30 April 2013
There are signs that Lebanon might participate in the Syrian conflict, since there are growing signs of involvement of religious groups – Sunnis on the side of the rebels, Shiites on the side of the regime – in the Syrian situation.
25 April 2013
On 24 April 2013, the District Court of the Hague in the Netherlands ordered Frans van Anraat, a Dutch national and former businessman convicted of selling raw materials for mustard gas to Saddam Hussein, to pay compensation to 17 victims of chemical weapon attacks by the regime of Saddam Hussein in 1988.
The case was brought by survivors of attack on the Kurdish city of Halabja in Iraq in 1988, in which an estimated 5,600 civilians were killed.
The judgment raises interesting questions from a shared responsibility perspective, as Van Anraat was only one of many contributors to the eventual injuries (see blog post written by André Nollkaemper here).
Source: Judgment Rechtbank 's-Gravenhage | LJN: BZ8333 | C/09/355125 / HA ZA 09-4324 (in Dutch)
Source: The Washington Post | Dutch court awards compensation to Iraqi, Iranian mustard gas attack survivors
19 April 2013
In Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) unanimously dismissed claims brought by Nigerians against Royal Dutch Petroleum under the Alien Torts Statute (ATS).
The claimants, now residing in the United States (US), had alleged that the subsidiary company Shell Oil aided and abetted the Nigerian government in torturing and killing people who protested the company’s activities during the 1990s. The SCOTUS held that the presumption that the ATS has no extraterritorial reach was not rebutted in this case, as there was no sufficient nexus with the US.
Amongst the first reactions, it was noted that this decision will likely bar most of the corporate liability suits brought in the US for activities abroad.
Source: The Washington Post | Supreme Court limits civil lawsuits alleging atrocities committed abroad
17 April 2013
The New York Times reports that Chinese officials are seeking to enlist the help of the Nepalese authorities in cracking down on the political activities of the 20.000 Tibetans in Nepal. China is exerting its influence across Nepal in a variety of ways, mostly involving financial incentives. In Mustang, China is providing 50.000 US dollars in annual food aid and sending military officials across the border to discuss with local Nepalese what the ceremonial prince of Mustang calls ‘border security.’ Nepalese police regularly detains Tibetans during anti-China protests in Katmandu, and have curbed celebrations of the birthday of the Dalai Lama.
Source: The New York Times | China Makes Inroads in Nepal, and Stanches Tibetan Influx
17 April 2013
The Constitution Project released a report on detainee treatment in the war on terror, concluding that the US engaged in torture and that many other states cooperated in the rendition programme.
The Constitution Project is a non-profit US based think tank on constitutional and legal questions. The report describes that international assistance in rendition ranged from capturing suspects and turning them over to US custody, assisting in interrogations and abuse, to allowing stopovers of known CIA flights carrying detainees.
Source: The Report of the Constitution Project's Task Force on Detainee Treatment | April 2013
Source: The New York Times | U.S. Engaged in Torture After 9/11, Review Concludes