GPIL – German Practice in International Law

Published: 02 July 2020 Author: Patrick Alexander Wittum

Historically, Turkey and Germany have had very close relations. Both countries are allies in NATO, and Turkey is an EU accession candidate. Germany is the most important trading partner and largest foreign investor in Turkey. Germany hosts the world’s largest Turkish community abroad with 2.8 million Turkish immigrants, more than half of which have German citizenship. Since 2016, however, ties between Ankara and Berlin have been strained. On 2 June 2016, the German Federal Parliament characterised the mass murder of up to 1.5 million Armenians in the Ottoman Empire during the First World War as “genocide”. In the aftermath of the abortive coup on 15 July 2016, Turkish authorities sacked or suspended 150,000 officials and detained more than 50,000 people, including several German nationals. Turkey accused Germany of interfering in the 16 April 2017 constitutional referendum by preventing Turkish Ministers from campaigning in Germany, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused Germany of “Nazi practices”. (more…)

Published: 29 June 2020 Author: Benjamin Nussberger

Germany has been participating in Operation Inherent Resolve of the Global Coalition against the terrorist organisation Islamic State (Daesh, IS or ISIS) since 2015, providing, inter alia, support in the form of reconnaissance flights and air‑to‑air refuelling over Syria. On 25 March 2020, the Federal Parliament acceded to the Government’s request to amend the mandate of the operation. The deployment of German Tornado aircraft for airborne reconnaissance flights over Syria was terminated with effect from 31 March 2020. This task was taken over by Italy. Germany was to provide ground-based air surveillance instead. The mandate for air-to-air refuelling, on the other hand, was set to expire on 31 March 2020, but was extended until 31 October 2020 because no other State came forward to take over from Germany. In addition, German armed forces were now permitted to provide air transportation to the anti-IS coalition, international organisations, allies and partners. In contrast to the air-to-air refuelling in Syrian air space, the other acts of assistance were confined to the territories of EU and NATO States as well as Iraq, Jordan and neighbouring countries which consented to the presence of German armed forces. (more…)

Published: 25 June 2020 Author: Stefan Talmon

On 5 July 2019, the Higher Regional Court of Stuttgart sentenced the German national Sabine Ulrike Sch. to five years in prison for, inter alia, war crimes against property. Sabine Ulrike Sch. left Germany in December 2013 to join the foreign terrorist organisation “Islamic State” (IS). She travelled to Syria, where she married a higher-ranking IS fighter she had not previously known in a ceremony performed in accordance with Islamic rites. In March 2014, she moved with her husband into a house in Manbij which had been seized by IS after the rightful occupants had fled, and which was under the control of IS. When the two moved into the house in Manbij they were provided with new household appliances, which came from a factory plundered by IS. In June or July 2014, they then moved into a furnished flat in the centre of Raqqa. This property had also been seized by IS after the rightful occupants had been expelled, or they had fled from the organisation. After her husband was killed in fighting in early December 2016, she was to be married again. In September 2017, Sabine Ulrike Sch. was captured by Kurdish forces along with the wives of other IS fighters. She returned to Germany in April 2018 and was arrested on 26 April 2018. (more…)

Published: 22 June 2020 Authors: Philip Wimmer and Stefan Talmon

In an order of 4 April 2019, the Federal Court of Justice decided on the pre-trial detention of Sarah O., a dual German-Algerian national who was accused, inter alia,  of membership of the foreign terrorist organisation “Islamic State” (IS) and war crimes. The Federal Public Prosecutor General alleged that the accused had left Germany in 2013 to join the IS in Syria. After her arrival in Syria, she married an IS fighter of German origin with whom she conducted guard and police duties for the IS. The organization rewarded her services with a monthly salary of about US$118. In January 2014, the accused moved into an apartment in the Syrian town of Jarabulus, which she furnished with loot acquired by IS fighters during the conquering of the area. The apartment served as a hub for newly arriving IS fighters. In June 2014, the accused moved into another furnished apartment in Jarabulus which had been administered by the IS after the rightful inhabitants were killed or evicted. (more…)

Published: 18 June 2020 Author: Stefan Talmon

On 27 June 2019, the Federal Parliament passed several amendments to the Nationality Act. In particular, an amendment to section 28 of the Nationality Act provided that Germans with dual nationality who take part in combat operations by a foreign terrorist organization lose their German citizenship. The Federal Government justified the amendment by saying that Germans who become involved in combat operations for a terrorist militia abroad (more…)

Published: 15 June 2020 Authors: Mary Lobo and Stefan Talmon

It has long been recognised at an international level that the effects of climate change extend beyond the environment. Extreme weather events and rising sea levels have the potential to adversely affect territory, food and water supplies, in turn risking conflicts over access to scarce resources and mass migration as areas of land become uninhabitable. The ability to meet the world’s growing energy needs has also been raised as a key issue in the overlap between climate change and international security. (more…)

Published: 11 June 2020 Authors: Stefan Talmon and Sandra Werther

On 22 December 2010, the UN Security Council established the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunal (IRMCT) to perform the remaining functions of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) following the completion of those tribunals’ respective mandates. The IRMCT continues the jurisdiction, rights and obligations, and essential functions of the two Tribunals – including the trial of fugitives who are among the senior leaders suspected of being most responsible for crimes – after the closure of the Tribunals. It has two branches, one branch for the ICTY with its seat in The Hague and one branch for the ICTR with its seat in Arusha. The Mechanism has a roster of 25 independent judges who, as a rule, exercise their functions remotely, away from the seats of the branches of the Mechanism. The judges are elected by the UN General Assembly from a list submitted by the UN Security Council. Judges are elected for a term of four years and are eligible for reappointment by the Secretary-General after consultation with the Presidents of the Security Council and of the General Assembly. (more…)

Published: 09 June 2020 Author: Stefan Talmon

On 27 May 2020, the Higher Regional Court of Oldenburg rejected a request by the Ukrainian judicial authorities to extradite Oleksandr Onyshchenko, a former member of the Verkhovna Rada, the Ukrainian Parliament, who was wanted in Ukraine for allegedly organising a €100M fraud scheme in the country’s natural gas sector. Mr. Onyshchenko, a former Olympian and multi-millionaire, had fled the country in July 2016, on the eve of the lifting of his parliamentary immunity. Since then, he had been living in Spain, the United Kingdom and Germany, where he was arrested on 28 November 2019 at the request of the National Anti-corruption Bureau of Ukraine and the Specialised Anti-corruption Prosecutor’s Office. (more…)

Published: 04 June 2020 Authors: Julian Hettihewa and Stefan Talmon

The Council of the Baltic Sea States (CBSS) is a regional inter-governmental organisation consisting of 11 Member States, including Germany, and the European Union (EU). There are also 11 countries with observer status and 17 organisations serving as strategic partners. The CBSS supports the political and practical translation of international initiatives and agreements into regional actions on the ground. Founded in 1992, the organisation centres around three key issues: regional identity, a sustainable and prosperous region, and a safe and secure region. On 19 May 2020, the Foreign Ministers of the Member States and the Secretary General of the EU’s European External Action Service gathered in a digital meeting, debating important topics such as COVID-19, climate change, organised crime – and youth participation. The session concluded with the adoption of the Bornholm Declaration. In the Declaration, the Foreign Ministers and the high-level representative of the EU: (more…)

Published: 02 June 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…)