In association with the International Commission of Jurists

Search: extraterritorial sanctions

08 Dec

...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,...
08.12.25 | and |

25 Aug

...to international crimes experienced by the Rohingya – this formal complaint puts the assertion to the test. So far, the complete lack of response to Setara’s complaint confirms that justice for the Rohingya is not possible. In other parts of the world, initiatives utilising universal and extraterritorial jurisdiction are also underway, in which Rohingya women and in particular, survivors of sexual violence play a critical role. In November 2021, a court in Argentina decided to open investigations into crimes committed in Myanmar, under the principle of universal jurisdiction. Prior to...
25.08.22 | |

16 Oct

...from the inside I “actually advised the Obama administration to change its interpretation and to recognize the extraterritorial application of the ICCPR;” I then argued with greater success both internally and externally for the view that the Convention Against Torture applies extraterritorially, a view that the Obama administration eventually adopted after I left. Given Eviatar’s recognition that I fought internally—with admittedly mixed success—for the United States to actually comply with international human rights law, I am bit puzzled by her suggestion that “prominent lawyers and legal scholars like [my]self could...
16.10.18 | |

19 Oct

...is proper for a US court to find jurisdiction over a foreign corporate entity on the basis of of a US corporate subsidiary. Chief Justice Roberts flagged the importance of this further question at the very end of his Kiobel opinion, which relied upon the presumption against extraterritoriality; for something to “touch and concern” the United States, he said, sufficient to satisfy jurisdictional requirements under the ATS, contacts would have to be more than mere corporate presence. Corporations are often present in many countries, and it would reach too far...
19.10.13 | |

15 Jul

...how India, Honduras, and Switzerland have introduced laws with an extraterritorial reach that clarify these states’ responsibilities for overseeing private security operations abroad. Finally, data protection principles and legislation are particularly relevant in controlling the data processing activities of PMSCs. Over 130 countries around the world have introduced data protection and privacy legislation that would be directly applicable to the companies operating in their jurisdiction. Also, the Council of Europe Convention 108  – officially titled ‘Convention for the Protection of Individuals with regard to Automatic Processing of Personal Data’ –...
15.07.25 | and |

25 Nov

...the ATS—both involve the “discovery” of a latent legal framework waiting to be employed; Ratner argues that “it is not clear how switching to the ICL model eliminates… the very problem that Kiobel addressed. i.e., the extraterritorial reach of domestic law.” Although I acknowledge not addressing extraterritoriality in depth in my introduction, I do cite evidence from a comparative survey which concluded that 11 of 16 states surveyed have jurisdiction over international crimes perpetrated by their nationals overseas. Ratner also objects that “if we think… diversity of criminal law accomplice...
25.11.14 | |

31 Oct

...Juris, David Glazier (Loyola, LA), Detlev Vagts (Harvard), Roger Clark (Rutgers-Camden), Devin Pendas (Boston College) and Lawrence Douglas (Amherst). The discussion will start with a cross-posted introduction by Kevin today, and end with his reply to the discussants on Friday. Both the discussants and our readers are of course welcome to join in in the comments. Following discussion of Kevin’s book, Opinio Juris and EJIL:Talk! will host a joint discussion of Marko Milanovic’s book, Extraterritorial Application of Human Rights Treaties: Law, Principles and Policy (Oxford UP). Cross-posted at EJIL: Talk!...
31.10.11 | |

10 Jan

...the possible destruction of North Korea’s army as permissible defensive action, coupled with the self-defense justifications advanced for the US’s wide-scale extraterritorial drone program since 2010, may reflect serious attempts to reinterpret and loosen the well-accepted rules on the principle of proportionality to the point of irrelevance. These expansive readings of self-defense, however, have never been endorsed by the rest of the international community or even the majority of them. On the contrary, the requirement of halting and repelling an armed attack still represents the only primary benchmark for the...
10.01.18 | |

01 Jun

...the point yet where there’s a sense that there’s anything that could replace that,” the second military official said of the drone attacks. From the legal side, however, I wonder if the Obama administration is cognizant of the kind of pushback that the soft-law community is gearing up to offer. The position of the human rights community continues to harden, in the sense of treating targeted killing as extrajudicial execution under human rights law, and to pushing that conclusion onto the United States through four legal premises: Extraterritorial application of...
01.06.09 | |

12 Sep

...resolved under the customary international law of jurisdiction. The Lotus and the distinction between prescriptive and enforcement jurisdiction The starting point when considering whether territorial states may or may not delegate their prescriptive and enforcement jurisdiction by treaty to an international court over nationals of non-consenting states is of course The Lotus. With respect to the exercise of prescriptive jurisdiction, Lotus stands for the principle that ‘what is not prohibited is permitted’ (a prohibitive rule). This rule does not apply to the extraterritorial exercise of enforcement jurisdiction as Lotus holds...
12.09.18 | |

03 Jun

...post on the irreducible categories of international and non-international armed conflict and why they are the “residual” forms of armed conflict, rather than a category called armed conflict that is then further subdivided. It has bearing on this question of where an armed conflict is underway.) Meaning, Marko starts from two points – one is extraterritorial application of the ICCPR. I don’t buy that, the US doesn’t buy it – and I don’t think its position unprincipled or ungrounded. If one disagrees not just as to the view, but also...
03.06.10 | |

18 Apr

...fundamental problems with how lower courts have approached these suits. These problems center on five key issues: First, whether the ATS applies extraterritorially – that is, whether a U.S. court can properly apply U.S. federal common law under the ATS to conduct that occurred entirely in the territory of a foreign State. Second, even if such a cause of action could properly be recognized, whether exhaustion of adequate and available local remedies in that foreign country should be a prerequisite to bringing an ATS suit. Third, whether corporations or other...
18.04.08 | |