Search: extraterritorial sanctions

...the awards pile up in the United States, Iran is signaling that its legal system can do the same thing. Now, I would not suggest there’s any moral equivalence in the sorts of suits for which sovereign immunity is being waived by U.S. courts and Alikhani’s complaint (he was detained for 105 days following his arrest in a sting operation involving the purchase of oil-field equipment in Florida for shipment to Libya allegedly in violation of U.S. sanctions). But, as a structural matter, once the United States decides to allow...

For Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad it’s all about Israel. The cartoons were not an act of freedom, they were a desperate act of hostages. This week Ahmadinejad used the cartoon controversy to blame the United States and Europe for “being hostages of the Zionists.” He then criticized the double-standard of the freedom to insult the prophet while imposing criminal sanctions on those who deny the Holocaust. “I ask everybody in the world not to let a group of Zionists who failed in Palestine … to insult the prophet. Now in...

...of systematic human rights abuses”, including Sudan, subject to UN Security Council sanctions, as well as Azerbaijan, the DRC, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Kazakhstan, Mali, Nigeria, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan and Vietnam, as noted in the UN Special Rapporteur’s position paper. As such it looks the UN CT Travel programme is falling short of the requirements of the UN Human Rights Due Diligence Policy. Specifically, in the context of border security, the consequences of the travellers’ data surveillance supported by the UN CT Travel programme can be serious and wide-ranging, affecting the right...

...the Senate as a treaty. Much depends on exactly what the agreement purports to do. If the agreement actually contains a commitment by the U.S. to “not be the first to use cyberweapons to cripple the other’s critical infrastructure”, than it is much closer to the traditional kinds of arms control agreements that have usually been approved under the U.S. system as treaties. Unlike the Iran Nuclear Deal (which is mostly about lifting economic sanctions), the U.S. would be committing to refraining from using certain weapons or from exercising its...

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...

...(e.g. someone who is HIV+ ) during hiring without a bona fide occupational qualification. Duties to protect A corporation cannot abet human rights violations in its business relations as defined by civil and criminal law. The responsibility to not abet violations may be broad and has been used to condemn corporations for any violations caused by the corporation’s supply chain, but the obligation cannot extend beyond current civil and criminal sanctions for vicarious liability due to agents, partners and co-conspirators. Human rights activists have argued for other legal tools, like...

...Colombia and Fixes a Single Maritime Boundary between Colombia and Nicaragua (.pdf). Senator Ron Wyden, a Democratic member of the Senate Intelligence Committee demanded in a letter (.pdf) to President Obama’s counterterrorism advisor John Brennan that he and other committee members be allowed to review secret Justice Department legal opinions justifying the killing of American citizens in counterterrorism operations. The United States is pushing for more sanctions against North Korea at the UN. China is planning a geographical survey of the contested Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea. The...

...it has built. A senior U.S. defense official said on Thursday that additional sanctions were a possible response to any North Korea missile launch and the commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific said he favored deployment of a U.S. anti-missile system in South Korea. Europe With a troubled peace plan for the Ukrainian conflict nearing its deadline, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg will attempt a balancing act to reassure Kiev of the West’s support without antagonizing Moscow when he visits Ukraine on Monday. Bitterly-divided European leaders will seek to find...

...weekend. Relatives of approximately 90 Yeminis held at the US Guantanamo Bay prison are protesting their “very poor” conditions at Gitmo and demanding their release. Arms Control Blog points to a new report about the effectiveness of sanctions against Iran. The UNGA is set to vote today on the Arms Trade Treaty, a week after Iran, Syria and North Korea blocked the adoption by consensus. Following the return of the two Italian marines to India, India’s Supreme Court has removed the order barring the Italian envoy from leaving the country....

...and the tribunal operates outside of national laws – the judges in each case define the applicable norms and procedures. Decisions by the tribunal are not appealable, and a country faces economic sanctions if it does not comply with its rulings. So after a petition to appear before ICSID filed by 300 organizations in 43 different countries was denied, activists took to the streets. Thousands sent e-mails to corporate executives. Protesters in San Francisco blocked the entrance of Bechtel’s corporate headquarters, and San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors passed a resolution...

...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...