Petersen: Demokratie als teleologisches Prinzip: Zur Legitimität von Staatsgewalt im Völkerrecht

Niels Petersen has published Demokratie als teleologisches Prinzip: Zur Legitimität von Staatsgewalt im Völkerrecht (Springer 2009). Here's the abstract:

Nach dem Ende des kalten Krieges konnte eine neue Welle der Demokratisierung beobachtet werden und in der Rechtswissenschaft kam die Diskussion auf, welche Rolle das Völkerrecht in diesem Prozess spielt. Der Autor geht der Frage nach, ob Demokratie für jeden Staat tatsächlich die ideale Staatsform ist. Er untersucht dabei Ansätze in der politikwissenschaftlichen Demokratie- und Demokratisierungstheorie und versucht diese Erkenntnisse für die völkerrechtliche Dogmatik fruchtbar zu machen.

Nesi, Nogler, & Pertile: Child Labour in a Globalized World: A Legal Analysis of ILO Action

Giuseppe Nesi (Univ. of Trento - Law), Luca Nogler (Univ. of Trento - Law), & Marco Pertile (Univ. of Trento - Law) have published Child Labour in a Globalized World: A Legal Analysis of ILO Action (Ashgate 2008). Here's the abstract:

This volume examines the legal dimension of the ILO's action in the field of Child Labour. The authors investigate the implementation of the relevant legal instruments and assess the effectiveness of the ILO supervisory system. All relevant instruments are considered while particular attention is given to Convention 182 on the elimination of the worst forms of child labour.

Child Labour in a Globalized World describes the ILO's activities concerning the eradication of child labour whilst assessing and evaluating the effectiveness of the relevant legal framework and functioning of the supervisory system. This book contextualizes the issue of the eradication of the worst forms of child labour in the recent doctrinal debate on the nature of labour standards and the transformation of the ILO.

Van Schaack: Obstacles on the Road to Gender Justice: The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda as Object Lesson

Beth Van Schaack (Santa Clara Univ. - Law) has posted Obstacles on the Road to Gender Justice: The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda as Object Lesson (American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law, forthcoming). Here's the abstract:

Although unlawful, violence against women continues to be employed as a deliberate tactic of war to humiliate, dominate, and instill fear in embattled communities, as recently noted by the Security Council in Resolution 1820. Even where such acts are not the result of an express governmental or group policy, gender violence is regularly tolerated by authorities as a way to reward exhausted fighters and further terrorize, punish, or humiliate an enemy community. Although the substantive law outlawing such gender violence is now well established, significant obstacles remain to ensuring a robust system of gender justice in international criminal law. These obstacles are less visible than defects in positive law, because they emerge in the practice of international criminal law at crucial yet shrouded stages of the penal process: investigation, charging, pre-trial plea negotiations, trial preparation, the provision of protective measures, and appeals. Most importantly, strong positive law is irrelevant where a commitment to gender justice does not infuse all stages of the development and implementation of a prosecutorial strategy.

Although gender violence in Rwanda did not receive the levels of media attention focused on similar crimes committed in the former Yugoslavia, the Rwandan statistics-inherently approximate-are stunning. Estimates range from 250,000 to 500,000 rapes during the short period of the genocide (April-June 1994). Yet, the results of the cases before the ICTR do not reflect the high levels of gender violence in Rwanda during the genocide. In fact, the systemic lack of gender violence charges and the high number of acquittals for what charges were brought generates the opposite impression. This disconnect lies at the heart of this paper, which will discuss the many ways in which gender justice can be neglected or sidelined in international criminal law with a particular focus on the history of gender justice prosecutions before the ICTR and the decisions and practices of that Tribunal's Office of the Prosecutor. This study makes clear that where gender violence is not central to a prosecutorial strategy, potential charges become dispensable and charged crimes result in acquittals when subjected to the adversarial criminal justice process. Although it is largely too late for the women of Rwanda, this paper presents ways in which the ICC-whose constitutive statute contains groundbreaking and enlightened structural, procedural, and substantive provisions to ensure gender justice-can generate better results for women victims elsewhere and ensure that the missteps, carelessness, and neglect characterizing gender justice before the ICTR are not repeated.

Abebe: Great Power Politics and the Structure of Foreign Relations Law

Daniel Abebe (Univ. of Chicago - Law) has posted Great Power Politics and the Structure of Foreign Relations Law (Chicago Journal of International Law, forthcoming). Here's the abstract:

Should courts consider great power politics in determining the allocation of foreign relations law authority? Foreign relations law is a set of rules serving as an internal constraint on the unilateral exercise of foreign relations powers. Given the predominance of the executive branch in foreign affairs, courts routinely consider foreign relations law questions about the breadth of the executive's authority by reference to legal precedent, historical practice and functional concerns for guidance. Courts primarily look to solely internal, domestic factors. But the natural focus on internal constraints obscures the increasing importance of external constraints on the executive authority. This symposium article argues that one cannot determine the overall level of constraints on the executive without understanding the relationship between internal constraints produced by foreign relations law and external constraints generated by great power politics. To understand this relationship, this article frames foreign relations law as a function of great power politics, discusses the impact of external constraints on executive decisionmaking, and offers a skeletal theory on the salience of great power politics on the allocation of foreign relations law authority. The theory suggests that the overall level of constraint on the executive likely varies over time as the strength of external constraints varies, leading to the conclusion that courts should consider both external and internal constraints in determining the true breadth of executive decisionmaking authority.

