Andersen & Lindsnaes: Towards New Global Strategies: Public Goods and Human Rights

Erik André Andersen (Danish Institute for Human Rights) & Birgit Lindsnaes (Danish Institute for Human Rights) have published Towards New Global Strategies: Public Goods and Human Rights (Martinus Nijhoff Publishers 2007). Here's the abstract:

This book aims to contribute to the debate on global public goods, a debate which has been taking place for some time in the UN and the World Bank, among the regional development banks and bilaterally among states and donors. There is a need for new visions and strategies and to examine global infrastructure on the basis of the idea that global public goods, including human rights, contribute to cohesion at local, regional and international levels. The book investigates the possibilities and disadvantages of applying the idea of public goods in a global context. It explains the history of the concept and its significance for human rights. The authors include, in addition to academics, representatives from public institutions, civil society organizations, independent consultants, the media and the private sector.

Contents include:

• Erik André Andersen & Birgit Lindsnæs, Introduction
• Peter Wivel, Natural law as a public good
• Erik André Andersen & Birgit Lindsnæs, Public goods: Concept, definition, and method
• Lone Lindholt & Birgit Lindsnæs, On human rights
• Birgit Lindsnæs, The global and the regional outlook: How can global public goods be advanced from a human rights perspective?
• Bjørn Møller, Peace as a global public good
• Erik André Andersen, International institutions for preserving peace and security
• Rikke Ishøy, The law of war
• Erik André Andersen, The case of Bosnia and Herzegovina
• Hans-Otto Sano, Is good governance a global public good?
• Hans Henrik Brydensholt & Kristine Yigen, Legal protection and the rule of law as a global public good
• Kristine Yigen, Curbing corruption: A global public good, The potential of international cooperation
• Rie Odgaard & Kristine Yigen, Access to global public goods for socially and economically vulnerable groups
• Anders Jerichow, The right to know
• Henrik Lindholt & Rikke Frank Jørgensen, Internet access as a global public good
• Peder Andersen, Research, global public goods and welfare
• Diego Bang, Education as a global public good
• Poul Birch Eriksen, Ellen Bangsbo, Jens Kvorning, Lene Lange, Esben Sønderstrup, Uffe Torm, & Ib Bygbjerg, Health is global - and a moving target
• Jannik Boesen & Poul Erik Lauridsen, (Fresh) water as a human right and a global public good
• Christian Friis Bach, The international trade system
• Henrik Brade Johansen, Helle Bank, Jørgensen, & Jens Kvorning, The global responsibility of private companies
• Erik André Andersen, Peder Andersen, & Birgit Lindsnæs, Problems and potentials in the application of global public goods

Treaty Transmittal: International Convention on the Control of Harmful Anti-Fouling Systems on Ships

On Tuesday, the President transmitted to the Senate, for its advice and consent to ratification, the International Convention on the Control of Harmful Anti-Fouling Systems on Ships. The transmittal package (Treaty Doc. 110-13) is here. As noted by the President's Letter of Transmittal, "The Convention aims to control the harmful effects of anti-fouling systems, which are used on the hulls of ships to prevent the growth of marine organisms. These systems are necessary to increase fuel efficiency and minimize the transport of hull-borne species; however, anti-fouling systems can also have negative effects on the marine environment, including when a vessel remains in place for a period of time (such as in port). To mitigate these effects, the Convention prohibits Parties from using organotin-based anti-fouling systems on their ships, and it prohibits ships that use such systems from entering Parties' ports, shipyards, or offshore terminals. The Convention authorizes controls on use of other anti-fouling systems that could be added in the future, after a comprehensive review process." The Convention was adopted in October 2001, and signed by the United States on December 12, 2002. It will enter into force for its parties on September 17, 2008. Legislation (a revision and replacement of the Organotin Anti-Fouling Paint Control Act of 1988) will be required to fully implement the Convention in the United States.

