International Legal News - 7 April 2026
- Apr 7
- 3 min read
The following media round up on international and foreign policy issues from around the world for the period of 30 March to 03 April 2026. 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.
The Editors of G37 International News would like to wish our readers a very blessed Eastertide.
3 April 2026
Iran War: More than one-hundred experts sign open letter about violations of international law
The BBC reports that over 100 international law experts have written an and signed an open letter expressing “profound concerns” about what it is said, are actions that amount to serious violations of international law, following the emergence of a new gulf war between the US/Israel, and Iran.
The joint US-Israeli decision to attack Iran, has been cited as a clear breach of the UN Charter, which proscribes nations from acting as aggressors against other states.
The White House has reportedly responded that the US President, Donald Trump was “making the entire region safer”.
For more on this story, see here.
2 April 2026
Investment Arbitration: Syria announces new arbitration centre
It is reported that the Syria Investment Authority has created a new dedicated investment arbitration centre to make the jurisdiction more arbitration-friendly, as the country moves forward with reconstruction following the fall of the Assad regime.
The new centre will be based in Damascus and will be dedicated exclusively to investment disputes as part of its new economic policy.
For more on this story, see here.
1 April 2026
Sanctions: OFAC issues and revokes license for Maduro’s legal fees
The National Law Review has reported that the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) which oversees the US’s sanction regime has issued only to then revoke a specific license that related to the payment of legal fees to defence attorneys retained to represent the former Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro and his spouse.
Mr Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores de Maduro are both on OFAC’s list of Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons (the “SDN List”). They face a trial in Court of the Southern District of New York. The are charged with narcotics and firearm offences, after their extraordinary rendition from Venezuela following the completion of the US Army’s Operation Southern Spear. Counsel for Maduro and Flores have sought to dismiss the indictment on the basis that the revocation violates their Sixth Amendment right to effective assistance of counsel, as well as their Fifth Amendment right to Due Process.
For more on this story, see here.
31 March 2026
Human Rights: Knesset passes bill to use death penalty for terrorism-related offences
The Human Rights NGO Human Rights Watch (“HRW”) which opposes the use of the death penalty worldwide, reports that the Israeli Knesset has passed a new law that would expand use of the death penalty for terrorism related offences. Concerns however have been raised that the new law would be primarily if not exclusively be applied to Palestinians.
Within the civil courts, the bill imposes the death penalty for the deliberate killing of a person with the intention of “negating the existence of the State of Israel”. In the military court system of the Occupied Palestinian Territory, the bill imposes the death penalty for killings classified as acts of terrorism, without prosecutorial request.
An order for life imprisonment is provided for as an exception to the rule. It is reported that Israeli citizens and residents are explicitly excluded from this provision – military jurisdiction applies only to Palestinians.
For more on this story, see here.
30 March 2026
International Criminal Law: ICC Deputy Prosecutor and Nigerian authorities sign memorandum of understanding
The International Criminal Court (“ICC”) reports that the Office of the Prosecutor (the Office) and the Federal Republic of Nigeria concluded a Memorandum of Understanding (“MoU”) deferring to Nigeria’s primary responsibility to address alleged crimes under ICC jurisdiction.
The Memorandum comes after findings by the Office which concluded in 2020 that serious crimes which fall under the ICC’s jurisdiction had been committed in Nigeria, prompting the need for bi-lateral dialogue between the African Country and the International Court.
For more on this story, see here.