Author: Stefan Talmon

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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Published: 16 January 2020 Authors: Mary Lobo and Stefan Talmon

On 4 June 2016, an Israeli citizen used an online booking website to book a seat on a Kuwait Airways flight from Frankfurt to Bangkok, with an approximately five-hour stopover in Kuwait City. When he later filled in the passenger details – including his Israeli citizenship – the airline cancelled his flight and offered to arrange alternative transport with another airline at their own expense. The man declined the offer and instead brought a claim before the Regional Court in Frankfurt, asking that Kuwait Airways either be required to fulfil their contractual obligations to fly him to Bangkok, or else that he be compensated for discrimination.

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Published: 14 January 2020 Author: Stefan Talmon

Amid heightened military tensions between Iran and the United States, Iranian air defences on 8 January 2020 accidentally shot down Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 (PS752) which had taken off from Tehran International Airport, killing all 176 passengers and crew members on board.

In the evening of 11 January 2020, Rob Macaire, the United Kingdom’s ambassador to Iran, attended an event at Amir Kabir University in Tehran advertised as a vigil for the victims of the PS752 tragedy. When the vigil turned into an anti-government protest, the ambassador, according to his own account, left the scene. Half an hour after leaving, at around 7.10pm, on his way back to the British embassy, he was arrested by Iranian security forces on suspicion of organising, provoking and directing radical actions in front of Amir Kabir University.

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Published: 13 January 2020 Authors: Stefan Talmon and Zoé Flöer

In 2019 Germany signed some 90 bilateral agreements. The most significant agreement in political terms was the Treaty on Franco-German Cooperation and Integration, signed in Aachen on 22 January 2019 (the “Aachen Treaty”). The Treaty, signed on the 56^th anniversary of the Elysée Treaty, further developed and enhanced the cooperation between the two countries. By far the most bilateral agreements were concluded with the United States concerning the exemption and benefits of U.S. enterprises serving U.S. troops in Germany under the Supplementary Agreement to the NATO Status of Forces Agreement.

In contrast, Germany signed just two multilateral treaties during that period. In addition, Germany signed numerous non-binding Memoranda of Understanding and Declarations of Intent. The following is an incomplete list compiled from public sources: (more…)

Published: 10 January 2020 Author: Stefan Talmon

In the early hours of 8 January 2020, Iran launched missile attacks on U.S. military forces in Iraq in retaliation for the U.S. killing of General Qasem Soleimani, commander of the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) of Iran. Iranian forces fired more than a dozen ballistic missiles against two airbases at al-Asad and in Irbil which hosted troops of the United States and other members of the global coalition fighting against the Islamic State in Iraq. No American or coalition soldiers were killed or injured in the attack.

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