On April 5, 2019, a World Trade Organization (WTO) panel (Panel) issued its decision in the dispute Russia – Measures Concerning Traffic in Transit. This decision is notable because it is the first instance in which a WTO panel has been called on to interpret the national security provision of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT 1994), Article XXI.

On May 30, 2019, the Agreement Establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) entered into force for the twenty-four countries that had deposited their instruments of ratification. When the remaining thirty-one member states of the African Union ratify it, the AfCFTA will cover a market of 1.2 billion people and a gross domestic product (GDP) of $2.5 trillion. That would make it the world's largest trade agreement since the World Trade Organization (WTO).

The “Final Agreement for the Settlement of the Differences as Described in the United Nations Security Council Resolutions 817 (1993) and 845 (1993), the Termination of the Interim Accord of 1995, and the Establishment of a Strategic Partnership Between the Parties,” most commonly known as the Prespa Agreement, is the final settlement of an intricate dispute between Greece and (now officially) North Macedonia over the former Yugoslav Republic's name, which has troubled the relations between the two states for almost three decades. Following a carefully choreographed process, the Prespa Agreement (Agreement) entered into force on February 12, 2019. This Note provides a brief overview of the background of the dispute and the main provisions of the Agreement.

On March 6, 2018, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) found in Slowakische Republik (Slovak Republic) v. Achmea B.V. that the arbitration agreement contained in the 1991 Agreement on Encouragement and Reciprocal Protection of Investments between the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Czech and Slovak Federative Republic (BIT) had an adverse effect on the autonomy of EU law and, thus, was incompatible with EU law. This important decision has ignited a debate on the compatibility of other arbitration agreements in both intra-EU bilateral investment treaties (intra-EU BITs) and in the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) with EU law.

On April 10, 2019, the U.K. Supreme Court (UKSC) handed down judgment in the case of Vedanta Resources PLC and Another (Appellants) v. Lungowe and Others (Respondents). The case raises important issues regarding jurisdiction and the potential for a duty of care to be imposed on a parent company in respect of harm caused by its subsidiary. The UKSC has also made clear that a duty of care could be imposed in a nonequity relationship such as in relation to a company's supply chain.

On April 12, 2019, Pre-Trial Chamber II of the International Criminal Court (ICC) unanimously rejected the Prosecutor's request to open an investigation into alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes in Afghanistan, determining that “an investigation into the situation in Afghanistan at this stage would not serve the interests of justice.” The Prosecution's request for an investigation concerns potential crimes that have taken place in the context of the armed conflict currently taking place in Afghanistan, including crimes against humanity by the Taliban and their affiliated Haqqani Network; war crimes by the Afghan National Security Forces; and war crimes by U.S. armed forces in Afghanistan, as well as the CIA in secret detention facilities between 2003–2004. The Chamber found that the request establishes a reasonable basis to believe that crimes under the jurisdiction of the ICC have been committed in Afghanistan and that the requirements of gravity and complementarity have been met. However, the Chamber determined that opening an investigation would not serve the interests of justice due to the elapsed time since opening the preliminary examination, the political changes that have taken place in Afghanistan since then, the lack of cooperation with Afghanistan authorities concerning the investigation, and the need for the Court to prioritize matters with a better chance of success.