Treaty Transmittals: Extradition and Mutual Legal Assistance with Bulgaria and Romania

On Tuesday, the President transmitted to the Senate, for its advice and consent to ratification, the Extradition Treaty between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of the Republic of Bulgaria and the Agreement on Certain Aspects of Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of the Republic of Bulgaria, and the Extradition Treaty between the United States of America and Romania and the Protocol to the Treaty between the United States of America and Romania on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters. The transmittal package for the Bulgaria agreements (Treaty Doc. 110-12) is here; the transmittal package for the Romania agreements (Treaty Doc. 110-11) is here. The Bulgaria agreements were signed on September 19, 2007; the Romania agreements were signed on September 10, 2007. Both extradition treaties would replace the outdated ones (from the 1920s and supplemented in the 1930s) currently in use. The mutual legal assistance agreement would be the first with Bulgaria. All these agreements fulfill the requirements for bilateral instruments between the United States and each European Union Member State contained in the Extradition and Mutual Legal Assistance Agreements between the United States and the EU (Treaty Docs. 109-13 and 109-14), which have been pending before the Senate since September 2006. With the conclusion of these two sets of implementing agreements, the United States has completed a long and intensive series of negotiations with the twenty-seven EU Members States; the Senate can now proceed not only to a vote on the agreements transmitted this week (and related bilateral agreements transmitted previously) but also to a vote on the two overarching U.S.-EU agreements.

Workshop: Keenan on "China's Investments in Africa and Their Impact on Human Rights"

Patrick Keenan (Univ. of Illinois - Law) will give a talk today at the Georgetown University Law Center International Human Rights Colloquium on "Curse or Cure? China's Investments in Africa and Their Impact on Human Rights."

The Future of the U.S. Military Presence in Iraq

There's been a lot of coverage over the last day of the negotiations following up on the November 26, 2007, Declaration of Principles for a Long­ Term Relationship of Cooperation and Friendship between Iraq and the United States, particularly the principle therein that the United States will "Support[] the Republic of Iraq in defending its democratic system against internal and external threats." The New York Times writes: "With its [Security Council] mandate in Iraq set to expire in 11 months, the Bush administration will insist that the government in Baghdad give the United States broad authority to conduct combat operations and guarantee civilian contractors specific legal protections from Iraqi law, according to administration and military officials." (See also the NPR story here; the AP story here; and the Reuters story here. The International Herald Tribune reported on the Declaration of Principles on the day they were issued.) Democrats are suggesting that any agreement that includes security guarantees must be characterized either as a treaty and subject to the constitutional requirement for Senate advice and consent to ratification or as a congressional-executive agreement and subject to the concurrence of both houses of Congress. (Examples of such mutual security or mutual defense treaties include the Security Treaty between Australia, New Zealand and the United States of America, the Treaty on Mutual Cooperation and Security Between Japan and the United States of America, and, of course, the North Atlantic Treaty.) Thus, Senator Biden, in a December 19, 2007, letter to the President (released yesterday), wrote: "The Constitution and our past practice clearly require that the executive and legislative branches act together in order to provide a legitimate security commitment to another country." The administration, for its part, analogizes any future agreement with Iraq to a status of forces agreement, which would not require congressional approval. (See, for example, the NATO SOFA here.) Thus, State Department Deputy Spokesperson Tom Casey said at yesterday's daily press briefing: "[SOFAs] basically outline the terms under which U.S. forces legally operate in the country. It includes things like, you know, whether they respond to the Uniform Military Code of Justice or whether they come under local government or local court authorities. It includes the kinds of arrangements that allow for duty-free transshipment of materials for troops and those kinds of things. It’s a very basic agreement. . . . It’s not something that establishes force levels either minimum or maximum or determines specific operations."

If (per Casey) that's all this negotiation is about, then this is much ado about nothing. One doubts that's the case, though. For some time, the United States has wanted a long-term commitment from the Iraqi government that would provide authority to the United States to maintain and employ troops there and in the region (something that would go beyond a standard defense cooperation agreement). And the Iraqi government may wish certain guarantees of its own concerning future U.S. military support. If that's the case, then this agreement looks less like a SOFA and more like a mutual security treaty. Certainly, the constitutional role of the Congress, if any, will depend on the details of the final agreement, but Biden and others are right to draw the line now. We'll see whether the executive power proponents in the administration decide to take them on.

