The International Court of Justice Hears Largest Case in History on Climate Change

By: Sierra Radley

Journal of Global Rights and Organizations, Associate Articles Editor

 

THE HAGUE, Netherlands – On March 29, 2023, the U.N. General Assembly adopted a resolution requiring the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to issue an advisory opinion on “the obligations of States in respect to climate change.” The ICJ held public hearings for this opinion from December 2 to December 13. 

 
Members of Vanuatu’s government at an ICJ hearing in December 2024. Photo Courtesy of Piroschka Van De Wouw.
  

96 countries and 11 international organizations participated in the hearings, including Germany, the United Kingdom, Canada, Saudi Arabia, the World Health Organization, and the European Union. 90 countries sent written testimony into the ICJ. This case is the largest in ICJ history.  

Climate change activists behind this case emphasized that climate change threatens the human rights of people around the world. The nation of Vanuatu, a collection of islands in the South Pacific Ocean, led the movement for the ICJ to consider this case. Vanuatu is increasingly susceptible to the impacts of climate change because of sea-level rise in the Pacific Ocean. Vanuatu’s lawyers believe that many of its citizens will die because of rising sea waters and want those who are responsible to be held accountable for the rise in sea level. 

Various courts have recently considered the link between human rights and climate change. In 2024, the European Court of Human Rights held that Switzerland violated its citizens’ human rights by failing to decrease greenhouse gas emissions. In 2019, the Dutch Supreme Court held that human rights are affected by climate change and the government must protect its citizens’ human rights through climate-friendly actions. These decisions acknowledged that human rights are affected by climate change. This link between human rights and climate change is likely to be discussed in the ICJ’s opinion. 

This is not the first request for an advisory opinion on climate change from the ICJ. Palau and the Marshall Islands tried to request an opinion around 10 years ago. However, that attempt failed because of political resistance. 

This ICJ opinion has not been released yet, but is expected in 2025. Even though this opinion is not binding, it could further the link between human rights and climate change, and serve as a reference for future climate litigation. Many courts use the ICJ’s rulings as guidance, and this decision could lead to increased climate litigation. 

 

For further information please see: 

Associated Press – A landmark climate change case will open at the top U.N. court as island nations fear rising seas – 1 Dec. 2024

Center for International Environmental Law – Advancing Climate Justice at the International Court of Justice – 27 Nov. 2024 

The Guardian – Handful of countries responsible for climate crisis, top court told – 2 Dec. 2024 

ICJ – Conclusion of the Public Hearings Held from December 2 to December 13, 2024 – 13 Dec. 2024

The New Yorker – The International Court of Justice Takes on Climate Change – 14 Dec. 2024 

The New York Times – What to Know About a Landmark Court Case – 5 Dec. 2024 

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law – The ICJ’s Advisory Opinion on Climate Change: What Happens Now? – 29 Mar. 2023





European Court of Human Rights Finds that the Russian Federation Violated the European Convention of Human Rights in their Prosecution of Konstantin Kotov

By: Jesse Elmer

Impunity Watch News Staff Writer

STRASBOURG, France – On November 24th, The European Court of Human Rights (“ECHR”) found that the Russian Federation violated the European Convention on Human Rights in their handling of criminal proceedings against applicant Konstantin Aleksandrovic Kotov. The court found that Kotov’s punishments were disproportionate, and he had been punished for actions protected under the Convention.

 
Russian Police arrest activist Konstantin Aleksandrovic Kotov. Photo Courtesy of Amnesty International.
 

The case related to convictions Kotov received under administrative and criminal law proceedings regarding public political protests and encouraging others to attend those protests. The protected conduct the Russian Federation punished him for included chanting anti-government slogans, participating in peaceful protests, and calling upon others to do the same.

The Constitutional Court of the ECHR referenced their previous rulings in determining that the sentence was disproportionate. The Court has held that sentencing a person to prison for assembling was only possible when the assembly is not peaceful, where significant harm is inflicted, or where there was real threat of significant harm. 

Kotov’s original trial in Moscow lasted less than a day and had a complicated procedural history in Russia itself before reaching the ECHR. His original trial lasted less than a day and he earned a four year sentence in prison for violating Russia’s notorious Article 212.1. The Constitutional Court of Russia remanded the case and the sentence was reduced to a year and a half.

