Yannaca-Small: Arbitration Under International Investment Agreements: A Guide to the Key Issues

Katia Yannaca-Small (International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes) has published Arbitration Under International Investment Agreements: A Guide to the Key Issues (Oxford Univ. Press 2010). Here's the abstract:

Investor-state arbitration is a relatively new dispute settlement mechanism that allows foreign investors the opportunity to seek redress for damages arising out of breaches of investment-related treaty obligations by the governments of host countries. Claims are submitted to independent, international arbitration tribunals, which are called upon to interpret the treaty at hand. Because of the public interest involved in these cases, the awards of these tribunals are subject to much scrutiny and debate. Thus, it has already generated hundreds of cases and created new legal disciplines, inspiring a continuous string of legal writings. This book describes the process of investor-state arbitration in all of its phases, and provides the reader with comprehensive insight into investor-state arbitration.

Arbitration Under International Investment Agreements: A Guide to the Key Issues includes contributions from many of the leading experts in the field, from private practitioners and academics to government and NGO officials. In this way, the book differs from other books on this topic because it includes contributions from all actors involved, providing more credibility in an area in which one of the main criticisms is bias against governments. This book provides pragmatic and reliable analysis of all aspects of this evolving topic.

Helmke: Under Attack: Challenges to the Rules Governing the International Use of Force

Belinda Helmke (Univ. of Sydney - Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies) has published Under Attack: Challenges to the Rules Governing the International Use of Force (Ashgate 2010). Here's the abstract:

Under Attack makes a new contribution to the field of international relations in general and the study of international law and armed conflict in particular, in two core ways. First, it links information from varying disciplines, most notably international relations and international law, to form a comprehensive picture of state practice and the challenges it poses to the legal rules for the use of force. Secondly, it organises the information in such a way to identify two core groups of contemporary justifications used by states: humanitarian reasons and self-defence, both with their sub-categories. At the core of this book is the question of how state practice since 1990 has challenged the long-established legal regime on the international use of force. Are we merely witnessing a temporary and insignificant challenge to international law or are the rules genuinely under attack?

Dubout & Touzé: Les droits fondamentaux : charnières entre ordres et systèmes juridiques

Edouard Dubout & Sébastien Touzé have published Les droits fondamentaux : charnières entre ordres et systèmes juridiques (Pedone 2010). The table of contents is available here. Here's the abstract:

Dans un contexte où les interactions entre les ordres et les systèmes juridiques à l’échelle nationale, régionale et internationale, vont sans cesse croissantes, il devient nécessaire d’essayer de penser des moyens d’articulation rationnelle du pluralisme juridique.

Les droits fondamentaux pourraient-ils y contribuer ? Telle est la suggestion qui est éprouvée par les différentes contributions réunies dans le présent ouvrage. Elle provient tout simplement de l’observation empirique de la présence récurrente des droits fondamentaux comme objet de communication, notamment juridictionnelle, dans les rapports entre les différents ensembles normatifs. Bien que cela ne soit pas leur fonction première, l’idée est émise que les droits fondamentaux pourraient jouer le rôle de « charnières » entre systèmes et ordres juridiques et contribuer ainsi à l’ordonnancement du pluriel.

Pour en tester la pertinence et en évaluer les atouts et les éventuelles faiblesses, des spécialistes de différentes branches du droit international public et privé, de la protection régionale des droits de l’homme, du droit de l’Union européenne, de la théorie du droit et du droit constitutionnel se sont livrés à des analyses permettant dans un premier temps d’observer le recours fluctuant aux droits fondamentaux dans les échanges entre systèmes juridiques internationaux et régionaux, et dans un deuxième temps de souligner l’usage ambivalent des droits fondamentaux dans les rapports des ordres juridiques nationaux avec les normes d’origine externe.

Il en ressort que si les droits fondamentaux présentent bien cette capacité singulière à être le support d’une communicabilité entre ensembles normatifs distincts, ils restent pour le moment un outil imparfait d’articulation des rapports de systèmes tant que ne seront pas davantage rationalisées des techniques structurelles de « partage » de ces normes.

