Search: extraterritorial sanctions

Your weekly selection of international law and international relations headlines from around the world: Middle East Iran and six world powers clinched a deal to curb the Iranian nuclear program in exchange for initial sanctions relief, signalling the start of a game-changing rapprochement that would reduce the risk of a wider Middle East war, though a “tough road ahead” awaits those working to turn the interim accord into a comprehensive agreement. Duncan weighed in with his thoughts here. Rebels led by al Qaeda-linked fighters have seized Syria’s largest oilfield, cutting...

...of efforts to agree new U.N. sanctions on North Korea after its fifth nuclear test, but Washington is confident tougher steps will be agreed before long, the senior U.S. diplomat for Asia said on Friday. Europe French President Francois Hollande has confirmed plans to close the Calais refugee camp in northern France, while German Chancellor Angela Merkel called for Europe to secure deals with third countries to assist in the return of migrants. More than 15,000 people gathered in Helsinki on Saturday to protest against racism and violence, after the...

...Syria. Foreign Policy outlines the options for Syria, in case the plan does not succeed. According to its Foreign Minister, William Hague, the UK may seek a Security Council decision referring Assad to the ICC. In a Reuter’s exclusive, China’s ZTE trading firm had planned on selling $10.5 million (€8 millon) worth of embargoed computing equipment to Iran, shedding some light on how Iran is able to get American tech products despite sanctions. The Philippine Navy is in a standoff with Chinese ships. Colombia’s foreign minister reports that Venezuelan President...

...an option given Russia’s role and veto power. (For the background legal context leading up to the Lockerbie trial, see here; and for an analysis of the verdict, see here.) The International Court of Justice was also approached by Libya and ruled that it had jurisdiction to proceed with the case – before the proceedings were terminated by the agreement of all parties. And of course, it is worth also remembering the role of economic sanctions in bringing pressure to bear. What the Lockerbie trial indicates is that there were...

...African Union, the country had made significant progress toward political pluralism, but parties were still “not able to operate freely” and faced legal sanctions if accused of engaging in divisive acts. The government’s continuing campaign against divisionism discouraged debate or criticism of the government and resulted in brief detentions and the holding of one political prisoner, former minister Ntakarutinka. All political organizations were constitutionally required to join the Forum for Political Organizations, which continued to limit competitive political pluralism, according to the 2006 APRM report. Despite a June 2007 law...

...whether a specific weapons part was used to commit a specific violation. It is the very relationship itself between company and state that enables, among other things, the systemic violation of Palestinians’ right to self-determination. And as Albanese points out, the systemic nature of this violation invalidates ‘paternalistic’ arguments about the economic benefits of continued engagement with Israel’s occupation regime. The response to Albanese’s report has confirmed its significance. Nine days after Albanese filed the report, the US government announced it was imposing sanctions on her for ‘writing threatening letters...

...was raised. The Foreign Minster of Saudi Arabia and one of the Princes did mention, however, that tougher sanctions against Iran could be implemented without UN’s approval, demonstrating by the same token a degree of awareness of international law and legal procedure. Furthermore, there is some more interesting preliminary quantitative evidence on the importance of law in the discourse of officials. Cable analysis prepared by Guardian shows that as a subject matter in correspondence between officials the word “law” is mentioned in 2,473 documents and occupies 92nd place, in contrast...

...of a British vessel by a French boat, and the firing on the protesting French vessels with a musket by a Jersey Militia re-enactment group member. At the end of the day, French fishing vessels left St. Helier and the tensions eased, but the legal controversy remains. As of 19 October, the French government gave a deadline of two weeks so that more fishing licenses would be granted, under the threat of sanctions towards Jersey and the UK.  This article will primarily deal with the relationship between the use of...

...objectives are all valid and important. But is questionable whether they can be achieved best through a broadening of the options for military force. International law offers alternative paths to the use of force to achieve rationales, such as accountability, deterrence or sanctioning of jus in bello violations, i.e. preventive diplomacy, lawful countermeasures, international criminal justice, sanctions etc. Broadening the categories of the use of forces has trade-offs. It weakens these options and their underlying regimes (e.g. non-coercive and non-violent response measures under Chapters VI and VIII of the Charter,...

The US and Israel are set to hold a joint missile exercise later this month, displaying their close cooperation in the face of Iran’s nuclear program development. Both Uganda and Rwanda have denied involvement with rebels in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and call recent allegations by the UN “rubbish.” Russia has criticized the European Union for the recent sanctions it placed on Iran and called for a fresh round of talks as soon as possible. In a rare show of unity, Iran and Turkey have expressed support for...

...impacts would further complicate the adoption of some sort of IIS. Many executive branch activities with likely international impacts would be lodged in the Departments of State, Homeland Security, and Defense, activity that has historically been sheltered from such administrative requirements as the EIS and the Administrative Procedure Act. There is something cognitively dissonant about the concept of an International Impact Statement for, say, sanctions on Iran or the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan. It’s even less likely that Congress would adopt a practice under which foreign stakeholder interests became...

...is not in the cards. As this Russian law professor explains, “If Russia refuses to fulfill the requirements of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea regarding the Greenpeace case, it will not entail any sanctions. International law does not provide punishment for insubordination,” Labin said. I don’t want to overstate the significance of this incident, but if Russia fails to comply (unlike Ghana earlier this year) and does not participate in the Annex VII arbitration (per the China example) either, this is another serious problem for the...