Search: extraterritorial sanctions

...and anti-corruption blogger Alexei Navalny, who is restricted from travelling outside Moscow, has requested permission to visit Sochi. France will have “significant commercial opportunities” in Iran if sanctions are lifted, but Tehran first has to prove its good faith in abiding by nuclear undertakings, Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici said. Oceania Australia has approved a plan to dump millions of tons of sediment near the Great Barrier Reef as part of a major coal port expansion – a decision that environmentalists say will endanger one of the world’s most fragile eco-systems....

...sanctions or even use of force if it refused to protect the rainforest might be feasible”. While he does not personally recommend this approach, he does conclude that the chances of this happening are “increasing”. The article has generated a lot of conversation within the Latin American international law community, and especially, of course, in Brazil. The ensuing discussion raised concerns not just on the merits of the article itself (why does the question of expansive criteria for the use of force arise only in cases involving developing nations and...

International observers have criticized last weekend’s elections in Ukraine citing systematic problems in the political and electoral system. US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton is in Algeria, discussing how to tackle the growing presence of Islamist rebels in Northern Mali. Japan is seeking an exemption on US oil sanctions against Iran. Germany’s Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble tells the UK: “EU needs you.” Presseurope covers the latest turmoil in Europe as Strasbourg’s capital status has been called into question, with MEPs favoring a centralization of power only in Brussels. The UN...

...58] Operation Enduring Freedom, which began in Afghanistan shortly after the 9/11 attacks, was a mission to kill and capture “high value” al Qaeda and Taliban members and destroy the safe havens from which al Qaeda planned and directed the 9/11 attacks. The interrogation techniques were approved in the context of an armed conflict with Afghanistan, which the United States government saw as (at least initially) the main front of the so-called “War on Terror.” For instance, the 1 August 2002 “Bybee Memo” legally sanctions “enhanced interrogation techniques” “in the...

...landscape of international criminal law in Africa. For example, the Annex suggests the creation of an AU – ICC liason office and AU hybrid courts with jurisdiction over crimes within the Rome Statue and Geneva Conventions. If implemented these recommendations would be a significant step towards a stronger AU. I’ve blogged here about the AU’s increasing use of sanctions, and have watched with interest the growing (but not always harmonious) relationship between the AU’s Peace and Security Council and the UN Security Council, as illustrated by differences of opinion on...

As readers no doubt know, Fatou Bensouda announced yesterday that the OTP is opening a formal investigation into the situation in Palestine. Doing so was a foregone conclusion, given the Pre-Trial Chamber’s recent decision that the ICC has jurisdiction over crimes committed in Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem. Regardless, even if the bulk of the work will fall to her successor, Karim Khan, Bensouda deserves credit for not being cowed by Israel’s ridiculous allegations of anti-semitism or by the US’s indefensible sanctions against her, which the Biden administration...

...as Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s efforts to obtain full membership at the UN) is “pure diplomatic terrorism” peaceful Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) efforts are economic terrorism; legal work and engagement with international mechanisms is legal terrorism; and those who do such work are “Terrorists in Suits.” Perhaps, for Israel, even writing this article or any similar intellectual exercise is intellectual terrorism. Moreover, for Israel, any criticism of its human rights violations is antisemitism. Even calling Israel’s regime by its name and the accurate legal characterization, i.e., “apartheid,” is antisemitic. Likewise,...

...an option given Russia’s role and veto power. (For the background legal context leading up to the Lockerbie trial, see here; and for an analysis of the verdict, see here.) The International Court of Justice was also approached by Libya and ruled that it had jurisdiction to proceed with the case – before the proceedings were terminated by the agreement of all parties. And of course, it is worth also remembering the role of economic sanctions in bringing pressure to bear. What the Lockerbie trial indicates is that there were...

...document the suffering of Palestinians as well as Israel’s breaches of international law. They do so at great personal risk, with special note to Albanese who is routinely threatened in the most vile ways by allies of Israel (including the US State Department which either recklessly or deliberately smeared her this past week). Their recommendations bear repeating here: An arms embargo and economic sanctions levelled against Israel; Support for South Africa’s resort to the UNSC under art 94(2) of the UN Charter; Lobbying Karim Khan to pursue arrest warrants for...

...Ngudjolo deported from the Netherlands. Interestingly, the website for the 1533 Sanctions Committee still lists Ngudjolo as being subject to a UN travel ban, although this does not seemed to have proven a hindrance. The Ngudjolo case is another instalment in the story of the ICC’s growing pains, and in The Netherlands’ fight to minimise the impact of it hosting the Court. This story will go on as the ICC continues its operations and more judgments are rendered, and it is hoped that in future the odds become a bit...

...obligations have direct relevance (see discussion Chapter 4.3.6.1) especially in light of the double veto by China and Russia of a resolution that would have condemned the crimes being committed in Myanmar (draft resolution S/2007/14).  Chapter 5.2 additionally discusses how veto threats in the face of alleged genocide, as well as crimes against humanity and war crimes, in Darfur weakened the sanctions regime and weakened and delayed peacekeeping.  The vetoes and veto threats in both these situations appear the exact opposite of adhering to the due diligence obligation to “prevent”...

...however, these doctrines were expressions or applications of the broader concept of self-preservation, which Verdebout admits, was recognized as a fundamental right of states. To Verdebout, this confirms the core claim of the book, which is that pre-1914 international law was not indifferent towards the question of the use of force. For instance, on pages 204-205, Verdebout notes that in all the cases of intervention surveyed in her book, the use of force was “presented as sanctions of law – i.e., as the exercise of the right of self-preservation.” This,...