On Vacation

I'll be on vacation until next Wednesday and so will the International Law Reporter. See you then.

Cryer, Friman, Robinson, Wilmshurst: An Introduction to International Criminal Law

Robert Cryer (Birmingham - Law), Håkan Friman (Univ. College London - Laws), Darryl Robinson (Toronto - Law), and Elizabeth Wilmshurst (Chatham House) have published An Introduction to International Criminal Law and Procedure (Cambridge Univ. Press 2007). Here's the abstract:

International criminal law has developed considerably in the last decade and a half, resulting in a complex and re-invigorated discipline. This has impacted directly on the popularity of the study of the subject, particularly on postgraduate law degrees. This textbook serves these courses by providing an introduction to the principles of international criminal law and processes. Written by four international lawyers with experience of teaching international criminal law, it is accessible yet sophisticated in its approach. It covers substantive international criminal law, the institutions designed to enforce it and their procedures, and the international law applicable to domestic prosecutions of international crimes. It will be essential reading for students and teachers of international criminal law. In addition, practitioners and researchers in the field (and in related fields such as criminal law), students of international law and international relations will find this introduction invaluable.

UNCC Governing Council's Sixty-Third Session

The Governing Council of the United Nations Compensation Commission, which was established by the Security Council to "process claims and pay compensation for direct losses and damage suffered by individuals, corporations, Governments and international organizations as a direct result of Iraq’s unlawful invasion and occupation of Kuwait (2 August 1990 to 2 March 1991)," will meet tomorrow, June 20, through Friday, June 22, for its sixty-third session. According to the UN press release, the Commission will discuss a number of issues including:

reports of the Executive Secretary on the activities of the secretariat since the last session in February 2007, on the distribution by Governments and international organisations of payments to successful claimants, the transparency of the distribution process, and the return of undistributed funds, and on corrections of awards pursuant to article 41 of the Provisional rules for claims procedure. The Council will also consider a report on the follow-up programme for environmental awards established by the Council to monitor the technical and financial aspects of the environmental remediation projects.

World Bank: Election of a New President

The Executive Directors of the World Bank announced yesterday that they had received one nomination for the Bank's presidency by the June 15 deadline, that of Robert Zoellick, whose name was presented by the Executive Director representing the United States. Zoellick has been invited to an "informal meeting" with the Executive Directors tomorrow "to discuss key issues of interest to the World Bank Group, including the challenges of development, the World Bank Group’s governance and leadership as well as future strategic directions." The Executive Directors will meet again on June 25 to elect the Bank's next president.

New Issue: Arbitration International

The latest issue of Arbitration International (Vol. 23, no. 2, 2007) is out. Contents include:

• Donald Francis Donovan, Introduction to the Sixteenth Annual Workshop of the Institute for Transnational Arbitration
• The Art of Arbitrating: Act I. Constitution of the Tribunal
• The Art of Arbitrating: Act II. The Preliminary Hearing
• The Art of Arbitrating: Act III. Applications for Interim Measures
• The Art of Arbitrating: Act IV. The Hearing on the Merits
• Gerald Aksen, Reflections of an International Arbitrator
• Kaj Hobér & William Mckechnie, New Rules of the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce
• Simon Manner & Ingeborg Schwenzer, 'The Claim is Time-Barred': The Proper Limitation Regime for International Sales Contracts in International Commercial Arbitration
• Jingzhou Tao & Clarisse Von Wunschheim, Articles 16 and 18 of the PRC Arbitration Law: The Great Wall of China for Foreign Arbitration Institutions
• Christina Knahr, Transparency, Third Party Participation and Access to Documents in International Investment Arbitration

2007 Hague Academy Summer Courses

In less than two weeks, on July 2, The Hague Academy of International Law's 2007 summer program begins. The first three weeks are devoted to courses on private international law; the second three weeks to public international law. All courses, in principle, are published in the Recueil des Cours, Collected Courses of the Hague Academy of International Law. Here are the courses:

