Summary

Description

The Office of the Legal Adviser publishes the annual Digest of United States Practice in International Law to provide the public with a historical record of the views and practice of the Government of the United States in public and private international law. "In his introduction to the 2004 volume, then Legal Adviser John B. Bellinger, III, stated in part: "Significant legal issues arose throughout 2004 related to the response to international terrorism, compliance with international human rights and humanitarian law, and arms control and nonproliferation throughout the world, including Iraq and Afghanistan, Israel, Gaza and the West Bank, North Korea, Iran, Libya and Sudan. To provide but a few examples, the United States entered into the first agreements under the Proliferation Security Initiative, Secretary Powell testified to the commission of genocide in Darfur, and the U.S. Supreme Court issued two decisions relating to detention of enemy combatants. "The United States also continued to be actively engaged, through negotiation of treaties, arbitrations, diplomatic initiatives, and domestic litigation, in legal issues related to global challenges including international criminal law, the law of the sea, environment, trade and investment, consular functions, privileges and immunities, international claims and state responsibility, commercial and family law, treaty practice, cultural property, and sanctions. In 2004, among other things, the United States undertook to implement a judgment of the International Court of Justice in Avena and other Mexican Nationals (Mexico v. United States) concerning U.S. violations of Article 36 of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, and the U.S. Supreme Court issued opinions concerning retroactivity of the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act and international law violations providing a cause of action under the Alien Tort Statute. . . ."