The International Enforcement Law Reporter is a monthly print and online journal covering news and trends in international enforcement law.
Since September 1985, the International Enforcement Law Reporter has analyzed the premier developments in both the substantive and procedural aspects of international enforcement law. Read by practitioners, academics, and politicians, the IELR is a valuable guide to the difficult and dynamic field of international law.
On February 16, 2023, the European Parliament adopted two resolutions on the issue of transparency and integrity in EU decision-making. MEPs are asking for more reforms, building on the ones announced by the Conference of Presidents, and demand an EU’s independent ethics body be set up swiftly.
On January 31, 2023, the Court of Justice of the European Union, Grand Chamber, (the Court or CJEU) delivered a judgment in a politically sensitive case concerning the surrender of Catalan exile Lluís Puig Gordi, former Catalan Minister of Culture currently in Belgium since October 2017.[1]
* Professor Plachta specializes in criminal law and international criminal law. He has authored numerous publication on a wide range of problems concerning law enforcement and international cooperation in criminal matters. He currently teaches criminal law and European criminal law at the University of Security in Poznan, Poland.
[1] Dani Rovirosa and Laura Zornoza, Spain’s bid to return Catalan politicians boosted by EU Court judgement, EURACTIV, February 1, 2023 https://www.euractiv.com/section/politics/news/spains-bid-to-return-exiled-catalan-politicians-boosted-by-eu-court-judgement.
On February 16, 2023, the United States Department of Justice announced that it is sharing approximately $954,807 with the government of the Federal republic of Nigeria pursuant to an agreement between the governments to share assets the U.S. forfeited and are traceable to the corruption of the former Governor of the State of Bayelsa in Nigeria, Diepreye Solomon Peter Alamieyeseigha (DSP).[1]
[1] U.S. Department of Justice, United States to Repatriate Nearly $1 Million to Federal Republic of Nigeria, Press Rel. 23-183, Feb. 16, 2023.
On December 30, 2022, the National People’s Congress of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) published the amended Wildlife Protection Law (WPL) in its final form. At least two environmental non-governmental organizations have criticized the amended WPL as not sufficiently protecting wildlife.
On February 14, 2023, U.S. federal law enforcement arrested three U.S. citizens and a legal permanent resident living in Florida pursuant to criminal complaints on charges concerning their participation in activities leading to the July 7, 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse of Haiti. After the arrests, a grand jury in Miami returned a third superseding indictment charging these four individuals, along with seven others already detained and charged in the U.S. for their alleged roles in the conspiracy.[1]
On January 31, 2023, United States authorities transferred from detention in Haiti four men to face criminal charges in the U.S. District Court in the Southern District of Florida concerning their alleged involvement in the assassination of former Haitian President Jovenel Moïse on July 7, 2021.[1]
[1] U.S. Department of Justice, Additional Four Charged in Connection with Plot to Kill Haitian President, Press Rel. 23-123, Jan. 31, 2023.
On February 8, 2023, Europol and Eurojust announced the successful dismantling of an international sex-trafficking ring that held hundreds of Chinese women held through debt bondage across Europe. Law enforcement authorities from five European Union countries participated in the law enforcement operation.[1]
At the end of January, the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) issued the 4th Mutual Evaluation Report on Suriname. The 426-page report (MER) shows many gaps remain and much work must be done to fill the void.
On January 20th, 2023, the Bolivian government was found responsible for the forced disappearance of Juan Carlos Flores Bedregal and found in violation of human rights laws for withholding information from the victim’s family.[1] The Inter-American Court of Human Rights (I/A Court H.R.) ordered Bolivia to open military archives containing information on Bedregal’s location and disappearance.[2]
[1] Inter-American Court of Human Rights, Bolivia is Responsible for the Forced Disappearance of Juan Carlos Flores Bedregal and the Lack of Judicial Guarantees in the Investigation of Events, Press Rel. Jan. 26, 2023.
[2] Id.
