Two Weeks in Review, 9 – 22 May 2022

The Situation in Ukraine

Marko Milanovic comments on the sharing of intelligence between the US and other Western allies and Ukraine from the standpoint of international law, in particular whether the sharing of intelligence for use in the conflict makes the US a participant in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Milanovic notes that there is a fine line being drawn between ‘supplying intelligence v. being involved in targeting decisions’. Read more analysis on intelligence sharing here.

Richard L. Kilpatrick, Jr. discusses the move by private actors to voluntarily distance themselves from Russia even in sectors not subject to sanctions through ‘self-sanctions’ or ‘moral sanctions’. Kilpatrick also discusses the implication of these moral sanctions for diplomatic negotiations given states cannot mandate private actors to re-invest. 

Chiara Giorgetti, Markiyan Kliuchkovskyi and Patrick W Pearsall write about the recent announcement by Ukraine to cooperate to establish an international claims commissions. They offer an overview of international claims commissions and discuss how a Commission for Ukraine might be created and what it might look like. Read their analysis here.

Other posts

Lorenzo Gradoni writes about the recent decision by Germany to submit their dispute with Italy concerning the scope of state immunities to the ICJ, and then the subsequent withdrawal of the request for an indication of provisional measures. Read Gradoni’s analysis here.

Andrés Morales comments on the longstanding and newer challenges faced by the Colombian transitional justice process, in particular the difficulties faced by the Special Jurisdiction for Peace. The longstanding challenges include ‘government interference, a large jurisdictional scope, and a lack of a cohesive prosecutorial strategy’. Read more about Colombia’s ‘rocky road to peace’ here. 

Andrew Forde discusses the recent letter of request submitted by Kosovo for membership of the Council of Europe. Forde situates this letter and offers some reflections on the merits of CoE membership, whether Kosovo’s application should be considered and whether Kosovo can become a member due to its contested status. Read Forde’s analysis here.

Dr Silvia Behrendt and Dr Amrei Müller comment on the extensive amendments to the International Health Regulations proposed by the US, in particular those that would extend the emergency powers of the WHO. Read an overview of these amendments here. 

Claire Methven O’Brien and Jacques Hartmann write about the recent proposal published by the European Commission for a directive on corporate sustainability due diligence. They comment on features that ‘weaken the proposal and jeopardise its coherence with EU and human rights laws’, such as the absence of European regional human rights instruments, including the European Convention on Human Rights, and the creation more demanding due diligence obligations for corporations than for states. Read more about the proposal here.

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