Scholz: Internationaler Gesundheitsschutz und Welthandel

Rüdiger Scholz has published Internationaler Gesundheitsschutz und Welthandel. Das Verhältnis des Gesundheitsvölkerrechts zum WTO-Recht (Duncker & Humblot 2010). Here's the abstract:

Rüdiger Scholz beleuchtet das komplexe Zusammenspiel von Gesundheitsvölkerrecht und WTO-Recht. Den Kern der Arbeit bildet die zukünftige Koordination der völkerrechtlichen Regime. Dazu analysiert der Verfasser neben dem einschlägigen WTO-Recht das sich in den letzten Jahren verstärkt entwickelnde Gesundheitsvölkerrecht, in dessen Zentrum die Weltgesundheitsorganisation (WHO) steht. Dabei überprüft er, inwiefern die Arbeit der Codex Alimentarius Kommission (CAK) im Bereich Lebensmittelsicherheit mittlerweile rechtsstaatlichen Standards genügt. Die Einführung von regionalen Lebensmittelstandards wird empfohlen, um die Arbeit der CAK von handelspolitischen Konflikten freizuhalten. Rüdiger Scholz analysiert kritisch die reformierten Internationalen Gesundheitsvorschriften zum Schutz vor der internationalen Verbreitung von Gesundheitsgefahren. Die etablierte Arbeitsteilung zwischen CAK und WTO erweist sich als reformbedürftig.

Die WTO-Streitbeilegungsorgane sollten künftig eine formelle Überprüfung von Codex-Lebensmittelstandards vornehmen. De lege ferenda schlägt der Autor die Anerkennung der Internationalen Gesundheitsvorschriften als internationale Normen im Sinne des WTO-Rechts vor. Auf diese Weise könnten die für beide Regime schädlichen exzessiven Gesundheitsschutzmaßnahmen vermieden werden. Konflikten zwischen WHO-Antitabakregime und WTO-Recht sollte über die Technik der authentischen Interpretation begegnet werden. Im Ergebnis erweist sich die verstärkte Vernetzung der Regime als die beste Koordinationstechnik.

SFDI: Le droit international face aux enjeux environnementaux - Colloque d'Aix-en-Provence

The Société française pour le droit international has published Le droit international face aux enjeux environnementaux - Colloque d'Aix-en-Provence (Pedone 2010). The table of contents is available here. Here's the abstract:

L’équipe du Centre d’études et de recherches internationales et communautaires (CERIC) a accueilli du 4 au 6 juin 2009 le colloque annuel de la Société française pour le droit international. Le colloque a témoigné à la fois de l’originalité, du dynamisme et de l’importance du droit international en la matière, tout en mettant en évidence ses limites. Le droit international de l’environnement est à la fois un outil fondamental de coopération entre les États et un facteur d’harmonisation et de dynamisation des droits nationaux. Mais le colloque d’Aix n’a pas, à proprement parler, été un colloque sur le droit de l’environnement. Restés fidèles à l’approche de nos prédécesseurs, nous nous sommes, en effet, attachés à saisir des questionnements fondamentaux du droit international général à travers le prisme d'un sujet apparemment singulier. Les trois jours de travaux ont cherché à comprendre comment les défis environnementaux ébranlent voire transforment les catégories et concepts structurant le droit international. Comme l’avait remarquablement mis en lumière l’un des sinon le précurseur de la matière, Alexandre-Charles Kiss, l’environnement se présente comme un sujet « carrefour », à la confluence de problématiques multiples dont l'interaction contribue, dans une sorte de complexité féconde, à revivifier les tissus du droit international. Ne fallait-il pas saisir là une occasion de dépoussiérer l'image d'un droit international qui ne saurait se résumer à une collection de règles compassées, frappées de péremption par l'évolution d'un Monde auxquelles elles seraient inadaptées ou, à la manière de ces étoiles éteintes depuis des siècles mis dont on continue à percevoir la lumière, traduisant des rapports de forces depuis longtemps dépassés ?

