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Digest of United States Practice in International Law 2002
Population
China, capital punishment, psychotropic, ...
The Office of the Legal Adviser publishes the annual Digest of United States Practice in International Law to provide the public with a historical record of the views and practice of the Government of the United States in public and private international law. "In his introduction to the 2002 volume, then Legal Adviser William H. Taft IV stated in part: "Calendar year 2002 gave rise to a broad range of significant and sometimes novel issues of international law. Many developments again highlighted the need to protect our national security against a different kind of enemy through the use of force in self-defense, non-proliferation and arms control efforts, the detention of unlawful enemy combatants and establishment of military commissions, continued counter-terrorism efforts, the imposition of sanctions, and the freezing of governmental assets, sometimes made available for payment of claims by individuals against terrorist states. At the same time, there were notable developments in non-confrontational contexts, including the fields of human rights, trade and investment, law of the sea, international claims and state responsibility, treaty practice, and international crime. . . ."
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Digest of United States Practice in International Law 2009
Population
China, psychotropic, Pan Am Flight 103, Montenegro, ...
The 2009 Digest provides a historical record of key legal developments in 2009. Legal Adviser Harold Hongju Koh summarized the contents of the 2009 Digest, stating in part: In 2009, as this volume reflects, a new United States administration, under the Presidency of Barack Obama, took office and pursued important initiatives demonstrating its respect for the rule of law. For instance, the United States has sought to ensure its detention operations, detainee prosecutions, and uses of force are all consistent with the laws of war. In one of his first actions after taking office, President Barack Obama unequivocally banned the use of torture as an instrument of U.S. policy and instructed that all interrogations of detainees be conducted in accordance with Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions and with the revised Army Field Manual. The executive branch also articulated a revised, narrower legal basis for its authority to detain individuals, based on the 2001 statutory Authorization for the Use of Military Force ("AUMF"), and made clear that its interpretation of the AUMF would be informed by the law of war. The administration also worked with Congress to improve the legal framework governing military commissions. Finally, as the President made clear in his Nobel lecture, "[w]here force is necessary, we have a moral and strategic interest in binding ourselves to certain rules of conduct. . . . [E]ven as we confront a vicious adversary that abides by no rules . . . the United States of America must remain a standard bearer in the conduct of war. The United States also resumed our multilateral engagement in many different diplomatic fora, while remaining fully engaged in others. With the International Criminal Court, the United States participated for the first time as an observer in the Eighth Session of the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute. With the Human Rights Council, the United States became a member of the Council for the first time. With the climate change negotiations, the United States engaged at the highest level, and President Obama and the leaders of key major economies reached consensus on the Copenhagen Accord in December 2009. The United States submitted a written statement and written comments to the International Court of Justice concerning the UN General Assembly's request for an advisory opinion on the question "Is the unilateral declaration of independence by the Provisional Institutions of Self-Government of Kosovo in accordance with international law?" and I was privileged to deliver an oral statement of the U.S. views to the Court in December. Promoting the development of international law also played a key part in the United States' economic diplomacy agenda, including in the areas of trade, sanctions, claims settlement, and private international law. Arbitral tribunals issued awards in favor of the United States under the Softwood Lumber Agreement and the North American Free Trade Agreement in 2009, and the Iran-United States Claims Tribunal issued a partial award in favor of the United States. The United States also continued to participate actively in the World Trade Organization's dispute settlement mechanism and received favorable decisions in a number of disputes in that forum. In the area of private international law, the United States signed the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Carriage of Goods, Wholly or Partly by Sea ("Rotterdam Rules") and the Hague Convention on Choice of Court Agreements ("Choice of Court Convention") and participated actively in the negotiations concluding the Convention on Substantive Rules for Transfers of Intermediated Securities ("Geneva Securities Convention"). The United States also pursued initiatives to renew the rule of law by reviving our treaty and agreement making process. For example, in 2009, we deposited or exchanged instruments of ratification to bring into force more than 70 advice and consent treaties, which is an all-time annual record for the United States. Among these treaties were crucial law of war instruments, tax treaties, an environmental treaty, and law enforcement treaties, including landmark agreements with the European Union on extradition and mutual legal assistance in criminal matters, which entered into force in early 2010. In addition, we negotiated a new treaty to replace the Treaty on the Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms ("START"), signed the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities-the first new human rights convention of the twenty-first century, and supported the negotiation of a new multilateral agreement to reduce mercury pollution. In 2009 the United States also sought legal and policy-based solutions to a range of other pressing international problems. For example, the United States took the lead on a Security Council resolution concerning sexual violence in situations of armed conflict, which the Council adopted unanimously on September 30, 2009. The year also marked several important developments relating to the privileges and immunities of foreign states and foreign officials in the United States. The Supreme Court issued one opinion concerning the effect of Presidential and congressional action on a state's immunity from jurisdiction in the United States (Iraq v. Beaty). The Court issued another opinion holding that a U.S. victim of terrorism could not enforce a judgment against Iran by attaching, under the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act of 2002, certain Iranian property that was unblocked at the time of the lower court decision, and that, in any event, the victim had relinquished any right to attach the property by having already accepted payment under the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000 (Ministry of Def. & Support v. Elahi). Within the executive branch, the State Department announced two significant decisions relating to privileges and immunities of foreign diplomatic or consular missions and their personnel: (1) the Department began accepting the accreditation of same-sex domestic partners of foreign diplomatic or consular personnel assigned to official duty in the United States, meaning that accredited same-sex domestic partners now have the same privileges and immunities as other accredited family members whom the Department recognizes as forming part of a diplomat's household; and (2) the Department also extended exemptions from real property taxes to residences owned by foreign governments and used to house staff of diplomatic missions to the United Nations and the Organization of American States and consular posts. . . .