Ahdieh: Foreign Affairs, International Law, and the New Federalism: Lessons from Coordination

Robert B. Ahdieh (Emory Univ. - Law) has posted Foreign Affairs, International Law, and the New Federalism: Lessons from Coordination (Missouri Law Review, Vol. 73, 2008). Here's the abstract:

Even after the departure of two of its most prominent advocates - Chief Justice William Rehnquist and Justice Sandra Day O'Connor - the federalism revolution initiated by the Supreme Court almost twenty years ago continues its onward advance. If recent court decisions and congressional legislation are any indication, in fact, it may have reached a new beachhead in the realm of foreign affairs and international law. The emerging federalism in foreign affairs and international law is of a distinct form, however, with distinct implications for the relationship of sub-national, national, and international institutions and interests.

This article - prepared for a symposium on Missouri v. Holland - draws on the prism of "coordination," as well as related analysis of standard-setting, to question two conventional assumptions about the relationship of sub-national, national, and international institutions. First, there is the common notion that a coherent foreign affairs regime requires "one voice" to speak for the nation. Second is the perception of some inherent conflict in the interaction of international norms and sub-national interests - a sense of international law as silencing (or at least disregarding) sub-national voices. Familiar as they are, both these claims are wrong. Coordination can be achieved in foreign affairs even with multiple voices. International law, meanwhile, may increasingly offer opportunities for states and localities to be heard. Once we appreciate as much, we can begin to develop a richer account of the interaction of sub-national, national, and international institutions, as "our federalism" reaches abroad.

Gnamou-Petauton: Dissolution et succession entre organisations internationales

Dandi Gnamou-Petauton (l’Université d’Abomey-Calavi, Bénin - Law) has published Dissolution et succession entre organisations internationales (Bruylant 2008). Here's the abstract:

Cet ouvrage analyse la fin juridique de l’organisation internationale et son remplacement par une autre organisation, à partir d’un échantillon de cent trente-huit organisations internationales.

La succession entre organisations internationales en droit international est définie comme le transfert des fonctions, des droits et des obligations d’une organisation dissoute à une autre. La dissolution est la condition de la succession. Les États jouent un rôle déterminant dans la décision de mettre fin au mécanisme institutionnel de coopération qu’ils ont créé. Les organisations internationales gèrent ensuite les effets de la succession en assurant la mise en oeuvre des volontés étatiques et le respect des règles de chaque organisation partie au processus. États et organisations internationales sont coauteurs de la succession.

Les causes, les modalités juridiques de la dissolution, la nature juridique de la décision de succession, l’examen des effets de la succession sur les fonctions, le patrimoine, le personnel, les normes et la responsabilité du prédécesseur, montrent que l’autonomie juridique de l’organisation internationale reste intimement liée au caractère intergouvernemental de sa création.

Après le constat de la diversité des pratiques et des situations analysées, l’étude met en évidence des lignes directrices et des règles spécifiques applicables à la succession entre organisations internationales, contribuant ainsi à une systématisation théorique de la succession entre organisations internationales.

Cassese: The Oxford Companion to International Criminal Justice

Antonio Cassese (Univ. of Florence - Law & formerly, President, International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia) has published The Oxford Companion to International Criminal Justice (Oxford Univ. Press 2009). Here's the abstract:

The move to end impunity for human rights atrocities has seen the creation of international and hybrid tribunals and increased prosecutions in domestic courts. The Oxford Companion to International Criminal Justice is the first major reference work to provide a complete overview of this emerging field.

Its 1200 pages are divided into three sections. In the first part, 21 essays by leading thinkers offer a comprehensive survey of issues and debates surrounding international humanitarian law, international criminal law, and their enforcement. The second part is arranged alphabetically, containing 300 entries on doctrines, procedures, institutions and personalities. The final part contains over 330 case summaries on different trials from international and domestic courts dealing with war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide, torture, and terrorism.

With analysis and commentary on every aspect of international criminal justice, this Companion is designed to be the first port of call for scholars and practitioners interested in current developments in international justice.

Workshops: Baylis, Segger

Elena A. Baylis (Univ. of Pittsburgh - Law) will give a talk today at the University of Georgia School of Law International Law Colloquium Series on "Bellwether Trials."