New Issue: European Journal of International Relations

The latest issue of the European Journal of International Relations (Vol. 16, no. 2, June 2010) is out. Contents include:

• Andrew Linklater, Global civilizing processes and the ambiguities of human interconnectedness
• John Williams, Hedley Bull and Just War: Missed opportunities and lessons to be learned
• Stefan A. Schirm, Leaders in need of followers: Emerging powers in global governance
• Jonathan Joseph, The limits of governmentality: Social theory and the international
• Tanja E. Aalberts, Playing the game of sovereign states: Charles Manning’s constructivism avant-la-lettre
• Alexander Thompson, Rational design in motion: Uncertainty and flexibility in the global climate regime
• Patrick A. Mello, Review article: In search of new wars: The debate about a transformation of war

New Issue: Journal of African and International Law

The latest issue of the Journal of African and International Law (Vol. 3, no. 1, 2010) is out. Contents include:

• Charles R. Majinge, The Concept of Global Governance in Public International Law: Addressing Democratic Deficit and Enhancing Accountability in the Decision-Making Process of the African Union
• Amos O. Enabulele, Enforcement of the Green Tree Agreement between Nigeria and Cameroon: Matters arising under Municipal Law
• Andrew Mollel, Evaluating UN Peacekeeping Missions in Resolving Armed Conflicts: A Focus on the MONUC
• Henry Onoria, Locus Standi of Individuals and Non-State Entities before Regional Economic Integration Judicial Bodies in Africa
• Gastorn Kennedy Rights of Children Born Out of Wedlock and the Laws in Tanzania: Efforts Toward Compliance with Human Rights Instruments?
• Arrigo Pallotti & Margherita Poto, Local Democracy: European and African Compliance with Millennium Development Goals
• Chacha Bhoke, Judgment in the First Case before the African Court of Human and Peoples’ Rights: a Missed Opportunity or a Mockery of International Law in Africa?

Patel: The Writ Stops Here: No Habeas for Prisoners Held by U.S. Forces in Afghanistan

Faiza Patel (New York Univ. - Brennan Center for Justice) has posted an ASIL Insight on The Writ Stops Here: No Habeas for Prisoners Held by U.S. Forces in Afghanistan.

May: Genocide: A Normative Account

Larry May (Vanderbilt Univ. - Philosophy) has published Genocide: A Normative Account (Cambridge Univ. Press 2010). Here's the abstract:

Larry May examines the normative and conceptual problems concerning the crime of genocide. Genocide arises out of the worst of horrors. Legally, however, the unique character of genocide is reduced to a technical requirement, that the perpetrator’s act manifest an intention to destroy a protected group. From this definition, many puzzles arise. How are groups to be identified and why are only four groups subject to genocide? What is the harm of destroying a group and why is this harm thought to be independent of killing many people? How can a person in the dock, as an individual, be responsible for a collective crime like genocide? How should we understand the specific crimes associated with genocide, especially instigation, incitement, and complicity? Paying special attention to the recent case law concerning the Rwanda genocide, May offers the first philosophical exploration of the crime of genocide in international criminal law.

Avant, Finnemore & Sell: Who Governs the Globe?

Deborah D. Avant (Univ. of California, Irvine - Political Science), Martha Finnemore (George Washington Univ. - Political Science and International Affairs), & Susan K. Sell (George Washington Univ. - Political Science and International Affairs) have published Who Governs the Globe? (Cambridge Univ. Press 2010). Contents include:

• Deborah D. Avant, Martha Finnemore and Susan K. Sell, Who governs the globe?
• Allison Danner & Erik Voeten, Who is running the international criminal justice system?
• Aseem Prakash & Matthew Potoski, The International Organization for Standardization as a global governor: a club theory approach
• Virginia Haufler, Corporations in zones of conflict: issues, actors, and institutions
• Abraham L. Newman, International organization control under conditions of dual delegation: a transgovernmental politics approach
• Kathleen R. McNamara, Constructing authority in the European Union
• Clifford Bob, Packing heat: pro-gun groups and the governance of small arms
• R. Charli Carpenter, Governing the global agenda: 'gatekeepers' and 'issue adoption' in transnational advocacy networks
• Alexander Cooley, Outsourcing authority: how project contracts transform global governance networks
• Tamar Gutner, When 'doing good' does not: the IMF and the Millennium Development Goals
• Tim Büthe, The power of norms; the norms of power: who governs international electric and electronic technology?
• Karen Mundy, 'Education for all' and the global governors
• Deborah D. Avant, Martha Finnemore & Susan K. Sell, Conclusion: authority, legitimacy, and accountability in global politics

