Articles for category: Regionen

The Findings of the ICJ Advisory Opinion on the Oslo Accords and the Amici Curiae Proceedings before the ICC in the Situation of Palestine

This article focuses on the legal findings of the ICJ concerning the Oslo II Accord, and argues in favour of its relevance in deciding the jurisdictional question raised by the UK before the International Criminal Court (ICC). It also addresses whether invoking this question through a procedure of an amicus curiae during the warrant of arrest stage fits neatly within the ICC’s procedural regime, and it concludes that it does not.

16. Oktober 2024

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Chancengleichheit in der Vorwahlberichterstattung

Parteien, die bei einer Wahl Erfolg haben wollen, sind darauf angewiesen, im öffentlichen Diskurs Gehör zu finden. In diesem Sommer gab es zwei Versuche, sich in eine bereits konzipierte, unmittelbar vor der Wahl stattfindende Diskussionsveranstaltung einzuklagen. Die verwaltungsgerichtlichen Entscheidungen dieser Verfahren divergieren zwar in ihrem Tenor. Beide deuten jedoch auf eine neue Linie in der Rechtsprechung zur Vorwahlberichterstattung hin, die auch für die Bundestagswahl im kommenden Jahr noch relevant werden könnte und die kritisch zu betrachten ist.

16. Oktober 2024

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Taking Locus Standi of International Actors Seriously

On October 4th 2024 the Court of Justice issued its judgement in Front Polisario II upholding the judgement in which GC annulled Council’s decision on the conclusion of the trade agreement between European Union and Morocco. In its landmark judgement the Court acknowledged the legal standing of Front Polisario – the liberation movement representing rights of the people of Western Sahara. The Court’s findings advance the flexible and adequate approach on access to EU’s courts – and for that are worth applauding.

15. Oktober 2024

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Third State obligations in the ICJ Advisory Opinion

What are the possible implications of the Advisory Opinion for the United Kingdom and Cyprus with regard to the UK’s arms and surveillance support to Israel through its military bases in Cyprus? This post argues that the third State obligations identified by the Court, including the duty not to render aid or assistance in maintaining the illegal situation, also apply to the current war in Gaza.

14. Oktober 2024

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The Obligation of Non-recognition, Occupation and the OPT Advisory Opinion

In the OPT Advisory Opinion, the ICJ considered that Israel’s abuse of its position as an Occupying Power, through de jure and de facto annexation of the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) and continued frustration of the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, renders Israel’s presence in the OPT unlawful. In determining the legal consequences of this illegal presence, the Court held by a vote of 12:3, that all States are under an obligation “not to recognize as legal the situation arising from the unlawful presence of the State Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory”. This holding was not accompanied by any concretization in either the Advisory Opinion or any of the many declarations and separate opinions attached to it.

14. Oktober 2024

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Populismus und Plebiszit

Im kleinsten deutschsprachigen Staat, dem Fürstentum Liechtenstein, war der Einfluss rechtspopulistischer Parteien bisher überschaubar. Doch in letzter Zeit scheinen populistische Akteure in dem alpinen Kleinstaat einen Hebel entdeckt zu haben: die direkte Demokratie. Seit 2020 gab es bereits zwölf Abstimmungen, davon allein sechs im Jahr 2024. Gerade aus einer parlamentarischen Minderheitsposition heraus instrumentalisieren rechtspopulistische Kräfte direktdemokratische Verfahren, wenn ihnen entsprechende Möglichkeiten zur Verfügung stehen.

14. Oktober 2024

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Wie viel Pay ist Equal Pay?

Eine Mitarbeiterin der Daimler AG hat erfolgreich auf Equal Pay geklagt: Das Arbeitsgericht Stuttgart stellte eine geschlechtsspezifische Lohndiskriminierung fest und sprach ihr die Differenz zum Medianentgelt der männlichen Vergleichsgruppe zu. Doch an wessen Gehalt orientiert sich die Nachzahlung? Diese Frage beantwortete das LAG Baden-Württemberg nun in kurioser Weise: Es sprach der Klägerin einen Ausgleich in Höhe der Differenz zwischen dem weiblichen und dem männlichen Medianentgelt zu. Eine Entscheidung, die dazu führen würde, dass Betroffene von Lohndiskriminierungen in keinem Fall ein ihnen zustehendes Spitzengehalt gerichtlich geltend machen könnten.

14. Oktober 2024

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Limiting ›Security‹ as a Justification in the ICJ’s Advisory Opinion

While international law accepts that States may employ otherwise prohibited actions in exceptional circumstances and within certain constraints, the Advisory Opinion firmly affirms that security cannot justify illegal actions such as annexation or prolonged occupation. The rights of the Palestinian people, including their right to self-determination, cannot be compromised by security claims. The Advisory Opinion serves to limit State practices predicated upon security when those practices violate essential rights and when the security claim is based upon an illegal situation created by the very State which invokes security concerns.

13. Oktober 2024

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Security Considerations, the Duty to End Belligerent Occupations and the ICJ Advisory Opinion on Israeli practices and policies in the Occupied Palestinian Territory

This contribution discusses three possible rationales for the Court’s rejection of the relevance of Israel’s security concerns: Lack of proof of serious and legitimate security concerns by Israel, the insufficiency of broad security concerns to justify the continued use of force, and the insufficiency of broad security concerns to deny realization of Palestinian self-determination. As long as international law doctrine on the duty to end a belligerent occupation despite the prevalence of serious security concerns remains contested, and as long as security conditions in the region remain extremely unstable, it is unlikely that a withdrawal will be deemed practicable

13. Oktober 2024

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