Search: extraterritorial sanctions

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...

...ultimately complement the existing legal order, and is therefore “unlikely to undo the rules, norms, and structures that exist today.” Yet China’s greater legal role arguably now enables rather than constrains incentives to carve out zones of non-law in the maritime domain that are insulated against legal sanctions. Increasing geolegal power manifests as pressure on states to accede to China’s will, including its preference to resolve disputes bilaterally rather than through legal institutions. In 2012 the Philippines deployed navel assets to protect the disputed Scarborough Shoal, which provoked Chinese economic...

...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...

...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...

...Maintain Open Trade on Critical Supplies Douglas Guilfoyle: Teaching Public International Law in the Time of Coronavirus—Migrating Online Matt Pollard, Mathilde Laronche and Viviana Grande: The Courts and Coronavirus (Part 1 and Part 2) Nina Sun and Livio Zilli: The Use of Criminal Sanctions in COVID-19 Responses—(Exposure and Transmission, Part 1, and Enforcement of Public Health Measures, Part 2) Leó n Castellanos-Jankiewicz: US Border Closure Breaches International Refugee Law Priya Pillai: COVID-19 and Migrants–Gaps in the International Legal Architecture? Marcos D. Kotlik and Ezequiel Heffes: COVID-19 in Conflict-Affected Areas–Armed Groups...

...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...

...our work were not there for a variety of reasons, including resources, sanctions, travel restrictions, and the limitations on non-ECOSOC-accredited civil society. Our perspectives matter because the world’s understanding of crimes against humanity is not confined to narrow legal frameworks or isolated examples over time. Rather, it has evolved through the lived experiences of victims, survivors, and affected communities. Our lives and experiences populate the understanding of these crimes that shock the conscience of humanity. However, we remain on the margins of such processes. One of us, Metra, is from...

...to it in its battle against Japanese whaling in the Southern Ocean. The case raises interesting questions about the jurisdiction of US Courts over the activities of a vessel, flying the Australian flag but owned by a US incorporated society, in the Southern Ocean. At the SHARES blog, a new post outlines shared responsibility in UN targeted sanctions. Rosa Brooks shares some of her thoughts at Foreign Policy on sovereignty and imminence in Obama’s drone war. ASIL has a new Insight on China’s Straight Baseline Claim: Senkaku (Diaoyu) Islands (.pdf)....