Search: extraterritorial sanctions

...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...

...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...

...an unnamed senior leader in the context of arrest warrants being requested for Israeli leaders that “this court is built for Africa and for thugs like Putin.” Of course, the fact that the ICC ultimately did proceed to issue arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant demonstrates that occasionally the wheels of justice move forward even in the face of resistance from key players in the West. Doing so, however, can come with a heavy price for those involved (see here, here and here regarding US sanctions on ICC...

The U.S. Trade Representative’s Office has released some further details on its agreement with Congress to incorporate international labor standards into future U.S. free-trade agreements. Here are a couple important new institutional innovations. (1) Violations of international and local labor standards will apparently be subject to the same international dispute resolution mechanisms as the rest of the trade agreement. This is big: Panels will for the first time be empowered to determine violations of international labor standards and countries will be authorized to impose trade sanctions to punish violations. (2)...

...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...

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...

...is a growing emphasis on the management of natural resources like oil, timber and diamonds. In Iraq, oil been a key issue in the constitutional debate; in many African countries it has been the source of increasingly sophisticated Security Council sanctions regimes that have resulted in market regulation schemes (which I will discuss in a forthcoming post). This emphasis on regulation is affecting the core content the right to permanent sovereignty over natural resources, which many non-OECD countries have claimed is a jus cogens norm. Third, because economic development helps...

...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...

...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...

...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...

...Cambodia sentenced the top two surviving cadres of the 1970s Khmer Rouge regime to life in jail on Thursday, delivering a semblance of justice for one of the darkest and bloodiest chapters of the twentieth century. Europe Ukrainian government forces are preparing for the final stage of recapturing the city of Donetsk from pro-Russian separatist rebels after making significant gains that have divided rebel forces, a military spokesman has said. Moscow banned imports of most food from the West on Thursday in retaliation against sanctions over Ukraine, a stronger than...

...the many decades of conflict). A turning point for our shift of focus came in early 2022 when a Taliban delegation was officially invited to visit Norway. This incident generated urgent questions among members of the diaspora: what exactly is universal jurisdiction, and how can we be ready to act when opportunities present themselves? While it may be a common perception that Taliban members do not travel to countries where universal jurisdiction may be a possibility due to travel bans and sanctions, this is not the case. For example, the...