On October 9, 2023, the World Health Organization and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) issued a joint publication on mental health and human rights for legislators, policymakers, professionals, and advocacy groups. The three overarching goals of the guidance are “to support countries to transform their mental health systems and services, increase equality and justice in mental health care, and prevent, detect, or remedy human rights violations in mental health care settings.” In their press release, the OHCHR noted that human rights violations...
International Law in Brief
International Law in Brief (ILIB) is a forum that provides updates on current developments in international law from the editors of ASIL's International Legal Materials.
Within days of Hamas’s attack on Israel and Israel’s declaration of war, the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory issued a statement detailing “clear evidence” of war crimes having been committed by Israel, Hamas, and other armed groups participating in the violence. A JURIST report on October 11, 2023, outlined the Commission’s statement and quoted the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights’ reminder to all sides of the conflict to keep international humanitarian law in mind and “take constant care to spare the civilian population and...
The latest investigations undertaken by the UN Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine have found “widespread and systematic” torture conducted by Russia’s armed forces against “persons accused of being informants of the Ukrainian armed forces.” As reported by JURIST on September 26, 2023, the Commission had travelled to Ukraine ten separate times and met with survivors of Russian atrocities before reporting their findings to the Human Rights Council. The Commission noted numerous instances of torture committed throughout Kherson and Zaporizhzhia in “various detention cent[er]s controlled by...
On September 8, 2023, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed claims brought by U.S. nationals against the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) under the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) and the Promoting Security and Justice for Victims of Terrorism Act (PSJVTA). As reported by Maggie Gardner in Transnational Litigation Blog, the Second Circuit’s decisions in Fuld v. Palestine Liberation Organization and Waldman v. Palestine Liberation Organization, declared the PSJVTA unconstitutional “because it asserts personal jurisdiction based on activity that cannot be understood as...
On June 20, 2023, the United States Treasury Department announced that it had designated for sanctions Major General James Nando and Governor Alfred Futuyo of South Sudan for their involvement in sexual violence related to the ongoing conflict in that country. As reported by JURIST, the sanctions “block their access to any US assets and prevents US nationals from doing business with them.” The designations come following a Presidential Memorandum, enacted in November of 2022, in which President Biden called for accountability for conflict related sexual violence, and United Nations...
On August 22, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child published General Comment No. 26 on children's right and the environment with a special focus on climate change. According to a summary by the Committee, the "Committee emphasizes the urgent need to address the adverse effects of environmental degradation, with a special focus on climate change, on the enjoyment of children’s rights, and clarifies the obligations of States to address environmental harm and climate change." Running at 20 pages in length, the Comment includes sections on the evolution of international law on human...
On August 14, 2023, the Montana First Judicial District Court invalidated a state law based on the right to a clean and healthful environment in the Montana Constitution. As reported by JURIST, Held v. Montana addresses the Montana Environmental Policy Act (MEPA) and its prohibition on considering GHG emissions in the context of energy and mining project reviews. According to the Court, the prohibition violates the Montana Constitution because it "categorically limits" what the government can consider in order to safeguard the environment. Moreover, the state failed to produce "...
On July 30, 2023, the Authority of Heads of State and Government of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) held an extraordinary summit to address the political situation in Niger—specifically the July 26 military coup which resulted in the detention of President Muhammed Bazoum, his family, and members of his government. The resulting communique reaffirmed President Bazoum as the legitimate elected President and Head of State of the Republic of Niger, “condemn[ed] in the strongest terms the attempted overthrow of constitutional order in Niger and the illegal detention” of...
The International Court of Justice rejected Nicaragua's case against Colombia regarding their dispute over maritime borders and entitlements in the Caribbean in a decision filed July 13. The Court, led by President Joan E. Donoghue, determined that Nicaragua is not entitled to an extended continental shelf within 200 nautical miles from the baselines of San Andres and Providencia. Nicaragua asked the Court to delimit the boundaries between the continental shield of Nicaragua beyond the 200 nautical mile limit from the baselines from which the breadth of the territorial sea of Nicaragua is...
On June 28th, China enacted new legislation in an effort to deter sanctions and “safeguard national sovereignty.” Most of the new law consolidates language present in existing laws into a comprehensive international relations framework, most notably a “foreign policy aligned with socialism,” JURIST reports. In the law, China delineates its right to take “countermeasures and restrictive measures” against threats to international law and the “sovereignty, security, and development interests of the People’s Republic of China.” China also underscored its commitment to the UN and its “related...