La responsabilité des entreprises multinationales en matière de droits de l’homme

La responsabilité des entreprises multinationales en matière de droits de l’homme (Bruylant 2010) has been published. The table of contents is available here. Here's the abstract:

La responsabilité des entreprises transnationales en matière de droits de l’homme est constamment au coeur de l’actualité depuis de nombreuses décennies.

Au cours d’une journée d’étude organisée par le Centre de recherche sur les droits de l’homme et le droit humanitaire (C.R.D.H.) et le Pôle international et européen de l’Université Panthéon-Assas Paris II (P.I.E.P.), à Paris le 9 février 2007, des juristes ont tenté d’apporter des réponses afin d’obtenir le respect des droits fondamentaux dans le commerce international.

Cet ouvrage comporte les contributions des différents intervenants, dont, en première partie, un rapport général constatant la responsabilité des Etats dans le contrôle des sociétés transnationales et proposant la création d’une Convention internationale sur la lutte contre les atteintes aux droits de l’homme commises par les sociétés transnationales. Plusieurs exposés sont relatifs à l’action des Nations Unies dans le domaine du commerce international et des droits de l’homme et, notamment, l’adoption en 2003, par la Sous-commission pour la promotion et la protection des droits de l’homme, des «Normes sur la responsabilité des sociétés transnationales et autres entreprises en matière de droits de l’homme ». Les mécanismes onusiens de protection et de promotion sont également présentés ainsi que les rapports entre le droit pénal international et le monde des affaires.

Les positions des syndicats et des entreprises furent aussi évoquées dans le cadre de cette journée d’étude. Enfin, les conclusions générales établissent une synthèse des propositions présentées lors de ce colloque.

New Issue: Virginia Journal of International Law

The latest issue of the Virginia Journal of International Law (Vol. 50, no. 4, Summer 2010) is out. Contents include:

• Michael N. Schmitt, Military Necessity and Humanity in International Humanitarian Law: Preserving the Delicate Balance
• Marco Ventoruzzo, Freeze-Outs: Transcontinental Analysis and Reform Proposals
• Stephen C. Sieberson, Inching Toward EU Supranationalism? Qualified Majority Voting and Unanimity Under the Treaty of Lisbon
• Jonathan Remy Nash, The Curious Legal Landscape of the Extraterritoriality of U.S. Environmental Laws

Modirzadeh: The Dark Sides of Convergence: A Pro-Civilian Critique of the Extraterritorial Application of Human Rights Law in Armed Conflict

Naz K. Modirzadeh (Harvard Univ. - Program on Humanitarian Policy and Conflict Research) has posted The Dark Sides of Convergence: A Pro-Civilian Critique of the Extraterritorial Application of Human Rights Law in Armed Conflict (U.S. Naval War College International Law Studies (Blue Book) Series, Vol. 86, pp. 349-410, 2010). Here's the abstract:

The idea of co-application of international humanitarian law and human rights law has drawn a tremendous amount of academic attention and a huge amount of innovation in international and domestic jurisprudence. Yet in the current headlong approach into convergence, rights and rights institutions may carry risks to the very goals many humanitarian-minded international lawyers seek to achieve. This article takes a bird’s-eye view of the debate and questions whether it is a good thing to insist on the extraterritorial applicability of human rights to armed conflict situations. In doing so, the article argues that parallel application is equally as bad for the Iraqi civilian as it is for the American soldier. As we pull back the layers of legalistic argumentation, the real role of rights discourse and the real function of human rights law on the battlefield seem much less thought-out than leading scholars suggest, and the implications for this new approach to international law seem much more problematic than the current debate on the issue presents.