Marie-Claire Cordonier Segger (Director, Centre for International Sustainable Development Law, Montreal) will give a talk today at the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law's Friday Lunchtime Lecture Series on "Sustainable Globalisation? Environment and Development Aspects of International Trade and Investment Law."

United States Signs Hague Choice of Court Convention

On Monday, the United States signed the 2005 Hague Convention on Choice of Court Agreements. John B. Bellinger did the honors in one of his final acts as Legal Adviser to the Secretary of State. The United States is the only country that has signed the Convention. Mexico is the only party to the Convention, having acceded to it in September 2007. Thanks to Conflict of Laws .net for noting this.

This was a fitting way to end Bellinger's distinguished term as Legal Adviser.

Bethlehem, McRae, Neufeld, & Van Damme: The Oxford Handbook of International Trade Law

Daniel Bethlehem (Legal Adviser, U.K. Foreign and Commonwealth Office), Donald McRae (Univ. of Ottawa - Law), Rodney Neufeld (Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade), & Isabelle Van Damme (Univ. of Cambridge - Law) have published The Oxford Handbook of International Trade Law (Oxford Univ. Press 2009). Here's the abstract:

Over the past 10 years, the content and application of international trade law has grown dramatically. The WTO created a binding dispute settlement process and in resolving disputes, the judicial organs of the WTO have built up a substantial amount of new international trade law. Emerging from this new WTO process is an international trade law system that is in some respects self-contained and in other respects overlapping and linked to other international legal, economic and political regimes. The 'boundaries' of trade law are now generating enormous interest and controversy which, at a broader level, is subsumed within the debate over globalisation.

The detailed development of the rules of international trade is being examined with increasing frequency by scholars, government officials and trade law practitioners. But how does it fit with existing systems? How it is modified by them? How does the international trade law system affect and modify other regimes?

This Handbook places international trade law within its broader context, providing comment and critique on contemporary thinking on a range of questions both related specifically to the discipline of international trade law itself and to the outside face of international trade law and its intersection with States and other aspects of the international system. It examines the economic and institutional context of the world trading system, its substantive law (including regional trade regimes) and the settlement of disputes. The final part of the book explores the wider framework of the world trading system, considering issues including the relationship of the WTO to civil society, the use of economic sanctions, state responsibility, and the regulation of multinational corporations.

Buffard, Crawford, Pellet, & Wittich: Hafner Festschrift

Isabelle Buffard (Universität Wien - Law), James Crawford (Univ. of Cambridge - Law), Alain Pellet (l'Université Paris X-Nanterre - Law), & Stephan Wittich (Universität Wien - Law) have published International Law between Universalism and Fragmentation: Festschrift in Honour of Gerhard Hafner (Martinus Nijhoff Publishers 2008). Contents include:

