GPIL – German Practice in International Law

Published: 20 October 2020 Author: Stefan Talmon

At least since 2018, Germany has repeatedly expressed concern over the human rights situation in Xinjiang, which has triggered strong rebukes from China. However, this did not prevent Germany from continuing to raise the human rights situation in China’s autonomous region in various UN bodies throughout 2020. On 30 June 2020, Germany signed up to a joint statement by 28 mainly western States at the 44^th session of the Human Rights Council (HRC) which read in the relevant part: (more…)

Published: 15 October 2020 Author: Stefan Talmon

The Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) in northwest China is the country’s largest administrative region, making up one sixth of Chinese territory. The region was first officially named “Xinjiang” – which literally means “New Borderlands” – and given the status of a provincial administrative area by the Chinese Emperor in 1764. It borders Mongolia, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India. Its geographic location gives it a strategic position in Central Asia. In recent years, oil and mineral reserves have been found in Xinjiang which make it China’s largest natural gas-producing region. With only some 25 million inhabitants, it is sparsely populated. The region’s native population is the Uyghurs, a Turkic-speaking mainly Muslim ethnic group, which is culturally and ethnically close to other Central Asian nations. Initially the predominant majority population, today it makes up only some 45 percent of the inhabitants. Over time, more and more Han Chinese moved to the region, who today account for at least 40 percent of the population. The rest is made up by several other, smaller ethnic groups. This has led to inter-ethnic tensions. (more…)

Published: 12 October 2020 Author: Stefan Talmon

The more than three-decades-old conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh gained renewed international attention when, at the end of September 2020, fierce fighting broke out along the Line of Contact in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone. On 29 September 2020, after speaking with the Armenian Prime Minister and the Azerbaijani President, German Chancellor Angela Merkel urgently called for an immediate ceasefire and a return to the negotiating table. Germany also pushed for the conflict to be discussed under “any other business” in a closed UN Security Council meeting of the same day. During the meeting, the German representative stated: “We believe that conflict resolution in this case must be based on the Helsinki-Principles of non-use of force, territorial integrity and self-determination, and on the Madrid Principles.” (more…)

Published: 08 October 2020 Authors: Mirjam Reiter

On 23 April 2019, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia executed 37 people on grounds of terrorism. In a statement, the Saudi Ministry of the Interior reiterated that it was “resolutely and firmly continuing to seek justice through carrying out the rules of the sacred Sharia, on anyone who may crosses [sic] the set limits of Allah” and warned “against anyone whose self may rationalize to him committing such terrorist and criminal acts, that the Sharia prescribed punishments shall be imposed upon him/her.” Two of the executed persons’ bodies were publicly hung from a pole for several hours. Of the 37 persons executed, at least three were minors at the time of their sentencing. (more…)

Published: 05 October 2020 Author: Stefan Talmon

In early July 2020, members of the media noticed that, unlike with all other countries and territories, including China’s special administrative region of Hong Kong, there was no flag depicted under the entry for “Taiwan” on the country information pages on the Federal Foreign Office’s website. This gave rise to – unsubstantiated – claims that the flag had been removed and replaced with a blank white rectangular banner. A reporter asked the Federal Foreign Office whether the white rectangular image under the heading “Taiwan” could be interpreted as Germany having raised the white flag in surrender to the People’s Republic of China (PRC). (more…)

Published: 02 October 2020 Author: Stefan Talmon

Throughout the year, Germany makes numerous statements on international law. Not all these statements form part of a case study presented on GPIL. However, these statements may nevertheless be of interest to international lawyers. We therefore compile these statements on a monthly basis. (more…)

Published: 30 September 2020 Author: Marco Meyer

On 8 September 2020, the parliamentary group “The Left” in Germany’s Federal Parliament submitted a motion that “Parliament reject equipping the Federal Armed Forces with armed drones (RPAS [Remotely Piloted Aircraft] / UAV [Unmanned Aerial Vehicles]) in the form of both the procurement of armed drones and the procurement of ammunition for drones already used by the Federal Armed Forces.” In a related development, on 16 September 2020, the Federal Parliament’s Defence Committee scheduled a public expert hearing on, inter alia,  the assessment of the potential arming of remotely piloted UAVs. These events came just about two and a half months after the Federal Ministry of Defence presented to the Federal Parliament a “Report on the Debate on the Possible Procurement of Armed Drones for the Federal Armed Forces” (the Report). The aim of the Report was to present “the results of the series of events organized by the Federal Ministry of Defence on the issue of the procurement of armed drones (Unmanned Aircraft Systems, UAS), in the course of which a broad and inclusive debate on international law, constitutional, ethical and political aspects took place.” (more…)

Published: 24 September 2020 Author: Stefan Talmon

Over the years, there have been a number of heated debates on the Middle East conflict at the United Nations. However, the exchange in the Security Council on 23 July 2019 between the Permanent Representative of Germany to the United Nations, Ambassador Christoph Heusgen, and the Assistant to the U.S. President and Special Representative for International Negotiations, Jason D. Greenblatt, should be remembered not just for the two countries’ different approaches to the Middle East peace process, but also, and more importantly, for their different outlooks on international law. (more…)

Published: 21 September 2020 Author: Stefan Talmon

The debate about the British Secretary of State for Northern Ireland’s announcement in the House of Commons on 8 September 2020 that the UK Internal Market Bill would “break international law in a very specific and limited way” has unearthed some notable examples of breaches of international law by other States. One little known such breach concerned Germany’s disregard for the Articles of Agreement of the International Monetary Fund (the IMF Treaty) and the so-called “Smithsonian Agreement” in March 1973. The breach was admitted in a private meeting only in 1978 and became known to the general public only some 30 years later when the transcript of the meeting was declassified. (more…)

Published: 27 July 2020 Author: Stefan Talmon

Throughout the year, Germany makes numerous statements on international law. Not all these statements form part of a case study presented on GPIL. However, these statements may nevertheless be of interest to international lawyers. We therefore compile these statements on a monthly basis. (more…)