Call for Applications: The Hague Academy's Seminar for Advanced Studies

The Hague Academy of International Law is now accepting applications for the seventh session of the Seminar for Advanced Studies, which is to take place January 16-22, 2011. This year's subject is "Security in the International Law of the Sea." The program is available here. The closing date for applications is August 31, 2010. Here's the idea:

The theme of the 7th session of the Seminar for Advanced Studies in Public and Private International Law is Security in the International Law of the Sea.

The public and private international law of the sea is assuming a new prominence in international affairs. It raises new challenges ranging from questions of environmental protection and offshore resource exploitation, to legal contests over arctic resources and global-warming opened sea passages, and regarding the risks of piracy, maritime terrorism, human trafficking and smuggling of weapons of mass destruction. Besides substantive challenges of this kind, international law of the sea is also encountering background difficulties well-known to other regimes of international law, and in particular those pertaining to the fragmentation of international and regional legal regimes, to enforcement difficulties at domestic and international level and to the proliferation of dispute settlement mechanisms. Held one year before the 2012 celebration of the thirtieth anniversary of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and two years after the adoption of the "Rotterdam Rules", the seminar provides a unique opportunity to look back over thirty years of practice and to both identify unresolved issues of contention and potential solutions and articulate reform proposals.

The seminar aims to provide participants with up-to-date and advanced knowledge of the guarantees and mechanisms of implementation of international law of the sea by focusing on one central question to most areas of contention in the field: the issue of security and the challenges it creates for practitioners. After an introduction to the main challenges currently faced by international lawyers of the sea, the teaching programme is divided into two complementary sections: the first one is devoted to the question of security at sea in public international law, while the second broaches further dimensions of the topic under private international law and maritime law. Among the public and private international law dimensions of the question of the security at sea that will be addressed are: access to living and non-living ocean resources in the outer continental shelf and the deep seabed; navigation and passage rights in international straits and high seas; protection of the marine environment; protection against violence at sea and law enforcement; protection of seafarers' rights and safety; sea carriers' security obligations and contractual liability regime. A third and final section of the seminar will be dedicated to the security at sea in the Arctic; this will provide a concrete situation regarding which participants will be able to address the different issues of public and private law of the sea discussed during the week in an applied and holistic fashion.

The seminar is aimed chiefly at practitioners (prosecutors, judges, national and international legal officers, attorneys at law, diplomats, etc.) working in the field of international law of the sea and who need an intensive training or a brush-up in its public and private international law aspects. The seminar adopts a practice-oriented approach and is based on the extensive experience of renowned practitioners and the expertise of leading international academics in the field.

Rovine: Contemporary Issues in International Arbitration and Mediation: The Fordham Papers 2009

Arthur W. Rovine has published Contemporary Issues in International Arbitration and Mediation: The Fordham Papers 2009 (Martinus Nijhoff Publishers 2010). The table of contents is available here. Here's the abstract:

The 2009 volume of Contemporary Issues in International Arbitration and Mediation - The Fordham Papers is a collection of important works in international arbitration and mediation written by the prominent speakers at the 2009 Fordham Law School Conference on International Arbitration and Mediation. The 25 papers are organized into the following six parts: Part I: Investor-State Arbitration; Part II: Arbitrator Ethics; Part III: Damages in International Commercial Arbitration; Part IV: The Theory and Philosophy of International Arbitration; Part V: Investor-State Mediation; and Part VI: Mediation in the Context of Arbitration.

Alasow: Violations of the Rules Applicable in Non-International Armed Conflicts and Their Possible Causes

Omar Abdulle Alasow has published Violations of the Rules Applicable in Non-International Armed Conflicts and Their Possible Causes: The Case of Somalia (Martinus Nijhoff Publishers 2010). Here's the abstract:

While all armed conflicts are marked by violations of international humanitarian law, non-international armed conflicts appear to be characterised by even more serious violations of international humanitarian law on a colossal scale. This study is aimed at understanding the possible factors that may cause parties to non-international armed conflicts to engage in violations despite the fact that not only international humanitarian law but also other bodies of rules (e.g. legal and moral) impose restrictions and obligations similar to international humanitarian law. Somalia, which for over two decaces has been experiencing internal armed conflicts marked by widespread violations, is a typical case.

