The International Enforcement Law Reporter

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.

Swiss Museums Return Looted Art to Nigeria amidst a Bilateral Agreement

Friday, July 10, 2026
Author: 
Bruce Zagaris
Volume: 
42
Issue: 
8
Abstract: 
                On June 29, 2026, Swiss authorities returned 18 stolen artifacts stolen to Nigeria in a ceremony at the National Museum in Lagos.  The handover occurred as part of a bilateral cooperation agreement between the two countries, which has the purpose of protecting cultural heritage and redressing historical injustice. The ceremony signaled the first measure to implement the agreement signed in March 2026, in which the Swiss government agreed to transfer ownership of 28 artifacts to Nigeria.  The 18 pieces are part of the country’s Benin Bronzes, which are hundreds of sculptures and plaques mostly made of metal and ivory that adorned the royal palace of the Kingdom of Benin, now the Southern Nigerian Edo state.  The pieces served political and religious functions. 

UN Report Claims Israel’s Killing of Palestinian Children is Deliberate and Amounts to Genocide

Friday, July 10, 2026
Author: 
Dimitris Konstantopoulos
Volume: 
42
Issue: 
8
Abstract: 

               A June 2026 report from the United Nations (UN) claims that the Israeli military continues to deliberately kill children in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, despite a late 2025 truce.  The UN alleges that Israeli crimes against Palestinian children in both the West Bank and Gaza meet the threshold for genocide.  The UN supports their controversial accusation by claiming that the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) specifically targeted young Palestinian boys, often justifying their actions with the notion that the boys are “future terrorists.”  In one instance, a young child was shot in the head while leaving his home to play outside with his friends.  Similarly, the UN documented an egregious case of IDF soldiers shooting a boy and then gathering around his body as he slowly bled to death.  The soldiers prevented emergency services from arriving on the scene and even fired upon the boy’s mother as she tried to save her dying son.  The Israeli military and the Israeli delegation to the UN strongly deny all accusations of genocide and the systematic killing of children, referring to the UN report and other similar investigative reporting as libel. 

 

Austrian Court Finds Former Syrian Officials Guilty of Torture

Friday, July 10, 2026
Author: 
Bruce Zagaris
Volume: 
42
Issue: 
8
Abstract: 

                On July 6, 2026, a court in Vienna, Austria found two former Syrian officials guilty of crimes against humanity committed against victims during the Arab Spring uprising.  The court sentenced Khaled al-Halabi, a former intelligence commander during the Bashar al-Assad regime, and Musab Abu Rukbah, a former police commander, to eight years in prison for crimes perpetrated against detainees during the democracy protests in the city of Raqqa between 2011 and 2013.

DRC Files case against Rwanda

Friday, July 10, 2026
Author: 
Gavin Neff
Volume: 
42
Issue: 
8
Abstract: 

              The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) filed an application with the International Court of Justice (ICJ), against Rwanda for its alleged abuses in the country’s east.  The DRC accused Rwanda of bearing responsibility for nearly three decades of violence and unrest in the country’s east, including massacres, displacement and other atrocities. The application is focused on “abuses attributable to Rwanda from 1996 to the present day.”

U.S. Woman Pleads Guilty to Helping Boyfriend’s Fugitivity from U.S. Sentencing

Friday, July 10, 2026
Author: 
Bruce Zagaris
Volume: 
42
Issue: 
8
Abstract: 

                On June 29, 2026, a Malibu woman pleaded guilty to assisting her boyfriend convicted of fraud hide from federal law enforcement.  He fled from Southern California to Mexico and then Germany, escaping sentencing in United States District Court in Los Angeles.  Lucinda Jane Weist Manera, 63, a.k.a. “Lucy Weist,” pleaded guilty to one felony count of serving as an accessory after the fact.

