On December 21, 2011, the Court of Justice of the European Union (‘‘ECJ’’) issued a long-awaited judgment in a reference for preliminary ruling in proceedings brought by the Air Transport Association of America, American Airlines, Inc., Continental Airlines, Inc., and United Airlines, Inc. (‘‘ATA and others’’) against the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The judgment intends to clarify the highly contentious issue of whether the application of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (‘‘EU ETS’’) to aviation activities under the Directive 2008/101/EC is compatible with international law, and whether it violates the sovereignty of other states or the freedom of the high seas.

On July 21, 2011, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (‘‘IACHR’’ or the ‘‘Commission’’) issued a landmark decision finding that the United States had breached its international legal obligations to exercise due diligence to protect women from domestic violence. The decision holds profound ramifications for states’ responsibility to protect individuals from harm imposed by private actors and to protect women and girl-children from domestic violence.

On February 3, 2012, the International Court of Justice (‘‘ICJ’’ or ‘‘Court’’) issued a widely-anticipated judgment in a dispute over state immunity between Italy and Germany. The Court found that Italy violated its international law obligation to respect the jurisdictional immunity of the German state by: (i) allowing individuals to bring civil claims against Germany in Italian courts for violations of international humanitarian law committed by the German Reich between 1943 and 1945; (ii) declaring Greek judgments finding similar international law violations by Germany enforceable in Italy; and (iii) taking measures of constraint against public and non-commercial property owned by Germany in Italy. The Court accordingly found that Italy must ensure that the decisions of its courts infringing upon Germany’s immunity cease to have effect.

The Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (‘‘Convention’’) joins a small number of treaties imposing specific obligations on member states to prevent and address violence against women. The Convention is notable both for its encapsulation of best practices in combating violence against women and for its confirmation that all forms of violence against women, including domestic violence, are human rights violations for which states are responsible.

In November 2011, Palestine was admitted to the United Nations Education, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (‘‘UNESCO’’), a specialized agency of the United Nations, as a Member State. Since that time, Palestine has become a party to several UNESCO treaties.

Because of the unique position that Hong Kong occupies in China and its separate legal system based on the common law, it is a well-established policy of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (‘‘HKSAR’’) Government to develop and enhance Hong Kong’s status as a major dispute resolution centre in the Asia Pacific region. One significant initiative in this regard is the recent introduction of a new Arbitration Ordinance to further improve the legal environment for arbitration in Hong Kong.

On February 22, 2011, the Energy Ministers and representatives of eighty-six countries, including energy producers, consumers, and transit countries, met in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia for an Extraordinary Ministerial Meeting of the International Energy Forum (‘‘IEF’’) where they approved and signed a new charter for the IEF (‘‘IEF Charter’’). The IEF Charter creates an ‘‘enhanced IEF framework to sustain and reinforce the commitment of producer and consumer states to the informal dialogue’’ promoted through the IEF process.