Search: extraterritorial sanctions
21 May Guest Post: Foreign Official Immunity and the Chinese Cyberespionage Indictments
...cyberespionage by its military (based on the argument that such activity is not commercial in nature), then denying conduct-based immunity to Chinese officials for the same acts would reinforce the disjunction between foreign state immunity and foreign official immunity in U.S. courts. At a broader level, the announcement of indictments against named Chinese officials reinforces a trend towards focusing pressure on individuals associated with undesirable state policies, whether through immigration enforcement or targeted sanctions. The full implications of this trend for international law and international relations remain to be seen....21 Jul Guest Post: Jurisdictional Aspects of the Article 12(2) Rome Statute Vessel Provision: Some Thoughts on the Provision’s Dogma and Implementation in light of the Comoros Referral
...regarded as having a functional character. States try to protect social bonds of attachment against mere formal nationality imposed by the technicalities of law. This functional inquisition is evident in diverse fora. For example in the case of UN sanctions, such as those against Serbia and Iran, the relevant Security Council Resolutions considered the nationality of the vessel based on ownership or contract terms, regardless of the flag under which the ship may sail. (see UN SC Res 787 (1992) and UN SC Res 1929 (2010)). Essentially then, Article 91(1)...
07 Mar The Elephant in the Room: Invoking and Exercising the Right of Collective Self-Defence in Support of Ukraine against Russian Aggression
...carefully choreographed mantra on three points: first, recognition of the pro-Russian separatist regions of Donetsk and Luhansk is unacceptable and involves a grave violation of international law; second, if Russia invades Ukraine it will have to face severe sanctions; and third, leaving aside the delivery of weapons and other support, NATO and western States will not participate militarily in a Russian-Ukrainian conflict. A number of legal and political issues arise with respect to these positions, and this contribution will zoom in on the last issue. Since the start of the...
04 Jun ICL and Environmental Protection Symposium: International Criminal Law as a Tool for Corporate Responsibility for Environmental Crimes (Part I)
...has caused long lasting environmental damages. Peoples’ tribunals have been very active in the field of corporate responsibility for environmental damage. Triggered and set up by the victims’ organizations, some of these tribunals have contributed to the legal debate on violations not yet recognized by international law or insufficiently explored by international courts. As a result, the Monsanto Tribunal analyzed the new legal concept of the crime of ecocide by the company Monsanto. According to the Monsanto “jury”, the increase in criminal sanctions in trials relating to environmental damage before...21 Jan Reflections on the Ugandan Anti-Homosexuality Bill
...a foreign relations matter, the proposed legislation also raises the significant practical issue of pragmatic transnational norm advocacy. What is the most effective response for those in the West who wish to defeat this bill? Is it threats of economic sanctions, démarches from European diplomats, or pastoral letters from one (famous) clergyman to another? Is the best recipe for success a mix of carrots and sticks, or a soft appeal to reason and conscience? I for one have little doubt that on an issue like this someone like Rick Warren...
15 Oct International Organizations Accountability Symposium: Reputation and Accountability
[Kristina Daugirdas is a Professor of Law at the University of Michigan Law School.] Absent a contractual relationship, individuals who have been harmed by the acts of international organizations rarely have access to institutions to hear their claims. National courts are often unavailable on account of organizations’ immunities. Some organizations have established alternative mechanisms to resolve such claims. The World Bank Inspection Panel is one example; the Ombudsperson for the ISIL and Al-Qaida UN Security Council Sanctions regime is another. Such accountability mechanisms must be deliberately designed, adopted, and implemented....
23 Mar TWAIL Pedagogy: Un-Learning Colonial Ways of Teaching International Law
...student ponders why Argentina wasn’t bailed out like banks were in 2008 or Credit Suisse is today. Was a state of 50 million not too big to fail? Are odious debt and economic sanctions not also expressions of unlawful force? They quote Special Rapporteur Alena Douhan favourably; what’s the point of UN mechanisms if Euro-America can deploy international law with tactical impunity? A final student asks about the status of Palestine. If it declares itself a state, if 140 states recognise it as a state, is it not a state?...
24 Jul The Law of Gravity: A Newtonian Proposal for Public International Law
...of all three legal regimes: to prevent human beings from suffering harm caused by acts considered to be the worst of the worst across the globe. Whether it entails prosecuting a war criminal or economic sanctions aimed at a State, the goal is the same, nonetheless. In my view, the divergence across the various enforcement bodies should be a question of degree of punishment, rather than the need for varying definitions of gravity across the different arenas of public international law. Admittedly, the malleability of gravity can be useful when...27 Oct Weekly News Wrap: Monday, October 27, 2014
...oversight to be expanded to more than a dozen other U.N. Security Council sanctions regimes to ensure fair process for the individuals and entities targeted. The chief U.N. investigator into human rights cases in North Korea said on Wednesday he has appealed to China to support calls to refer Pyongyang’s actions to The Hague on suspicion of crimes against humanity. The death toll from the Ebola epidemic has risen to 4,922 out of 10,141 recorded infections, with three West African countries accounting for most of the cases through October 23,...27 Apr Weekday News Wrap: Friday, April 27, 2012
ECOWAS will dispatch troops to both Mali and Guinea-Bissau in order to swiftly reinstate civilian rule after recent coups. In a Reuters exclusive, the US Senate, after a three-year investigation, is expected to find that the “enhanced interrogation techniques” used failed to yield counterterrorism breakthroughs. As a result of ongoing clashes between Sudan and South Sudan, the United States has circulated a draft resolution through the UN Security Council outlining sanctions if the two nations do not cease their strikes and resolve their many disputes. The US will move 9000...