Latest in International Court of Justice
While Beijing’s responsibility for violations of international legal obligations seems evident, International Court of Justice precedent on causality and reparations will probably thwart any efforts to make China pay compensation for damages caused by the coronavirus.
Many legal questions arose after the recent cyber operations against the health sector throughout the world, but there is still little legal conversation at the international level on how to approach these malicious acts that often have dire consequences.
Washington Post Columnist Disappears at Saudi Consulate in Turkey
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued a unanimous order on Oct. 3 indicating limited provisional measures against the United States. Iran brought the case after President Trump pulled the U.S. out of the Iran nuclear deal (known formally as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA) in May and revoked sanctions relief provided in the framework of the agreement. In today’s order, the court rejected the U.S.
On Tuesday, Iran filed a complaint against the U.S. before the International Court of Justice (ICJ), in which Iran seeks to enjoin the reinstatement of U.S. nuclear sanctions following President Trump's withdrawal from the JCPOA. The press release announcing the complaint is below.
ICJ Press Release
The United Kingdom has already outlined economic and diplomatic sanctions against Russia in response to the chemical weapons attack in Salisbury, England. Prime Minister Theresa May suggested that covert action was also under consideration. And through its rhetoric, the U.K. government has even suggested that more overt uses of force may be an option. But what if the U.K. also looked to the institutions of legal accountability, including the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court? While admittedly imperfect institutions, the ICJ or the ICC could afford the U.K.
On Nov. 21, the U.N. General Assembly and Security Council voted to fill the last vacant seat on the International Court of Justice (ICJ), electing India’s Dalveer Bhandari to the role. As far as U.N. elections—usually unexciting affairs—are concerned, this one came right down to the wire. With India and the U.K. competing directly for the last seat, seven rounds of voting determined the victor. The deadlock ended only when the U.K. withdrew its candidate, Christopher Greenwood.
Apart from Iraq, no member State of the United Nations has done anything quite like it. First, in 2008 against Georgia, then on an ever widening stage since February 2014 against Ukraine, the Russian Federation has invaded a fellow member State and forcibly separated territory belonging to that country. No other state, not even Russia before the invasions, had made any claim to that territory.