Barnidge: The Principle of Proportionality Under International Humanitarian Law and Operation Cast Lead

Robert Perry Barnidge Jr. (Univ. of Reading - Law) has posted The Principle of Proportionality Under International Humanitarian Law and Operation Cast Lead (in New Battlefields/Old Laws, William C. Banks ed., forthcoming). Here's the abstract:

This chapter critically examines the principle of proportionality under international humanitarian law and contextualizes its vulnerabilities by looking at Israel’s actions during Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip between December 27, 2008, and January 18, 2009. It begins by providing a black letter law overview of the principle. Although widely accepted, the proportionality principle suffers from significant shortcomings that impact its usefulness as a predictable tool for distinguishing between the lawful and the unlawful, particularly in the context of asymmetrical warfare. These shortcomings exist at both a theoretical level, in the abstract, and at a practical level. To focus these discussions, the second half of this chapter looks at the largely negative international reaction to Israel’s actions during Operation Cast Lead. This reaction, which was, and has been, typically couched with a feigned certainty that belies and leaves unanswered the theoretical shortcomings of the principle of proportionality, suggests that, more often than not, proportionality acts as the ultimate exemplar of law used instrumentally, as a tool to further a particular politics and paradigm of power.

Gallagher: The International Law of Human Trafficking

Anne T. Gallagher has published The International Law of Human Trafficking (Cambridge Univ. Press 2010). Here's the abstract:

Although human trafficking has a long and ignoble history, it is only recently that trafficking has become a major political issue for states and the international community and the subject of detailed international rules. This book presents the first-ever comprehensive and in-depth analysis of the international law of human trafficking. Anne T. Gallagher calls on her direct experience working within the United Nations to chart the development of new international laws on this issue. She links these rules to the international law of state responsibility as well as key norms of international human rights law, transnational criminal law, refugee law, and international criminal law, in the process identifying and explaining the major legal obligations of states with respect to preventing trafficking, protecting and supporting victims, and prosecuting perpetrators. This is a timely and groundbreaking work: a unique and valuable resource for policymakers, advocates, practitioners, and scholars working in this new, controversial, and important field.

New Issue: European Journal of International Relations

The latest issue of the European Journal of International Relations (Vol. 16, no. 4, December 2010) is out. Contents include:

• Ted Hopf, The logic of habit in International Relations
• Jean-Frédéric Morin & E. Richard Gold, Consensus-seeking, distrust and rhetorical entrapment: The WTO decision on access to medicines
• Thomas Rixen, Bilateralism or multilateralism? The political economy of avoiding international double taxation
• Ian Bruff, European varieties of capitalism and the international
• C. William Walldorf, Jr, Argument, institutional process, and human rights sanctions in democratic foreign policy
• Andrei P. Tsygankov & Pavel A. Tsygankov, National ideology and IR theory: Three incarnations of the ‘Russian idea’
• Brent E. Sasley, Affective attachments and foreign policy: Israel and the 1993 Oslo Accords
• Stephanie J. Rickard, Democratic differences: Electoral institutions and compliance with GATT/WTO agreements
• Derrick Frazier & Robert Stewart-Ingersoll, Regional powers and security: A framework for understanding order within regional security complexes

New Issue: The Law and Practice of International Courts and Tribunals

The latest issue of The Law and Practice of International Courts and Tribunals (Vol. 9, no. 3, 2010) is out. Contents include:

• Loretta Malintoppi & Eduardo Valencia-Ospina, Obituary - Shabtai Rosenne
• Annebeth Rosenboom, Shabtai Rosenne (24 November 1917-21 September 2010) A Personal Reflection
• Nikos Lavranos, New Developments in the Interaction between International Investment Law and EU Law
• Julian Arato, Subsequent Practice and Evolutive Interpretation: Techniques of Treaty Interpretation over Time and Their Diverse Consequences
• Julieta Solano McCausland & Enrique Carnero Rojo, Developments at the International Criminal Court

Call for Papers: Post-Conflict Justice and 'Local Ownership': Assessing the Impact of the International Criminal Court

The Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies, Leiden University - Campus The Hague, has issued a call for papers in connection with a launch conference on May 5-6, 2011 for the research project "Post-Conflict Justice and 'Local Ownership': Assessing the Social and Legal Impact of the International Criminal Court." Here's the call:

CALL FOR PAPERS

Post-Conflict Justice and ‘Local Ownership’

Assessing the Impact of the International Criminal Court

The Peace Palace / Leiden University (The Hague Campus)

The Hague, Netherlands

May 5-6, 2011

International criminal justice interventions are increasingly seen as necessary components of a broader peace-building process. They are conceived not only as a tool for criminal punishment but also as a means to facilitate the end of hostilities and strengthen domestic legal institutions in post-conflict societies. Moreover, international criminal justice interventions remain largely founded on the assumption that pursuing prosecutions and other forms of accountability has beneficial effects for local constituencies affected by violence and on domestic legal systems more generally.

