On February 7, 2022, a federal indictment unsealed in the United States District Court in the Northern District of Illinois charges Hytera Communications Corporation Ltd. (Hytera), a company based in Shenzhen, P.R.C., with conspiracy to steal trade secrets.  The indictment alleges that Hytera conspired with former employees of Motorola Solutions Inc. to steal digital mobile radio (DMR) technology developed by Motorola.[1]  The indictment has redacted all the names of the defendants, except Hytera.[2]

In December 2021, the Swiss Federal Council posted the final Ordinance specifying new due diligence requirements in an endeavor to avoid the use of child labor and conflict minerals in the Swiss supply chain.  The Ordinance entered into force on January 1, 2022 and Swiss businesses will need to begin filing on January 1, 2023. 

In November 2021, the South African Anti-Money Laundering Integrated Task Force (Samlit), a private-public partnership established by the Financial Intelligence Center, published a report on the illicit financial flows associated with international wildlife trafficking (IWT).[1]  The report is the first of its kind.

On January 19, 2022, the Royal United Services Institute for Defense and Security Studies (RUSI)  published the Whitehall Report on Illegal Wildlife Trade and Illicit Finance in the UK.  It is the first independent study to address the UK’s exposure and response to IWT-linked illicit finance.

On January 31^st, 2022, former Kansas school teacher and resident, Allison Elizabeth Fluke-Ekren, made her first court appearance in Alexandria, Virginia after being charged with plotting multiple bomb attacks in the United States and training an all-female battalion for the Islamic State (ISIS), as well as her involvement in another terror group in Libya.[1]

At its 6^th sitting held on January 26, 2022, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) adopted Resolution 2423 (2022) on poisoning of Alexei Navalny in January 2021. The debate and the Resolution were based on a Report prepared by the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights.^[1]

The term ‘autonomous sanctions’ denotes unilateral measures of a punitive nature (sanctions), which are ordered by a state against third states, and which target the governments or the regimes in power and/or individuals and companies located / registered in such third states. Moreover, ‘autonomous’ signifies that these measures are applied irrespectively of any punitive measures against the same third states ordered by the Security Council (SC) of the United Nations (UN) in pursuance of its powers and under the authority prescribed in Chapter VII of the UN Charter. It follows that they are freestanding punitive measures, independent of UNSC punitive action. Indeed, they may be inflicted even if, for whatever reason, the UNSC has not taken, or has been prevented from ordering sanctions against recalcitrant states, their governments and officials and their concomitant organizations, etc.

On January 24, 2022, the High Court in London ruled that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange can appeal to the United Kingdom’s Supreme Court against extradition to the United States.  The U.S. has requested his extradition on 18 federal counts – 17 of espionage and one of computer misuse – in the U.S. with respect to WikiLeaks’ publication of thousands of leaked documents concerning the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.[1]

On November 18, 2021, the European Commission submitted to the European Parliament and the European Council a report assessing the added value of the Directive (EU) 2017/541 with regard to combating terrorism.[1]

On January 20, 2022, Executive Director of the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Ms. Ghada Fathi Wali commended Nigeria for successfully prosecuting 10 pirates, a first for the continent of Africa.  A federal judge in Lagos, Nigeria handed each man a 12-year prison sentence for unlawfully boarding a Chinese fishing vessel and kidnapping the crew.[1]