ICJ (Armenia v Azerbaijan)
On 16 September 2021, Armenia initiated proceedings against Azerbaijan before the International Court of Justice over violations of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (“CERD”) by Azerbaijani authorities. On 23 September 2021, Azerbaijan commenced its own proceedings under the same basis, before the Court against Armenia.
Through its application, Armenia requested the Court to take provisional measures “as a matter of extreme urgency” in order to “protect and preserve Armenia’s rights and the rights of Armenians from further harm, and to prevent the aggravation or extension of this dispute”.
Armenia contended that individuals of Armenian ethnic or national origin residing in Azerbaijan have been subject to systemic discrimination, torture, mass killings and other abuses by the government of Azerbaijan. These practices allegedly commenced in September 2020, during the recent Nagorno-Karabakh armed conflict, and continued even after the end of hostilities, following a ceasefire which came into effect on 10 November 2020.
On 7 December 2021, the Court partially accepted Armenia’s request and ordered Azerbaijan to take all necessary measures to prevent the incitement and promotion of racial hatred and discrimination; protect all persons captured in the Nagorno-Karabakh armed conflict from violence and bodily harm; and prevent and punish acts of vandalism against Armenian cultural heritage. It also ordered both countries to refrain from aggravating the dispute. Notably, however, the Court denied Armenia’s request to direct Azerbaijan to ensure the preservation of evidence related to allegations of acts within the scope of CERD.
UK-Australia Free Trade Agreement
On 16 December 2021, the United Kingdom signed an historic trade agreement with the Commonwealth of Australia, the first from ‘scratch’ UK trade deal since it left the EU. The UK-Australia Free Trade Agreement is Australia’s second-largest trade treaty with another country and gives UK firms guaranteed access to bid for an additional £10 billion worth of Australian public sector contracts per year; allows young people to work and travel in Australia for up to three years at a time, removing previous visa conditions; and removes tariffs on all UK exports.
According to the UK Government, this deal also represents a gateway into the fast-growing Indo-Pacific region and will boost its bid to join Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), one of the largest free trade areas in the world. However, UK farmers have expressed concern that they could be undercut by cheap imports.