But are these assumptions well-founded? To date, studies on the short- and long-term impact of international criminal justice interventions remain the exception, while those that have been carried out too often exist in disciplinary isolation. As Eric Stover has argued, “[A] primary weakness of writing on justice in the aftermath of war and political violence is the paucity of empirical evidence to substantiate claims about how well criminal trials achieve the goals ascribed to them” (Stover, 2005). This empirical gap has narrowed in recent years; however many of the common indicators of “successful impact”—deterrence, reconciliation, incapacitation—often reflect the same justifications offered for the creation of international justice mechanisms in the first place, with insufficient attention paid to how the intended beneficiaries of these mechanisms understand and articulate the goals of a criminal justice intervention.

The anticipated closing of the ad hoc and hybrid tribunals, combined with the expanding jurisdiction and practice of the International Criminal Court (ICC), offers an important opportunity to step back and critically assess the social and legal impact of the ICC’s prosecutions and investigations on local populations. More research is needed as to whether and how ‘local ownership’ of the ICC can be operationalized if, indeed, it can. Given that the ICC’s jurisdiction is complementary to that of domestic legal systems, there is an acute need to revisit the modalities and timing of legal reform and international justice in light of the priorities and interests of local constituencies and actors.

This workshop, as part of a larger, four-year study on post-conflict justice and ‘local ownership,’ will critically assess the impact of the ICC’s intervention in its situation-countries to date—Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, Central African Republic, Sudan, and Kenya—with particular attention paid to what methodologies might best guide such assessments. To that end, papers are invited under the following four themes:

I. Conceptualizing the Local

- Who are the ‘locals’ in the context of the ICC? How are their interests articulated and how can they be taken into account?

- Can we speak of a unitary ‘local’ or are there multiple locals? How might the distinction between conflict and post-conflict situations shape what local interests are perceived to be?

- To what extent can judicial intervention promote ‘ownership’ as an objective? How might ownership of the ICC’s work be conceived in relation to the state, to domestic political elites, to affected communities, and/or customary legal authorities?

- What is the relationship between ‘individual’ and ‘collective’ interests? How do these distinctions figure in the ICC’s work thus far, and how might they inform the Court’s approach to reparations in the future?

II. Social Impact of the ICC

- What effects are ICC interventions perceived to have had on domestic societies? Does the manner of intervention—self-referral, proprio motu investigation, or Security Council referral—affect how the Court is perceived by local actors?

- What expectations have local communities had of ICC intervention efforts? To what extent have these expectations been met and how have they fallen short?

- How has the ICC sought to explain its activities to local communities and what has been the effect of these efforts on understanding the Court’s work?

- How might the ICC draw upon the experiences of other criminal tribunals (ad hoc and hybrid tribunals) to effectively engage with local communities?

III. Legal Impact of the ICC

- What measures has the ICC taken to engage with local actors, and/or to promote engagement with national justice institutions?

- To what extent has the Rome Statute been used as basis for national-level prosecution efforts? How have its provisions been interpreted at the local level?

- Has the principle of complementarity, and its interpretation by the ICC, had an effect on investigations and prosecutions at the domestic level?

- What techniques have been used to foster the implementation of international criminal law within domestic criminal codes? Should states be allowed a margin of discretion in adapting international criminal standards to local legal tradition and circumstances?

IV. Methods and Methodology

- Is it possible to identify impact measurement criteria for international criminal justice interventions? Who should be responsible for developing these criteria?

- What types of “indicators” of impact at the local level should be taken into account? What risks might be posed by the use of such indicators?

- What methods have been used to determine impact and interests? What techniques and research instruments have been used to collect such data?

- What criticisms have been made of existing qualitative and/or quantitative impact studies? How might these critiques animate future empirical research?

Paper proposals should be submitted electronically by February 1, 2011 to pcj@cdh.leidenuniv.nl. Proposals should include the author’s name and full contact information, and an abstract of no more than 500 words.

