Author: Stefan Talmon

Stefan Talmon is Professor of Public Law, Public International Law and European Union Law, and Director at the Institute of Public International Law at the University of Bonn. He is also a Supernumerary Fellow of St. Anne’s College, Oxford, and practices as a Barrister from Twenty Essex, London. He is the editor of GPIL.

Reconciliation Without Reparation: The German-Namibian Joint Declaration on Our Colonial Past

Published: 20 April 2023 Author: Stefan Talmon

From 1884 to 1915, Germany was the colonial power in the territory of what is today Namibia. In 1904, the Herero and Nama tribes revolted against German colonial rule. The revolt was brutally crushed by imperial German troops. It is estimated that, between 1904 and 1908, some 65,000 Herero (80 per cent of the tribe’s population) and some 10,000 Nama (50 per cent of the tribe’s population) were killed, starved to death or died in camps. The events have been referred to as ‘the first genocide of the 20th century’. While Germany acknowledged its ‘moral and historical responsibility to Namibia’, it tried for a long time to avoid referring to the events as ‘genocide’. (more…)

Reconciliation Without Reparation: The German-Namibian Joint Declaration on Our Colonial Past Read More

Russia Expels German Diplomat Over Participation in Pro-Navalny Demonstration

Published: 18 April 2023 Author: Stefan Talmon

On 17 January 2021, prominent Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny was arrested by security forces at Sheremetyevo airport in Moscow upon returning from Germany, where he spent five months  being treated for poisoning with a chemical nerve agent that he blamed on Russian President Vladimir Putin. Several days later, a court ruled that while in Germany Alexei Navalny had violated probation terms of a suspended sentence from 2014 and ordered him to serve two years and eight months in prison. (more…)

Russia Expels German Diplomat Over Participation in Pro-Navalny Demonstration Read More

Not Quite at the Core of the Core Group Advocating an ICJ Advisory Opinion on Climate Change

Published: 4 April 2023 Author: Stefan Talmon

In September 2021, Vanuatu announced his intention to build a coalition of States to seek an advisory opinion on climate change from the International Court of Justice (ICJ). On 24 October 2022, Vanuatu announced that it was working closely with a core group of eleven other States, including Germany – the ICJAO4Climate Core Group – focussed on seeking an advisory opinion of the ICJ clarifying the rights and obligations of States under international law as it pertains to the adverse effects of climate change. Three days, later Vanuatu’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations and Special Envoy for Climate Change, Ambassador Odo Tevi, made a statement to the General Assembly, which read in part: (more…)

Not Quite at the Core of the Core Group Advocating an ICJ Advisory Opinion on Climate Change Read More

Germany Sends Warship to the South China Sea to Protect and Safeguard the Rules-Based International Order

Published: 28 March 2023 Author: Stefan Talmon

The idea of sending a warship to the South China Sea had been discussed in the German government since mid-2019. It was reported that the deployment was initially opposed by Chancellor Angela Merkel. However, over the years pressure by allies to send a warship to the Indo-Pacific grew. In December 2020, Japan called on Germany to send a warship to East Asia to take part in joint exercises with units of Japan’s Self-Defence Forces in 2021. Japan also suggested that the warship should traverse the South China Sea in order to counter Chinese claims in the area. Indicating a shift in the government’s position, the Parliamentary Secretary of State at the Federal Ministry of Defence, Peter Tauber, responded to a parliamentary question that sending a warship to the Indo-Pacific was considered a measure ‘to protect and safeguard the rules-based international order’ such as ‘the principles of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.’ It would also underline Germany’s ‘commitment to freedom of navigation’. (more…)

Germany Sends Warship to the South China Sea to Protect and Safeguard the Rules-Based International Order Read More

Summoning an Ambassador: A Piece of Diplomatic Theatre

Published 16 March 2023 Author: Stefan Talmon

The ‘summoning’ of an ambassador is an age-old diplomatic tool. It means that the receiving State sends a note verbale to the relevant country’s embassy requesting the ambassador to attend a meeting at the foreign ministry usually to express displeasure over actions or a policy of the sending State. The modality of the meeting may vary. It has been said that ‘sometimes it can be a casual conversation in comfortable chairs. Other times, a formal encounter across a table. If the row is serious, it can even be what’s called “a meeting without coffee” when chairs are removed from the room, the ambassador is forced to remain standing, and a formal diplomatic reprimand is read out and handed over in text form, known in the trade as a “note verbale”.’ While Germany generally does not summon foreign ambassadors, but ‘invites’ or ‘calls’ them for talks at the Federal Foreign Office, German ambassadors are from time to time summoned to the foreign ministry of the receiving State. Over the years, especially Turkey and Iran made it a habit to summon the German ambassador. Between March 2016 and July 2019, the German ambassador was summoned to the Turkish Foreign Ministry twenty-five times. (more…)

Summoning an Ambassador: A Piece of Diplomatic Theatre Read More

The Thai King in Germany: The Status of Foreign Heads of State on Private Visits

Published: 14 March 2023 Author: Stefan Talmon

The King of Thailand Maha Vajiralongkorn frequently stayed in Germany for longer periods of time – making the country his second home. He owned a lakeside villa in the town of Tutzing in Bavaria. As he was not on an official State visit to Germany and also was not in the country at the invitation of the Federal Government, these were purely private stays. When in early 2000 mass pro-democracy protests broke out in Thailand, the king was living in Germany. While the protests were first directed at the government, they later also included demands for reform of the Thai monarchy. This triggered questions whether the king was actually ruling his country from Germany and whether he was allowed to do so under international law. The king left Germany for Thailand on 19 October 2020, but the prospect of him returning in due course triggered further questions about his status under international law while residing in Germany in his private capacity. The Thai king returned to Germany on 8 November 2021. (more…)

The Thai King in Germany: The Status of Foreign Heads of State on Private Visits Read More