• Hans Winkler, Einige persönliche Bemerkungen zu Gerhard Hafner
• Franz Cede, Gerhard Hafner: Porträt eines österreichischen Völkerrechtlers
• Isabelle Buffard, Une relecture de la théorie des sous-systèmes en droit international
• Zdzislaw Galicki, Hierarchy in International Law within the Context of Its Fragmentation
• Axel Marschik, Hard Law Strikes Back – How the Recent Focus on the Rule of Law Promotes Compliance with Norms in International Relations
• Pemmaraju Sreenivasa Rao, The Concept of International Community in International Law: Theory and Reality
• August Reinisch, The Proliferation of International Dispute Settlement Mechanisms: The Threat of Fragmentation vs. the Promise of a More Effective System? Some Reflections From the Perspective of Investment Arbitration
• Daniel Thürer, Boundaries of Justice? An International Law Approach
• Michael Bothe, Rechtliche Hegung von Gewalt zwischen Theorie und Praxis
• Antonio Remiro Brotóns, The Three Cores of Aggression
• Malgosia Fitzmaurice, Intergenerational Equity Revisited
• Rein Müllerson, Democratization: Supply-Stimulated or Demand-Induced?
• Friedl Weiss, The Principle of Non-Discrimination in International Economic Law: A Conceptual and Historical Sketch
• Karl Zemanek, The Prohibition to Use Force after Sixty Years of Abuse
• Christina Binder, The Pacta Sunt Servanda Rule in the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties: A Pillar and its Safeguards
• Hanspeter Neuhold, Variations on the Theme of ‘Soft International Law’
• Ferdinand Trauttmansdorff, The Rule of Law, Codification and the Role of Gerhard Hafner
• Michael Wood, The General Assembly and the International Law Commission: What Happens to the Commission’s Work and Why?
• Wolfgang Benedek, Implications of the Independence of Kosovo for International Law
• Hazel Fox, The Merits and Defects of the 2004 UN Convention on State Immunity: Gerhard Hafner’s Contribution to its Adoption by the United Nations
• Andrea Gattini, The International Customary Law Nature of Immunity from Measures of Constraint for State Cultural Property on Loan
• Marcelo G. Kohen, La création de l’Etat d’Israël à la lumière du droit internacional
• Helmut Tichy & Ulrike Köhler, Legal Personality or not – The Recent Attempts to Improve the Status of the OSCE
• Christian Tomuschat, In the Twilight Zones of the State
• Tullio Treves, Some Peculiarities of the UN Convention on Jurisdictional Immunities of States and Their Property: a Footnote on the Codification Technique
• Vladimir-Djuro Degan, Responsibility of States and Individuals for Genocide and other International Crimes
• Frank Höpfel, Individuelle versus Staatenverantwortlichkeit im Zusammenhang mit Völkermord
• Hans-Peter Kaul, The International Criminal Court – International Humanitarian Law at Work
• Otto Triffterer, ‘Irrelevance of Official Capacity’ – Article 27 Rome Statute Undermined by Obligations under International Law or by Agreements, Article 98?
• Elizabeth Wilmshurst, The Crime of Aggression: Custom, Treaty and Prospects for International Prosecution
• Lucius Caflisch, L’application du droit international général par la Cour européenne des droits de l’homme
• Ursula Kriebaum, Nationality and the Protection of Property under the European Convention on Human Rights
• Manfred Nowak, Vom Weltstrafrecht zum Weltzivilrecht oder vom Internationalen Strafgerichtshof zum Internationalen Gerichtshof für Menschenrechte? Überlegungen am Beispiel der Folterbekämpfung
• Jordan J. Paust, De-Regulating Humanitarian Aid: The Need for New Norms and Interpretations
• Árpád Prandler, The Concept of ‘Responsibility to Protect’ as an Emerging Norm Versus ‘Humanitarian Intervention’
• Bruno Simma, Der Einfl uss der Menschenrechte auf das Völkerrecht: ein Entwurf
• Andreas Zimmermann, Extraterritorial Application of Human Rights Treaties – The Case of Israel and the Palestinian Territories Revisited
• James L. Kateka, Landlocked Developing Countries and the Law of the Sea
• Gerhard Loibl, International Environmental Regulations – Is a Comprehensive Body of Law Emerging or is Fragmentation Going to Stay?
• Thomas A. Mensah, Using Judicial Bodies for the Implementation and Enforcement of International Environmental Law
• Rüdiger Wolfrum, Liability for Environmental Damage in Antarctica: Supplement to the Rules on State Responsibility or a Lost Opportunity?
• James Crawford & Alain Pellet, Anglo Saxon and Continental Approaches to Pleading Before the ICJ / Aspects des modes continentaux et Anglo-Saxons de plaidoiries devant la C.I.J.
• Waldemar Hummer, Argentinien vs Uruguay – Ein Mehrfrontenkampf
• Barbara Kwiatkowska, The 2007 Nicaragua v. Colombia Territoral and Maritime Dispute (Preliminary Objections) Judgment: A Landmark in the Sound Administration of International Justice
• Markus A. Reiterer, Some Thoughts on Compliance with International Obligations
• Christoph Schreuer, What is a Legal Dispute?
• Stephan Wittich, The Judicial Functions of the International Court of Justice
• Hubert Isak, The ‘Second Pillar’ in a Union without Pillars – A New Quality of the Common Foreign and Security Policy with the Treaty of Lisbon?
• Richard Regner, Naiades and Beyond: Stand und Perspektiven der geplanten „Modernisierung der Organisationsstruktur“ für die Binnenschifffahrt in Europa
• Kirsten Schmalenbach, Struggle for Exclusiveness: The ECJ and Competing International Tribunals
• Wolfgang Graf Vitzthum, Quelle est l’identité de l’Europe?

Workshops: Bodansky, Clark, van Aaken

Daniel Bodansky (Univ. of Georgia - Law) will give a talk today at the Oxford Public International Law Discussion Group on "International Climate Change Policy: Precepts for US Foreign Policy."

Phil Clark (Univ. of Oxford - Centre for Socio-Legal Studies) will give a talk today at the University of Oxford All Souls Criminology Seminar on "Restorative Justice for Genocide? Assessing the Impact of the Gacaca Community Courts in Rwanda."

Anne van Aaken (Univ. of St. Gallen - 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 "International Investment Law and Rationalist Contract Theory."