This case is part of a larger effort repress political competition on the part of the Russian Federation, and represents only the first time Mr. Kotov was been targeted. The Russian Federation uses vague anti-extremism laws to prosecute opposition. The Russian court system has prosecuted members of the media under legislation that labels them as “foreign agents,” “undesirables” or “extremists.” 

Following this arrest, the Russian government arrested Kotov again in 2024 for donating to Alexei Navalny’s political organizations. The Russian government had labeled them as “extremist.” In August 2024, A Moscow court ruled to place Kotov under house arrest until October. The donation in question was 3,000 rubles, equivalent to $32.60 USD.

For further information, please see:

European Court of Human Rights Press Release – Judgment Concerning the Russian Federation – Nov. 26 2024

Human Rights Watch – Update on Human Rights in the Russian Federation and the Continuing Need for a Special Rapporteur on Russia – Aug. 28 2024

The Moscow Times – Moscow Activist Kotov Detained for Allegedly Donating to Navalny’s ‘Extremist’ Groups – Aug. 22 2024

Amnesty International – Russia: Prisoner of Conscience Konstantin Kotov will Remain in Jail – 20 Apr. 2020

 

For the First Time in History, the ICC Will Move Forward in the Prosecution of Uganda’s Joseph Kony – Despite No Arrest

By: Bridget Congo

Impunity Watch News Staff Writer

 

THE HAGUE, Netherlands – On December 12, 2024, the ICC’s Pre-Trial Chamber III scheduled a confirmation of charges hearing in the case of The Prosecutor v. Joseph Kony. The hearing will take place September 9, 2025, marking the first time in the Court’s history that it conducts a hearing in absentia, as Kony remains at large.

Two child soldiers of Uganda’s rebel group, the Lords Resistance Army (LRA). Photo Courtesy of Reuters.

 
Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) fighters in the Central African Republic, picture dated April 4, 2012. Photo Courtesy of Voice of America.
  

Between 1987 and 2006, Northern Uganda endured a brutal conflict between the government and the Lord’s Residence Army (LRA), a quasi-religious group claiming to defend the Acholi ethnic group. Since rising in the early 1980s, the LRA has allegedly targeted civilians with attacks, abducted over 35,000 children as soldiers and sex slaves, and displaced over 1.9 million people into government camps. Despite a 2006 truce, the LRA is said to have expanded its operations into neighboring countries, including the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), South Sudan, and the Central African Republic (CAR). Despite global efforts to detain him, LRA founder and leader Joseph Kony remains at large, believed to be outside of Uganda.

After ratifying the Rome Statute in 2002, Uganda became the first state to refer itself to the ICC, inviting the Office of the Prosecutor to investigate the LRA’s alleged crimes. Kony’s Warrant of Arrest, originally issued by the ICC under seal on July 8, 2005, was made public on October 13, 2005.

Kony faces 36 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity under Articles 7 and 8 of the Rome Statute for crimes allegedly committed between 2002 and 2005.

Counts 1-14: Intentionally directing attacks against the civilian population as such; murdering civilians and attempting to do so; torturing, and/or severely abusing and mistreating civilians and treating them cruelly; enslaving abducted civilians; pillaging and destroying property; and persecuting civilians on political grounds as well as based on their age and gender.

Counts 15-29: Conscription of children into the LRA, and using them to participate actively in hostilities.

Counts 20-36: Perpetrating the crimes of enslavement, forced marriage, torture, and sexual slavery in relation to young women.

The confirmation of charges hearing is not a trial. Under Article 61(5) of the Rome Statute, a Pre-Trail hearing assesses whether sufficient evidence exists to establish substantial grounds for believing the individual committed each alleged crime. The Prosecutor may rely on documentary or summary evidence and need not call the witnesses expected to testify at the trial.

