Search: extraterritorial sanctions

...veto on Syria. This prevented the referral of Syria to the ICC in May 2014 as well as the adoption of numerous resolutions calling for cease fires and delivery of humanitarian aid. On Myanmar, China’s threatened veto blocked not only a referral of Myanmar to the ICC, but even Security Council debate over an arms embargo and sanctions following the upsurge of the ethnic cleansing campaign there in August 2017. For Myanmar this has left the ICC, intended to be the centerpiece of a “system” of international justice, restricted to...

...the First, Second, Third and Fourth Oxford Statements to clarify rules of international law applicable in the use of information and communications technologies; Noting that ransomware (i.e. malware designed to encrypt data and render it unavailable unless a demand is met) is a global threat, having been employed at an escalating pace by a growing number of malicious actors, including states and non-state groups for financial or political purposes, often connected to criminal and other unlawful activities such as terrorism, human and drug trafficking, money laundering, sanctions evasion, and the...

This week on Opinio Juris, Kevin accused the ICC of fiddling while Libya burns, and relayed news in the Libyan press that Al-Senussi’s and Gaddafi’s trial will start mid-April. He also analysed whether Luis Moreno-Ocampo’s possible representation of LRA victims at the ICC would amount to a conflict of interest. Roger followed up on his earlier post about using trade remedies to enforce arbitration awards to argue that these remedies are WTO compliant. Kristen discussed sanctions against Russia and Julian asked whether the US’ spying on Huawei violates international law....

...or prosecute Americans’ and thereafter the US issued an Executive Order targeting senior personnel of the ICC, including the prosecutor herself, Fatou Bensouda, from The Gambia  with serious financial and travel sanctions.  One of the first acts of Mr. Khan upon becoming Prosecutor in 2021 was to “deprioritize” the investigation into American forces crimes and instead focus on the crimes allegedly committed by the Taliban and the Islamic State in Khorasan Province , an act seen in many places as capitulation to US pressure.  Reprising the US playbook, Russia has...

...group of experts appointed by the security council, said it had “found substantial evidence attesting to support from Rwandan officials to armed groups operating in the eastern DRC”, including shipping weapons and money to M23 in breach of a UN arms embargo and other sanctions. “Since the earliest stages of its inception, the group documented a systematic pattern of military and political support provided to the M23 rebellion by Rwandan authorities,” it said. The report said the Rwandan government gave “direct assistance in the creation of M23 through the transport...

Russia is considering offering Western companies oil licenses in its Arctic waters. Reuters has an exclusive that the European Union is ready to ban imports of Iranian gas as a part of new sanctions in order to increase the pressure over the nuclear program in the Islamic Republic. A UN representative has told the Security Council there is little time to deal with rebels in the north of Mali and international assistance is needed. The European Union and several banks will stage a DDoS cyber-attack exercise in order to find...

...armed conflict with Al Qaeda and associated forces. Rather, he explained, the ICRC characterizes the situation as a “multifaceted fight against terrorism,” a fight whose methods range from financial sanctions, on one end of the spectrum, to the use of armed force, at the other. While there may be localized armed conflicts in places where military force is used, Kellenberger warned against the overly promiscuous application of international humanitarian law (IHL). He noted pointedly that IHL rules are less protective than the rules that would otherwise apply (which, I should...

...The Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 reads: Art. 146. The High Contracting Parties undertake to enact any legislation necessary to provide effective penal sanctions for persons committing, or ordering to be committed, any of the grave breaches of the present Convention defined in the following Article… Art.147. Grave breaches to which the preceding Article relates shall be those involving any of the following acts, if committed against persons or property protected by the present Convention: wilful killing, torture or inhuman treatment, including biological experiments, wilfully causing great suffering or serious...

...by his recent and vocal bout of almost paranoid hysteria. He has admonished the ICC as “anti-Semitic” which is both unhinged and non-sensical, as evidenced by a complete lack of evidence backing up this assertion and his own cozying up with anti-Semitic political leaders to undermine the Court. He has encouraged citizens of democracies to pressure their governments to issue sanctions against the Court, “its officials, its prosecutors, everyone.” Along with Israeli President Reuven Rivlin, Netanyahu stooped to the depths of politicizing the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz and...

...African Constitutional Court in a landmark universal jurisdiction case involving alleged crimes against humanity committed in Zimbabwe in 2007. Tyler Cullis, meanwhile, reviewed to what extent the US would be legally and politically able to ease sanctions against Iran as part of a nuclear deal. In the last guest post of the week, Gabor Rona commented on the recent Serdar Mohammed v Ministry of Defence case on detention in a non-international armed conflict. Finally, Deborah shared her views on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s hearings on the AUMF, and as...

...attacks. The US will move cautiously to ease some of its economic sanctions on Myanmar. The CIA reports that Iran has expanded its nuclear work in 2011. No venue has been decided yet for the Iran nuclear talks due to start on April 13, with Iran now suggesting that the talks could take place in Beijing, Beirut, Baghdad or even Damascus. Violence has erupted in Athens, after a pensioner committed suicide near the Parliament. The WTO Appellate Body held that the US ban on clove cigarettes is discriminatory because menthol...

...practice in this area: Public international law (PIL) is not only relevant to governments these days, it is increasingly the concern of multinational corporations and individuals. International law now affects many corporate and financial transactions; companies need to be aware of the impact of such issues as sanctions, export controls, anti-corruption conventions, rules for combating crime and terrorism, and regimes of environmental accountability. PIL also often overlaps with WTO and human rights issues. Investor-state arbitrations are on the rise. Some may argue that this does not constitute pure PIL work,...