Oxford Public International Law Discussion Group

Here's the schedule for the Oxford Public International Law Discussion Group for Hilary Term 2009:

• January 22, 2009: Daniel Bodansky (Univ. of Georgia - Law), International Climate Change Policy: Precepts for US Foreign Policy
• January 29, 2009: Bruce Wilson (World Trade Organization), TBA
• February 5, 2009: Dino Kritsiotis (Univ. of Nottingham - Law), Reading and Rereading the Caroline Correspondence, 1838-1842
• February 12, 2009: Michael Waibel (Univ. of Cambridge - Law), Insolvent States
• February 19, 2009: Kaiyan Homi Kaikobad (Brunel Univ. - Law), Legal Implications of the Kosovo Declaration of Independence
• February 26, 2009: Ralph Wilde (University College London - Law), Understanding the international territorial administration accountability deficit: Trusteeship and the legitimacy of international organizations
• March 5, 2009: TBA
• March 12, 2009: TBA

Conference: Humanitarian Law & Terrorism

Later this week, on January 23rd and 24th, the Vanderbilt International Legal Studies Program will host its Winter 2009 Roundtable. The topic is "Humanitarian Law & Terrorism." Here are the papers and commentators:

• Mark Osiel (Univ. of Iowa - Law & T.M.C. Asser Institute), Reciprocity in Humanitarian Law: Acceptance and Repudiation
• Comment: Laurence R. Helfer (Vanderbilt Univ. - Law)
• John Cerone (New England Law Boston), Detention Authority in Transnational, Non-Interstate Armed Conflict
• Comment: Elies van Sliedregt (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam - Law)
• Laura Dickinson (Arizona State Univ. - Law), Outsourcing War and Peace: Uniformed Military Lawyers, Organizational Culture, and the Impact of Privatization
• Comment: Greg McNeal (Penn State Univ. - Law)
• Michael Newton (Vanderbilt Univ. - Law), Exceptional Leadership: Protocol I and a World United Against Terror
• Comment: Charles Garraway (British Red Cross)
• Linda Malone (College of William and Mary - Law), The Responsibility to Protect in the Context of Instigated Environmental Emergencies
• Comment: Michael Scharf (Case Western Reserve Univ. - Law)
• Mark Drumbl (Washington & Lee Univ. – Law), The Agency and Innocence of Child Soldiers
• Comment: Michael Newton (Vanderbilt Univ. - Law)
• Laura Olson (American Society of International Law), Practical Challenges of Implementing the Complementarity between International Humanitarian and Human Rights Law - Demonstrated by the Procedural Regulation of Internment in Non-international Armed Conflict
• Comment: Roger Alford (Pepperdine Univ. - Law)
• Michael Scharf (Case Western Reserve Univ. - Law) & Paul Williams (American Univ. - Law & School of International Service), International Law in Crisis
• Comment: Vijay Padmanabhan (Cardozo Law School)

Brewster: Shadow Unilateralism: Enforcing International Trade Law at the WTO

Rachel Brewster (Harvard Univ. - Law) has posted Shadow Unilateralism: Enforcing International Trade Law at the WTO (University of Pennsylvania Journal of International Economic Law, forthcoming). Here's the abstract:

This short essay briefly traces the evolution of trade law enforcement from the the GATT to the WTO regime. The WTO's Dispute Settlement Understanding (DSU) is widely viewed as a major innovation from the GATT regime in that it subordinates unilateral enforcement of trade law to a rule-based system of multilateral enforcement. I recognize the successes of the WTO regime but the institution effective permits (if not encourages) the unilateral enforcement of trade law outside of the DSU framework. Specifically, I examine how the DSU system only provides a prospective remedy - that is, the DSU permits retaliation only for injuries that take place after the WTO litigation is concluded. The DSU thus immunizes violations of WTO trade law from retaliatory sanctioning so long as the offending measures are withdrawn at the end of the litigation process, which is often several years later. This immunity, which I refer to as the "stall-and-withdraw" loophole, leaves injured governments with no immediate remedy for WTO violations under the DSU system, regardless of how great the trade effects of the violation are. I suggest that the institutional design of the DSU effectively creates a need for the unilateral enforcement of trade rules and, oddly, provides legal protection for unilateral sanctions. I conclude by attempting to provide a view of the DSU that acknowledges its advances from its origins in the GATT regime but acknowledge its inability to completely control unilateral retaliation.

Lecture: Freshwater and International Law

Laurence Boisson de Chazournes (Univ. of Geneva - Law) will deliver the Louwes Lecture at the Oxford Centre for Water Research at the University of Oxford. Her talk will be on "Freshwater and International Law: Universal and Regional Perspectives."

Workshop: Golove & Hulsebosch

David Golove (New York Univ. - Law) & Daniel Hulsebosch (New York Univ. - Law) will give a talk today at the New York University School of Law Legal History Colloquium on "On and Equal Footing: Constitution-Making and the Law of Nations in Early America."

ICC: Election of Judges (Ninth Round)

Joyce Aluoch (Kenya) was elected unanimously in the ninth round of balloting. Following the fifth round, Aluoch and Wilhelmina Thomassen (the Netherlands) were the only two candidates remaining for the final seat available, all other candidates having withdrawn. Going head to head, they contested the sixth, seventh, and eighth rounds, with Aluoch eventually gaining the upper hand such that Thomassen withdrew before the final round.

ICC: Election of Judges (Fifth Round)

Christine Van Den Wyngaert (Belgium) was elected in the fifth round of balloting. One vacancy remains to be filled.

