On January 31, 2023, the Court of Justice of the European Union, Grand Chamber, (the Court or CJEU) delivered a judgment in a politically sensitive case concerning the surrender of Catalan exile Lluís Puig Gordi, former Catalan Minister of Culture currently in Belgium since October 2017.[1]

On February 16, 2023, the United States Department of Justice announced that it is sharing approximately $954,807  with the government of the Federal republic of Nigeria pursuant to an agreement between the governments to share assets the U.S. forfeited and are traceable to the corruption of the former Governor of the State of Bayelsa in Nigeria, Diepreye Solomon Peter Alamieyeseigha (DSP).[1]

On December 30, 2022, the National People’s Congress of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) published the amended Wildlife Protection Law (WPL) in its final form.  At least two environmental non-governmental organizations have criticized the amended WPL as not sufficiently protecting wildlife.

On January 18-19, 2023, United States and Cuban officials met in Havana to discuss subjects of bilateral interest on law enforcement matters under the U.S.-Cuba Law Enforcement Dialogue.[1]

 On February 14, 2023, U.S. federal law enforcement arrested three U.S. citizens and a legal permanent resident living in Florida pursuant to criminal complaints on charges concerning their participation in activities leading to the July 7, 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse of Haiti.  After the arrests, a grand jury in Miami returned a third superseding indictment charging these four individuals, along with seven others already detained and charged in the U.S. for their alleged roles in the conspiracy.[1]

On January 31, 2023, United States authorities transferred from detention in Haiti four men to face criminal charges in the U.S. District Court in the Southern District of Florida concerning their alleged involvement in the assassination of former Haitian President Jovenel Moïse on July 7, 2021.[1]

On February 8, 2023, Europol and Eurojust announced the successful dismantling of an international sex-trafficking ring that held hundreds of Chinese women held through debt bondage across Europe. Law enforcement authorities from five European Union countries participated in the law enforcement operation.[1]

At the end of January, the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) issued the 4^th Mutual Evaluation Report on Suriname.  The 426-page report (MER) shows many gaps remain and much work must be done to fill the  void.

On  January 20^th, 2023, the Bolivian government was found responsible for the forced disappearance of Juan Carlos Flores Bedregal and found in violation of human rights laws for withholding information from the victim’s family.[1]  The Inter-American Court of Human Rights (I/A Court H.R.) ordered Bolivia to open military archives containing information on Bedregal’s location and disappearance.[2]  

At its second sitting on January 23, 2023, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE, Assembly) adopted a resolution and recommendation addressing a complicated and multidimensional problem posed by the former Daesh (ISIL) foreign fighters and their families returning to the European countries.