Author: Stefan Talmon

Published: 24 March 2020 Author: Stefan Talmon

On 14 July 2015, Iran, the P5+1 countries – the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Russia, China, and Germany – and the European Union (EU) agreed on a Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPoA) that sought to ensure that Iran’s nuclear programme would be exclusively peaceful. Under the JCPoA, Iran agreed to eliminate its stockpile of medium-enriched uranium, cut its stockpile of low-enriched uranium by 98%, and reduce by about two-thirds the number of its gas centrifuges for 13 years. For the next 15 years, Iran was to enrich uranium only up to 3.67%. Iran also agreed not to build any new heavy-water facilities for the same period of time. Uranium-enrichment activities were to be limited to a single facility using first-generation centrifuges for 10 years. Other facilities were to be converted to avoid proliferation risks. To monitor and verify Iran’s compliance with the agreement, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) was to have regular access to all Iranian nuclear facilities. The JCPoA provided that, in return for Iran verifiably abiding by its commitments, the nuclear-related economic sanctions imposed by the UN Security Council, the EU and the United States would be lifted. In its resolution 2231 (2015) the UN Security Council endorsed the JCPoA and lifted all nuclear-related sanctions. As a result of the JCPoA, on 16 January 2016 the EU and the United States lifted some of their unilateral nuclear-related economic sanctions on Iran. (more…)

Published: 20 March 2020 Authors: Carl-Philipp Sassenrath and Stefan Talmon

In 2011, uprisings in Yemen sparked a complex political military crisis that has been ongoing ever since. Since March 2015, a coalition of Arab States led by Saudi Arabia has supported the Yemeni Government under President Abdrabuh Mansour Hadi in a conflict with the Houthi armed movement and other domestic and regional actors. The coalition, which is comprised of eight other Arab States, receives intelligence, logistical support and weapons from the United States and the United Kingdom. Other States are also reported to have sold arms to the conflicting parties. The Group of Eminent International and Regional Experts on Yemen, which was established in 2017 by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights at the request of the Human Rights Council, concluded that all parties to the conflict have violated international law. In order to strengthen international accountability, the German Federal Government had lobbied for the establishment of the Group of Eminent Experts.

In their 2018 political agreement establishing a coalition government, the ruling parties in Germany set out their policy with regard to the conflict in Yemen and the export of arms as follows: (more…)

Published: 09 March 2020; Revised: 22 July 2020 Authors: Stefan Talmon and Mary Lobo

On 27 November 2019, the Governments of Turkey and Libya signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) which purported to delimit the boundaries of the continental shelf and the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of the two States the eastern Mediterranean Sea. The public disclosure of this document prompted protests from several other States, especially Greece and Cyprus, as the area that had purportedly been delimited between Turkey and Libya included sea areas also claimed by these two States as part of their continental shelf and EEZ. (more…)

Published: 3 March 2020 Author: Stefan Talmon

Throughout the year, Germany makes numerous statements on international law. Not all of these statements form part of a case study presented on GPIL. However, these statements may nevertheless be of interest to international lawyers. We will therefore compile these statements on a monthly basis, starting with January 2020. (more…)

Published: 17 February 2020 Author: Stefan Talmon

Civil-war torn Syria has become a stomping ground for foreign troops. The United States, Russia, Turkey, France and the United Kingdom have all admitted that they have soldiers on the ground in Syria. While France and the United Kingdom have sent special operations forces to Syria, the United States, Russia and Turkey have deployed regular troops to the country. All five States have justified their troop presence in Syria with fighting the Islamic State (IS) and other terrorist groups in the country. In response to parliamentary questions, in January 2020 the German Federal Government set out its position on the legal basis for the presence of the Russian and U.S. troops in Syria.