ICC: Election of Judges (Fourth Round)

Sanji Monageng (Botswana) has been elected in the fourth round of balloting.

ICC: Election of Judges

Six judges are being elected at the first resumption of the Seventh Session of the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute, now meeting at UN Headquarters in New York City. The first two ballots were conducted yesterday and additional balloting is going on today. On the first ballot, Mohamed Shahabuddeen (Guyana) was elected and Fumiko Saiga (Japan) was re-elected. A third judge - Cuno Tarfusser (Italy) - was elected today on the third ballot.

Back in November, I neglected to mention the activities of the first meeting the Seventh Session of the ASP. One of the important decisions made at that meeting was that Uganda would host the Rome Statute Review Conference during the first half of 2010. Documents are available here.

Call for Papers: Annual Socio-Legal Studies Association Conference

The Annual Socio-Legal Studies Association (SLSA) Conference will be hosted by Leicester de Montfort Law School on April 7-9, 2009. As in previous years, there are a number of sessions exploring different legal and sociological issues. The Irish Centre for Human Rights is organising two streams at this year's conference: Human Rights and Humanitarian Law. Full details of the conference and the online abstract submission process can be found here. Abstracts should be submitted by February 1, 2009. Further details about the call for papers under the Human Rights and Humanitarian Law streams can be found below.

Human Rights

Niamh Hayes and Yvonne McDermott will be co-ordinating the Human Rights stream for this year's Socio-Legal Studies Association Annual Conference. The topic for this year's stream is "Human Rights in the 21st Century: Challenges and Conflicts". The 20th century saw the birth and development of human rights law and principles; the 21st century has seen some of the sharpest challenges to the human rights system to date. The aim of this stream is to examine legal lacunae within the human rights framework, new developments for which the existing norms are outdated or insufficient, issues which have been underdeveloped within the human rights system, and challenging subjects which have been overlooked to date or which give rise to a potential clash of rights. Abstracts of no more than 350 words should be sent via the DMU SLSA Abstract form here by no later than February 1st 2009. Early submission would be much appreciated.

If you have any queries, please feel free to email Niamh Hayes (niamh1@gmail.com) or Yvonne McDermott (yvonne.mcdermott@gmail.com).

Humanitarian Law: The relevance of international humanitarian law in the 21st century: challenges and applicability

The nature and quality of warfare is changing rapidly, and the 21st century will undoubtedly see the emergence of unforeseen methods and means of armed conflict, many aspects of which international humanitarian law will not be prepared for. Since the end of the Second World War, armed conflict has largely, though not entirely, become evident in the form of civil wars and conflicts between non-state actors rather than in conflicts between states or coalitions of states. Despite this downscaling in the formal appearance of armed conflict, present day conflicts have the potential to affect millions of people over geographically vast (and often unconnected) areas of the earth due to the development of new technologies, the employment of new techniques and the inability of international humanitarian law to regulate this new conduct.

Although there are more instruments of international humanitarian law in existence at present than ever before, quantity is not synonymous with quality in this field and so the relevance of these current laws must be questioned in light of modern day conflict situations and conditions. In doing so, the challenges that face international humanitarian law must be explicity identified and examined and the applicability of present day norms must be critically assessed. This stream welcomes the submission of paper abstracts dealing with these concerns in the form of case studies of particular conflicts, comparative analyses of several conflicts, a critique of the present law of armed conflict, discussion of asymmetric threats and post-Westphalian crimes, analyses of criminal prosecutions of IHL violations, the suggestion of reforms that are necessary to 'future-proof' international humanitarian law, or indeed any treatment of the laws of war that fit broadly into the scheme outline above.

Abstracts of no more than 350 words should be sent via the DMU SLSA Abstract form here by no later than February 1st 2009. Early submission would be greatly appreciated.

If you require any further information, please do not hesitate to contact Eadaoin O'Brien (eadaoin_o_brien@yahoo.co.uk) or Tara Smith (smithtar@gmail.com).

Stahn & Sluiter: The Emerging Practice of the International Criminal Court

Carsten Stahn (Program Director, Grotius Centre of International Legal Studies & Leiden Univ. - Law) & Göran Sluiter (Univ. of Amsterdam - Law) have published The Emerging Practice of the International Criminal Court (Martinus Nijhoff Publishers 2009). Contents include:

