Digest of United States Practice in International Law 2006

The Office of the Legal Adviser publishes the annual Digest of United States Practice in International Law to provide the public with a historical record of the views and practice of the Government of the United States in public and private international law. In his introduction to the 2006 Digest, Legal Adviser John B. Bellinger, III, stated in part: "During 2006 my colleagues and I continued to engage our international partners in intensive discussions about the appropriate legal framework for the detention and treatment of international terrorists. . . . Armed conflicts during the year including those involving Israel, Lebanon, the Palestinian Authority, and Iraq raised other issues related to the law of war. "The United States welcomed the International Committee of the Red Cross' study on the customary international law of the law of war and provided what we believe are constructive initial comments on certain aspects of methodology that raise questions about the study's conclusions. "But these issues were, of course, only one facet of the office's practice during the year. The United States dispatched to Geneva two separate large, senior-level interagency delegations to present and discuss with the UN Committee Against Torture and the Human Rights Committee U.S. implementation of its obligations under the Convention Against Torture and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. . . . "The office continued to play a leading role in the development of U.S. treaty law and practice. . . . "In U.S. courts, the year saw further developments related to the applicability of the Alien Tort Statute, U.S. consular notification obligations under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, and the scope of the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, including several Supreme Court decisions on consular notification and immunities. . . ."