On December 5, 2017, the Council of Europe's Committee of Ministers (Committee) issued an interim resolution concerning the European Court of Human Rights case of Ilgar Mammadov v. Azerbaijan. In this resolution, the Committee, for the first time ever, launched infringement proceedings against a member state of the European Convention of Human Rights (Convention).

December 16, 2015, saw the International Court of Justice (ICJ or the Court) render final judgment in the joined cases of Certain Activities Carried Out by Nicaragua in the Border Area (Costa Rica v. Nicaragua) (Border Area) and Construction of a Road in Costa Rica Along the San Juan River (Nicaragua v. Costa Rica) (Road). Together, these cases represented an opportunity for the Court to advance and clarify its thinking on the role of environmental impact assessments (EIA) in general international law, as first introduced in its decision in Pulp Mills on the River Uruguay (Argentina v. Uruguay) (Pulp Mills), with both Costa Rica (in Border Area) and Nicaragua (in Road) alleging that the other had failed to carry out an EIA with respect to certain, potentially environmentally harmful, activities. They also raised some interesting questions regarding remedies for the breach of provisional measures awarded under Article 41 of the ICJ Statute.

On July 31, 2014, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) rendered its final decision on a claim brought by the liquidated Russian company OAO Neftyanaya Kompaniya Yukos (Yukos) against the Russian Federation (Russia), a decision that is the last in a series of three decisions in this case relating respectively to the admissibility of the application, the merits, and just satisfaction.

A couple weeks prior to the ECtHR’s decision, three arbitral tribunals established under the auspices of the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) and functioning under the UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules had issued their final awards based on claims brought by three former shareholders of Yukos under the Energy Charter Treaty. The dispute, while brought by the shareholders of Yukos, in essence is the same as the one brought by Yukos against Russia before the European Court of Human Rights.

On February 15, 1997, 69 countries agreed to provide market access to some or all of their basic telecommunications sectors. These 69 countries represent over 90% of the world's basic telecommunications revenues. This achievement came after two unsuccessful attempts to negotiate a multi-lateral agreement on basic telecommunications under the auspices of the World Trade Organization (“WTO”). It was an achievement warmly welcomed by consumers and suppliers of basic telecommunications services.