FATF Plenary Concludes Transition between Mexican and U.K Presidency

Friday, July 10, 2026
Author: 
Bruce Zagaris
Volume: 
42
Issue: 
8
Abstract: 

                On June 19, 2026, delegates from more the 200 jurisdictions and observers attended the sixth and final Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Plenary under the Mexican Presidency of Elisa de Ana Madrazo concluded, with various initiatives to strengthen  the fight against illicit finance.  The FATF approved a series of new publications and initiatives to assist jurisdictions stay alert to emerging risks and criminal methods, including the abuse of technological innovations, and increase mitigation measures, especially through strong coordination with the private sector.

Council of Europe Increases International Cooperation on Several Issues

Friday, July 10, 2026
Author: 
Michael Plachta
Volume: 
42
Issue: 
8
Abstract: 

               The Council of Europe’s (CoE) European Committee on Crime Problems (CDPC) that held its 89th plenary session on June 9-11, 2026 had two key problems on its agenda (among other items): foreign information manipulation and interference, including disinformation (FIMI) and international cooperation relating to core international crimes.

Jamaica and U.S. Conclude MOU on Third Country Deportees

Thursday, July 2, 2026
Author: 
Bruce Zagaris
Volume: 
42
Issue: 
8
Abstract: 

                On June 17, 2026, Dr. Horace Chang, the Security Minister and Deputy Prime Minister of Jamaica, said in a press conference Jamaica and the United States have concluded a Memorandum of Understanding for Jamaica to receive third-country deportees.  According to Chang, the U.S. and Jamaica still need to determine “operational procedures” before Jamaica starts accepting migrants.  Dr. Chang stated that the individuals who may be transferred will only transit through Jamaica to a third country, including return to their home countries.  Jamaica may receive up to 25 deportees every two weeks.

 

When Compliance Becomes Dangerous, Part II: Retaliatory Deployment, Forced Criminality, and the Governance Failures Behind High-Risk Compliance Work

Thursday, July 2, 2026
Author: 
Adriana Sanford
Volume: 
42
Issue: 
8
Abstract: 

               Part I of this analysis examined the foundational enforcement gap arising when multinational enterprises deploy legal, audit, compliance, finance, security, and investigative personnel into high-risk jurisdictions without an integrated framework connecting corporate duty of care, travel-risk governance, trafficking prevention, occupational safety, human rights due diligence, and transnational criminal enforcement.

               Part II turns from legal architecture to governance failure. Anti-corruption investigations, forced criminality, cyber-enabled trafficking, whistleblower retaliation, organized crime, human rights due diligence, evidence preservation, and legal ethics increasingly overlap. The compliance professional sent abroad may  be a potential witness, internal investigator, custodian of evidence, protected reporter, or target of intimidation.  The question is whether the company has a governance system capable of protecting the people whose independence, judgment, documentation, and professional courage make enforcement possible.

               The more difficult question is whether foreseeable danger, inadequate mitigation, or retaliatory deployment may later become evidence of deficient internal controls, weak compliance culture, negligent supervision, obstruction, or failure to preserve evidence. In that sense, high-risk deployment is not only an operational concern. It may become part of the record in a cross-border investigation, shareholder dispute, employment claim, whistleblower proceeding, anti-corruption matter, or human rights due diligence review.

When AI Fails: Europe’s Expanding Liability Architecture

Thursday, July 2, 2026
Author: 
Adriana Sanford
Volume: 
42
Issue: 
8
Abstract: 

                Artificial intelligence failures rarely remain confined to their technical origin. In the European Union (EU), an AI-related malfunction, cybersecurity vulnerability, platform-amplification risk, product-safety concern, or post-market monitoring deficiency may quickly move beyond internal remediation into regulatory reporting, supervisory review, market surveillance, contractual dispute, and civil liability. For multinational enterprises, this downstream dimension of European AI enforcement is especially consequential. An AI system may satisfy AI-specific requirements and nevertheless create legal exposure once deployed within a broader commercial, technological, and regulatory environment. Under the European model, what begins as a technical defect, operational disruption, or post-deployment failure may become a multi-forum enforcement matter involving regulators, courts, contractual counterparties, and internal governance bodies.

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