Search: extraterritorial sanctions
22 Jul The Unwilling or Unable Doctrine and the Doha Strike: Sovereignty, Mediation, and Competing Narratives of Self-Defense
[Alireza Dadkhah Aseman is an Independent Researcher in International Law at the University of Tehran. Rezvan Bagherzadeh is an Assistant Professor of International Law at Bu-Ali Sina University.] Introduction International law has long sought to preserve an equilibrium between sovereign equality and collective security. Yet that balance becomes increasingly fragile when doctrines developed in response to contemporary security threats begin operating beyond clearly defined legal limits. The “Unwilling or Unable” doctrine reflects this tension. Although several states have invoked the doctrine to justify extraterritorial force against non-state actors, its legal...
21 Aug Al-Hol Camp: Closure, Security Implications, and the Legal Obligations of States and the International Community
...born there, possessing no experience of life outside a detention environment. International law is unambiguous that they are victims, not security threats. The Convention on the Rights of the Child guarantees every child’s right to a nationality, to identity, and to have their best interests treated as a primary consideration. The Committee on the Rights of the Child has affirmed the extraterritorial reach of the Convention in the specific context of children detained in northeastern Syria. European courts have grappled with the implications. In September 2022, the Grand Chamber of...24 Jan A Response to Kevin Jon Heller by Carsten Stahn
...offer a broader basis for jurisdiction (i.e. prosecution of extraterritorial acts), curtail the applicability of statutes of limitation or extend the prospects for cooperation and judicial assistance. Moreover, in practice, domestic and international crime labels are de facto often interrelated in a domestic setting. Many jurisdictions rely on a mix of ‘international’ and ‘ordinary crime’ definitions in order to try offences, or adjust modes of liability to capture the conduct in question. These factors are not taken into account in the Heller’s ‘cost-benefit’ analysis. Paradoxically, in existing practice, ‘ordinary crime’...
05 Oct Trump vs. International Law: Unilateral Use of Force
...as originally understood, article 51 did not permit extraterritorial force against non-state actors without the consent of the territorial State. The real question, therefore, is whether state practice, whether as a constituent element of customary international law, or as subsequent practice for the purposes of interpreting the UN Charter, could have modified this original state-centric reading of the Charter. This question is at the heart of a forthcoming book, The Trialogue on the Use of Force against Non-State Actors (Mary Ellen O’Connell, Christian Tams, Dire Tladi). In my view, an...
08 Dec Collective Efforts Essential for Justice in Syria
...agenda, but did not have the authority to conduct prosecutions. Syrian civil society organizations, including victims’ groups, also played a critical role in gathering and analyzing information to support accountability and advance justice. With their help, European courts prosecuted some of these crimes under the principle of universal jurisdiction or other forms of extraterritorial jurisdiction. This has led to multiple trials that have so far been the only, though limited, justice avenues available to victims and survivors. The broader impact of impunity for crimes in Syria is evident. For example,...26 Mar It’s Official – and a Word on GCIV Art. 42
...the context of NIAC, Article 42 detention authority even in the more constrained context of IAC is dramatically limited, permitting only that detention as is “absolutely necessary” for the security of the detaining power. Is it “absolutely necessary” for the security of the United States that it be able to detain terrorist suspects picked up anywhere in the world under a legal authority that goes beyond its own sweepingly extraterritorial and often preventively focused criminal law? Guess we’ll find out if the administration advances the Art. 42 theory in court....