31 March 2013
The SHARES Project closely follows and collects news items that are linked to the issue of shared responsibility. This is our ‘SHARES News Items Overview: 16-31 March 2013′ consisting of a summary of recent news relating to shared responsibility. (more…)
21 March 2013
Gun statue at the United Nations in New York © Amnesty International
On Monday 18 March, over 150 states reconvened in New York for the United Nations Final Conference on the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), which will last until 28 March. The ATT aims to regulate the international trade of conventional weapons, and would require states to establish and maintain a national control system to regulate the export of conventional weapons. A final ATT will not obstruct the legitimate trade in conventional weapons, but would address illicit and irresponsible international arms trade. The draft ATT that forms the basis for current negotiations was not accepted during the previous UN Conference in July 2012, when negotiating states failed to reach agreement on the treaty text.
In a statement released before the Final Conference, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon declared that ‘It is our collective responsibility to put an end to the inadequate regulation of the global trade in conventional weapons’. (more…)
19 March 2013
Refoulement describes the act of removing a person to a country where he or she is in danger of being subjected to serious human rights violations. It is a well-established legal concept in refugee law as well as extradition law and codified in a range of treaties. As transpires from the recent case of Willcox and Hurford v the United Kingdom before the European Court of Human Rights, the reverse scenario may also be possible: the removal of a person from one country to another one, where the receiving country’s responsibility may be engaged on account of previous wrongful conduct in the transferring State.
The Court’s inadmissibility decision sets a human rights standard for the implementation of prisoner transfer agreements. On a more fundamental note, it raises the question whether and in what way the absolute character of Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights should allow for taking into account the generally beneficial purpose of Prisoner Transfer Agreements (or PTAs). (more…)
15 March 2013
The SHARES Project closely follows and collects news items that are linked to the issue of shared responsibility (see: www.sharesproject.nl/news). Here is our ‘SHARES News Items Overview: 1-15 March 2013′ consisting of a summary of recent news relating to shared responsibility. (more…)
12 March 2013
There is a wide diversity of actions by which states can aid or assist other states in the commission of an internationally wrongful act. Well known examples, listed in the Commentary to the ILC Articles on Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts, include providing arms, funding or training, or other material support to foreign states that use such recourses in the commission of a wrong. The Independent reports a policy that hitherto has not been widely documented; stripping people of their nationality. Also Lawfare has blogged on the policy.
The reported facts suggest that since 2010, the United Kingdom (UK) Home Secretary has revoked the passports of 16 individuals, many of whom were alleged of having links to terrorist or militant groups. The legal basis for this was a 2002 law, enabling the Home Secretary to remove the citizenship of any dual nationals, if doing so would be in the public interest. The Bureau of Investigative Journalism has been able to establish that some of these people were subsequently killed by American drone attacks. (more…)