2014
Maritime piracy is an ancient problem that harms, either directly or indirectly, many states as well as non-state actors. Although the law on piracy seems in principle adequately equipped to deal with the problem, states have not been able to … Read more
27 August 2013
The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that the Dutch Foreign Ministry has warned the Dutch engineering company Royal HaskoningDHV not to participate in a sewage construction project in East Jerusalem because it would violate international law.
The warning comes after the publication of new EU guidelines in July that ban union funding of Israeli institutions operating in the occupied territories. According to Haaretz, EU officials are considering warning companies about contacts with the settlements, and an Israeli official was reported stating that such a decision would be a serious escalation in EU measures against the settlements.
Source: Haaretz | Dutch government urges local firm to cancel East Jerusalem project
17 June 2013
Cross posted on EJIL: Talk!
In the last few weeks, a shared responsibility trap has arisen in relation to the conflict in Syria. On 4 June 2013, the Report of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic documented that anti-government forces have engaged in a wide range of violations of human rights and international humanitarian law. At the same time, several States are inching towards openly supplying the Syrian opposition with arms. On 27 May, the Council of Ministers of the European Union decided not to renew the arms embargo against Syria. On 14 June, the United States announced that it plans to provide weapons in response to its finding that Syria has used chemical weapons. (more…)
1 June 2013
The European Court of Human Rights declared inadmissible a complaint brought against Italy and the Netherlands of an asylum seeker whose transfer to Italy was ordered by the Dutch authorities pursuant to the EU Dublin Regulation (Mohammed Hussein a.o. v the Netherlands and Italy). The Court’s rigorous scrutiny of the treatment of asylum seekers in Italy suggests that it aimed to set a standard for similar cases.
After the European Court had declared the intra-EU transfer of an asylum seeker to Greece in violation of the European Convention on Human Rights in January 2011 (the case of M.S.S., see also here), litigation in several Member States shifted to other allegedly unsafe countries for asylum seekers, in particular Italy. Some NGOs highlighted failures in the Italian protection system and advised to refrain from deporting asylum seekers to Italy (see here and here). (more…)
3 May 2013
On 3 May, the Procurator General of the Supreme Court of the Netherlands (mr. P. Vlas) concluded in his so-called ‘advisory opinion’ that the appeal against the Judgment of the Court of Appeal of the Hague, which found that the Netherlands was liable for evicting Bosnian nationals from the compound of Dutchbat in Srebrenica on 12 July 1995, should be rejected. The main task of the Procurator General of the Supreme Court of the Netherlands is to provide independent advice (known as ‘advisory opinion’) to the members of the Supreme Court on how to rule in the cassation proceedings that are before the Court.
The advisory opinion is very rich in legal analysis of questions of shared responsibility. It cites no less than four papers written as part of the SHARES Project, and will be commented upon more fully at a later stage. A few quick points that stand out will be identified below. (more…)