GPIL – German Practice in International Law

Published: 17 November 2020 Author: Stefan Talmon

On 1 July 1997, the United Kingdom restored Hong Kong to Chinese sovereignty under a “one country, two systems” formula that provided for of a large degree of autonomy of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) within China. In particular, it was agreed that Hong Kong would be vested with independent judicial power, including that of final adjudication, and that the laws in force in Hong Kong would remain basically unchanged. When in February 2019 the Government of the HKSAR introduced a Bill which provided, inter alia, for extradition of fugitive offenders to the Chinese mainland, people in Hong Kong feared the undermining of Hong Kong’s separate legal system and its guarantees of rights and freedoms, many of which were not enjoyed in mainland China. In particular, it was feared that the proposed extradition arrangements would allow the Chinese Government to stifle political dissent in Hong Kong. The introduction of the Bill triggered multiple protests. In June 2019, large-scale protests led to violent clashes between demonstrators and the police. The German Federal Government expressed its concern over the Bill to the Hong Kong Government and announced that it was examining whether the current bilateral extradition agreement between Germany and Hong Kong could retain validity if the planned extradition law was adopted in its current form. On 15 June 2019, the Chief Executive of the HKSAR announced the suspension of the proposed Bill. However, violent protests continued, culminating in the storming of the HKSAR Legislative Council building and forcing the shutdown of the Hong Kong airport. Protestors called for a complete withdrawal of the Bill and demanded the resignation of the Chief Executive and the election of the Chief Executive by universal suffrage as foreseen in Hong Kong’s Basic Law. (more…)

Published: 12 November 2020 Author: Stefan Talmon

In terms of information and communication technology (ICT), Germany, like most other States, is almost completely dependent on foreign providers. Most hardware and software critical to Germany’s digital infrastructure is developed and produced abroad. German corporate and government data are stored on cloud resources located abroad or owned and controlled by foreign corporations. The cloud platform industry is largely dominated by U.S. corporations such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, or IBM Cloud, which are subject to U.S. law. For example, the 2018 U.S. CLOUD Act requires these companies “to preserve, backup, or disclose the contents of a wire or electronic communication and any record or other information pertaining to a customer or subscriber within such provider’s possession, custody, or control, regardless of whether such communication, record, or other information is located within or outside of the United States.” This allows U.S. law enforcement authorities access to all the data stored on clouds operated by these companies. (more…)

Published: 10 November 2020 Authors: Patrick Wittum and Stefan Talmon

In November 2017, nine Syrian refugees living in Germany filed a criminal complaint with the Federal Prosecutor General’s Office concerning crimes against humanity and war crimes in Syria. The complaint was directed against ten high-ranking officials of the Syrian Air Force Intelligence Directorate, including its head, Major General Jamil Al-Hassan. The Federal Prosecutor General commenced investigative proceedings for crimes against humanity in the case of General Hassan in May 2018. He was suspected of several deeds committed individually, jointly with another or through another person, and as a military commander between 29 April and August 2013 as part of a systematic and widespread attack directed against a civilian population in Syria. These deeds included killing at least 352 people, torturing a yet to be determined number of people, causing other physical or mental harm to a yet to be determined number of people, and severely depriving, in contravention of a general rule of international law, a yet to be determined number of people of their physical liberty. In June 2018, the Federal Court of Justice issued an international arrest warrant for General Hassan at the request of the Federal Prosecutor General. This was the first time since the beginning of the Syrian civil war in 2011 that a country was prosecuting a high-ranking Syrian Government official for crimes against humanity. In November 2018, France followed suit, issuing international arrest warrants for senior Syrian intelligence and government officials, including for General Hassan. (more…)

Published: 05 November 2020 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: 02 November 2020 Author: Stefan Talmon

Political protests in Thailand started in February 2020 and intensified in the second half of the year. The student-led protests were directed against the Government of Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha. Demands of the protest movement included constitutional reform, an end to the repression of political activists and reform of the monarchy. The protesters, inter alia, took issue with the fact that Thailand’s King Maha Vajiralongkorn was living most of the year in Germany indulging in a luxury lifestyle while the country was suffering under the corona pandemic. They also criticised that the King wielded an inordinate amount of power in what was nominally a constitutional monarchy and that he might exercise his powers from Germany. (more…)

Published: 29 October 2020 Author: Stefan Talmon

The Federal Republic of Germany and the Republic of Poland have maintained diplomatic relations at embassy level since 14 September 1972. According to the German Federal Foreign Office, “German-Polish relations are of great importance for both sides. […] Shared interests in many areas and the two countries’ close partnership in the European Union [EU] and NATO provide a sound basis for the future.” The two countries’ economies are closely interlinked and Germany is Poland’s most important trading partner by far. The Polish Government described relations with Germany as follows: (more…)

Published: 26 October 2020; Revised: 30 October 2020 Authors: Stefan Talmon and Philip Wimmer

On 4 May 2019, King Maha Vajiralongkorn formally ascended to the throne of Thailand. The King, however, lives in Germany for most of the year. He stays with his household in a hotel in the Bavarian Alps. In 2020, protests broke out against the Thai Government. The student-led protest movement also took issue with the King’s residence and extravagant lifestyle in Germany while the country was suffering from the severe consequences of the coronavirus pandemic and demanded reforms of the monarchy. With the protest movement in Thailand growing, questions were raised in the German Federal Parliament about the King engaging in domestic politics from German soil. (more…)

Published: 20 October 2020 Author: Stefan Talmon

At least since 2018, Germany has repeatedly expressed concern over the human rights situation in Xinjiang, which has triggered strong rebukes from China. However, this did not prevent Germany from continuing to raise the human rights situation in China’s autonomous region in various UN bodies throughout 2020. On 30 June 2020, Germany signed up to a joint statement by 28 mainly western States at the 44^th session of the Human Rights Council (HRC) which read in the relevant part: (more…)

Published: 15 October 2020 Author: Stefan Talmon

The Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) in northwest China is the country’s largest administrative region, making up one sixth of Chinese territory. The region was first officially named “Xinjiang” – which literally means “New Borderlands” – and given the status of a provincial administrative area by the Chinese Emperor in 1764. It borders Mongolia, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India. Its geographic location gives it a strategic position in Central Asia. In recent years, oil and mineral reserves have been found in Xinjiang which make it China’s largest natural gas-producing region. With only some 25 million inhabitants, it is sparsely populated. The region’s native population is the Uyghurs, a Turkic-speaking mainly Muslim ethnic group, which is culturally and ethnically close to other Central Asian nations. Initially the predominant majority population, today it makes up only some 45 percent of the inhabitants. Over time, more and more Han Chinese moved to the region, who today account for at least 40 percent of the population. The rest is made up by several other, smaller ethnic groups. This has led to inter-ethnic tensions. (more…)

Published: 12 October 2020 Author: Stefan Talmon

The more than three-decades-old conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh gained renewed international attention when, at the end of September 2020, fierce fighting broke out along the Line of Contact in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone. On 29 September 2020, after speaking with the Armenian Prime Minister and the Azerbaijani President, German Chancellor Angela Merkel urgently called for an immediate ceasefire and a return to the negotiating table. Germany also pushed for the conflict to be discussed under “any other business” in a closed UN Security Council meeting of the same day. During the meeting, the German representative stated: “We believe that conflict resolution in this case must be based on the Helsinki-Principles of non-use of force, territorial integrity and self-determination, and on the Madrid Principles.” (more…)