Nordstrom: Global Outlaws: Crime, Money, and Power in the Contemporary World

Carolyn Nordstrom (Univ. of Notre Dame - Anthropology) has published Global Outlaws: Crime, Money, and Power in the Contemporary World (Univ. of California Press 2007). Here's the abstract:

Carolyn Nordstrom explores the pathways of global crime in this stunning work of anthropology that has the power to change the way we think about the world. To write this book, she spent three years traveling to hot spots in Africa, Europe, Asia, and the United States investigating the dynamics of illegal trade around the world--from blood diamonds and arms to pharmaceuticals, exotica, and staples like food and oil. Global Outlaws peels away the layers of a vast economy that extends from a war orphan in Angola selling Marlboros on the street to powerful transnational networks reaching across continents and oceans. Nordstrom's extraordinary fieldwork includes interviews with scores of informants, including the smugglers, victims, power elite, and profiteers who populate these economic war zones. Her compelling investigation, showing that the sum total of extra-legal activities represents a significant part of the world's economy, provides a new framework for understanding twenty-first-century economics and economic power. Global Outlaws powerfully reveals the illusions and realities of security in all areas of transport and trade and illuminates many of the difficult ethical problems these extra-legal activities pose.

Blumenthal & McCormack: The Legacy of Nuremberg: Civilising Influence or Institutionalised Vengeance?

David A. Blumenthal (Univ. of Melbourne - Law) & Timothy L.H. McCormack (Univ. of Melbourne - Law) have published The Legacy of Nuremberg: Civilising Influence or Institutionalised Vengeance? (Martinus Nijhoff 2007). Contents include:

• Sir Ninian Stephen, Foreword
• William Maley, The Atmospherics of the Nuremberg Trial
• Susanne Karstedt, The Nuremberg Tribunal and German Society: International Justice and Local Judgment in Post-Conflict Reconstruction
• Graham T. Blewitt, The Importance of a Retributive Approach to Justice
• John H. Ralston & Sarah Finnin, Investigating International Crimes: A Review of International Law Enforcement Strategies Expediency v Effectiveness
• Mark Aarons, Justice Betrayed: Post-1945 Responses to Genocide
• Michael J. Kelly & Timothy L.H. McCormack, Contributions of the Nuremberg Trial to the Subsequent Development of International Law
• Carrie McDougall, The Crime of Aggression: Born of the Failure of Collective Security - Still Shackled to its Fate? Time to Catch Up or Part Ways
• Annemarie Devereux & Lia Kent, Evaluating Timor Leste’s Reception, Truth and Reconciliation Commission
• Madelaine Chiam, Different Models of Tribunals
• Geoffrey Skillen, The Operations of the International Criminal Court - A Brief Overview and First Impressions
• Michael Carrel, Australia’s Prosecution of Japanese War Criminals: Stimuli and Constraints
• Alison Duxbury, Excluding the Undesirable: Interpreting Article 1F(a) of the Refugee Convention in Australia
• David Blumenthal, Australian Implementation of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court

New Issue: Revue de l'Arbitrage

The latest issue of the Revue de l'Arbitrage (2007, no. 3) is out. Contents include:

• Jean-Louis Delvolvé, DOCTRINE - Une véritable révolution . . . inaboutie (Remarques sur le projet de réforme de l'arbitrage en matière administrative)
• Sophie Lemaire, DOCTRINE - La libéralisation de l'arbitrage international en droit administratif; approche critique du projet de réforme du 13 mars 2007
• Mathias Audit, DOCTRINE - Un arbitrage aux confins du droit international public: observations sur la sentence du 30 janvier 2007 opposant le Groupe Eurotunnel au Royaume-Uni et à la République française

Mani: Handbook of International Humanitarian Law in South Asia

V.S. Mani (Gujarat National Law University, Gandhinagar) has published Handbook of International Humanitarian Law in South Asia (Oxford Univ. Press 2007). Here's the abstract:

To date our society has failed to abolish the use of violence both in inter-community and international relations. Accepting this fact as a given, international humanitarian law (IHL) maintains a focus on the protection of victims of violence, on the basis of the principle of ‘elementary considerations of humanity’. It does not concern itself with questions about the legitimacy, or otherwise, of actions taken by parties to an armed conflict.

