International Legal News - 08 September 2025

 The following media round up on international and foreign policy issues from around the world for the period of 1 September to 5 September 2025. Guernica 37 will provide weekly media updates from the International Criminal Court, European Court of Human Rights, United Nations, European Union and other sources. Should you wish to contribute or submit a media summary, opinion piece or blog, please send to Ned Vucijak at nenadv@guernica37.com for consideration.

Guernica 37 International Legal News

5 September 2025

Permanent Court of Arbitration Expands to Singapore

Following from the recent news that ICSID has opened its first new office in Singapore, the Permanent Court of Arbitration (“PCA”) has also expanded its own offices in the South East Asian Island.

In a joint press release by the PCA and the Singaporean Ministry of Law, it was announced by the Minister for Law Mr. Edin Tong SC and the PCA Secretary General H.E. Marcin Czepelak that the PCA would be expanding their Asian-based presence, having been in operation there since 2018. Since entering Singapore, the PCA has reported that it has administered and supported more than 100 cases.

For the full press release, see here.

4 September 2025

US Department of Defence returns to original name

US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order that has directed the Department of Defence to rebrand as the Department of War.

For sake of ameliorating concerns of readers, it is noted that the Department of War was the original name of the US Federal Defence Department. Speaking on the change, President Trump remarked:

"I think it's a much more appropriate name, in light of where the world is right now," […] "it sends a message of victory"

The Department of War, which oversees the US armed services, was established as a cabinet-level agency in 1798 and existed under that name until 1947 when it adopted its current and outgoing name and structure.

For more on this story, see here.

3 September 2025

US lawyers warn clients deported from US to Eswatini face illegal imprisonment

Lawyers to Five men who have been deported by the US to Eswatini, have said that their clients have been denied access to their legal representatives.

The men from Vietnam, Jamaica, Laos, Yemen, and Cuba have criminal convictions, but had served their sentences and been released in the US.

However, they were all, without warning, deported to the African country, formerly known as Swaziland in July.

The news follows reports that NGOs had challenged Eswatini for accepting the deportees on constitutional grounds, and there is an ongoing legal challenge.

For more on this story, see here.

For more on the NGOs legal challenge, see here.

2 September 2025

UK Bill to introduce veto over sentencing guidelines

The UK Government has announced new legislation that will require the Justice Secretary and the Chief Justice to approve guidelines concerning criminal sentencing issued by the Sentencing Council, the body responsible for determining how criminal sentences are calculated and considered by judges in the Courts.

It appears that the provisions are geared towards ending an on-going dispute between the Government and the Sentencing Council in respect to the latter’s current guidance on how pre-sentencing reports are issued and applied in respect to mitigating circumstances.

The outgoing Lord Chancellor, Shabana Mahmood (recently appointed as Home Secretary) took issue with guidance recently proposed by the Sentencing Council that pre-sentence reports should be requested if the offender was from an ethnic minority, raising concerns about the application of the doctrine of equality before the law in legal proceedings.

For more on this story, see here.

For the current iteration of the Bill, see here.

1 September 2025

Analysis: On the Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine

A new post on Opinio Juris, by Kate McInnes, Principal at Arendt Chambers, (Vancouver Canada) examines the legal foundations that underpins the operation of the newly created Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine (STCAU).

The post examines a possible contradiction between Article 1 and Article 23(5) of STCAU’s enabling statute, the former which enables the Tribunal to “investigate, prosecutor and try persons who bear the greatest responsibility for the crime of aggression…” and the latter which precludes the confirmation of an indictment against sitting heads of state, until they leave office or waive immunity.

For the full analysis, see here.