On March 23, 2015, the presidents of Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia signed the Declaration of Principles in an effort to resolve their long-standing dispute over the sharing of the Nile River’s waters. The ten-point agreement, which focuses on Ethiopia’s controversial construction of the Great Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on the Blue Nile, includes principles on dispute settlement, fair and appropriate use, regional integration and sustainability, and cooperation among others. Ethiopia reportedly pursued the project because the dam would “give it a fairer share of Nile waters” and it wanted “to...
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.
On March 23, 2015, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York dismissed a defamation case against an anti-Iran non-profit organization after the U.S. government intervened invoking the state secrets privilege in Restis v. American Coalition Against Nuclear Iran (ACNI). Mr. Restis, a Greek national and owner of a shipping business that engaged in business transactions with Iran, filed a defamation suit against the ACNI alleging the organization had attempted to destroy his company’s reputation. The U.S. government intervened, submitting a motion to dismiss on the...
On March 19, 2015, the Military District Court in Warsaw (the Court) cleared four Polish soldiers of war crimes for their role in the killing of six civilians in Afghanistan in 2007. According to one report, the soldiers participated in U.S. and NATO-led military operations in Afghanistan where their patrol attacked Nangar Khel, a village in southeastern Afghanistan, using automatic weapons and mortar shells, killing six people, including three children. The soldiers were first charged, tried, and acquitted of war crimes in 2011. At the new trial, they maintained the deaths had been...
On March 18, 2015, the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) issued its award in the matter of the Chagos Marine Protected Area Arbitration (Mauritius v. United Kingdom), unanimously finding the United Kingdom’s establishment of a marine protected area (MPA) around the Chagos Archipelago contravened its obligations under the Convention on the Law of the Sea. According to the press release, Mauritius commenced the arbitration before the PCA in 2010 after the United Kingdom declared an MPA in the waters surrounding the Chagos Archipelago. The Archipelago has been...
On March 18, 2015, 187 United Nations member states adopted the “Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030” at the UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction in Japan. The framework, described by the UN as “the first major agreement of the Post-2015 development agenda,” includes seven targets to be achieved over the next fifteen years— “a substantial reduction in global disaster mortality; a substantial reduction in numbers of affected people; a reduction in economic losses in relation to global GDP; substantial reduction in disaster damage to critical infrastructure and...
On March 5, 2015, a U.S. federal parole board consisting of representatives from the departments of Defense, State, Justice, and Homeland Security, and the National Intelligence directorate, cleared Saeed Sarem Jarabh, a Yemeni national formerly believed to have been Osama bin Laden’s bodyguard, for release from the Guantanamo Bay detention facility in Cuba where he has been held since 2002. In its final determination, the Periodic Review Board recommended his transfer to a third country after considering that Jarabh “was a low level fighter [who] lacked a leadership position in al-Qa'ida...
On March 19, 2015, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) released a report on “the human rights situation in Iraq in the light of abuses committed by the so-called Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant and associated groups.” According to the press release, the OHCHR found that the “Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) may have committed all three of the most serious international crimes – namely war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.” The report notes the investigation team found “that widespread abuses committed by ISIL include...
On March 18, 2015, Russian President Vladimir Putin and President of the Republic of South Ossetia Leonid Tibilov signed the Agreement between the Russian Federation and the Republic of South Ossetia on Alliance and Integration. According to the Kremlin’s press release, “[u]nder the Agreement, the two countries will establish a common defence and security space, allow free movement across the Russia-South Ossetia border, integrate their customs services, develop cooperation between their interior ministries, and simplify the procedures for obtaining Russian citizenship.” The twenty-five...
On March 13, 2015, in Prosecutor v. Kenyatta, the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court withdrew charges against Uhuru Kenyatta, the president of Kenya, for insufficient evidence. According to the press release, the Trial Chamber indicated that “although the proceedings shall be terminated, the Court retains jurisdiction over any interference with a witness or with the collection of evidence and that the protective measures ordered for witnesses and/or victims shall continue, subject to the review by the Court.” Kenyatta was accused of crimes against humanity, including...
On March 11, 2015, in the Matter of Gen. Carlos Eugenio Vides Casanova, the Board of Immigration Appeals, the United States’ highest administrative body for the interpretation of immigration laws, ruled that Carlos Casanova, a former El Salvadorian defense minister, could be deported for his role in the crimes committed during the El Salvador civil war in the 1980s. Noting sections of the Immigration and Nationality Act that do not permit persons who have committed extrajudicial killings to be admitted to the United States, the Board held that Casanova could be deported because “...