Under the Rome Statute, confirmation of charges proceedings at the Pre-Trial stage may proceed in the suspect’s absence under specific conditions outlined in Article 61(2)(b). In this instance, the Chamber determined that the conditions were met because (i) Kony qualifies as a person who “cannot be found”; (ii) all reasonable efforts have been made to ensure his appearance and notify him of the charges and the hearing date; and (iii) there is sufficient cause to hold the confirmation of charges hearing in absentia. In absentia cases, the person shall be represented by counsel where the Pre-Trial Chamber determines that it is in the interests of justice.

If the charges are confirmed, the case can proceed to trial only if the accused is physically present before the Trial Chamber under Rome Statute Article 63.

 

For further information, please see:

ICC Office of the Prosecution Issues Application for Arrest Warrant for Myanmar’s Acting President, Min Aung Hlaing

By: Lauren Clement 

Senior Articles Editor


MYANMAR—On November 27, 2024, the ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan submitted an application to the ICC’s judicial division to issue an arrest warrant for Min Aung Hlaing, the acting President of Myanmar, for crimes against humanity of deportation and persecution of the Rohingya. This application came after extensive investigations by the Office of the Prosecutor from 2019—2024. ICC judges must now decide whether the application meets the standard for issuing an arrest warrant.

 
Min Aung Hlaing, acting President of Myanmar. Photo courtesy of Ye Aung Thu/Agence France-Presse, Getty Images.
  

Although the Rohingya, a Muslim ethnic minority, have lived in Myanmar for centuries, they have never been recognized as an official ethnic group and have been denied citizenship since 1982, making them the world’s largest stateless population and vulnerable to exploitation and sexual and gender-based violence and abuse. The Rohingya have experienced decades of discrimination and violence leading to frequent waves of human rights violations. However, 2017 marked the largest mass displacement of the minority group as the military burned entire villages, killed thousands of families, and partook in other human rights violations.  As a result, more than 2.6 million Rohingya were internally displaced and almost one million sought refuge in Bangladesh. In 2021, the Myanmar military seized power in a coup led by Min Aung Hlaing, sentencing then-president Aung San Suu Kyi to 17 years in prison. This shift in power set off another wave of violence and triggered a new refugee crisis. 

Before Myanmar’s current self-appointed prime minister led the 2021 coup, Min Aung Hlaing was a career army officer and commander in chief since 2011, with a reputation for attacks on ethnic groups. Since 2021, his regime has cracked down violently against political opposition, imprisoned pro-democracy protesters, and threatened punishment for civilians who refused to join the military. Under his command, over 27,000 people have been arrested and 21,000 are still detained, and more than 260 people were reportedly tortured to death. 

The ICC’s legal process for sentencing a perpetrator of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and/or crimes of aggression takes part in 6 steps. First, the Office of the Prosecutor determines whether there is sufficient evidence of crimes that fall within the ICC’s jurisdiction. Second, the Prosecution submits an application to judges to issue an arrest warrant, which is what the Prosecutor asked of the ICC judiciary on November 27 of this year. Third, the pretrial stage marks the initial appearance of the suspect before the judges, as well as a confirmation of charges where the judges decide if there is enough evidence to go to trial after hearing each sides’ arguments. Fourth, in the trial stage, the prosecution tries to prove the guilt of the accused beyond a reasonable doubt, the judges issue a verdict and, if found guilty, a sentence for up to 30 years, or, up to life in special circumstances. Fifth, both sides may appeal the verdict and sentence. Finally, if the verdict is not overturned, the accused serves his or her sentence in a member state that has agreed to enforce ICC sentences. 

The ICC’s Prosecutor’s application for an arrest warrant for Min Aung Hlaing was met with support from several different countries, as well as the Rohingyas and the country’s National Unity Government (which was established by elected lawmakers after the 2021 coup), who urged the ICC judges to swiftly issue the warrant and called on ICC member states to enforce the warrant to “uphold justice and international law.” If the ICC judiciary decides to issue the warrant, however, there are other procedural roadblocks in the way to Min Aung Hlaing’s arrest,  as Myanmar is not an ICC member state, and the acting President rarely travels to states that are members who can serve an arrest warrant. 

