Search: extraterritorial sanctions

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...

...to, lawful sanctions), whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on that individual for such purposes as obtaining from that individual or a third person information or a confession, punishing that individual for an act that individual or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, intimidating or coercing that individual or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind; and (2) mental pain or suffering refers to prolonged mental harm caused by or resulting from— (A) the intentional infliction or threatened...

...convinced. According to Professor Ku, nothing in the “Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act explicitly (or implicitly) authorize[s] the President to make an agreement with Iran that would go beyond the President’s existing constitutional powers to make sole-executive agreements or nonbinding political commitments.” This claim boldly ignores the Iran Act’s key operative provisions. The Act specifically defines “agreement” to include any accord with Iran “regardless of whether it is legally binding or not.” § 2610e(h)(1). It then authorizes the President to implement sanctions relief unless Congress enacts “a joint resolution stating...

...by the fact that opposition forces are implicated in the commission of atrocities as well, or that the Security Council needs to decide who (which side) should be prosecuted in advance of referring a situation to the court. What this conflict does indicate however, is the deepening entanglement between international courts and the Council, a theme which runs broadly through the Council’s peace and security work, and through its sanctions practice as well. This entanglement can be addressed in a few ways. The First, is greater clarity and better mechanisms...

...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...

...Conclusion President Trump represents an existential threat to the international legal order. In facing such challenges, small States–who lack the economic weight to exert countermeasures and reprisals against potential sanctions, as is the case of Panama– must resort to international law and multilateral diplomacy, particularly when dealing with threats against their own territorial integrity and political independence. In situations such as this, time is of the essence. Photo attribution: “ In the Panama Canal, 1994 ” from Family collection of Infrogmation of New Orleans is licenced under CC BY-SA 4.0...

...international organizations, participation in 200 cases at the ICJ and PCIJ, in thousands of cases in human rights courts, in mediation, negotiation, and arbitration over ever possible right or claim relevant to states—and all in terms of international law. And these officials know there are sanctions for violating international law. If you were to ask the proverbial man on the street whether he has human rights or his country has inviolable national borders—most would say yes and know these are legal rights from beyond the state itself. One of the...

...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,...

...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...