Private International Law

• Rt Hon Sir Lawrence Collins (Lord Justice of Appeal, and Fellow, Wolfson College, Cambridge), Opening lecture: Revolution and Restitution: Foreign States in National Courts
• A. Giardina (La Sapienza University of Rome), General Course: Principles and Techniques of Private International Law and Recent Developments in Conflicts of Jurisdictions and International Arbitration
• J.-Y. Carlier (Catholic University of Louvain), The Law of Asylum and Refugee: At the frontiers of Law
• E. Gaillard (University of Paris XII), Philosophical Aspects of International Arbitration
• F.J. Garcimartin Alférez (University of Rey Juan Carlos, Madrid), Cross-Border Listed Companies
• A. Bonomi (University of Lausanne), International Sucessions: Conflicts of Laws and Jurisdictions
• J.Gotanda (Villanova University School of Law), Damages in Private International Law
• A.W. Junker (Harvard Law School), Conflict of Labour Law
• Y.H. Liew (Partner, Yulchon, Republic of Korea), International Judicial Cooperation in Civil or Commercial Matters, with Special Reference to the Practices of Northeast Asian Countries

Public International Law

• Alain Pellet (University of Paris X Nanterre), Opening lecture
• W.M. Reisman (Yale Law School), General Course: International Law in the Twenty-First Century
• G. Cataldi (University of Naples L'Orientale), The Application in the Municipal Order of International Judgements and Decisions
• M. Pinto (Buenos Aires Faculty of Law), The Use of Force according to the Jurisprudence of International Tribunals
• E. Lagrange (University of Rennes), Effectiveness in Domestic Law of International Norms Governing the Status of Individuals
• Onuma Yasuaki (University of Tokyo), A Trans-Civilizational Perspective of International Law
• V. Gowlland-Debbas (Graduate Institute of International Studies, Geneva), The Security Council and Issues of Responsibility under International Law
• J. Kranz (Warsaw School of Economics), The Concept of Sovereignty in Contemporary International Law

And Then There Were Four

Vlastimir Djordjevic, who is wanted by the ICTY, was arrested yesterday in Montenegro and has been transferred to The Hague. See ICTY press release here. The arrest comes a little more than two weeks after another ICTY fugitive, Zdravko Tolimir, was arrested. Both arrests were made, evidently, with the assistance of Serbian authorities. Not coincidentally, the ICTY Chief Prosecutor, Carla Del Ponte, is scheduled to deliver a report today to the UN Security Council on cooperation with the Court. The arrests also come as Serbia is renewing its efforts to gain membership to the EU and NATO. Both the EU and NATO have indicated that cooperation with the Court is key to continued talks. With these arrests, four ICTY fugitives remain at-large.

New Issue: Colorado Journal of International Environmental Law and Policy

The latest issue of the Colorado Journal of International Environmental Law and Policy is out. Contents include:

• Anita M. Halvorssen, Common, But Differentiated Commitments in the Future Climate Change Regime – Amending The Kyoto Protocol to Include Annex C and The Annex C Mitigation Fund
• Srini Sitaraman, Regulating The Belching Dragon: Rule of Law, Politics of Enforcement, and Pollution Prevention In Post-Mao Industrial China
• Mohammed S. Helal, Sharing Blue Gold: The 1997 UN Convention on the Law of the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses Ten Years On
• Jordan C. Kahn, Baikal Beckons: Siberia's Sacred Sea Compels the Tahoe Watershed Protection Approach

New Issue: Journal of Conflict & Security Law

The latest issue of the Journal of Conflict & Security Law (Vol. 12, no. 1, Spring 2007) is out. Contents include:

• Douglas Guilfoyle, Maritime Interdiction of Weapons of Mass Destruction
• Russell Buchan, International Community and the Occupation of Iraq
• Richard Sannerholm, Legal, Judicial and Administrative Reforms in Post-Conflict Societies: Beyond the Rule of Law Template
• Niaz A. Shah, Self-defence, Anticipatory Self-defence and Pre-emption: International Law's Response to Terrorism
• Nico Schrijver, Reforming the UN Security Council in Pursuance of Collective Security
• Christopher P.M. Waters, Nationalising Kosovo's Ombudsperson