15 November 2013

SHARES News Items Overview: 16 October-15 November 2013

This is our News Items Overview of 16 October-15 November 2013, a summary of recent news relating to shared responsibility.

• The US embarked on a new strategy to train and advise indigenous forces to tackle emerging terrorist threats and other security risks. The New York Times reported that US troops will conduct more than 100 missions in Africa over the next year, ranging from small sniper teams to larger teams conducting airborne and humanitarian exercises.
• Human rights experts from the UN, the Council of Europe and the Organization for Co-operation and Security in Europe emphasised that ‘Cooperation between origin, transit and destination countries, but also with regional and international mechanisms, as well as private stakeholders such as multi-national corporations and civil society organizations, is essential for comprehensive responses to trafficking in persons.’
• From 27 – 29 March 2014, the Åbo Akademi Institute for Human Rights will host the GLOTHRO Final Conference ‘Beyond State Obligations in International Human Rights Law – Towards Common Principles on the Obligations of Multiple Global Actors’.
• According to the Norwegian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, the UN has asked Norway to eliminate Syrian chemical weapons. According to news reports this follows up on an earlier request made by Russia and the US.
• At the Sixth Committee of the General Assembly meeting on 21 October, the delegations were unable to agree on whether steps should be taken to transform the ILC Draft Articles on the Responsibility of States into a Convention.
• Norway declined a request to help destroy Syria’s chemical arsenal. The reasons for the refusal of Norway were constraints of the regulatory framework and the time pressure for the destruction of the weapons. The US is trying to identify states that can assist in the destruction of the chemical weapons.
• The Dutch Minister of Defence has signed a letter of intent with her Belgian colleague for joint surveillance of the airspace of the Benelux (Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg). Currently, both Belgium and the Netherlands each have jet-fighters and pilots on standby to intercept hostile aircrafts in their own airspace, and they both monitor the airspace of Luxembourg, who does not has its own air force.
• The UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty said that cooking, cleaning and caring for children and the elderly should be a social and collective responsibility. Her report outlines states’ obligations to tackle the unequal distribution of care under existing human rights agreements.
• The UN-backed Internet Governance Forum, reaffirmed at its meeting the need to strengthen the multi-stakeholder approach to discussing internet governance, as opposed to a government-led multilateral approach.
• On 28 October, the President of the ILC informed the 6th Committee of the General Assembly that the ILC had decided to include in its work programme the topic ‘protection of the atmosphere‘, but that the work on the topic would proceed in a manner so as not to interfere with relevant political negotiations. Also, it will not deal with questions such as liability of states and their nationals, the polluter pays principle, and common but differentiated responsibilities.
• The Washington Post reported that despite having repeatedly denounced the CIA’s drone campaign, top officials in Pakistan’s government have for years (secretly) endorsed the programme, and regularly received classified briefings on strikes and casualty counts. From 2007-2011, Pakistan was not only regularly briefed on the strikes, in some cases it helped choose targets, or collaborated.
• Representatives of six countries located in the Congo Bassin, with timber industry representatives and civil society adopted the ‘Brazzaville Declaration’ on 22 October in which they agreed to jointly combat illegal timber trade in the Congo Basin.
• Financial institutions and real estate companies involved with settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory may be held criminally accountable. A report presented to the UN General Assembly on 10 September by the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967 contains a model for legal analysis to assess the probability of (criminal) liability for corporate complicity in breaches of international law related to illegal settlements.
• The chair of the UN Working Group on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises, said that states and corporations need to do more to prevent the violation of indigenous peoples’ rights as a result of business-related activities.
• Yossi Dahan, Hanna Lerner and Faina Milman Sivan have published an article entitled ‘Shared Responsibility and the International Labour Organization’ in the Michigan Journal of International Law.
• The head of the National Security Agency (NSA) stated during the House Intelligence Committee meeting on NSA spying, that the phone records of European citizens were collected by allied spy services, and then subsequently turned over to the NSA.
• Volker Roeben has published ‘Governing Shared Offshore Electricity Infrastructure in the Northern Seas’, in the International & Comparative Law Quarterly.
• Negotiations held by the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources failed to reach an agreement to protect the ocean ecosystem in the Antarctic. The US and New Zealand proposed a marine reserve in the Southern Ocean around Antarctica, and Australia, France, and the EU proposed a network of protected areas in the eastern Antarctic region. Both proposals were blocked due to the resistance of Russia, China, and Ukraine.
• UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon welcomed the decision of the government of the Netherlands to make a ‘major contribution’ to the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali by supplying personnel and equipment.
• The UN working group on the use of mercenaries said there is a need for an international agreement to regulate the use and activities of private military, as national legislation is not sufficient.
• Greenhouse gases in the atmosphere reached a record high in 2012 according to the UN World Meteorological Organization. As a result, the weather is becoming more extreme, glaciers are melting and the sea levels are rising.
• UN officials say partnerships, such as government collaboration with the private sector and civil society, are necessary for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.
• The Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe published a report on the accountability of international organisations for human rights violations, identifying lacunae in the protection of individuals against human rights infringements by international organisations.
• In its judgment of 11 November on the Request for Interpretation of the Judgment of 15 June 1962 in the Case concerning the Temple of Preah Vihear (Cambodia v. Thailand), the ICJ noted that the Temple of Preah Vihear is a site of religious and cultural significance for the peoples of the region and is listed as a world heritage site. It recalled that under Article 6 of the World Heritage Convention ‘Cambodia and Thailand must co-operate between themselves and with the international community in the protection of the site as a world heritage. In addition, each State is under an obligation not to “take any deliberate measures which might damage directly or indirectly” such heritage’.
• The Chinese Foreign Ministry urges states to come back to the negotiating table, after the six-party talks between North and South Korea, China, the US, Russia, and Japan stalled in 2009. A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman stated ‘there’s a common interest and shared responsibility to find a resolution to the impasse.’
• A spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees said the UNHCR is encouraging cooperation among countries affected by mixed migration, and supports the Yemeni government to organise a conference on asylum and migration together with the International Organization for Migration.
• Tomilola Akanle Eni-Ibukun has published ‘International Environmental Law and Distributive Justice: The Equitable Distribution of CDM Projects under the Kyoto Protocol’ (Routledge, 2013).
• An alliance of organisations and citizens initiated legal proceedings against the Dutch state. The alliance is asking the Hague District Court to ban Dutch intelligent services from using intelligence data gathered by the NSA, using surveillance techniques that breach Dutch privacy laws.