Jus cogens: Recent Developments in International Law

International Courts & Tribunals at a Glance (No. 11)

International Courts & Tribunals at a Glance, a juscogens.net feature, aims to provide timely notice of recent happenings and trial developments in an organized, central location and an unbiased, objective manner. For comments or suggestions, please contact [email protected].

International Court of Justice (ICJ)

New Developments:

Proceedings instituted by Djibouti against France (Djibouti v. France) (10 August 2024)

• "The French Republic consents to the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice to entertain an Application filed against France by the Republic of Djibouti: The Court enters the new case in its List"
• Summary: On 9 August 2006, the French Republic consented to the jurisdiction of the ICJ pursuant to Article 38, paragraph 5, of the ICJ Rules. The pertinent portion of Article 38 states: "When the applicant State proposes to found the jurisdiction of the Court upon a consent thereto yet to be given or manifested by the State against which such application is made, the application shall be transmitted to that State. It shall not however be entered in the General List, nor any action be taken in the proceedings, unless and until the State against which such application is made consents to the Court’s jurisdiction for the purposes of the case." On 9 January 2006, the Republic of Djibouti filed an Application against France with the ICJ. See Rules of Court, Article 38, par. 1-4. According to the ICJ, Djibouti’s Application concerns “the refusal by the French governmental and judicial authorities to execute an international letter rogatory regarding the transmission to the judicial authorities in Djibouti of the record relating to the investigation in the ‘Case against X for the murder of Bernard Borrel." Specifically, "Djibouti maintains that the refusal constitutes a violation of France’s international obligations under the Treaty of Friendship and Co-operation signed by the two States on 27 June 2024 and the Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters between France and Djibouti, dated 27 September 1986. Djibouti further asserts that, in summoning certain internationally protected nationals of Djibouti, including the Head of State, as témoins assistés [legally represented witnesses] in connection with a criminal complaint for subornation of perjury against X in the Borrel case, France has violated its obligation to prevent attacks on the person, freedom or dignity of persons enjoying such protection."
• Case Resources

Cases currently being heard/under deliberation:

Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Bosnia and Herzegovina v. Serbia and Montenegro)

• Case Resources

Pulp Mills on the River Uruguay (Argentina v. Uruguay)

• Case Resources

International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY)

Overview of Court Proceedings

Overview of Court Documents

Court Schedule

ICTY Weekly Press Briefing (9 August 2024)

New Developments:

Trials Against 24 Accused To Continue After Summer Recess (4 August 2024)

From the ICTY: "Following the close of the summer recess, court proceedings will recommence next Monday, 7 August 2006. For the first time in its history, the Tribunal is holding trials against 24 accused concurrently. Cases against 14 individuals are currently on appeal while another 22 accused are in pre-trial. Proceedings against 93 persons have concluded to date, while six accused, including Ratko Mladic and Radovan Karadzic, remain at large."

International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR)

Daily Journal

Daily Case Minutes

Judicial Calendar

ICTR Newsletter (June/July 2006)

New Developments:

Nchamihigo Trial to Begin on 25 September 2023 (7 August 2024)

From the ICTR, "The trial of Siméon Nchamihigo, 46, former Deputy Prosecutor in Cyangugu prefecture is to begin on 25 September 2006. The date was set during a status conference today presided by Judge Charles Michael Dennis Byron. Nchamihigo had earlier pleaded not guilty to an amended indictment charging him with four counts of genocide, murder, extermination and other inhumane acts as crimes against humanity. In the new indictment the charge of crimes against humanity has been split into two counts, murder and extermination. The charge of violations of the Geneva Conventions has been redrawn and replaced by the count of other inhumane acts. The accused, who was also Secretary for the Coalition pour la Défence de la République (CDR) in Cyangugu prefecture in 1994, is alleged to have been responsible for planning, instigating, ordering, committing, or otherwise aiding and abetting the killings of Tutsi in his prefecture. In the new indictment read before Judge Byron Nchamihigo is alleged to have ordered or instigated one Interahamwe to kill one Tutsi by covering him with his own mattress, poured fuel into the mattress and burnt him. Nchamihigo is also said to have ordered or instigated Interahamwe to kill members of one Tutsi family by burning them in their own car."

