Author: Stefan Talmon

Published: 25 March 2021 Author: Stefan Talmon

On 1 October 2019, large protests started in southern and central Iraqi cities, including Baghdad. Thousands of protesters, mostly young Shias, demonstrated against the Shia-led political establishment and called for a new government. The protesters voiced their opposition to the deteriorating economic situation, sectarian politics, and rampant corruption in the country. They also expressed their anger at neighbouring Iran, which has great influence in Iraq, inter alia, through the Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF), a pro-Iranian militia. After two months of violent anti-government protests, on 1 December 2019, Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi resigned, but stayed on temporarily in a caretaker capacity until a new government was formed. By the time of his resignation almost 400 protesters had been killed and 16,000 wounded in clashes with security forces and militias. More than a dozen members of the security forces had also died in the clashes. (more…)

Published: 23 March 2021 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: 18 March 2021 Authors: Philipp Dürr and Stefan Talmon

After the fall of the Taliban regime that had sheltered the al-Qaida terrorist organisation in Afghanistan, the UN Security Council established the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) by resolution 1386 (2001) of 20 December 2001 to assist the Afghan Interim Authority and its successors in the maintenance of security, so that the Afghan authorities as well as UN personnel and other international civilian personnel engaged in reconstruction and humanitarian efforts could operate in a secure environment and to prevent the re-emergence of the Taliban regime. Germany contributed troops to ISAF which arrived in the country in January 2002. (more…)

Published: 16 March 2021 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: 12 March 2021 Author: Stefan Talmon

On 25 April 2019, the Ukrainian Parliament adopted the “Law on ensuring the functioning of Ukrainian as the State language”. The new law regulated the use of Ukrainian as the sole State language in government functions and services, making it compulsory for politicians, judges, doctors, employees of the national bank and state-owned companies, officers in the military, teachers, and others. The law also requires that 90% of TV and film content be in Ukrainian and for Ukrainian-language printed media and books to make up at least 50% of the total output. The law had a considerable impact on Ukrainian society, in particular on the sizeable Russian-speaking minority. In March 2019, the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology published findings that 28.1% of Ukrainians spoke mostly or only Russian with their families, including 15.8% who exclusively spoke Russian. That compared with 46% who spoke mostly or only Ukrainian with their families, and 24.9% who spoke the two languages in equal proportion. (more…)

Published: 09 March 2021 Author: Stefan Talmon

In the wake of the break-up of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic declared its independence on 9 April 1991. This, in turn, triggered the two Georgian regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, which both border on Russia, to declare their independence from Georgia on 21 December 1991 and 23 July 1992, respectively. In both cases, armed conflict between separatist and Georgian Government forces ensued. Atrocities were committed on all sides, ethnic cleansing was practiced, and hundreds of thousands of people were displaced. (more…)

Published: 04 March 2021 Author: Stefan Talmon

On 8 July 2019, the International Law Commission (ILC) adopted a set of 28 draft Principles on “Protection of the environment in relation to armed conflicts” on first reading. The ILC subsequently also adopted commentaries on the draft principles and transmitted the texts to governments for comments and observations. During the consideration of the Report of the ILC in the Sixth Committee of the UN General Assembly on 5 November 2019, Germany offered some initial comments on the draft Principles. (more…)

Published: 03 March 2021 Updated: 05 March 2021 Author: Stefan Talmon

It was revealed on 2 March 2021 that following up on its “Policy guidelines for the Indo-Pacific region” adopted in September 2020, Germany will send the frigate “Bayern” to the Indo-Pacific. The warship will leave its home port of Wilhelmshaven at the beginning of August for a six-month journey. On its return journey, the frigate will sail through the South China Sea.

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Published: 02 March 2021 Author: Stefan Talmon

Recent years have seen an increase in the practice of arbitrary arrest and detention of foreign nationals by States in order to influence the conduct of the State of their nationality. Persons living, working, or travelling abroad are being detained and falsely charged and sentenced simply because of their nationality in order to gain leverage in inter-State relations. Quite often these are thinly veiled exercises of extortion. Germany considered itself at the receiving end of such practices. In response to the arrest of several German nationals (both single and dual nationals) in Turkey, Federal Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said on 20 July 2017 that “German citizens are no longer safe from arbitrary arrest in Turkey” and that “arbitrary politically motivated expropriations [of German corporate investments in Turkey] are not only a threat but have actually occurred.” In an interview three weeks later, he stated with regard to Turkey that there “are now nine Germans who have no idea what crimes they are being accused of or who are having to fight far‑fetched accusations.” (more…)

Published: 25 February 2021 Authors: Stefan Talmon and Anneliese Quast Mertsch

The provisional application of treaties is a long-established legal mechanism that is often used by States and international organizations to give immediate effect to all or some of the provisions of a treaty prior to the completion of all internal and international requirements for its entry into force. The question of whether a treaty should be provisionally applied usually arises already at the negotiating stage allowing for a clause on provisional application to be included in the text of the treaty. However, provisional application may also be agreed upon at a later stage in some other manner. The provisional application of treaties is dealt with in Article 25 of the 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (1969 Vienna Convention), and in the corresponding provision of the 1986 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties between States and International Organizations or between International Organizations (1986 Vienna Convention). The provisional application of treaties is a complex matter involving a number of legal questions that merit in-depth analysis. The International Law Commission (ILC) has studied the topic since 2012 and requested States to provide it with information on their position and practice on the topic. Germany responded twice to these requests.

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