Posts filed under 'Foreign Affairs and Diplomacy'
November 13th, 2008 at 01:48pm
On Tuesday, November 11, the Rwandan President Paul Kagame declared Germany violated his country’s sovereignty when it arrested one of his aids, Rose Kabuye, and subsequently expelled the German ambassador. Germany responded by asking the Rwandan ambassador to leave Berlin.
Kabuye, chief of protocal for the Rwandan President, was arrested Sunday at Frankfurt International Airport on a French warrant. She is wanted in connection with the 1994 fatal attack on the plane of former Rwarndan President Juvenal Habyarimana. Kabuye is suspected of housing the Tutsi cammando unit blamed for shooting down the plane.
While Hutu extremist accuse the Tutsi fighters led by Kagame of shooting down the plane and killing the then President Habyarimana, a Hutu, some believe that Rwanada’s hard-line Hutus may have staged this accident, shooting down the plane to create a pretext for mass violence against Tutsis.
Kabuye’s arrest may affect Rwanda’s cooperation efforts with the European Union with respect to the recent fighting in Congo. The African Union has also expressed displeasure with the arrest.
It remains unclear whether Kabuye had diplomatic immunity in Frankfurt. Ties between Rwanda and France have been strained since the issuance of warrants for nine associates of Kagame over the plane crash. The Tutsi-led government accuse France of training and arming the Hutu militias and former government troops who led the genocide in Rwanada in April 1994. The 100-day slaughter killed over 500,000 minority Tutsis and some moderate Hutus, ending with Kagame’s forces ousting the Hutu government that orchestrated the killings.
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November 12th, 2008 at 06:18am
In a menacing speech broadcast live across Russia, President Dmitry Medvedev announced that he had ordered Russian missiles redeployed to the border of Poland last week. Medvedev’s remarks provoked concerns that Russia is reemerging as a threat to the U.S. and Europe.
Speaking within hours of Barack Obama’s election, Medvedev did not mention or congratulate the president-elect once, but his remarks were primarily aimed at the U.S. Medvedev claimed the missiles had been positioned in response to American plans to build an antiballistic missile defense system in Europe and lashed out at the “construction of a global missile defense system, the encirclement of Russia by military blocs, unrestrained NATO enlargement and other gifts.”
Medvedev went on to blame the U.S. for the global financial crisis, proclaim the end of American dominance in the world, and criticize the “mistaken, egotistical and sometimes simply dangerous decisions of certain members of the international community.”
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November 12th, 2008 at 06:11am
Now that Americans have chosen the 44th President, international lawyers are beginning to scrutinize President-Elect Obama’s approach to foreign policy, and with that, how he perceives international law.
During the Democratic primaries Obama was quizzed by the American Society of International Law, and he emphasized the importance of international law in the conduct of American foreign policy, stating:
“Since the founding of our nation, the United States has championed international law because we benefit from it. Promoting – and respecting – clear rules that are consistent with our values allows us to hold all nations to a high standard of behavior, and to mobilize friends and allies against those nations that break the rules. Promoting strong international norms helps us advance many interests, including non-proliferation, free and fair trade, a clean environment, and protecting our troops in wartime. Respect for international legal norms also plays a vital role in fighting terrorism. Because the [George W. Bush] Administration cast aside international norms that reflect American values, such as the Geneva Conventions, we are less able to promote those values abroad.”
The ASIL survey can be accessed here.
Obama’s stance echoes Harvard Professor Noah Feldman’s discussion of international law in this recent article.
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October 31st, 2008 at 10:57am
On October 24 President Bush signed NATO accession protocols for Albania and Croatia, bringing the two nations one step closer to joining the organization.
Senate ratification of the protocols and the presidential signature follows the extension of an official invitation to the two nations at NATO’s summit in Romania last April. All 26 NATO members must ratify before they can join the alliance, which could happen as soon as 2009.
The accession of Albania and Croatia - as well as preliminary approaches towards Macedonia, and assessments of Georgia and the Ukraine - is dependent on proof that the nations “are firmly on the path of democratic and internal reforms.” Engagement also reflects NATO’s current attempt to increase its level of cooperation in preparation for the alliance’s 60th anniversary this coming April.
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October 28th, 2008 at 08:17pm
At the seventh annual Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM), leaders of European and Asian nations called for international participation in a global summit on the financial crisis. The summit is scheduled to take place on November 15 in Washington, DC.
The 16 Asian and 27 EU leaders issued a joint statement saying that “long-term stability of the global and regional financial markets is key to sustainable economic growth of both regions.” They urged the international community to “take effective and available economic and financial measures in a comprehensive way to restore market confidence, stabilize global financial markets and promote global economic growth.”
President Sarkozy, who currently holds the EU’s rotating presidency, said that a pointed discussion and decisive action were needed on financial issues, including the global currency markets.
“Europe, Asia, and the US and other major financial partners need to work together to define and agree responses to the regulatory challenges,” said European Commission President Barroso at the ASEM opening. Mr. Barroso also cautioned against nations “closing the door and simply looking after our own house,” and called on member nations to “firmly resist calls for protectionism, isolation and economic nationalism.”
At a press conference, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said that all nations, “especially the developing ones, need to take decisive measures to stabilize their financial markets” through the development of “confidence, cooperation, and responsibility.”
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To read President of the European Commission José Barroso’s address at the ASEM convention, please click here.