• Adriaan Bos, Foreword
• Carsten Stahn & Göran Sluiter, Introduction: From “infancy” to emancipation? – A review of the Court’s first practice
• Philippe Kirsch, ICC marks five years since entry into force of Rome Statute
• Luis Moreno Ocampo, The International Criminal Court in motion
• Antonio Cassese, The International Criminal Court five years on: Andante or Moderato?
• Hans-Peter Kaul, The International Criminal Court – Its relationship to domestic jurisdictions
• Jann K. Kleffner, Auto-referrals and the complementary nature of the ICC
• Mohamed M. El Zeidy, The legitimacy of withdrawing State Party referrals and ad hoc declarations under the Statute of the International Criminal Court
• William W. Burke-White & Scott Kaplan, Shaping the contours of domestic justice: The International Criminal Court and an admissibility challenge in the Uganda situation
• Robert Cryer, The International Criminal Court and its relationship to Non-Party States
• David Tolbert & Aleksandar Kontic, The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia: Transitional Justice, the Transfer of Cases to National Courts, and Lessons for the ICC
• Rod Rastan, The responsibility to enforce – Connecting justice with unity
• Jens David Ohlin, Peace, Security, and Prosecutorial Discretion
• Fabricio Guariglia, The selection of cases by the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court
• Christopher Keith Hall, Developing and implementing an effective positive complementarity prosecution strategy
• William A. Schabas, Prosecutorial discretion and gravity
• Carsten Stahn, Judicial review of prosecutorial discretion: Five years on
• Gilbert Bitti, Article 21 of the Statute of the International Criminal Court and the treatment of sources of law in the jurisprudence of the ICC
• Volker Nerlich, The status of ICTY and ICTR precedent in proceedings before the ICC
• Steffen Wirth, Committing liability in international criminal law
• Héctor Olásolo, Developments in the distinction between principal and accessorial liability in light of the first case-law of the International Criminal Court
• Sandesh Sivakumaran, Identifying an armed conflict not of an international character
• Otto Triffterer, Can the “Elements of Crimes” narrow or broaden responsibility for criminal behaviour defined in the Rome Statute?
• Simon De Smet, A structural analysis of the role of the Pre-Trial Chamber in the fact-finding process of the ICC
• Ekaterina Trendafilova, Fairness and expeditiousness in the International Criminal Court’s pre-trial proceedings
• Göran Sluiter, Human rights protection in the ICC pre-Trial phase
• Robert Heinsch, How to achieve fair and expeditious trial proceedings before the ICC: Is it time for a more judge-dominated approach?
• Reinhold Gallmetzer, The Trial Chamber’s discretionary power to devise the proceedings before it and its exercise in the trial of Thomas Lubanga Dyilo
• Franziska C. Eckelmans, The First Jurisprudence of the Appeals Chamber of the ICC
• Håkan Friman, Interlocutory appeals in the early practice of the International Criminal Court
• Marc Dubuisson, Anne-Aurore Bertrand, & Natacha Schauder, Contribution of the Registry to greater respect for the principles of fairness and expeditious proceedings before the International Criminal Court
• David Scheffer, A review of the experiences of the Pre-Trial and Appeals Chambers of the International Criminal Court regarding the disclosure of evidence
• Kai Ambos, “Witness proofing” before the ICC: Neither legally admissible nor necessary
• Michael E. Kurth, Anonymous witnesses before the International Criminal Court: Due process in dire straits
• Sergey Vasiliev, Article 68 (3) and personal interests of victims in the emerging practice of the ICC
• Paolina Massidda & Sarah Pellet, Role and practice of the office of Public Counsel for Victims
• Roger S. Clark, The crime of aggression
• Astrid Reisinger Coracini, Evaluating domestic legislation on the customary crime of aggression under the Rome Statute’s complementarity regime
• B. Don Taylor III, Demystifying the procedural framework of the International Criminal Court: A modest proposal for radical revision

Workshop: Nzelibe

Jide Nzelibe (Northwestern Univ. - Law) will give a talk today at the Temple University School of Law International Law Colloquium on "Courting Genocide: The Unintended Effects of Humanitarian Intervention."

ICJ: Request for Interpretation of Avena (Judgment)

Today, the International Court of Justice issued its judgment in the case concerning Request for Interpretation of the Judgment of 31 March 2004 in the Case concerning Avena and Other Mexican Nationals (Mexico v. United States of America). (Press release here; judgment, declarations, and dissenting opinion here.) The Court rejected Mexico's request to interpret the Avena judgment. Only Judge Bernardo Sepúlveda-Amor dissented.

Here's the dispositif:

(1) By eleven votes to one,

Finds that the matters claimed by the United Mexican States to be in issue between the Parties, requiring an interpretation under Article 60 of the Statute, are not matters which have been decided by the Court in its Judgment of 31 March 2004 in the case concerning Avena and Other Mexican Nationals (Mexico v. United States of America), including paragraph 153 (9), and thus cannot give rise to the interpretation requested by the United Mexican States;

IN FAVOUR: President Higgins; Vice-President Al-Khasawneh; Judges Ranjeva, Koroma, Buergenthal, Owada, Tomka, Abraham, Keith, Bennouna, Skotnikov;

AGAINST: Judge Sepúlveda-Amor;

(2) Unanimously,

Finds that the United States of America has breached the obligation incumbent upon it under the Order indicating provisional measures of 16 July 2008, in the case of Mr. José Ernesto Medellín Rojas;