This study addresses the root causes of the internal armed conflict in Somalia and identifies factors which contributed to the collapse of the Somali state and the reasons for its continuing conflict. It also examines the characteristics of the conflict. In order to examine the extent to which applicable rules have been respected or not, the study examines both international rules applicable in non-international armed conflicts and specific Somali rules of warfare. After demonstrating evidence of violations and analysing it, this study seeks to identify possible direct and indirect causes of these violations. In addition, it also seeks to identify whether such possible causes contribute to violations that are unique to the situation in Somalia, or, if not, whether there may be lessons to be learnt for other situations similar to that in Somalia.

Giorgetti: A Principled Approach to State Failure: International Community Actions in Emergency Situations

Chiara Giorgetti (White & Case LLP) has published A Principled Approach to State Failure: International Community Actions in Emergency Situations (Martinus Nijhoff Publishers 2010). Here's the abstract:

This book is the first legal study of state failure in international law. Building on a comprehensive analysis of the phenomenon, Dr. Giorgetti provides a definition of state failure that informs her study of how international actors may operate in situations of emergencies occurring in failed and failing states. The book specifically focuses on actions taken in health, environmental and human rights emergencies to provide generally applicable conclusions. Indeed, the Principles for Action distilled in the final chapter will provide concrete instruments to the international community to act in emergency situations and will prove to be an important contribution to the development of international law.

Nordquist, Moore & Heidar: Changes in the Arctic Environment and the Law of the Sea

Myron H. Nordquist (Univ. of Virginia - Center for Oceans Law and Policy), John Norton Moore (Univ. of Virginia - Law), & Tomas H. Heidar have published Changes in the Arctic Environment and the Law of the Sea (Martinus Nijhoff Publishers 2010). The table of contents is available here. Here's the abstract:

While the Arctic Ocean has long been covered with ice, recent changes in climate have caused the ice to melt, spurring both conservation challenges to the region's environment and biodiversity, as well as new opportunities for navigation and natural resource development.

Changes in the Arctic Environment and the Law of the Sea offers policy and legal guidance in response to these new challenges. Synthesizing the presentations of leading experts at 'Changes in the Arctic Environment and the Law of the Sea' meeting held in May, 2009 in Seward, Alaska, the topics explored in this volume include the political context and scientific background, marine transport, environment and biodiversity, in addition to offshore petroleum and the status of Spitsbergen. A list of selected Internet resources provides links for additional websites, as well as PowerPoint files from presentations given at the meeting.

Lubell: Extraterritorial Use of Force Against Non-State Actors

Noam Lubell (National Univ. of Ireland, Galway - Irish Centre for Human Rights) has published Extraterritorial Use of Force Against Non-State Actors (Oxford Univ. Press 2010). Here's the abstract:

This book analyses the primary relevant rules of international law applicable to extra-territorial use of force by states against non-state actors. Force in this context takes many forms, ranging from targeted killings and abductions of individuals to large-scale military operations amounting to armed conflict. Actions of this type have occurred in what has become known as the 'war on terror', but are not limited to this context. Three frameworks of international law are examined in detail. These are the United Nations Charter and framework of international law regulating the resort to force in the territory of other states; the law of armed conflict, often referred to as international humanitarian law; and the law enforcement framework found in international human rights law. The book examines the applicability of these frameworks to extra-territorial forcible measures against non-state actors, and analyses the difficulties and challenges presented by application of the rules to these measures.

The issues covered include, among others: the possibility of self-defence against non-state actors, including anticipatory self-defence; the lawfulness of measures which do not conform to the parameters of self-defence; the classification of extra-territorial force against non-state actors as armed conflict; the 'war on terror' as an armed conflict; the laws of armed conflict regulating force against groups and individuals; the extra-territorial applicability of international human rights law; and the regulation of forcible measures under human rights law. Many of these issues are the subject of ongoing and longstanding debate. The focus in this work is on the particular challenges raised by extra-territorial force against non-state actors and the book offers a number of solutions to these challenges.

