1. Hypothetical: Assume that the following border (U.S. & Mexico) incident takes place: a Palestinian (a native of the West Bank), standing on the Mexican side, shoots across the border and kills a Hungarian on the U.S. side — the Palestinian, who is also wanted for war crimes, had been plotting with the Hungarian to overthrow the government of Turkey. Discuss the following issues giving a reasoned answer. Which country/countries can try and punish the Palestinian and on what grounds of jurisdiction (passive personality, etc.)? If several countries have jurisdiction, how might the conflicts of jurisdiction be resolved? What are the available procedures by which the Palestinian could be transferred from one country to another? (700 word minimum)
b.. Now assume the Palestinian was on a ship in Mexican territorial waters and shot the Hungarian on a ship on “the high seas”. How would this second hypothetical change your answers to the above questions? Give a reasoned answer. (150 words)
Vienna Conv on Diplomatic Relations.pdf
2. The following incidents took place in the remote geographic area of Utopia, where the States of Mordor, Rohan and Gondor had traditionally been fulfilling their international obligations in a good-faith and conscientious fashion. In September 2016, however, there was a revolution in Mordor during which the (somewhat corrupt) old regime was toppled and a new government was set up under the Mordorian People’s Committee. During the very first days of the revolution, Mordorian students took to the streets and, as could reasonably be expected, made their way to the Embassy of Rohan. Although the relations between the two countries had always been strained and although there had been frequent demonstrations at the embassy already prior to the revolution, there was only one Mordorian policeman on duty, ‘guarding’ the Rohanian embassy. And so, it was very easy for a mob of militant students to invade the embassy, destroy its property and take all its personnel hostage. The newly established leader of Mordor, Sauron, approved and endorsed the occupation. He continued to support the hostage-taking as the situation dragged on. The hostages were finally released in March 2017, through the good offices of the Secretary-General of the United Nations. As soon as the freed embassy personnel reached home, the authorities of Rohan discovered that some of them had been brutally tortured by the militant students. Undeterred by the international protests of Rohan, Sauron decorated the students as national heroes. In May 2017 Sauron decided to make his first official visit to the neighboring state of Gondor. As he was parading the streets of Gondor in a manner fitting to a State Guest, the government of Rohan issued an international arrest warrant and requested for his extradition. Sauron invoked his immunity as a Head of State. Soon thereafter, Mordor launched a complaint before the International Court of Justice that the arrest warrant had been a violation of the immunities that Heads of State enjoy under international law. While Rohan has accepted the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice, Mordor has not. They are both parties to the United Nations Charter as well as to the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. Discuss the above scenario answering the questions below in one essay. (750 word minimum). The Vienna treaty is attached.
a. In what way(s), if any, did the State of Mordor bear international responsibility for the students’ actions? b. What do ‘good offices’ mean? c. The prohibition of torture is said to be a norm jus cogens — what is a norm jus cogens? d. Could Sauron invoke his immunity as a Head of State? What are the arguments for and against?e. Would the International Court of Justice have jurisdiction to address Mordor’s complaint? Discuss why or why not.
3. There is no specific case, per se, concerning the Spratly Islands. The question at hand is this: “To whom do the Spratly Islands belong?” To successfully answer this question, you need to weigh the validity of the claims of each of the five states involved and reach a final decision. The five states are the People’s Republic of China, the Republic of China, Malaysia, Vietnam, and the Philippines. The link above goes to the CIA World Factbook section on the Spratly Islands
On what basis does each country have a claim on the Spratlys. There may be no right answer – just weigh the different factors, using the links at the CIA site and any outside sources for and against the parties involved.
Use map for questions.
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