GPIL – German Practice in International Law

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…)

Published: 31 March 2023 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 30 March 2023 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: 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…)

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…)

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…)

Published: 09 March 2023 Author: Stefan Talmon

The Falkland Islands (Malvinas) are a British Overseas Territory in the South Atlantic Ocean 480 km east of  Argentina’s Patagonian coast. The archipelago is also claimed by Argentina as part of its national territory. In December 1966, the UN General Assembly noted the existence of a dispute between the two countries ‘concerning sovereignty over the said Islands’. On 2 April 1982, Argentina invaded the islands, but after a brief war, British rule was re-established on 14 June 1982. (more…)

Published 07 March 2023 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.

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Published: 02 March 2023 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: 28 February  2023 Author: Stefan Talmon

In a piece for German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, published on 23 February 2023, Federal Minster of Justice Marco Buschmann announced major changes to the German Code of Crimes Against International Law (CCAIL), the German Code of Criminal Procedure, and the Court Constitution Act with regard to crimes against international law. On the same day, the Federal Ministry of Justice issued a four-page Paper outlining proposals for the development of international criminal law in Germany in more detail. (more…)