 

For further information, please see:

ICC – How the Court Works – last visited 1 Dec. 2024

ICC – Statement of ICC Prosecutor Karim A.A. Khan KC: Application for an arrest warrant in the situation in Bangladesh/Myanmar – 27 Nov. 2024

The New York Times – Who is Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing of Myanmar? – 27 Nov. 2024

The New York Times – Myanmar General’s Purge of Rohingya Lifts His Popular Support – 26 Nov. 2017 

Reuters – Why Myanmar’s travel-shy leader could be difficult to arrest – 28 Nov. 2024

UNHCR – Rohingya Refugee Crisis Explained – 22 Aug. 2024



The European Court of Human Rights’ Judgment Concerning Human Trafficking in Slovakia

By: Emma Bissell

Impunity Watch News Staff Writer

 

Slovakia – The ECHR held that the State of Slovakia violated a woman’s Article 4 rights which protect from slavery and forced labor and required the State to pay 41,000 Euros in damages.

 
The European Court of Human Rights Headquarters, which recently heard B.B. v. Slovakia. Photo Courtesy of the European Court of Human Rights.
  

Applicant B.B., a Slovak national, was initially raised in State care before moving in with a family, for whom she worked as a maid. She eventually was kicked out of the home and found herself homeless. In 2010, it was arranged by an unnamed party, “Y”, for B.B. to go to the United Kingdom with him, work as a prostitute, manage his household all while earning no money. With no other alternative to homelessness, B.B. went willingly. 

Two years later she was taken in by the Salvation Army and returned to Slovakia in 2012 under a program for the support and protection of victims of human trafficking. She was then registered with a state supported charity for human trafficking victims, Charita, until the government ultimately informed the charity that “Y” was charged with pimping instead of human trafficking; the group then had no choice but to release her from their care. 

This misstep did not cease Charita’s efforts to support the applicant as they continued to send information concerning the ordeal in the UK to the Banska Bystrica police. The force noted the human trafficking concerns, but, due to jurisdictional issues, the case was sent to the Humenne police force who treated the conduct as pimping despite investigators from the UK concluding that B.B. had been trafficked. 

In November of 2015, Y was found guilty of pimping and sentenced to one-year in prison, a far shorter sentence than that of a human trafficking conviction. The judgment was appealed to and affirmed by the regional court. In 2017, both the Minister of Justice and B.B. herself launched 3 total complaints each of which were unsuccessful in the Supreme Court. 

The complaints specified that the Slovakian authorities’ failure to treat the offense as one of human trafficking had violated B.B.’s rights under Article 4 of the European Convention on Human Rights. This article, meant to prohibit slavery and forced labor, includes an obligation to carry out an effective investigation into a credible suspicion of human trafficking; the state did not conduct such an investigation. 

Eventually, this case was brought to the European Court of Human Rights in September 2021. The court had two issues to resolve: 

  1. Whether the State was obligated, under Article 4 of the Convention, to carry out an effective investigation into the credible claim of human trafficking. 
  2. Whether the State complied with such an obligation, if it existed. 

The evidence of this case supported the presence of such credible suspicion of human trafficking especially when considering B.B.’s vulnerability and lack of a reasonable alternative. The court held that Article 4 does create an obligation to critically investigate national and transnational trafficking regardless of whether it was a part of an organized scheme or whether it was an independent instance. The court found that the State did not uphold its obligation and thus violated B.B.’s article 4 rights. 

The initial categorization of this conduct as pimping, rather than human trafficking, permitted “Y” to escape liability for violating a fundamental human right. This violation persisted when the State failed to investigate despite sufficient evidence and numerous appeals. The lenient sentencing on this matter undermines deterrence, safety, and effectiveness of both Slovakia’s counter-trafficking efforts and the Convention of Human Rights as a whole. 

Ultimately Slovakia has to pay B.B. 26,000 euros in respect of non-pecuniary damages as well as 15,000 euros with respect to litigation costs and expenses.  

 

For further information, please see: 

ECHR – Judgement in the Case of B.B. v. Slovakia – 24 Oct. 2024

ECHR – Judgment Concerning Slovakia – 24 Oct. 2024

ECHR – Trafficking in Human Beings, Fact Document – 24 Oct. 2024

Equality and Human Rights Commission – Article 4: Freedom from slavery and forced labor – 4 May 2016