JURIST - Paper Chase: Saturday, July 10, 2010

[JURIST] EU Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger [official website] indicated Saturday that the EU will consider limiting the depth of offshore deepwater oil drilling [JURIST news archive] or placing a temporary moratorium on deepwater drilling following the recent BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill [BBC backgrounder; JURIST news archive] in the Gulf of Mexico. He also suggested that the EU will discuss if it needs another agency to oversee offshore drilling, or if the European Maritime Safety Agency [official website] can sufficiently regulate deepwater drilling operations. Oettinger first called for a moratorium on new deepwater drilling [statement] earlier this week when presenting a report on the risk of oil exploration to the European Parliament [official website]. In his speech Oettinger stated:

[G]iven the current circumstances, any responsible Government would at present practically freeze new permits for drilling with extreme parameters and conditions. This can mean de facto a moratorium on new drills until the causes of the accident are known and corrective measures are taken for such frontier operations as the ones carried out by the Deepwater Horizon.

He also called on EU member states to enforce regulations that are currently in place and to authorize new regulations where necessary in order to prevent any future oil spills. Oettinger is scheduled to meet [Reuters report] with both oil company executives and a panel of regulatory supervisors on Wednesday to discuss potential regulations and changes in the EU deepwater drilling protocol.

The EU is not the only governing body considering new drilling regulations in light of the BP oil spill. In May, the Obama administration issued a six-month moratorium on deepwater drilling [JURIST report] in US coastal waters. Last month, a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction [JURIST report] against the moratorium on the basis that the ban caused irreparable harm to both the plaintiffs and the public, and that Obama administration considered no alternatives when enacting the broad regulation. The US Department of Justice (DOJ) [official website] requested that a federal appeals court stay the preliminary injunction while they appeal the lower court's ruling, but the court of appeals denied the DOJ's request [JURIST reports] for a stay of the injunction. In June, the UK announced that the government will increase inspection [press release; JURIST report] of North Sea oil rigs and monitoring of offshore compliance and safety standards in response to the BP oil spill. The UK government also established the Oil Spill Prevention and Response Advisory Group [official website] to conduct a review of the country's ability to prevent and respond to oil spills.

[JURIST] UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon [official profile] on Friday called on the Sri Lankan government [press release] to improve conditions around the body's offices in Columbo, following several days of protests [JURIST report] by pro-government demonstrators. The protesters have been demanding the UN end plans to have an international panel [JURIST report] investigate allegations of human rights abuses during the last months of the Sri Lankan civil war [JURIST news archive]. In his statement, Ban extolled the virtues of the panel, including the promotion and protection of human rights in Sri Lanka, and called for a normalization of conditions so the UN can continue its work in the nation. The panel, tasked with investigating alleged wartime abuses of civilians by both the Sri Lankan government and the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) [JURIST news archive], has been rejected by the Sri Lankan government, which indicated that the panel will not be granted visas [JURIST reports] to allow its members to enter the country. Earlier this week, Ban recalled his envoy [UPI report] from the country because of the protests.

Sri Lanka has faced numerous allegations of human rights violations originating from incidents that took place during the final months of its 30-year civil war. In May, Human Rights Watch [advocacy website] announced it had acquired new evidence [JURIST report] supporting allegations of war crimes. Also in May, the International Crisis Group [official website] accused Sri Lankan security forces of war crimes [JURIST report], claiming that the violence of the war escalated in January 2009, leaving thousands more dead than projected by the UN. In March, Ban reaffirmed his plan to set up a UN panel [JURIST report] to investigate allegations of human rights violations during the civil war.

[JURIST] The Kyrgyzstan government announced Friday that it has opened more than 1,000 criminal cases stemming from recent ethnic rioting in the country [Guardian backgrounder]. Regional officials in Osh, an area in the south of Kyrgyzstan, announced that 106 individuals had already been detained [ITAR-TASS report], with 97 in custody. The violence resulted from a clash between the Kyrgyz majority and the Uzbek minority and resulted in the deaths of 309 people, with an additional 2,000 reportedly injured. Property damage estimates exceed $71 million. The interim government under President Roza Otunbayeva [Telegraph profile] has extended a curfew and state of emergency [UPI report] in the area until August.

A new constitution took effect in Kyrgyzstan last week after it was approved by voters [JURIST reports] in a nationwide referendum. In June, the interim government under Otunbayeva announced the referendum to reform the country's constitution would occur despite the ethnic violence [JURIST report] in Osh. A draft of that constitution was originally approved by the interim government [JURIST report] in May. The June rioting in Osh followed violent protests in the capital city of Bishkek in April that resulted in former President Kurmanbek Bakiyev being removed from office [JURIST report].