Crawford, Pellet & Olleson: The Law of International Responsibility

James Crawford (Univ. of Cambridge - Law), Alain Pellet (University of Paris X - Nanterre - Law), & Simon Olleson (Lincoln's Inn) have published The Law of International Responsibility (Oxford Univ. Press 2010). Here's the abstract:

The law of international responsibility plays a fundamental role in the modern system of international law, surpassed by none and paralleled only by the law of treaties. The volume seeks to cover the entirety of the field of international responsibility, with a particular focus on the work of the International Law Commission. It provides detailed discussion and analysis of the historically predominant topics of State responsibility, on which the ILC completed its work in 2001, and the specific sub-topic of diplomatic protection, work on which was completed by the ILC in 2006. However, it also covers both the topic of responsibility of international organizations, on which the ILC's work is ongoing (a set of draft Articles having been adopted on first reading in 2009), and that of liability for harmful activities not prohibited under international law on which the ILC adopted drafts in 2001 and 2006.

The volume comprises contributions on specific issues in the international law of responsibility, authored by an international team of specialists in the field, which provides a comprehensive commentary of all aspects of the topic. The chapters are detailed in their coverage, discussing both international jurisprudence and doctrinal controversies, as well as providing a critical assessment of the relevant work of the ILC. In addition to providing detailed consideration of the general secondary rules of international responsibility, coverage is also included of certain specific systems of responsibility and their relationship with the general rules under a number of specialised regimes, in particular under certain human rights treaties, the WTO, and investment protection treaties.

Conference: Canadian Council on International Law 2010 Annual Conference

The Canadian Council on International Law's 39th Annual Conference will be held October 28-30, 2010, in Ottawa. A call for papers for students is below. Here's the theme:

This year's CCIL conference theme is Northern and Arctic issues. In exploring that theme, the conference will cover a broad variety of topics. Among other topics we are planning panels dealing with climate change and the arctic, boundary issues, resource exploitation (notably energy), northern peoples, international arctic shipping, geopolitics of the Arctic, human rights, and the (de)militarization of the Arctic.

Here's the call for student papers:

The Canadian Council on International Law is inviting papers from students. Students who are studying at the graduate or undergraduate level in any discipline. Articling students are also eligible: papers from articling students will be considered under the graduate student category.

Successful applicants will present their papers at the 2010 CCIL Annual Conference to be held 1 in Ottawa from October 28-30, 2010. One award will be given for the best graduate paper and one for the best undergraduate paper. Winners will receive the third inaugural Ronald St. John Macdonald Young Scholars Award. (Subsidies for travel to the annual conference are available.)

This year's CCIL conference theme is Northern and Arctic issues. In exploring that theme, the conference will cover a broad variety of topics. Among other topics we are planning panels dealing with climate change and the arctic, boundary issues, resource exploitation (notably energy), northern peoples, international arctic shipping, geopolitics of the Arctic, human rights, and the (de)militarization of the Arctic. Papers that reflect this theme will be given strong consideration by the CCIL Ronald St. John Macdonald Award Selection Committee.

Those interested may submit a paper of no more than 25 pages on any topic of international law related to the conference theme.

Articles should be sent by email to: manager@ccil-ccdi.ca by July 15, 2010

New Issue: International Journal of Refugee Law

The latest issue of the International Journal of Refugee Law (Vol. 22, no. 2, July 2010) is out. Contents include:

• Volker Turk & Elizabeth Eyster, Strengthening Accountability in UNHCR
• Nicole laViolettem, ‘UNHCR Guidance Note on Refugee Claims Relating to Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity’: a Critical Commentary
• Alexander Betts, Towards a ‘Soft Law’ Framework for the Protection of Vulnerable Irregular Migrants
• Helene Lambert & Theo Farrell, The Changing Character of Armed Conflict and the Implications for Refugee Protection Jurisprudence