Slovakia Agrees to Enforce Sentences

Slovakia has entered into an enforcement of sentences agreement with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), allowing for persons convicted before the Tribunal to serve their sentences in Slovak prisons.  The agreement is the second signed by the ICTY this year, and was signed by Mr. Štefan Harabin, the Slovak Minister of Justice, and Mr. Hans Holthuis, the ICTY Registrar, at the ICTY in The Hague. Slovakia is the fifteenth European country to enter into such an agreement.  More information can be found here.

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Flemish Insurance Violates EC Treaty

On April 1st the European Court of Justice invalidated provisions of a state-supported Flemish health care insurance program that entitles residents of the Dutch-speaking region and the bilingual capital district to reimbursement for health care assistance expenses.
The tripartite Belgian federal system– composed of the Flemish Government, the Walloon Government, and the Government of the French Community– is constructed along ethnic lines, and the Flemish insurance program does not extend to the French or Walloons. The French and Walloon governments brought a suit against the Flemish government in the Belgian Constitutional Court, who then referred questions to the ECJ.

The ECJ reaffirmed that it cannot intervene in purely internal matters and therefore could not address the benefits accorded to French and Walloon Belgians working in Flemish areas who have not come under the purview of Community law by exercising their right to free movement. However, the Court noted that the scheme restricted the free movement of workers in violation of the EC Treaty by denying benefits to nationals of other Member States working in the Flemish area but living in another region of Belgium, as well as to Belgian nationals in the same position who have exercised their right to free movement. The Court found no legitimate justification for the exceptional treatment. It also suggested the Belgian court itself might have cause to invalidate the remaining portion of the law based on its internal discriminatory effects.

For more information, please click here.

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Ecuador Files Application Against Colombia at the ICJ

On March 31, Ecuador filed an application against Colombia in the UN’s International Court of Justice in The Hague regarding the aerial spraying of toxic herbicides by Colombia along the border the two countries share.

Ecuador asserts that the spraying by Colombia has “caused serious damage to people, to crops, to animals, and to the natural environment on the Ecuadorian side of the frontier, and poses a grave risk of further damage over time.”

The application comes after Ecuador’s claim that efforts at negotiation with Colombia were unsuccessful.  Ecuador asks the ICJ to declare that Colombia is in violation of international law, that it take steps to prevent the depositing of toxic herbicides on Ecuador’s territory, and that it indemnify Ecuador for any damages.  Ecuador believes that the 1948 Pact of Bogotá the 1988 UN Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances should apply to the case.  Colombia has not yet formally responded to the application.
See here for more information.

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