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Digest of United States Practice in International Law 2000
Population
China, capital punishment, psychotropic, ...
The Office of the Legal Adviser publishes the annual Digest of United States Practice in International Law to provide the public with a historical record of the views and practice of the Government of the United States in public and private international law. The 2000 volume covers significant legal developments that occurred during 2000. The edition provides documentary excerpts and other information concerning developments in the areas of nationality, citizenship, and immigration (chapter 1); consular and judicial assistance and related issues (chapter 2), international criminal law (chapter 3); treaties and other international agreements (chapter 4); federal foreign affairs authority (chapter 5); human rights and humanitarian law (chapter 6); international organizations and multilateral institutions (chapter 7); international claims and state responsibility (chapter 8); diplomatic relations, continuity and succession of states (chapter 9); immunities and related issues (chapter 10); trade, commercial relations, investment and transportation (chapter 11); territorial regimes and related issues (chapter 12); environment and other transnational scientific issues (chapter 13); private international law (chapter 14); sanctions (chapter 15); and use of force and arms control (chapter 16). In his introduction to the 2000 Digest, then Legal Adviser William H. Taft IV provided an overview of the methodology used in preparing the volume and the history of the Digest.
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Digest of United States Practice in International Law 2006
Population
China, capital punishment, psychotropic, ...
The Office of the Legal Adviser publishes the annual Digest of United States Practice in International Law to provide the public with a historical record of the views and practice of the Government of the United States in public and private international law. In his introduction to the 2006 Digest, Legal Adviser John B. Bellinger, III, stated in part: "During 2006 my colleagues and I continued to engage our international partners in intensive discussions about the appropriate legal framework for the detention and treatment of international terrorists. . . . Armed conflicts during the year including those involving Israel, Lebanon, the Palestinian Authority, and Iraq raised other issues related to the law of war. "The United States welcomed the International Committee of the Red Cross' study on the customary international law of the law of war and provided what we believe are constructive initial comments on certain aspects of methodology that raise questions about the study's conclusions. "But these issues were, of course, only one facet of the office's practice during the year. The United States dispatched to Geneva two separate large, senior-level interagency delegations to present and discuss with the UN Committee Against Torture and the Human Rights Committee U.S. implementation of its obligations under the Convention Against Torture and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. . . . "The office continued to play a leading role in the development of U.S. treaty law and practice. . . . "In U.S. courts, the year saw further developments related to the applicability of the Alien Tort Statute, U.S. consular notification obligations under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, and the scope of the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, including several Supreme Court decisions on consular notification and immunities. . . ."
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Digest of United States Practice in International Law 2004
Population
China, capital punishment, psychotropic, ...
