On November 27, 2013, the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) handed down a judgment on an appeal from the South African Police Service and Prosecution Authority in National Commissioner of the South African Police Service v. Southern African Human Rights Litigation Centre (the Decision). The Court decided that the South African Police Service is empowered to initiate investigations into alleged crimes against humanity committed in the territory of another state, irrespective of whether the alleged perpetrators are present in South Africa, and ordered the authorities to initiate such investigations.

On September 12, 2012, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (the Court) ruled in Nada v. Switzerland that the implementation by Switzerland of the United Nations Security Council Al-Qaida Sanctions Regime violated the right to private and family life under Article 8, and the right to an effective remedy under Article 13 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

How far can a country go in recruiting workers from neighboring countries to do the menial labor the country’s citizens are no longer willing to do and then–when they overstay their welcome, have children, and establish families over a period of decades—continue to deny them nationality and civil rights? Can these Gastarbeiter be turned into perpetual foreigners or must they be granted citizenship? How much has international human rights law impacted international law in restricting the freedom of sovereign states in this traditionally most discretionary domain? Are questions of nationality still within the exclusive domain of domestic jurisdiction?