Harvard ILJ

On January 1st 2010, a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) took effect. The newly formed FTA is the third largest in the world, with a GDP of $6.6 trillion and a population of 1.9 billion. Prior to the agreement in 2008, China was ASEAN’s third-largest trading [...]

The United States is interested in pursuing a free trade agreement, which will be known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), with Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Chile, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam.  As a result, the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has asked the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) to investigate the likely economic effects of removing [...]

On December 22, 2009, the European Court of Human Rights issued its ruling in Sejdic and Finki v. Bosnia and Herzegovina. In its opinion, the court held that the Bosnian Constitution, which requires that the House of Peoples of the Parliamentary Assembly and the Presidency be solely composed of persons belonging to the three constituent [...]

On Monday, November 16th, Beijing’s No.1 Intermediate People’s Court ordered Microsoft to pull some versions of Windows off of the Chinese market for violation of Intellectual Property rights. According to the court, Microsoft exceeded the scope of its licensing agreement with Chinese software company Zhongyi by using certain Chinese character fonts in Window’s 98, 2000, [...]

The Chairman of the International Chamber of Commerce, Victor K. Fung, last week expressed concern about rising world protectionism and lackluster progress on free trade negotiations.  The combination, he argued, would imperil the world’s fragile economic recovery and undermine progress already made towards emerging from the current downturn. Chairman Fung made his remarks as he [...]

Last weekend, the Leaders of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) met to discuss economic growth in the Asia-Pacific region in light of the worldwide financial crisis. The conversation focused on developing balanced, inclusive, and sustainable growth.  To achieve this end, the Leaders are looking to foster structural reforms in areas like infrastructure development and social [...]

On Tuesday, November 10, the navies of North and South Korea exchanged fire in disputed waters off the western coast of the peninsula, damaging ships from both sides and reportedly killing a North Korean sailor. The incident began when a 215-ton North Korean vessel entered South Korean-controlled waters. Ignoring warnings from the South, the ship [...]

On November 5th, a three-judge panel at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) sentenced Michel Bagaragaza, the former head executive of the Rwandan tea industry, to eight years in prison for his role in the 1994 Rwandan genocide. The ICTR, which presides in Tanzania, found Bagaragaza guilty on one count of complicity for his role in having substantially [...]

The Kimberley Process (KP) held a Plenary meeting in Swakopmund, Namibia last week, where it adopted a work plan for the Marange diamond mining fields in Zimbabwe, agreed to monitor “conflict diamonds” from the Côte d’Ivoire following UNSC Resolution 1893 (2009), and made decisions on the general enforcement mechanism of the KP rules. The Democratic [...]

The hearing on the confirmation of charges against suspected Darfur war criminal Bahr Idriss Abu Garda at the International Criminal Court (ICC) ended on October 30th.Abu Garda, 46, is a leader of the United Resistance Front (URF), a rebel group fighting against the Sudanese government. He is suspected of war crimes allegedly committed during the [...]

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) ruled Tuesday (11/3) that Italy’s display of crucifixes in public schools was in violation of the European Convention on Human Rights’ protection of the rights to education and freedom of religion. The applicant, Ms. Soile Lautsi, petitioned the Court after Italy had rejected her requests to take down [...]

The interim government of Honduras has filed a complaint against Brazil in the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the Court announced on October 29. The complaint arises from events surrounding the surprise return to Honduras of Manuel Zelaya, the deposed president, who entered the country on September 21 and took refuge in the Brazilian Embassy [...]