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October 28th, 2008 at 08:08pm
On October 23, the Court of First Instance of the European Communities annulled the December 2007 renewal of an order of the EU Council freezing the assets of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI). The Court found that there was insufficient legal justification for the order. It doing so, it relied on a 2007 British decision removing the PMOI from a list of organizations concerned with terrorism. According to the Court, the Council had failed to provide additional evidence to justify keeping the PMOI’s funds frozen.
Under the authority of a December 2001 regulation, the Council can freeze the funds of organizations involved in terrorism. Since May 2002, the Council has identified the PMOI as one such organization. The PMOI, a pro-democracy movement founded in 1965, claims to have ceased military operations in 2001. It has repeatedly litigated the Council’s decision to freeze its assets. In December 2006, the organization won an annulment of the Council’s decision on the basis of procedural and evidentiary defects. The Council renewed the freeze order and remedied these defects.
Although the Court approved of the Council’s procedural remedies, it still invalidated the December 2007 freeze order. The Court cited an November 2007 British Proscribed Organisations Appeal Commission (POAC) decision ordering the Home Secretary to remove the PMOI from its list of proscribed organizations concerned with terrorism. POAC called classifying the PMOI as a terrorist organization “perverse” and “unreasonable.” Given this forceful declaration by a competent national authority on the same evidence before the Council, the Court reasoned, the Council’s assertion that the Home Secretary intended to appeal the decision did not constitute sufficient grounds to maintain the freeze order. The Court also noted that the Home Secretary cannot appeal POAC’s findings of fact, thus requiring the Council to submit additional evidence beyond what POAC considered in order to justify continuing to freeze the PMOI’s assets.
The Council reaffirmed the decision to freeze the PMOI’s funds in July 2008, citing the availability of new information. A PMOI challenge to that decision is still pending.
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October 16th, 2008 at 09:22pm
Former president of Finland, Martti Ahtisaari, won the 2008 Nobel Peace Prize for his work as an international mediator in conflict resolution efforts around the globe. The Norwegian Nobel Committee particularly recognized Ahtisaari’s work in Namibia, Indonesia, Kosovo, and Iraq, praising his dedication to “peace and reconciliation” in those areas.
Ahtisaari was seen as a conservative choice by some, especially following last year’s controversial award of the prize to Al Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. International mediators rarely win the Nobel Peace Prize, which is often awarded to inspirational figures or even to a conflict’s principal actors. Ahtisaari joins only six other laureates chosen for their role in conflict mediation, including Theodore Roosevelt (1906), for mediating peace between Russia and Japan, and Jimmy Carter (2002), for brokering the Camp David Accords, among other achievements. In comparison with these laureates, Ahtisaari’s choice is unusual because it comes in recognition of a decades-long career in international mediation, as opposed to any particular high-profile success, a selection regarded by some as reaffirming “the original vision of Alfred Nobel.”
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October 9th, 2008 at 08:22am
The U.S. Congress passed legislation granting India access to nuclear technology on October 1. The move comes more than three decades after India tested its first nuclear weapon.
On September 28, the bill passed in the House of Representatives. Shortly afterward, the Senate approved the measure by a vote of 86 to 13. It will now go to President Bush, who says he looks forward “to signing this bill into law and continuing to strengthen the U.S.-India strategic partnership.”
Under the agreement, India will gain access to U.S. nuclear technology, material, and equipment, as well as components for nuclear research. Both countries hope that India will now be better equipped to meet its rapidly growing energy needs. According to President Bush, the legislation also brings India’s nuclear programs under international inspections and strengthens nuclear non-proliferation efforts.
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April 11th, 2008 at 12:01am
Last week, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) acquitted former Kosovo prime minister Ramush Haradinaj of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Haradinaj was also a commander in the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) during the late 1990s. Although he was charged with crimes such as murder, rape, and torture, the ICTY found that these crimes, if committed, may have been targeted against individuals rather than against groups. Because the victims may have been targeted for individual reasons, the ICTY could not find that Haradinaj had targeted entire civilian groups.
Although one of Haradinaj’s co-defendants, Idriz Balaj, was also acquitted, a third co-defendant, Lahi Brahimaj, was convicted and sentenced to six years in jail for cruel treatment and torture.
Judge Alphonsus Orie stated that the court has had difficulty in obtaining testimony from a significant number of witnesses. Orie remarked that “The Chamber gained a strong impression that the trial was being held in an atmosphere where witnesses felt unsafe.â€
More on the story here.
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March 19th, 2008 at 06:04pm
On March 6, infamous weapons dealer Viktor Bout was arrested in Bangkok. Bout’s role in supplying weapons to some of the world’s deadliest conflicts had earned him the nickname “Merchant of Death,†and he is believed to have inspired Nicholas Cage’s character in the film “Lord of War.â€
While praising Bout’s capture, Antonio Maria Costa, the Executive Director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, called on Thailand to ratify the UN Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime. According to Costa, ratifying this treaty would “make it easier to bring criminals of [Bout’s] ilk to justice, for example through mutual legal assistance and extradition.†Costa also encouraged states to ratify the Protocol against the Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms, Their Parts, and Components and Ammunition, known as the UN Firearms Protocol.
According to the UNODC, nearly 1 billion guns are in circulation throughout the world, and three fourths of them are in civilian hands. Every year, 8 million guns are manufactured, along with twice the amount of ammunition that would be needed to kill the world’s entire population.
The story is available here.
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