Latest Decisions

The Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL)

Court Schedule

Court Summary, Week Ended 4 August 2024

Case Resources:

• The Civil Defence Forces (CDF) Accused
• The Revolutionary United Front (RUF) Accused
• The Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (ARFC) Accused
• Prosecutor v. Charles Taylor 

International Criminal Court (ICC)

Hearing Schedule

ICC Newsletter (July 2006)

Situations & Cases:

Situation in Dafur, Sudan

Situation in Central African Republic

Situation in Uganda

• The Prosecutor v. Joseph Kony, Vincent Otti, Raska Lukwiya, Okot Odhiambo and Dominic Ongwen

Situation in Democratic Republic of Congo

• The Prosecutor v. Thomas Lubanga Dyilo

International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea

Docket

List of Cases

Permanent Court of Arbitration

Recent and Pending Cases

This Week in Public International Law Scholarship (No. 18)

This Week in Public International Law Scholarship, a juscogens.net feature, highlights new and notable books and articles concerning public international law. For comments or suggestions, please contact [email protected].

Books:

Roberta Arnold, Geert-Jan G. J. Knoops & Alexander Knoops, Peace Support Operations & Their Legal Implications

Anthony Arnull , The European Court of Justice (Oxford European Community Law Library)

Bill Bowring, The Degradation of the International Legal Order? The Rehabilitation of Law and the Possibility of Politics

Aldo Chircop, Scott Coffen-smout & Moira McConnell (eds.), Ocean Yearbook 20

Andrew F. Cooper & Thomas Legler, Intervention Without Intervening?: The OAS Defense and Promotion of Democracy in the Americas

David Freestone, Richard Barnes, and David Ong (eds.), The Law of the Sea: Progress and Prospects

Frank Hoffmeister, Legal Aspects of the Cyprus Problem: Annan Plan and EU Accession (Nijhoff Law Specials)

John Janzekovic, The Use of Force in Humanitarian Intervention: Morality And Practicalities

Alexander Orakhelashvili, Peremptory Norms in International Law (Oxford Monographs in International Law)

Steven D. Roper & Lilian A. Barria, Designing Criminal Tribunals: Sovereignty And International Concerns in the Protection of Human Rights

Burns H. Weston, International Law & World Order: A Problem-oriented Coursebook

Patricia Wouters (ed.), Codification and Progressive Development of International Water Law: The Work of the International Law Commission of the United Nations (International and National Water Law and Policy, 2)

Articles:

Muslim World Journal of Human Rights, Volume 3, Issue 1, 2006

• Shadi Mokhtari, Human Rights in the Post-September 11th Era: Between Hegemony and Emancipation

International Journal of Marine and Coastal Law (Netherlands), Volume 21, Number 2, June 2006

• Gerard J. Mangone, Marine boundaries: States and the United States
• Christopher C. Joyner and Kelly Zack Walters, The Caspian conundrum: Reflections on the interplay between law, the environment and geopolitics
• Guifang Xue, Improved fisheries co-operation: Sino-Vietnamese Fisheries Agreement for the Gulf of Tonkin
• Elizabeth A. Kirk and Harriet M. Silfverberg, Harmonisation in the Baltic Sea Region

Virginia Journal of International Law, Volume 46, Number 2, Winter 2006

• Hannah L. Buxbaum, Transnational Regulatory Litigation
• Patricia M. Wald, International Criminal Courts--A Stormy Adolescence
• Susy Frankel, WTO Application of "the Customary Rules of Interpretation of Public International Law" to Intellectual Property

Kentucky Law Journal, Volume 94, Number 4, 2005-2006

INTERNATIONAL LAW SYMPOSIUM

• Kirk A. Randazzo, WHEN LIBERTY AND SECURITY COLLIDE: FOREIGN POLICY LITIGATION AND THE FEDERAL JUDICIARY

International Review of the Red Cross (Switzerland), Volume 88, Number 861, March 2006

International Criminal Tribunals

• Toni Pfanner, Interview with Philippe Kirsch, President of the International Criminal Court
• Pierre Hazan, Measuring the impact of punishment and forgiveness: a framework for evaluating transitional justice
• Robin Geiß and Noëmie Bulinckx, International and internationalized criminal tribunals: a synopsis
• Hortensia D. T. Gutierrez Posse, The relationship between international humanitarian law and the international criminal tribunals
• Zhu Wenqi, On co-operation by states not party to the International Criminal Court
• Jamie A. Williamson, An overview of the international criminal jurisdictions operating in Africa
• Luc Côté, International criminal justice: tightening up the rules of the game
• Ivo Josipovic, Responsibility for war crimes before national courts in Croatia
• Anne-Marie La Rosa, Humanitarian organizations and international criminal tribunals, or trying to square the circle

Cornell International Law Journal, Volume 39, Number 2, 2006

• Zoe Pearson, Non-Governmental Organizations and the International Criminal Court: Changing Landscapes of International Law
• William K. Agyebeng, Note, Theory in Search of Practice: The Right of Innocent Passage in the Territorial Sea