On June 25, 2014, the European Court of Human Rights and European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights launched an update to its Handbook on European Law Relating to Asylum, Borders and Immigration. According to the press release, the Handbook is “the first comprehensive guide to European law in the areas of asylum, borders and immigration, taking into account both the case-law of the [European Convention on Human Rights] and that of the Court of Justice of the European Union.” It also contains the relevant EU Regulations and Directives, as well as references to the European Social Charter...
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 June 25, 2014, both the Defense and the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) in the Prosecutor v. Germain Katanga case gave notice of the discontinuance of their appeal before the Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Court (the Court) against the judgment (French language only) rendered by Trial Chamber II on March 7, 2014 (see this previous ILIB post). According to the press release, Germain Katanga “accepted the judgment of the Court and its conclusions on its role as well as his conduct,” and also indicated that he did not intend to appeal against the sentence imposed on...
On June 20, 2014, the East African Court of Justice at Arusha, First Instance Division (the Court), issued its decision in African Network for Animal Welfare v. Attorney General of the United Republic of Tanzania. The Court held that the proposal by Tanzania to build a highway across the Serengeti National Park was unlawful and issued an injunction restraining Tanzania from operationalizing the proposal. According to the press release, the Court found that the proposal infringed multiple articles of the Treaty for the Establishment of the East African Community, including Article...
On June 13, 2014, the African Court on Human and People’s Rights (the Court) issued its ruling on reparations in Reverend Christopher Mtikila v. United Republic of Tanzania. The Court held that Reverend Mtikila was not entitled to reparations for Tanzania’s enactment of a Constitutional amendment requiring election candidates to be a member of a political party, which the Court found, in its earlier judgment of June 14, 2013, to breach Articles 2 (freedom from discrimination), 3 (equal protection), 10 (freedom of association), and 13(1) (right to participate in government) of the...
On June 23, 2014, the International Campaign to Ban Landmines released a series of reports coinciding with the Third Review Conference of the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on Their Destruction. The Treaty prohibits States Parties from using, developing, producing, acquiring, stockpiling, retaining or transferring antipersonnel mines. According to the reports, “[o]ne of the most significant achievements of the treaty has been the degree to which any use of antipersonnel mines by any actor has been stigmatized...
On June 23, 2014, the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) of the International Criminal Court published its Report following the conclusion of the preliminary examination into the situation in the Republic of Korea. According to the press release, the Prosecutor “determined that, at this stage, the Rome Statute requirements to seek authorization to initiate an investigation have not been satisfied.” The OTP concluded, in relation to the sinking of a South Korean warship in March 2010, that “the alleged attack was directed at a lawful military target,” and, in relation to the shelling of South...
On June 19, 2014, a Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (Third Section) (the Court) declared inadmissible the application in Stichting Ostade Blade v. the Netherlands, holding that the perpetrator of a series of bomb attacks in Arnhem, who wrote to a magazine claiming responsibility for the attacks (the Letter), was not a journalistic source attracting protection under Article 10 (freedom of expression) of the European Convention on Human Rights. The magazine claimed a violation of its rights to protect its journalistic sources when, after the magazine announced that it...
On June 19, 2014, the Court of Justice of the European Union (the Court) issued its decision in Jessy Saint Prix v. Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, holding that “a woman who gives up work or seeking work, because of the physical constraints of the late stages of pregnancy and the aftermath of childbirth can retain the status of ‘worker’” within the meaning of Article 45 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and Article 7 of Directive 2004/38 on the right of free movement and residence of Union citizens. According to the press release, the Court found...
On June 17, 2014, the U.S. Ambassador, Samantha Power, wrote a letter to the U.N. Security Council stating that the U.S. raid that seized the suspected leader of the 2012 attack on the American Consulate in Benghazi, Libya is legal under international law. According to a news article, Abu Khatttalah was captured in Libya “without the knowledge or permission of the Libyan government.” The letter stated that, in accordance with Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations, the measures were “necessary to prevent such armed attacks, and were taken in accordance with the United States’...
On June 12, 2014, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (the Court) decided Fernández Martínez v. Spain, finding—by a majority of 9 to 8—that there was no violation of Article 8 (right to respect for private and family life) of the European Convention on Human Rights when Mr. Martínez’s contract to teach religion in a State school was not renewed. According to the press release, Mr. Martínez, a former Catholic priest with a Papal dispensation from celibacy, appeared in a newspaper article “indicating [his] disagreement with the Church’s position on abortion,...