Russian troops have been in Syria since September 2015, supporting the Syrian military in its fight with rebel groups. The Russian intervention came at an official request by the Syrian President, Bashar al-Assad. The Federal Government seems to acknowledge the legality of the presence of Russian troops as an intervention by invitation, stating: (more…)

Published: 12 February 2020 Authors: Ruth Effinowicz and Stefan Talmon

Recent years have seen a large number of people, mainly from African and Asian countries trying to reach Europe via the Mediterranean. For 2019, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) reported 110,669 migrants and refugees entering Europe via the sea route. In 2019 alone, at least 1,283 persons died when trying to cross the Mediterranean. The death toll since 2014 has reached at least 19,164. This has prompted various non-State actors to organise search and rescue operations in the Mediterranean. In August 2018, the spokesperson for the German Federal Foreign Office summarised the situation as follows:

“Under normal circumstances, saving lives at sea is not a mass phenomenon but something that occurs only sporadically. Rescue at sea is governed by rules of international law. If ships take onboard rescued persons, they can be brought to the nearest port. The fact that we now have a situation where thousands of people are trying to cross the Mediterranean to Europe has changed the situation.”

This changed situation has given rise to difficult legal questions. Some of these questions have been addressed by the German Federal Government in replies to parliamentary questions and enquiries by the media.

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Published: 07 February 2020 Authors: Shpetim Bajrami and Stefan Talmon

In recent years, the question of how to prevent an arms race in outer space has gained traction in the United Nations. On 5 November 2019, the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) of the General Assembly voted on four draft resolutions relating to the prevention of an arms race in outer space. While frequently emphasizing its commitment to prevent an arms race in outer space and highlighting the need for new rules to that effect, Germany voted in favour of only two of these resolutions, voting against one and abstaining on another.

Outer space is not subject to the sovereignty of States. On the contrary, according to the Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, Including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies (Outer Space Treaty), the exploration and use of outer space “shall be carried out for the benefit and in the interests of all countries.” The Outer Space Treaty has 109 parties, including the major spacefaring nations. Germany ratified the Treaty on 10 February 1971. The Outer Space Treaty is largely silent on the question of the militarization of outer space. Article IV (1) of the Treaty provides: (more…)

Published: 06 February 2020 Author: Stefan Talmon

Anti-personnel mines (APM) do not distinguish between combatants and civilians, do not respect cease-fires and continue to kill and maim long after the end of conflicts. The vast majority of their victims are civilians, not soldiers. In 2018, some 6800 persons were killed, and many more injured by landmines. In the 1990s, an international campaign to ban APMs was launched which led to the adoption of the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines (Ottawa Convention) on 18 September 1997. The Convention was opened for signature on 3 December 1997 and entered into force on 1 March 1999.

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Published: 4 February 2020 Authors: Rohan Sinha and Stefan Talmon

Under Germany’s Federal Elections Act persons who are under full guardianship and criminal offenders confined in a psychiatric hospital were disenfranchised from voting. Eight persons affected by these restrictions challenged their disenfranchisement in an electoral complaint before the Federal Constitutional Court. On 29 January 2019, the Federal Constitutional Court declared the relevant provisions in the Elections Act unconstitutional as they violated the constitutional principles of universal suffrage and the prohibition of discrimination on grounds of disability. However, the Federal Constitutional Court also confirmed that under constitutional law it may be generally justified to exclude disabled persons from exercising the right to vote if they must be considered not sufficiently capable of participating in the communications process between the people and State organs. This finding put the Federal Constitutional Court on a collision course with the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD Committee).

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Published: 23 January 2020 Authors: Stefan Talmon and Miriam Heipertz

On 3 January 2020, at about 1am local time, the United States launched a drone strike, killing Iranian Major General Qasem Soleimani and nine members of his entourage near Baghdad International Airport. General Soleimani was the commander of the Quds Force, a military unit of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) of Iran responsible for its foreign operations, supporting non-State actors in neighboring countries, including Shia militias in Iraq. The United States considered Soleimani as the mastermind behind numerous attacks by Iranian proxies against American troops in the Middle East.

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