ICC complaint filed against world leaders and WHO over COVID-19 News
OSeveno, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
ICC complaint filed against world leaders and WHO over COVID-19

The Canadian Institute for International Law Expertise (CIFILE) has asked the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate individual world leaders and the World Health Organization (WHO) for alleged international crimes relating to COVID-19.

The group states that past disease outbreaks, including SARS, suggest that the Director-General of the WHO should have notified nations well before the initial March 11, 2020, notification date. The complaint claims COVID-19 is a “crime against humanity” under Article 7(k) of the Rome Statute. The complaint further states that the ICC may exercise jurisdiction over international crimes under Articles 12 and 13 where a member state of the ICC has been affected. Specifically the complaint cites Canada as an affected signatory to the Rome Statute.

This is one of several legal actions attempting to resolve liability for the global COVID-19 pandemic. The US state of Missouri filed a suit in late April attempting to hold China responsible for COVID-19. Several legal professionals and scholars have evaluated the success of potential COVID-19 lawsuits including Charles I.M. Lugosi, Dr. Abbas Poorhashemi and Benjamin Davis.

For now it remains to be seen how these suits will progress especially with the current limited operations of various courts.

For more on COVID-19, see our special coverage.

THIS DAY @ LAW

US Supreme Court ruled Indians not US citizens

On November 3, 1884, the US Supreme Court ruled in Elk v. Wilkins that John Elk, an American Indian who had tried to vote in a federal election in Omaha, Nebraska, was not a US citizen entitled to the protection of the 14th and 15th Amendments of the US Constitution. Native Americans became eligible for citizenship in 1887 under the Dawes Act, but only in 1924, under the Indian Citizenship Act, were all Native Americans born in the US made citizens.

Last public execution at Tyburn Gallows in London

On November 3, 1783, the last public execution took place at Tyburn Gallows in London, when John Austin was hanged for highway robbery. From the hanging of William Fitz Osburn in 1196 until Austin's execution, Tyburn served as London's primary location for public executions.

Learn more about the trial of John Austin.