On June 13, 2018, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights released its report titled, “Contribution of Parliaments to the Work of the Human Rights Council and Its Universal Periodic Review.” The report focuses on the role of parliaments in the field of human rights and includes “contains recommendations regarding the setting up of a parliamentary human rights committee and the strengthening of engagement with the international human rights mechanisms, especially the universal periodic review.” Included within this are a draft set of “Principles on Parliaments and Human...
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 12, 2018, Trial Chamber VII of the International Criminal Court (ICC) decided to order interim release under specific conditions for Jean-Pierre Bemba Gombo, the former vice-president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. This comes on the heels of the Appeals Chamber’s decision to acquit Bemba from the charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity on June 8, 2018, though he remained in detention due to his conviction for offenses against the administration of justice in another case. According to the press release, the Trial Chamber determined that the legal requirements...
On June 8, 2018, the International Criminal Court (ICC) Appeals Chamber decided to acquit Jean-Pierre Bemba Gombo from the charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity. The decision reverses Trial Chamber III’s decision of March 21, 2016, which had concluded that Bemba was criminally responsible for the crimes against humanity of murder and rape and the war crimes of murder, rape and pillaging committed by the Mouvement de libération du Congo troops in the Central African Republic. The Appeals Chamber held that Trial Chamber III had erred in the judgment in two respects: It...
On June 6, 2018, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued its judgment on France’s preliminary objections in the case of Immunities and Criminal Proceedings (Equatorial Guinea v. France), deciding that the case may move forward. According to the press release, the Court found that it has jurisdiction, on the basis of the Optional Protocol to the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations concerning the Compulsory Settlement of Disputes, to rule on the part of Equatorial Guinea’s application concerning whether a luxury building in Paris owned by the son of Equatorial Guinea's...
On June 5, 2018, the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled in Relu Adrian Coman and Others v. Inspectoratul General pentru Imigrӑri and Others that the term “spouse” under EU law regarding freedom of residence must include spouses of the same sex. The case concerns a Romanian national who married an American national in Brussels and sought the right to reside within Romania for his husband based on the EU directive on the exercise of freedom of movement, but was denied because Romania does not recognize marriage between persons of the same sex and he cannot be classified as...
On May 31, 2018, the European Court of Human Rights ruled in Abu Zubaydah v. Lithuania that Lithuania violated the European Convention on Human Rights when it participated in the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) secret detainee program. According to the press release, the applicant, Abu Zubaydah, alleged that “Lithuania had let the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) transport him onto its territory under the secret extraordinary rendition programme and had allowed him to be subjected to ill-treatment and arbitrary detention in a CIA detention ‘black site.’” Abu...
On May 31, 2018, the European Court of Human Rights ruled in Al Nashiri v. Romania that Romania violated the European Convention on Human Rights when it assisted the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) with its secret detainee program. According to the press release, the applicant, Abd Al Rahim Husseyn Muhammad Al Nashiri, alleged that Romania let the CIA “transport him under the secret extraordinary rendition programme onto its territory and had allowed him to be subjected to ill-treatment and arbitrary detention in a CIA detention ‘black site.’” Although the Court had no...
On May 24, 2018, UN Secretary-General António Guterres announced the release of a new disarmament agenda titled, “Securing our Common Future: An Agenda for Disarmament,” which discusses the elimination of nuclear weapons and other deadly weapons. In the report, Guterres lists his main aims in disarmament discussions with member state: “[R]esuming dialogue and negotiations for nuclear arms control and disarmament; extending the norms against nuclear weapons and their proliferation; and preparing for a world free of nuclear weapons.” The report also discusses three priority areas: weapons of...
On May 21, 2018, the UN Human Rights Council passed a resolution to send an independent, international commission of inquiry to investigate the violence in the Gaza Strip between Palestinian civilian protestors and Israeli forces. The resolution came at the close of a special session on the deteriorating human rights situation taking place there and was passed with twenty-nine in favor, two against, and fourteen abstentions. The commission will be tasked with investigating violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law, to establish the facts of the...
On May 11, 2018, the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights ruled in APDF & IHRDA v. Republic of Mali that certain provisions of the Malian Persons and Family Code were inconsistent with provisions of the Protocol to African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (the Maputo Protocol). The Institute for Human Rights and Development in Africa (IHRDA) and Malian partner Association pour le Progrès et la Défense des Droits des Femmes (APDF) filed the case, arguing that Mali’s Persons and Family Code violated the Maputo Protocol in regard to...