Search: extraterritorial sanctions
23 Jul Emerging Voices: Responsibility of the Netherlands for the Genocide in Srebrenica–The Nuhanović and Mothers of Srebrenica Cases Compared
...ground. It implicitly distinguished a de jure and de facto basis of extraterritorial jurisdiction. The Netherlands formally (de jure) had jurisdiction because the territorial entity, the State of Bosnia-Herzegovina, had basically surrendered its competence to govern in the area to the United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR). Clearly, UNPROFOR cannot be equated with the State of the Netherlands, but considering the Supreme Court’s answer to the attribution question (see above), this was nonetheless relevant. The Netherlands also had de facto jurisdiction, because an examination of the facts had shown that it...
28 Jun Suing Corporations for Violating International Law: A Step Forward
...that foreign corporations cannot be sued under the ATS; Nestle USA hoped to extend that bar to domestic corporations as well. The company presented only two questions for review. One was whether “general corporate activity” in the U.S. is enough to overcome the presumption against extraterritorial application of the ATS. The second was “[w]hether the Judiciary has the authority under the Alien Tort Statute to impose liability on domestic corporations.” According to Justice Alito, the second question — whether U.S. corporations can be sued — was “primary.” Not only...
13 Apr The Apartheid Reports: A Paradigm Shift on Israel/Palestine (Part II)
[Dr. Smadar Ben-Natan is an Israeli and international lawyer, and postdoctoral fellow at the University of Washington, Seattle. She studies the intersection of international law, human rights, and criminal justice in Israel/Palestine, and has published on Israeli military courts, POW status, torture, and extraterritorial human rights.] [A previous version of this commentary was published in Hebrew by the Forum for Regional Thinking, part of the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute. The author is a board member at B’tselem, one of the organizations discussed in this commentary.] Part I of this commentary...
27 Oct International Law and Popular Culture Symposium: International Law and the Theatre – An Interview with Playwright Anchuli Felicia King
...that statute, and why the Supreme Court keeps trying to limit its extraterritorial reach. But human rights lawyers and NGOs only resort to what are essentially legal loopholes like the ATS, because it’s so extraordinarily difficult to litigate cases about human rights abuses across different countries. I think it speaks to a broader structural imbalance enmeshed in our international legal institutions: that it’s far easier for powerful state actors and wealthy corporations to access (or evade) justice than poorer nations or oppressed individuals. Another thing that I discovered is...29 Jul Cyber-Territoriality
...the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is quoted as saying: “How do you understand sovereignty in the cyberdomain? It doesn’t tend to pay a lot of attention to geographic boundaries.” Putting aside what may be the fundamental territorial misunderstanding in the quote, I wonder what the evolution of territoriality suggests with regard to this national security initiative. Kal’s book details the various extraterritorial options. Conquering and controlling “cyberterritories” is obviously out of the question. But assuming soverign borders are still operative in this context, Kal’s book suggests several other options. Will...
30 Oct Fourth Annual Symposium on Pop Culture and International Law: The “Panem Statute” – the Reconfiguration of the State of Panem and the Trial of Coriolanus Snow for War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity
...criteria for statehood (Montevideo Convention, 1933), which requires (a) permanent population; (b) a defined territory; (c) government; and (d) the capacity to enter into relations with other states. Yet, it has been recognized (ICRC Commentary of 2016) that NIACs can involve extraterritorial aspects, when a foreign State – District 13 – joins one party to the conflict – the rebel groups from the other Districts, rendering the conflict non-international in nature, as long as the State does not exercise effective control of the groups, which is not the case. Having...26 Mar Kiobel (I): ATS Arguments Make for Strange Bedfellows
...on extraterritoriality. Now the conservatives point to U.S. law – the judge-made presumption against extraterritoriality – and liberals point to the international status of the offenses. It is like a game of Twister. Neither position is fully correct. There may be a place for extraterritoriality in ATS cases, but in a much narrower class of cases then where it is currently applied. The following two posts will draw on much of my prior work, and I hope the reader forgives me not recapitulating the entire argument of those articles here....28 Jul Constitutional Domain and the Court
In reading Kal’s description of territoriality’s ebb and flow, I was particularly interested in the evolution in judicial thinking with regard to constitutional scope or domain. His description of the path from In re Ross, which stated emphatically that the Constitution does not follow the flag, to Reid and Boumediene, which give some extra-territorial force to the Bill of Rights and other constitutional guarantees, is excellent. The evolution has obviously been gradual, even glacial. Within this narrative, there are some fascinating examples of courts dramatically pushing constitutional boundaries outward, including...
07 Jul A Crisis of International Law or of Mutual Respect? An Optimistic Legacy to Our Students
...a sort of double standard in the enforcement of international law, which strikingly differs depending on whether the wrongdoer is a great power or one of its closest allies. Thirdly, other unilateral measures affecting global problems have multiplied despite clear-cut treaty prohibitions on them: the imposition of customs tariffs, the deportation of migrants, the extraterritorial arrest of drug traffickers and terrorists, the boost in greenhouse emissions, and the sanction of UN and ICC officials just for doing their job. Fourthly, an ever-growing number of states are withdrawing from, or hampering...