Author: Stefan Talmon

Published: 21 October 2019  Author: Stefan Talmon  DOI: 10.17176/20220113-164144-0 

On 14 September 2019, a combined drone and cruise missile attack was carried out on Saudi Arabia’s Khurais oil field and Abquiq oil-processing plant. The attack briefly interrupted the supply of an estimated 5.7 million barrels of crude oil per day – around five per cent of global supply. The Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen which are engaged in an armed conflict with Saudi Arabia claimed responsibility for the attack on the facilities, but Saudi Arabia and the United States blamed the attack on Iraq which denied any involvement. In a letter to the United Nations, Saudi Arabia stated: “All preliminary signs and indicators reveal that this attack did not emanate from Yemeni lands as claimed by the terrorist Houthi militia, and that the weapons used were Iranian-made.” Saudi Arabia launched an investigation into who was responsible for the attack and invited United Nations and international experts to view the situation on the ground and to participate in the investigations. On 19 September 2019, a team of experts from the United Nations Sanctions Committees on Yemen arrived in Saudi Arabia to join the investigation. (more…)

Published: 16 October 2019  Author: Stefan Talmon  DOI: 10.17176/20220113-153522-0

On 18 June 2019, U.S. social media company Facebook announced plans for offering to its 2.4 billion users a new blockchain-based global digital currency called Libra in 2020. As a stabelcoin cryptocurrency, Libra is to be backed by traditional assets such a money deposits, short-term government securities or gold. (more…)

Published: 10 October 2019  Author: Stefan Talmon  DOI: 10.17176/20220113-152926-0

In an Order, dated 17 September 2019, the Second Senate of the Federal Constitutional Court dismissed as inadmissible an application brought by a parliamentary opposition group in the German Bundestag seeking a declaration that, by approving the deployment of German armed forces to prevent and suppress terrorist acts committed by the so-called “Islamic State” (ISIL), the Federal Government and the Bundestag had violated the German Constitution. In its decision the Federal Constitutional Court also addressed the question of self-defence against non-State actors. (more…)

Published: 03 August 2019  Author: Stefan Talmon  DOI: 10.17176/20220113-152124-0

Humanitarian assistance in case of crisis, conflict or disaster is an integral and defining part of German foreign policy. In 2012, the Federal Foreign Office published its first Strategy for Humanitarian Assistance Abroad (the “2012 Strategy”). Since then, the way humanitarian assistance is delivered has changed and developed further – not the least following the World Humanitarian Summit (WHS) held in Istanbul in May 2016. In June 2019, a new Strategy for Humanitarian Assistance Abroad 2019-2023 (the “2019 Strategy”) was issued which sets out the principles guiding Germany’s provision of humanitarian assistance as follows: (more…)

Published: 02 August 2019  Author: Stefan Talmon  DOI: 10.17176/20220113-151252-0

On 16 July 2019, Germany deposited its instrument of accession of the Hong Kong International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships with the IMO Secretary-General at the International Maritime Organization (IMO) Headquarters in London, thus becoming the 13^th party to the Convention. (more…)

Published: 29 June 2019  Author: Stefan Talmon  DOI: 10.17176/20220113-145237-0

In the second half of June 2019, several candidates nominated by Germany were elected to serve on various international human rights bodies.

United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination

On 21 June 2019, the twenty-eighth meeting of the States Parties to the International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination elected Professor Mehrdad Payandeh, together with eight other candidates to serve on the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD). Sixteen candidates had initially been nominated, and 14 finally stood for election for nine vacant positions. The Committee is a body of 18 “experts of high moral standing and acknowledged impartiality” that monitors implementation of the Convention. Germany has been a party to the Convention since 15 June 1969. There are currently 181 parties to the Convention. CERD members are elected for four-year terms, with half the members elected every two years. The new members will begin their terms of office on 19 January 2020. (more…)

Published: 01 June 2019  Author: Stefan Talmon  DOI: 10.17176/20220113-144731-0

On 9 April 2019 the first-ever war crimes trial against a member of the “Islamic State” started before the Higher Regional Court of Munich. The Federal Prosecutor alleges that Jennifer Wenisch, a German national, joined the decision-making and command structure of the foreign terrorist organization Islamic State (“IS”) in Iraq in September 2014. From June to September 2015, she patrolled parks in IS-occupied Fallujah and Mossul as a member of the IS morality police, enforcing rules of conduct and dress code for women. In order to intimidate she carried a Kalashnikov assault rifle, a pistol and an explosives vest. For her services she received a monthly salary from the Islamic State of some US$70 to 100. According to the indictment, it was during the summer of 2015 that the accused and her husband “bought a five-year old [Yazidi] girl out of a group of prisoners of war and subsequently kept the child in their household as a slave.” After the girl fell ill and wet her mattress, the husband of the accused chained her up outside as punishment and let the child die an agonizing death of thirst in scorching heat. The accused allowed her husband to do so and did nothing to save the girl. (more…)

Published: 20 May 2019  Author: Stefan Talmon  DOI: 10.17176/20220113-144103-0

On 27 March 2019, India conducted “Mission Shakti”, an anti-satellite (ASAT) missile test. The country fired a surface-to-space ballistic missile at its own 740kg Microsat-R earth observation satellite at an altitude of 283km in low earth orbit (LEO). The missile hit the orbiting satellite which was the size of a small car destroying both the object and target with the force of the impact. The use of this kinetic-kill technique creates a cloud of debris that can threaten other satellites, spacecraft and the International Space Station (ISS). The United States National Air and Space Agency (NASA) estimated that Mission Shakti created at least 400 pieces of debris of which 24 were thrown into orbits with apogees above the ISS. The U.S. space agency also warned that the risk of debris colliding with the ISS had risen by 44 percent as a result of the Indian ASAT test. According to a preliminary assessment of the German Aerospace Centre of the 74 debris objects created by the test and for which orbital data was available, some 10 would remain in orbit for more than three months, some considerably longer. India, on the other hand, stated: “The test was done in the lower atmosphere to ensure that there is no space debris. Whatever debris that is generated will decay and fall back onto the earth within weeks.”

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Published: 05 April  2019 Author: Stefan Talmon  DOI: 10.17176/20220113-143334-0

Following the United States’ illegal recognition of Israel’s annexation of the occupied Syrian Golan, on 26 March 2019 Syria asked the UN Security Council presidency, then held by France, to schedule an urgent meeting in order to “discuss the situation in the occupied Syrian Golan and the recent flagrant violation of the relevant Security Council’s resolution by a permanent Member State.”

The Security Council was scheduled to meet behind closed doors on 27 March 2019 to discuss the situation in the Middle East and, in particular, the mandate of the peacekeeping force on the Golan, known as United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF). In response to Syria’s request, France decided to turn that meeting into a public session and to give members an opportunity to address the action by the United States. However, unlike the other speakers, Germany’s permanent representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Christoph Heusgen, did not dwell long on the subject. Rather, he used the opportunity for an all-out attack on the Syrian Government, stating: (more…)

Published: 04 April  2019 Author: Stefan Talmon  DOI: 10.17176/20220113-142327-0

At its sixty-ninth session in 2017, the International Law Commission (ILC) adopted the draft articles on crimes against humanity on first reading. In accordance with its statute, the ILC decided to transmit the draft articles through the Secretary-General to Governments, international organizations, and others for comments and observations. On 30 November 2018, Germany submitted written comments on both the ILC’s work on the crimes against humanity in general and on specific draft articles. The general comments read as follows: (more…)