On August 16, 2018, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) issued two resolutions granting precautionary measures to migrant children affected by the Trump administration’s recent family separation policy.[1] The IACHR acknowledged that the United States government is primarily responsible for “protecting the human rights of the persons under its jurisdiction”[2] due to the principle of complementarity. Nevertheless, the Commission felt that the resolutions were necessary because the separated children were at risk of losing their “rights to family life and personal integrity as well as the right to identity.”[3] In order to remedy this crisis, the IACHR asked the United States to put measures in place to protect these rights, guarantee the reunification of the separated families and children, and provide communication between the separated children and their families until they can be reunified. The Commission further requested that the administration halt the separation policy as well as any immigration policy that seeks to separate children from their families.

On September 17, 2018 Homeland Security Special Investigations agents arrested Dennis Wilfredo Pacheco-Zambrano in San Angelo, Texas following a tip from the ICE Human Rights Violators and War Crimes Center.  Zambrano, now 48, is wanted in Peru for his role as Peruvian Army Second Sergeant with the “Escorpio” patrol involved in the 1991 Santa Barbara Massacre.

On October 3, 2018, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued an order, granting provisional measures requested by Iran in its dispute over the reimposition by the Trump Administration of sanctions against Iran.

On October 1, 2018, the Bamberg state court in Germany said it had approved the European arrest warrant for Assadollah Assadi, an Iranian diplomat in Vienna, Austria, to stand charges in Belgium on suspicion of participating in a foiled plot to bomb an Iranian opposition rally on June 30 near Paris.

A grand jury in the Western District of Pennsylvania has indicted seven Russian officials for their role in hacking, fraud, and influence operations during the 2016 election, the Department of Justice announced on Thursday, October 4, 2018. The defendants, who are all Russian intelligence officers, are Aleksei Sergeyevich Morenets, 41, Evgenii Mikhaylovich Serebriakov, 37, Ivan Sergeyevich Yermakov, 32, Artem Andreyevich Malyshev, 30, Dmitriy Sergeyevich Badin, 27, Oleg Mikhaylovich Sotnikov, 46, and Alexey Valerevich Minin, 46.

On September 27, 2018, Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. (Petrobras), a Brazilian state-owned and state-controlled energy company, entered into agreements with U.S. and Brazilian authorities and agreed to pay a combined total of $853.2 million in penalties to resolve the U.S. government’s investigation into violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) in relation with Petrobras’s role in facilitating payments to politicians and political parties in Brazil, as well as a related Brazilian investigation. The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia is the venue for the case.

On December 9, 2018, the European Commission issued a paper on strengthening the European Union framework for prudential and anti-money laundering supervision for financial institutions.

On September 29, 2018, U.S. District Court Judge Emmet G. Sullivan issued an order and memorandum opinion, finding that the Congressional Democrats have standing to sue President Donald Trump for allegedly violating the Foreign Emoluments Clause. Judge Sullivan deferred ruling on the remaining arguments in the motion to dismiss.

On June 28, 2018, the UK Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament (ISC) published two reportson the actions of the British security and intelligence agencies in relation to the handling of detainees overseas and rendition.

On July 6, 2018, Mexican authorities extradited Sinaloa Cartel leader Damaso Lopez Nuñez, also known as “El Licenciado,” to the United States where he will face an indictment in the U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Virginia.