The Office of the Legal Adviser publishes the annual Digest of United States Practice in International Law to provide the public with a historical record of the views and practice of the Government of the United States in public and private international law. "In his introduction to the 2004 volume, then Legal Adviser John B. Bellinger, III, stated in part: "Significant legal issues arose throughout 2004 related to the response to international terrorism, compliance with international human rights and humanitarian law, and arms control and nonproliferation throughout the world, including Iraq and Afghanistan, Israel, Gaza and the West Bank, North Korea, Iran, Libya and Sudan. To provide but a few examples, the United States entered into the first agreements under the Proliferation Security Initiative, Secretary Powell testified to the commission of genocide in Darfur, and the U.S. Supreme Court issued two decisions relating to detention of enemy combatants. "The United States also continued to be actively engaged, through negotiation of treaties, arbitrations, diplomatic initiatives, and domestic litigation, in legal issues related to global challenges including international criminal law, the law of the sea, environment, trade and investment, consular functions, privileges and immunities, international claims and state responsibility, commercial and family law, treaty practice, cultural property, and sanctions. In 2004, among other things, the United States undertook to implement a judgment of the International Court of Justice in Avena and other Mexican Nationals (Mexico v. United States) concerning U.S. violations of Article 36 of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, and the U.S. Supreme Court issued opinions concerning retroactivity of the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act and international law violations providing a cause of action under the Alien Tort Statute. . . ."
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Digest of United States Practice in International Law 2003
Population
China, capital punishment, psychotropic, ...
The Office of the Legal Adviser publishes the annual Digest of United States Practice in International Law to provide the public with a historical record of the views and practice of the Government of the United States in public and private international law. In his introduction to the 2003 volume, then Legal Adviser William H. Taft IV stated in part: "The year 2003 witnessed a number of significant developments in the field of international law. The military campaign to oust Saddam Hussein and his regime in Iraq and the continuing effort to locate Osama bin Laden and his supporters gave rise to many important legal issues, including those related to the lawful use of force, the response to international terrorism, and compliance with international humanitarian law. Beyond Iraq and Afghanistan, of course, many other situations affecting international security and stability generated complicated and sensitive issues for the world community and its lawyers. . . ." "The year was also marked by a series of significant cases and decisions in domestic courts and international tribunals related to international law and practice. The International Court of Justice in The Hague handed down its decision on preliminary measures in the Avena case brought by Mexico under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, as well as its judgment in the Oil Platforms case (Iran v. United States). By agreement the Lockerbie case (Libya v. United States) before the ICJ was discontinued. Ongoing litigation in our domestic courts concerned fundamental issues arising under two important U.S. statutes, the Alien Tort Statute of 1789 and the 1976 Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act. Other cases began to address issues related to the status and rights of detainees in Guantanamo and the United States. Significant decisions were rendered in several cases by NAFTA tribunals. And the United States made several major submissions in government-to-government and interpretative cases pending before the Iran-United States Claims Tribunal. We were also active in bringing and defending claims under the dispute resolution mechanisms of the WTO. . . ."
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Digest of United States Practice in International Law 1991-1999
Population
China, psychotropic, El Salvador, ...
The Office of the Legal Adviser publishes the annual Digest of United States Practice in International Law to provide the public with a historical record of the views and practice of the Government of the United States in public and private international law. In his introduction to the Digest covering 1991-1999, then Legal Adviser John B. Bellinger, III, summarized its contents, stating in part: "During this period, for instance, the United States became party to important human rights treaties, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the UN Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, and the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. International terrorist acts such as the bombing of Pan Am 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, posed new challenges, to which the United States responded through negotiation of new international terrorism conventions, efforts in both the UN Security Council and the International Court of Justice, and changes in U.S. domestic laws . . . . "Legal issues involving the use of force arose with U.S. participation in the Gulf War and the military intervention in the territory of the Former Yugoslavia, and were addressed in several instances before the International Court of Justice. U.S. participation in the peace process and in peacekeeping in areas as diverse as the Middle East, Bosnia, Kosovo, Somalia, and Haiti gave rise to both international and domestic legal issues. Major efforts were pursued in arms control and nuclear non-proliferation, including the establishment of the Korean Energy Development Organization. "The 1990s were an era of new international institutions and political structures. The United States was actively engaged, for instance, in the Security Council's creation of the international criminal tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and for Rwanda and the UN Mission in Kosovo, and in the negotiation stage of the establishment of the International Criminal Court. In the area of trade, the United States was deeply involved in the establishment of the World Trade Organization and the conclusion of the North American Free Trade Agreement. The breakup of the Soviet Union was only the biggest example of geo-political changes with a wide range of legal implications for the United States and other countries. In other fields, to list only a few examples, after completion of the 1994 Agreement Relating to the Implementation of Part XI, the President transmitted both the 1982 Law of the Sea Convention and the 1994 Agreement to the Senate for advice and consent. Maritime interdiction of aliens and other aspects of immigration and naturalization generated important legal issues. Cases concerning the right of aliens in the United States to consular notification arose in U.S. courts and the International Court of Justice. . . ."
