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    PROBLEM QUESTION
    Airedale and Beagle are two neighbouring States. Ronald Drump is a prominent businessman
    living in Airedale; he is the Chief Executive Officer and owns 75% of the shares in a gold
    mining company, Chihuahua Gold Ltd (CGL), which is incorporated in Chihuahua, another
    neighbouring State. Chihuahua is a country which has a very conservative faith-based culture,
    but has very low corporate tax rates, thus making it an attractive place for companies like CGL
    to call home. The remaining 25% of the shares in CGL are owned by nationals of Airedale.
    Ronald Drump was born in Beagle, and he therefore holds Beagle citizenship. He lived there
    until the age of 12, when his family moved to Airedale. His parents are also Beagle nationals.
    Ronald completed his secondary schooling and attended university in Airedale. At the age of
    25, he moved to Chihuahua to take up employment with CGL. Over time, he acquired shares
    through his salary package, and was repeatedly promoted until he was appointed Chief
    Executive Officer.
    In his role as Chief Executive Officer, CGL experienced sustained growth, and controlled
    interests in gold mines in Chile, Australia, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan. CGLs success led to
    Ronald being extremely influential, and he even hosted a late-night television programme on
    Chihuahuas main commercial television station. Ronald used his position to express his
    liberal views, which were inconsistent with the conservative belief structure of Chihuahuas
    strict regime. The Government of Chihuahua began to mistrust Ronald and find his conduct
    threatening and destabilising.
    In January 2019, Ronald was arrested at his office in Chihuahua on fabricated charges of fraud.
    He was taken to the Chihuahua Security Service headquarters, where he was imprisoned for
    one week. During that time, he was interrogated and subjected to multiple beatings and
    electrical shocks by Chihuahua Security Service officers (although the beatings and electrical
    shocks were not part of the officially authorised interrogation techniques, and were carried out
    by Security Service officers when their superiors were not present.) When he was released,
    Ronald discovered that Chihuahua had enacted a new statute which had the effect of
    transferring all the Chihuahua-based assets of CGL to the Chihuahua State-owned Trading
    Company. Fearing that he would be re-arrested, Ronald fled to Beagle. His substantial
    personal assets within Chihuahua were then seized by the Chihuahua Government.
    Chihuahuas treatment of Ronald Drump sparked outrage in Airedale, which had regarded him
    as one of its favourite expatriates. Airedale nationalists began a campaign of intimidation and
    fear against ethnic Chihuahuans living in Airedale. One incident got out of hand when a group
    of four masked Airedale thugs beat up a group of ethnic Chihuahuans in the streets of
    Airedales capital city. Two of the ethnic Chihuahuans were badly hurt, with one eventually
    dying from his injuries. Airedale police arrived on the scene and arrested the group of maskedassailants. After they had been taken into police custody, it became apparent that one of the
    thugs was the Airedale Minister for Internal Affairs. The Airedale police subsequently released
    all of the group (including the Minister) from police custody, and no charges were laid even
    though the ethnic Chihuahuans wished for prosecutions to be brought, the Airedale police
    claimed that they lacked evidence.
    However, news of this episode (and its outcome) quickly spread, and the Chihuahua
    Government reacted swiftly. It announced:
    We have no choice but to respond to Airedales clear and wilful violation of
    international law. We are therefore suspending all Chihuahuas treaty obligations with
    Airedale, with immediate effect, for a period of at least six months.
    Chihuahua also quietly dispatched its elite special forces into Airedales territory (without
    Airedales knowledge or consent), where they searched for and located those responsible for
    the attack on the ethnic Chihuahuans, including the Airedale Minister for Internal Affairs. The
    group was abducted and transported to Chihuahua, where they were arrested on suspicion of
    complicity in murder. They were tried before a Chihuahuan court, convicted, and sentenced to
    life imprisonment.
    Airedale, Beagle, and Chihuahua have made optional clause declarations in which they have
    accepted the compulsory jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) under Article
    36(2) of the ICJ Statute. Chihuahua has included a reservation with its declaration, which states
    that: Chihuahuas acceptance of the Courts jurisdiction does not apply to disputes which
    Chihuahua considers to be within the national jurisdiction of Chihuahua.
    YOUR TASK:
    You have been engaged by the Government of Airedale to advise it on the international
    law issues arising in this set of facts.
    You may find it helpful to approach this task by analysing each incident, issue or potential
    claim, and:
    consider what or who might complain, about what violation of international law, against
    whom or what, and in what forum
    consider what the response might be
    assess the strengths and weaknesses of each argument
    form a view on which argument is likely to prevail in each case.

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