April 9th, 2008 at 09:26pm
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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April 8th, 2008 at 08:44am
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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April 7th, 2008 at 11:07pm
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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March 21st, 2008 at 02:40pm
A new OECD study investigated the interaction between income, inflation and tax obligations in OECD countries. Notably, workers in several countries saw their nominal tax burden rise in response to high earnings growth. This phenomenon, known as fiscal drag, occurs in countries where tax rates increase as nominal taxable income rises. Workers are thus forced to pay higher taxes due to inflation or, ironically, after experiencing increases in real income. The latter scenario played out in several upper-middle income OECD countries that experienced high growth rates in full-time earnings, such as Greece, Hungary, South Korea, Portugal and Turkey. Despite concerted legislative efforts to ease tax burdens, such high growth in earnings – in many cases more than 40% – pushed enough workers into a higher income bracket to create fiscal drag.
For the full story, please click here.
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March 21st, 2008 at 09:29am
On March 14, Madagascar’s Malagasy Government ratified the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, bringing the total number of States Parties to the Court to 106. The statute will enter into force in the island nation on June 1, 2008.
The Rome Statute was adopted in July of 1998. Last year, the President of the ICC, Judge Philippe Kirsch, called for the ratification of the Rome Statute by countries that had not yet done so. Judge Kirsch emphasized that the Court was already having an effect in deterring crimes and building peace in some countries.
See here for story.
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March 20th, 2008 at 03:59pm
In Commune de Mesquer v Total France SA and Total International Ltd, the European Court of Justice opined in favor of limiting liability under the polluter pays principle where the waste is not caused intentionally or recklessly. The plaintiff brought the suit for the costs of cleaning oil waste from beaches that resulted from the sinking of a defendant-owned ship. In practice, under the Waste Framework Directive, the financial burden of the disposal operation is on the persons who caused the waste, so long as there is an accusation that they contributed personally to the heavy oil leakage. The opinion relied on the International Liability Convention and the Convention on International Fund for Compensation for Oil Pollution Damage to limit liability of oil producers, sellers, carriers while still meeting the ‘polluter pays’ principle.
For further details on this case, click 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.”
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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March 18th, 2008 at 06:31am
On March 4, the European Commission announced that it would devote €160 million to provide food aid to nations suffering from destabilizing crises around the world. Between the 17 initially-targeted nations - largely in sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East - it is estimated that 18.7 million people will receive aid. Specific concerns include refugees and internally displaced peoples, with an emphasis on providing for mothers and young children.
The funds will not only support the distribution of foodstuffs in the aftermath of disasters and conflicts, but will also assist “food-for-work” activities directed towards re-establishing lines of income, agricultural self-sufficiency, and stability. The aid will be funneled through the UN World Food Programme, the International Committee of the Red Cross and Commission-partnered NGOs. More allocations are planned for later in 2008.
For more information, click here.
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March 18th, 2008 at 06:23am
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni declared that rebel leaders of the Lord’s Resistance Army will be tried by local Ugandan tribunals rather than handed over to the International Criminal Court. The local court system emphasizes compensation and apologies, rather than punishment.
The ICC issued arrest warrants for the five Ugandan rebel leaders after President Museveni requested the body investigate their crimes, leading some to claim that Museveni used ICC indictments as a mechanism for exerting pressure on the rebels to agree to a peace settlement. Uganda is obliged under international law to send the accused men to the Hague for trial. The decision to try the rebels locally has “opened a rift” between African governments that believe ICC trials should be subordinate to local peace deals and reconciliation and countries which trumpet the ICC as responsible for international justice. Museveni, asserting Uganda’s right to withdraw from the ICC process, contends that his decision is driven by the desires of the victims and the leaders of those areas affected by the conflict to use “traditional justice.” Critics respond that Museveni’s actions undermine the credibility of the ICC and the international criminal justice system.
For the full story click here and here.
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March 14th, 2008 at 10:17am
Last week, Rwanda agreed to enforce a jail sentence imposed by the United Nations war crimes tribunal set up to address the atrocities of the country’s 1994 genocide. Under the agreement, which has also been signed by six other countries, anyone convicted and given a prison term by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) can now serve that sentence in a Rwandan jail. The agreement is important in part because in signifies a milestone in cooperation between ICTR and Rwanda. For more on this story, click here.
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