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Digest of United States Practice in International Law 1989-1990
Population
China, capital punishment, psychotropic, ...
The Office of the Legal Adviser publishes the annual Digest of United States Practice in International Law to provide the public with a historical record of the views and practice of the Government of the United States in public and private international law. In his April 2003 introduction to the 1989-1990 Digest, then Legal Adviser William H. Taft IV stated in part: "The year 1989-90 was a transitional period in international relations, as the world community continued to deal with implications of the end of the Cold War and the unsteady emergence of a new era. Many of the tensions and ambiguities of the time are reflected in the documents excerpted in this volume. For example, the Immigration Act of 1990 was adopted against the background of domestic U.S. concerns about terrorism, admission of refugees and exclusion of aliens-issues that continue to be important today. Other significant domestic law issues involved reservations to treaties (in this case, the 1948 Genocide Convention), the application of doctrines of foreign sovereign immunity (the Wallenberg Case), the interplay between sanctions and foreign assistance (e.g., Hungary, Poland, Czechoslovakia and the German Democratic Republic), and the allocation of foreign affairs authority in our federal system. "At the same time, the volume records U.S. efforts to deal effectively with the legal dimensions of very diverse issues on the international plane, including the Iraqi attack on the U.S.S. Stark, the downing of Iran Air Flight 655, the deployment of U.S. armed forces in Panama, maritime interdiction incidents, irregular rendition of criminal suspects, and the Treaty on Conventional Forces in Europe. Concerns about human rights, terrorism, and the war on drugs are indicated by the adoption of domestic legislation implementing, or relating to the implementation of, the UN Convention on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, the UN Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances, the Montreal Protocol on Suppression of Unlawful Acts of Violence at Airports, and the IMO Convention on the Suppression of Unlawful Acts Against the Safety of Maritime Navigation (negotiated in the aftermath of the Achille Lauro incident) and its related Protocol on Fixed Platforms. . . ."
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Digest of United States Practice in International Law 2001
Population
China, capital punishment, psychotropic, ...
The Office of the Legal Adviser publishes the annual Digest of United States Practice in International Law to provide the public with a historical record of the views and practice of the Government of the United States in public and private international law. "In his introduction to the 2001 volume, then Legal Adviser William H. Taft IV stated in part: "2001 will likely prove to have been a watershed in the development of international law. In this field, as in so many other ways, the tragic, traumatic events of September 11 altered the landscape of U.S. practice. Issues of use of force, self-defense, and counter-terrorism, which have always been important, have posed unforeseen challenges in unanticipated contexts. Policy makers have been confronted by new questions related to humanitarian law, the law of war, and international criminal law. The various domestic and international responses to terrorism, including economic and trade sanctions, the freezing and seizing of assets, claims for compensation, and civil litigation, have each generated new and unique problems, to which the legal responses continue to develop. "At the same time, 2001 witnessed many other significant developments not directly related to the events of September 11, both through United States participation in international fora and developments in the application of international law in the United States. These cover the full range of topics in international legal practice, from treaties to consular affairs, the environment, and private international law. . . ."
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Digest of United States Practice in International Law 2005
Population
China, capital punishment, psychotropic, ...
The Office of the Legal Adviser publishes the annual Digest of United States Practice in International Law to provide the public with a historical record of the views and practice of the Government of the United States in public and private international law. In his introduction to the 2005 volume, Legal Adviser John B. Bellinger, III, stated in part: "The year included, for example, extensive U.S. engagement in further developing the international framework for protecting against terrorist acts. The United States signed the UN International Convention for the Suppression of Nuclear Terrorism the day it was opened for signature and joined in adoption of the text of amendments to the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material and to the UN Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts Against the Safety of Maritime Navigation and the related Fixed Platforms Protocol. In this hemisphere, the Inter-American Convention Against Terrorism entered into force for the United States . . . . "On another front, the United States became party to the Transnational Organized Crime Convention and its important protocols on trafficking in persons and smuggling of migrants. The United States submitted extensive periodic reports on its implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to the UN Human Rights Committee and of the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment to the Committee Against Torture. "U.S. state and federal courts were another focus of continued attention. . . . "Transnational issues played key roles in an increasingly broader spectrum encompassing challenges such as marine pollution and preservation, communications, law enforcement, and trade disputes. Legal issues related to armed conflict in Afghanistan and Iraq remained prominent . . . Elsewhere in the world, the United States engaged with the international community in efforts to contain nuclear proliferation and to preserve and restore peaceful settlements to disputes within and between countries. . . ."
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