Transnational Bodies

IMF Warns of Dire Impact of UK Exit from EU

April 14, 2016

British euroskeptics have criticized the intervention of the International Monetary Fund ("IMF") in the UK's debate over leaving the EU in the IMF's most recent World Economic Outlook, which warns that such a move would cause "severe regional and global damage by disrupting established trading relationships."
OSCE Official Expresses Concern on Website Shutdown

April 12, 2016

The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe's ("OSCE") Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatović has announced she is assessing the speech ramifications involved in the shutdown of a Russia-owned news portal in Lithuania in response to a letter from the Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs questioning the legality of the portal.
Schaefer, Rosenzweig Call for US Caution on ICANN Transition

April 08, 2016

Brett Schaefer and Paul Rosenzweig of the Heritage Foundation write that, due to serious concerns with language in a proposal by a working group seeking to transfer the monitoring of ICANN, a body charged with coordinating internet functions, to a multistakeholder entity, the US should maintain stewardship of ICANN until it is certain that the new system works.
OSCE Trains Officials on Human Rights of Migrants

April 07, 2016

The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe ("OSCE") recently held a training course in Armenia on how OSCE countries must manage migration in a way that corresponds with their obligations under international human rights law.
India May Set Precedent with WTO Challenge to US Visa Fee

April 04, 2016

Edward Alden, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, writes that India's challenge under the rules of the World Trade Organization ("WTO") to a fee instituted under a US visa program is unprecedented and could have lasting effects on the US's negotiation of binding migration rules in trade agreements.
India Files WTO Complaint over US Visa Changes

March 10, 2016

India has filed a complaint with the World Trade Organization ("WTO") arguing that the US violated its commitments under the General Agreement on Trade in Services treaty by increasing fees on various applicants for temporary working visas in the country.
Academic Criticizes CETA Investment Court Proposal

March 09, 2016

Professor David Schneiderman of the University of Toronto writes that the international investment court proposed as part of the EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement ("CETA") does little more than the investor-state dispute settlement system, present in many trade deals, to prevent arbitration that is overly friendly to foreign investors.
Proposed Canada-EU Trade Deal Constructs Investor Court

March 02, 2016

Politico reports that negotiators of the Canada-EU Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement have agreed to replace a provision creating an investor-state dispute settlement system, a common feature in modern trade agreements, with a permanent arbitration court for investors that EU leaders hope will serve as a tribunal for all of the bloc's global trade deals.
US-EU Deal Creates Ombudsperson for Data Complaints

March 02, 2016

Reuters reports that a deal struck between the US and the EU to replace the previous Safe Harbor framework on transatlantic data transfers creates an Ombudsperson at the US State Department who handles European complaints on all types of data transfers between the parties and organizes an "alternative dispute resolution mechanism" to solve grievances.
WEF Article Seeks Way Forward for Global Governance

February 29, 2016

Two staff members at the World Economic Forum ("WEF") write on the WEF website that global governance systems must be adaptable and pragmatic to survive in the current world and that actors must establish a kind of governance that incentivizes long-term over short-term interests.