I missed this recent U.S. federal court decision in Sexual Minorities of Uganda v. Lively, dismissing an Alien Tort Statute lawsuit on Kiobel extra-territoriality grounds. While using unusually critical language to denounce U.S. pastor-defendant Scott Lively’s involvement in Uganda’s anti-homosexual laws and actions, the U.S. District Court for Massachusetts held: …Defendant’s status as an American citizen and his physical presence in the United States is clearly not enough under controlling authority to support ATS extraterritorial jurisdiction. The sporadic trail of emails sent by...14 Dec Alaskan State Criminal Statute Applied in Canada
If someone sexually assaults a woman in Canadian territorial waters, where would you expect that person to be prosecuted? Why, in Alaska of course. Earlier this week the Alaska Supreme Court rendered an unusual decision in State v. Jack addressing the question of whether a state criminal statute against sexual assault could be applied extraterritorially to prosecute someone who committed the act in the territorial waters of Canada. I’m all in favor of prosecuting persons who commit sexual crimes in Canadian territorial waters. But the question is, by whom and...
10 Nov An Appeal to Address the Failure in Preventing Genocide in Gaza through the International Court of Justice
...(para. 432). An Extraterritorial Duty It should be noted that the duty to take measures to prevent genocide, as an erga omnes obligation, is an extraterritorial task that exists regardless of territory or a specific link to the state in question. Therefore, all states party to the Genocide Convention, which also have influence on Israel through political and economic connections, have a well-established duty to prevent the commission of genocide in Gaza. One may argue that the current situation in Gaza does not definitively constitute the crime of genocide. However,...
19 Oct The Cruel (Yet Effective) Tutelage of Defeat: A Case for More Transparency on IACHR Admissibility Decisions
...and requests rejected by the Commission (and its gargantuan workload) by sheer virtue of more readily available knowledge and less room for educated guesswork among its users. A few weeks ago, a scholar and practitioner I greatly admire (and whose knowledge of international law is exceptional) expressed their doubts as to the reasons why a petition against the US at the IACHR had being rejected. The petition itself -from what was disclosed- had to do with claimed responsibility for extraterritorial violation of human rights as a consequence of military/law-enforcement activities...
14 Nov Symposium on Erin Pobjie’s Prohibited Force: Use of Force as Family Resemblances – A Cautionary Take
...rule prohibiting intervention in the internal affairs of other states, the rules on territorial integrity banning extraterritorial enforcement action, international human rights law (and its extraterritorial application, as required), among others. By contrast, the finding of a violation of the prohibition to use force seems much more likely to create the expectation of a harsher response, than the violation of any other international rule. When all we see is nails, we are likely to only use a hammer. In sum, I suggest that the complex framework advocated in Prohibited Force...