In South Asia since the 1940s, there have been numerous occasions of bloodletting demanding humanitarian assistance. In this handbook specialists from around the region present studies on various facets of IHL, both doctrinal and empirical. They explore the evolution of the principles of IHL in South Asia, deeply embedded in the religious and cultural traditions of the region. They go on to analyse contemporary national attitudes of individual South Asian countries to IHL and various relevant events including the Partition and mass migration, ‘police action’ in a princely state, instances of insurgency, emergence of a new country from a bloody war, influx of refugees, internal and international armed conflicts, and the setting up of new National Red Cross Committees boosted by the presence of a Regional Delegation of the International Committee of the Red Cross.

The handbook has separate sections on the role of humanitarian organizations in the promotion of IHL in the region, the relationship of IHL to states of emergency, to military law, and to UN Peace Operations. In two useful appendices it offers a factsheet on the status of IHL treaties in South Asia and a chart of the status of IHL treaties around the world.

Workshops: MacKinnon, Ortino, Vázquez

Catharine MacKinnon (Univ. of Michigan - Law) will give a talk today at the New York University School of Law Institute for International Law and Justice International Legal Theory Colloquium on Women’s Status, Men’s States.

Federico Ortino (British Institute of International and Comparative Law) will give a talk today at the University of Oxford Public International Law Discussion Group on "International Law of Foreign Investment: Emerging Chaos or Emerging System?"

Carlos Vázquez (Georgetown Univ. - Law) will give a talk today at the Temple University School of Law International Law Colloquia on "Judicial Enforcement of Treaties."

New Issue: Virginia Journal of International Law

The latest issue of the Virginia Journal of International Law (Vol. 48, no. 2, Winter 2008) is out. Contents include:

• Haider Ala Hamoudi, You Say You Want a Revolution: Interpretive Communities and the Origins of Islamic Finance
• William W. Burke-White & Andreas von Staden, Investment Protection in Extraordinary Times: The Interpretation and Application of Non-Precluded Measures Provisions in Bilateral Investment Treaties
• Jacob Katz Cogan, Competition and Control in International Adjudication

New Blog: Invisible College Blog

The Invisible College Blog was launched yesterday. It merges the 1948 blog and The Core. Here's how The Invisible College's founders describe the new blog:

Despite the somewhat similar backgrounds of the contributors -- rather recent University graduates with an interest in things international -- , both blogs [the 1948 blog and The Core] probably differed somewhat in their approaches: The Core focused rather tightly on those areas of international law which directly affect individuals (i.e. human rights law, international humanitarian law and international criminal law) and mostly contained rather "lawyerly" posts, while 1948 took a much broader approach, focusing on international law, politics, economics, and philosophy and featuring somewhat more essayistic posts.

By joining forces, we hope to combine the strengths of both blogs and offer our readers a variety of insights and commentaries on new developments in the international arena. We also hope, however, that this blog can become more than just a site for comments and analyses.

The blog's title refers to a 1977 article by Oscar Schachter ("The Invisible College of International Lawyers", 72 Northwestern University Law Review (1977) 217-226), in which he speaks of the "professional community of international lawyers" forming an "invisible college dedicated to a common intellectual enterprise". While Schachter mostly concerns himself with international lawyers who are government officials and/or career academics, it seems that the "invisible college" he speaks of has grown substantially in the 30 years since then; it now includes undergraduate and graduate students, interns with various international organisations, University researchers, attorneys working in international practice areas, NGO lawyers and many more.

