Criminal law

• In November 2022, Ibrahim Faraj, a seven-year-old boy from Cheshire, was reportedly taken from England to Saudi Arabia by his father.
• She had taken him to school and his father, from whom she was separated, was supposed to collect him for the weekend.
• By the Saturday, however, his father had flown Ibrahim out of the country.
• Elkhalidi says she had repeatedly warned UK authorities that her son was at risk of abduction.

Insufficient legal deterrents

• Belaid reportedly returned two years later, without Talia, and was jailed for six and a half years.
• But in 2019, Symanowicz was still appealing to be able to see her daughter.
• The young people I interviewed testify to the harrowing effect of the enforced separation from the parent they leave behind.
• When I came to Libya, I was four years old, and I forgot how to speak English.
• Not only missing out on a relationship with my mother but also, now years later, it’s difficult to build our relationship.

International cooperation

• The Hague Convention on International Child Abduction 1980 operates in more than 100 countries.
• This means the courts in the country the child is abducted from are allowed to decide where the child should live.
• So far, the only Islamic law countries that have acceded to the convention are Morocco, Iraq, Pakistan and Tunisia.
• Prior to Brexit, the UK, being under EU law, did not have individual competence to decide whether to accept accessions.
• The US and New Zealand, among others, have accepted Pakistan’s accession and young nationals of those countries can now be protected by the international treaty.

• Anyone convicted of other offences on the basis of same-sex activity could not obtain a pardon or disregard.
• A disregard means that the offence is deleted from official records and is not disclosed during criminal record checks.
• The new scheme includes any offence which has been abolished or repealed, where the “criminal” conduct was same-sex sexual activity.
• However, it does not do much to help women, because sex between women has never been a specific offence.
• It is part of a long history of silencing the possibility of sex between women as a way of repressing it.
• They were vehemently opposed to it, but feared that if women heard about it then their own wives and daughters might try it.

A flawed scheme

• The lack of consideration of women’s legal position is not the only problem with this scheme.
• To benefit from the scheme, applicants must provide documents and share details of often traumatic events.
• However, the scheme does not adequately meet these needs – and for women in particular, the recent reforms will not change that.

• The Supreme Court affirmed the constitutionality of the Indian Child Welfare Act, a 1978 law enacted to protect Native American children in the U.S. and strengthen their families, in a June 15, 2023, ruling.
• Tribal leaders praised the decision as upholding the basic constitutional principles governing the relationships among Native nations and the federal government.
• The Indian Child Welfare Act recognizes the government-to-government relationship Native American nations have with the United States.
• In 2017, the state of Texas and non-Natives seeking to adopt or foster Native American children challenged provisions of the law.

Court and Congress diverge

• As my research has shown, Congress and the Supreme Court have increasingly diverged in how they view the laws that relate to Native American tribes.
• The court has not consistently deferred to Congress but rather has increasingly claimed the power to be the final arbitrator of American Indian policy.
• From my perspective as an expert in federal Native American law, the court’s decision is significant because the court affirmed Congress’ constitutional power over American Indian affairs.

Congress’ role in Native American affairs

• The majority of the justices responded to the petitioners’ arguments by reiterating the court’s longstanding characterization of Congress’ power over American Indian affairs as “plenary and exclusive.” Writing for the majority, Barrett stated, “Congress’s power to legislate with respect to Indians is well-established and broad.
• “We reiterate that Congress’s authority to legislate with respect to Indians is not unbounded,” she wrote.
• The majority concluded, “If there are arguments that [the act] exceeds Congress’s authority as our precedent stands today, petitioners do not make them.”

Open questions remain

• The majority reaffirmed Congress’ broad authority over Native American affairs but left other questions unresolved.
• The law instructs courts to place children with their relatives – either Native or non-Native, someone in their tribe, or an American Indian family if possible.
• Tribal nations counter that federal laws and previous court decisions have defined Native status as a political, not racial, designation.

• Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, the premier provider of legal services to technology, life sciences, and growth enterprises worldwide, today announced that Yann Padova has joined the firm’s regulatory and compliance department as a partner in the Brussels office.
• He will be a member of the firm’s privacy and cybersecurity practice and will be registered with both the Brussels and Paris Bars.
• View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230613209958/en/
  Yann Padova, Partner, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati (Photo: Business Wire)
  Padova’s substantial regulatory experience—as well as his work in private practice—bolsters Wilson Sonsini’s leading privacy and cybersecurity practice, particularly with respect to regulatory investigations.
• Padova began his career as an administrator at the French National Assembly, where he focused on personal data law and criminal law.