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19 December 2013
The search for suitable vendors to assist in the commercial transport and destruction of Syrian chemical agents is due to begin on 20 December 2013, according to Ahmet Üzümcü, Director-General of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). He announced a multinational effort, that will require additional funding. (more…)
Source: OPCW | Executive Council Receives Destruction Plan for Syrian Chemicals
18 December 2013
Amid growing debate over international drug control policy in Latin America, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said that a decision by the Uruguayan parliament to legalise cannabis is a strike against international cooperation.
Yuri Fedotov, head of the UNODC, said that ‘Just as illicit drugs are everyone’s shared responsibility, there is a need for each country to work closely together and to jointly agree on the way forward for dealing with this global challenge’.
Source: UNODC | UNODC stresses the health dimension of drug use as Uruguay parliament passes legislation to legalize cannabis
17 December 2013
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon welcomed the signing of long-awaited accords between the government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and the M23 rebels it has been fighting until last month, and called on all other armed groups in the country to lay down their weapons and join the political process.
Talks between the M23 (mostly composed of soldiers who mutinied from the DRC national army in April last year) and the government have been held in Uganda, under the auspices of the Chairperson of the International Conference for the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR), Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, the mediator, as well as Ugandan Defence Minister and Facilitator, Crispus Kiyonga. (more…)
Source: UN News Centre | Ban welcomes signing of declarations between DR Congo-M23
16 December 2013
This is our News Items Overview of 16 November-15 December 2013, a summary of recent news relating to shared responsibility. (more…)
15 December 2013
On 10 December 2013, the Grand Chamber of the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) issued a judgment in Case C 394/12. It held that the opportunities for an asylum seeker to challenge a decision to transfer him/her under the Dublin II Regulation are limited once a member state has agreed to take charge of the examination of his/her application. This decision can only be overturned when there are systemic deficiencies in the asylum procedure and reception conditions of that member state.
The case concerned a Somali national, Ms. Abdullahi, who entered Greece irregularly by boat. She travelled to Austria via the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Serbia and Hungary. The Austrian authorities requested Hungary to take charge of her under the Dublin II Regulation, and Hungary accepted. Ms. Abdullahi appealed the transfer request and a dispute arose as to whether Greece or Hungary was responsible for examining the asylum claim in light of Article 10(1) of the Dublin II Regulation. The Austrian court asked the CJEU to clarify the procedure for determining responsibility.
Source: Court of Justice of the European Union | Case C‑394/12 | Request for a preliminary ruling under Article 267 TFEU from the Asylgerichtshof (Austria), in the proceedings Shamso Abdullahi v. Bundesasylamt | Judgment | 10 December 2013