It is our hope that our blog can become not only an interesting read, but an actual community resource for this diverse group. We plan to publish, besides commentaries on international developments, posts on Master and Doctoral programs, summer schools, job opportunities in the field, web resources for scientific research, etc. etc.

We also hope to engage our readers and to enable them to actively contribute to a dialogue on such questions.

Workshop: Murray on the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention Against Torture

Rachel Murray (Bristol Univ. - Law) will give a talk today at University College London as part of the International Law Association British Branch seminar series. The subject is: "Optional Protocol to the UN Convention Against Torture: The Role of National Preventive Mechanisms."

New Issue: International Review of the Red Cross

The latest issue of the International Review of the Red Cross (Vol. 89, no. 867, September 2007) is out. The theme is Torture. Contents include:

• Torture
• Interview with Dr Abdel Hamid Afana
• Cordula Droege, “In truth the leitmotiv”: the prohibition of torture and other forms of ill-treatment in international humanitarian law
• Raphaëlle Branche, Torture of terrorists? Use of torture in a “war against terrorism”: justifications, methods and effects: the case of France in Algeria, 1954–1962
• James Ross, Black letter abuse: the US legal response to torture since 9/11
• Hernán Reyes, The worst scars are in the mind: psychological torture
• Marcelo N. Viñar, Civilization and torture: beyond the medical and psychiatric approach
• Michael Grodin & George Annas, Physicians and torture: lessons from the Nazi doctors
• Selected Articles on International Humanitarian Law
• Jonathan Some, Jungle justice: passing sentence on the equality of belligerents in non-international armed conflict
• Dražan Đukić, Transitional justice and the International Criminal Court – in “the interests of justice”?
• Reports and Documents
• International humanitarian law and the challenges of contemporary armed conflicts
• National implementation of international humanitarian law

Ruiz Fabri & Sorel: La preuve devant les juridictions internationales

Hélène Ruiz Fabri (l'Université de Paris I, Panthéon Sorbonne - Law) & Jean-Marc Sorel (l'Université de Paris I, Panthéon Sorbonne - Law) have published La preuve devant les juridictions internationales (Pedone 2007). Contents include:

• Raphaële Rivier, La preuve devant les juridictions interetatiques a vocation universelle (CIJ et TIDM)
• Gilbert Guillaume, "La preuve devant les juridictions interetatiques a vocation universelle (CIJ et TIDM)" par Raphaële Rivier: commentaire
• Habib Gherari, La preuve devant le mecanisme de reglement des differends de l'organisation mondiale du commerce
• Georges Abi-Saab, "La preuve devant le mecanisme de reglement des differends de l'organisation mondiale du commerce" par Habib Gherari: commentaire
• Hélène Tigroudja, La preuve devant la Cour europeenne des droit de l'homme
• Françoise Tulkens, "La preuve devant la Cour europeenne des droit de l'homme" par Hélène Tigroudja: commentaire
• Rostane Mehdi, La preuve devant les juridictions communautaires
• Hubert Legal, "La preuve devant les juridictions communautaires" par Rostane Mehdi: commentaire

Chesterman: An International Rule of Law?

Simon Chesterman (New York Univ. - Law, Singapore Program) has posted An International Rule of Law? (American Journal of Comparative Law, forthcoming). Here's the abstract:

The rule of law is almost universally supported at the national and international level. The extraordinary support for the rule of law in theory, however, is possible only because of widely divergent views of what it means in practice. Disparate national traditions posed few problems while operating in parallel, but efforts to promote the rule of law through international organizations have necessitated a reassessment of this pluralism. This article proposes a core definition of the rule of law as a political ideal and argues that its applicability to the international level will depend on that ideal being seen as a means rather than an end, as serving a function rather than defining a status. Such a vision of the rule of law more accurately reflects the development of the rule of law in national jurisdictions and appropriately highlights the political work that must be done if power is to be channeled through law.