(3) By eleven votes to one,

Reaffirms the continuing binding character of the obligations of the United States of America under paragraph 153 (9) of the Avena Judgment and takes note of the undertakings given by the United States of America in these proceedings;

IN FAVOUR: President Higgins; Vice-President Al-Khasawneh; Judges Ranjeva, Koroma, Buergenthal, Owada, Tomka, Abraham, Keith, Bennouna, Skotnikov;

AGAINST: Judge Sepúlveda-Amor;

(4) By eleven votes to one,

Declines, in these circumstances, the request of the United Mexican States for the Court to order the United States of America to provide guarantees of non-repetition;

IN FAVOUR: President Higgins; Vice-President Al-Khasawneh; Judges Ranjeva, Koroma, Buergenthal, Owada, Tomka, Abraham, Keith, Bennouna, Skotnikov;

AGAINST: Judge Sepúlveda-Amor;

(5) By eleven votes to one,

Rejects all further submissions of the United Mexican States.

IN FAVOUR: President Higgins; Vice-President Al-Khasawneh; Judges Ranjeva, Koroma, Buergenthal, Owada, Tomka, Abraham, Keith, Bennouna, Skotnikov;

AGAINST: Judge Sepúlveda-Amor;

Judges Koroma and Abraham appended declarations. Judge Sepúlveda-Amor appended a dissenting opinion.

New Issue: Lloyd's Maritime and Commercial Law Quarterly

The latest issue of Lloyd's Maritime and Commercial Law Quarterly (Vol. 2008, pt. 4, November 2008) is out. Contents include:

• David Foxton, Damages for late or early redelivery under time charterparties
• John Vella, Sham transactions
• James Devenney, Lorna Fox-O'Mahony, & Mel Kenny, Standing surety in England and Wales: the sphinx of procedural protection
• Mihail Danov, The law governing arbitrability under the Arbitration Act 1996
• Paul Todd, Non-genuine shipping documents and nullities

ICJ: Final Judgments for Higgins, Ranjeva, and Parra-Aranguren

President Rosalyn Higgins and Judges Raymond Ranjeva and Gonzalo Parra-Aranguren will leave the International Court of Justice on February 5th but not before participating in two final judgments. Later today, the Court will issue its judgment in the case concerning Request for Interpretation of the Judgment of 31 March 2004 in the Case concerning Avena and Other Mexican Nationals (Mexico v. United States of America), and on February 3rd the Court will issue its judgment in the case concerning Maritime Delimitation in the Black Sea (Romania v. Ukraine). These are the only two cases currently under deliberation, so it is no surprise that the Court would want to get these judgments out with a full bench. The fact that Maritime Delimitation will be the Court's one hundredth judgment since its inception might have been additional incentive. More interesting, though, is the timing of today's judgment in Request for Interpretation of the Avena Judgment - the day before a new president is inaugurated in the United States. One can't but suspect that this is not coincidence.

Call for Papers: 2009 Fall Meeting of the ABA Section of International Law

The American Bar Association Section of International Law has issued a call for papers for its 2009 Fall Meeting in Miami Beach, Florida. Here's the call:

From December 12th until February 13th we will be accepting program proposals for our 2009 Fall Meeting, which will take place in Miami Beach, Florida, from October 27th-31st. Your help with creating program proposals is crucial to ensure that the Section’s programming is both interesting and relevant to a large group of international lawyers with varied backgrounds.

We encourage you to take the next several weeks to consider topics for programs that you and your colleagues would find particularly useful. Keep in mind that your proposal must focus on a legal issue that fits into one or more of the following categories:

• Public International Law
• Rule of Law
• Dispute Resolution / Litigation
• Business / Transactional
• International Trade / Regulatory
• Latin America / Caribbean
• Corporate Counsel
• Young Lawyers

For more information about the submission process, please see the attached document from the 2009 Fall Meeting Co-Chairs (Marcelo Bombau (bombau@bomchil.com), Cristina Cardenas (ccardenas@astidavis.com), and Russell W. Dombrow (rwdombrow@yahoo.com)) which outlines the program proposal guidelines.

Please note, proposals may only be submitted online (program proposal guidelines here, program proposal submission form here).

Please contact the meeting Co-Chairs, Annie Wanlund (wanlunda@staff.abanet.org) or Section Chair-Elect Glenn P. Hendrix (glenn.hendrix@agg.com) with any questions about this process or how to get involved with the general planning of this upcoming seasonal meeting.

New Issue: International Arbitration Law Review

The latest issue of the International Arbitration Law Review (Vol. 11, no. 6, 2008) is out. Contents include:

• Martin Gusy & Martin Illmer, The ICDR Guidelines for Arbitrators Concerning Exchanges of Information – a German/American Introduction in light of international practice
• Emilia Onyema, Arbitration under the OHADA regime