News archive: May 2013
31 May 2013
On 28 May 2013, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, François Crépeau, presented his report on the management of the external borders of the European Union (EU) and the impact on the human rights of migrants to the UN Human Rights Council.
In his report, he warned that the increasing competence of the European Union in the field of migration has not always been accompanied by a corresponding guarantee of rights for migrants themselves, and in particular irregular migrants.
Mr. Crépeau also stressed there has been an ‘externalization’ of border control, through which countries of departure or transit bear all the responsibility for preventing irregular migration, and underlined that the EU must share this responsibility among its member states.
Source: United Nations Human Rights | News | EU border management: “More attention must be given to the human rights of migrants” - UN expert
27 May 2013
In the next few days, a shared symposium entitled Symposium on the Law of the Sea and the Law of Responsibility will be held together with Opinio Juris, exploring the intersection between the law of responsibility and the law of the sea.
Blog posts and commentaries of Natalie Klein, Irini Papanicolopulu, Ilias Plakokefalos, Tim Stephens, Yoshinobu Takei, Anastasia Telesetsky and Seline Trevisanut will be cross posted on Opinio Juris and our SHARES website.
For more information on the symposium see here.
Source: Opinio Juris | Symposium on the Law of the Sea and the Law of Responsibility
22 May 2013
Eight states (Thailand, China, Kenya, Malaysia, the Philippines, Tanzania, Uganda and Viet Nam) which have been identified as primary source, import and transit countries affected by the illegal trade in ivory, have submitted national action plans to the Secretariat of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). The plans contain among others specific activities in the areas of international and national enforcement, legislation and regulations, and were requested by the CITES Standing Committee because of the huge rise in the number of elephants that were poached for their ivory.
The eight countries that have submitted action plans are urged to take urgent measures to put their plans into practice before July 2014, when the CITES Standing Committee will review their implementation. The Secretariat will then provide the Standing Committee with its evaluation of the activities that have been conducted by each state, and will recommend potential further measures to intensify efforts in critical areas.
Two additional groups of states which need to adopt measures shortly have also been identified. First, Cameroon, the Republic of Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Egypt, Gabon, Mozambique and Nigeria will need to develop and begin implementing similar national action plans in order to combat illegal trade in ivory this year. Second, the Secretariat will be seeking clarification from Angola, Cambodia, Laos, Japan, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates on how they control trade in ivory.
For some background on this topic, see here.
Source: CITES | Press Release | Eight countries submit national action plans to combat illegal trade in elephant ivory
17 May 2013
On 16 May 2013, legislation passed the Australian Senate to excise the entire Australian mainland from the migration zone. All asylum seekers who arrive anywhere in Australia by boat are now eligible to be sent to Nauru or Papua New Guinea for ‘regional processing’.
With the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees issuing scratching reports on the processing centers on Nauru and Papua New Guinea, there was a failed attempt by the Greens, an opposition party in the Australian Parliament, to strike down the legislation.
The Australian Government, which is dealing with an increasing number of boats arrivals, says the legislation is a deterrence measure. The idea was one of 25 recommendations that was put forward by an expert panel on asylum seekers and introduced to the Parliament by the Government last year.
Source: ABC News | Parliament excises mainland from migration zone
15 May 2013
The SHARES Project closely follows and collects news items that are linked to the topic of shared responsibility. This is our News Items Overview of 1-15 May 2013, consisting of a summary of recent news relating to shared responsibility. (more…)