Brummer: The Ties That Bind: Regionalism, Commercial Treaties, and the Future of Global Economic Integration

Chris Brummer (Vanderbilt Univ. - Law) has published The Ties That Bind: Regionalism, Commercial Treaties, and the Future of Global Economic Integration (Vanderbilt Law Review, Vol. 60, no. 5, p. 1349, October 2007). Here's the abstract:

This article provides an in-depth analysis of the at times problematic interplay of regional and bilateral treaties regulating international economic law. Though academics have long debated whether regional and bilateral instruments threaten the hegemony of the multilateral trading system, no attention has been paid to equally far-reaching tensions arising between regional and bilateral agreements themselves. Scholars have instead almost universally treated bilateral and regional commercial agreements as functionally indistinguishable. This article draws on recent empirical evidence to show that bilateral commercial agreements comprise a distinct and important mode of cooperation at times inconsistent with the aims of some regional organizations and frameworks. It also examines the likely outcomes for such conflicts of law, and incorporates the findings in a critical reassessment of the possible costs and benefits of multi-level economic integration.

New Issue: Archiv des Völkerrechts

The latest issue of Archiv des Völkerrechts (Vol. 45, no. 4, December 2007) is out. Contents include:

• Markus Heintzen, Die Befreiung ausländischer Diplomaten von deutscher Besteuerung
• Peter Hilpold, Human Rights and WTO Law: From Conflict to Coordination
• Stefanie Schmahl, Menschen mit Behinderungen im Spiegel des internationalen Menschenrechtsschutzes
• Angelika Emmerich-Fritsche, Zur Verbindlichkeit der Menschenrechte für transnationale Unternehmen
• Jörg Menzel, Internationales Umweltrecht in Südostasien. Vom ASEAN-Way zur aktiven Gestaltung regionalen und globalen Umweltvölkerrechts?
• Christof Hafner, Theories of Compliance with International Law

New Issue: Journal of Conflict Resolution

The latest issue of the Journal of Conflict Resolution (Vol. 52, no. 1, February 2008) is out. Contents include:

• John Ferejohn & Frances McCall Rosenbluth, Warlike Democracies
• Michael Colaresi & Sabine C. Carey, To Kill or to Protect: Security Forces, Domestic Institutions, and Genocide
• James H. Fowler & Michael Laver, A Tournament of Party Decision Rules
• Ifat Maoz & Clark McCauley, Threat, Dehumanization, and Support for Retaliatory Aggressive Policies in Asymmetric Conflict
• Paul R. Hensel, Sara McLaughlin Mitchell, Thomas E. Sowers, II, & Clayton L. Thyne, Bones of Contention: Comparing Territorial, Maritime, and River Issues
• Uri Bar-Joseph & Rose McDermott, Personal Functioning Under Stress: Accountability and Social Support of Israeli Leaders in the Yom Kippur War

New Issue: New Zealand Journal of Public and International Law

The latest issue of the New Zealand Journal of Public and International Law (Vol. 5, no. 2, December 2007) is out. Contents include:

• Sir Kenneth Keith, The ICJ - Some Reflections on my First Year
• Juliet Philpott, Damages Under the United Kingdom's Human Rights Act 1998 and the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990
• Duncan Webb, Keeping the Crown's Conscience: A Theory of Lawyering for Public Sector Counsel
• Fiona Wright, Law, Religion and Tikanga Maori

New Issue: European Human Rights Law Review

The latest issue of the European Human Rights Law Review (2007, no. 6) is out. Contents include:

• Anashri Pillay, Courts, Variable Standards of Review and Resource Allocation: Developing a Model for the Enforcement of Social and Economic Rights
• Okechukwu Benjamin Vincents, Interception of Internet Communications and the Right to Privacy: An Evaluation of Some Provisions of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act Against the Jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights
• Rhonda Powell, The Right to Security of Person in European Court of Human Rights Jurisprudence
• Tom Lewis, Rights Lost in Translation? Fact-insensitive Laws, the Human Rights Act and the United Kingdom's Ban on Broadcast Political Advertising
• Merris Amos, Separating Human Rights Adjudications from Judicial Review: Huang v Secretary of State for the Home Department and Kashmiri v Secretary of State for the Home Department