Search: extraterritorial sanctions

...symposium. Our first contributor is Ramesh Thakur, Distinguished Fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation, and Professor of Political Science at the University of Waterloo, Canada. Professor Thakur’s article, ‘ Law, Legitimacy and United Nations’, identifies a gap between law and legitimacy in the practice of the United Nations and posits that this is a serious challenge to the authority of the organisation. Thakur detects this ‘ legitimacy deficit ’ with respect to a number of areas. He points to the difficulties with international sanctions regimes, the concerns regarding...

...in which judicial independence has been, or is being, eroded across the EU.  Illustrating the Range of Judicial Independence Issues Adjudicated Litigation has commonly responded to frontal attacks on judges’ independence, such as arbitrary dismissals, unfounded disciplinary sanctions, or even the growing criminalization of the judicial role, often as reprisals against judges exercising independence or opposing powerful actors abuse of power. Many cases involving Poland, such as Dolińska-Ficek and Ozimekf v Poland, challenged the arbitrary removal of Polish judges and their replacement by ‘neo judges’ on the judicial council, which...

...reaches 40. This means that many Israelis, if not themselves suspected of criminal acts, are potential sources of information regarding events in Gaza and the West Bank – whether a bomb dropped on a café, or tank and rifle fire directed at Palestinians seeking food or medical assistance. Israelis, understandably, want and like to travel – whether to Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, Africa, Europe or Latin America. If governments were serious about sanctions and about their international duty to prevent and to punish genocide and to bring an end...

...under customary international law, and many are widely recognised as being subject to universal jurisdiction. There is an obligation upon all states to enact effective penal sanctions in domestic law and an obligation to search for and to try or extradite persons suspected of grave breaches on the basis of universal jurisdiction, regardless of the nationality of the perpetrator.’ (Al-Haq, para 33) The grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions documented in the Goldstone Report are alleged to constitute war crimes and possibly crimes against humanity. The UN General Assembly resolution...

...with the UN Charter framework, I am led to the conclusion that aggression cannot be defined as a crime under international law at this time. But this should not be too troubling. The Security Council continues to have the authority under Article 39 to find that a state has committed an act of aggression. And the Council continues to have the authority to impose sanctions on the offending state. And it should not be forgotten that individuals can be held personally accountable for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide....

...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...

...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...

China announced today it has requested consultations with the United States over the imposition of U.S. duties on certain Chinese paper products. This is WTO-speak for: “We’re filing a lawsuit”. This marks the first time China has ever used the WTO dispute settlement procedures on its own (it joined in Europe’s suit against the U.S. steel tariffs). The robust U.S-China trade relationship has hit a few bumps in recent years, and the new relatively anti-trade Democratic Congress has made things worse by threatening all sorts of nasty sanctions against China....

...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...

...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...

...turn, lawyers can act effectively to defend the rights of others. The important role of bar associations in defending the rule of law and human rights is also attested to in international standards. The UN Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers, the foundational international text on the protection of the legal profession, affirm that lawyers must be able to carry out their professional duties without interference or intimidation (Principle 16); to participate in public debate on legal and human rights issues without facing sanctions (Principle 23); and to operate...

...practice in this area: Public international law (PIL) is not only relevant to governments these days, it is increasingly the concern of multinational corporations and individuals. International law now affects many corporate and financial transactions; companies need to be aware of the impact of such issues as sanctions, export controls, anti-corruption conventions, rules for combating crime and terrorism, and regimes of environmental accountability. PIL also often overlaps with WTO and human rights issues. Investor-state arbitrations are on the rise. Some may argue that this does not constitute pure PIL work,...