This conference is supported through a grant from the Netherlands Organization for Social Research (NWO). Conference registration is therefore complimentary. The conference is sponsored by the University of Leiden – Campus The Hague and the Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies, which is home to the Criminal Law Forum. Papers submitted for the conference may be considered for publication as part of a special symposium issue of the Forum, and/or for an ongoing working paper series on the project website.

For additional information, please see the Grotius Centre’s project website.

New Issue: Journal of International Trade Law and Policy

The latest issue of the Journal of International Trade Law and Policy (Vol. 9, no. 2, 2010) is out. Contents include:

• Navid R. Sato, Principle of necessity in China – intellectual property rights
• Mohammad Masudur Rahman & Laila Arjuman Ara, Bangladesh trade potential: a dynamic gravity approach
• Muhammad Abu Sadah, International arbitration contract principles: analysis of Middle East perceptions
• Miron Mushkat & Roda Mushkat, The political economy of Hong Kong's transboundary pollution: The challenge of effective governance
• Afkan R. Isazade, Azerbaijan: legal status of business entities

New Issue: American Review of International Arbitration

The latest issue of the American Review of International Arbitration (Vol. 20, no. 3, 2009) is out. Contents include:

• Robert H. Smit & Tyler B. Robinson, Cost Awards in International Commercial Arbitration: Proposed Guidelines for Promoting Time and Cost Efficiency
• John P. Bowman, In-House Lawyer's Role in International Arbitration
• Peter J.W. Sherwin & Douglas C. Rennie, Interim Relief Under International Arbitration Rules and Guidelines: A Comparative Analysis
• Harout Jack Samra, Two to Tango: Domestic Grounds for Vacatur Under the New York Convention
• Hans Smit, The Unilateral Arbitration Clause: A Comparative Analysis

New Issue: Zeitschrift für ausländisches öffentliches Recht und Völkerrecht

The latest issue of the Zeitschrift für ausländisches öffentliches Recht und Völkerrecht (Vol. 70, no. 3, 2010) is out. Contents include:

• Abhandlungen
• Helen Keller & Luca Cirigliano, Die Krux mit der Blasphemie – Analyse zweier richterlicher Lösungsansätze
• Leonardo Álvarez, Die spanische Dogmatik der Verfassungstreue - Geschichte einer fehlgeschlagenen Rezeption des deutschen Verfassungsdenkens
• Mia Swart, Judicial Lawmaking at the ad hoc Tribunals: The Creative Use of the Sources of International Law and „Adventurous Interpretation”
• Walter Frenz, Die neue GASP
• Christian Wohlfahrt, Veränderungen des Lissabon-Vertrages im Hinblick auf die Doktrin der unmittelbaren Wirkung
• Matthias Kottmann, Plaumanns Ende: Ein Vorschlag zu Art. 263 Abs. 4 AEUV
• Stellungnahmen und Berichte
• Thomas Laker, „Administration of Justice” in den Vereinten Nationen – ein Werkstattbericht
• Adele J. Kirschner, Security Council Resolution 1904 (2009): A Significant Step in the Evolution of the Al-Qaida and Taliban Sanctions Regime?

New Issue: Ocean Development & International Law

The latest issue of Ocean Development & International Law (Vol. 41, no. 4, 2010) is out. Contents include:

• Issues in the South China Sea
• Chris Rahman & Martin Tsamenyi, A Strategic Perspective on Security and Naval Issues in the South China Sea
• Aldo Chircop, Regional Cooperation in Marine Environmental Protection in the South China Sea: A Reflection on New Directions for Marine Conservation
• Bjørn Kunoy, Martin V. Heinesen, & Finn Mørk, Appraisal of Applicable Depth Constraint for the Purpose of Establishing the Outer Limits of the Continental Shelf

New Issue: Journal of International Law and International Relations

The latest issue of the Journal of International Law and International Relations (Vol. 6, no. 1, Summer 2010) is out. Contents include:

• Engagement and Escape: International Legal Institutions and Public Political Contestation
• Aaron Kreaden & Dan Moore, Editors' Introduction
• Sébastien Jodoin, Understanding the Behaviour of International Courts: An Examination of Decision-Making at the ad hoc International Criminal Tribunals
• Darren Hawkins & Wade Jacoby, Partial Compliance: A Comparison of the European and Inter-American Courts of Human Rights
• Eric Cox, State Interests and the Creation and Functioning of the United Nations Human Rights Council

de Carvalho: Semiotics of International Law: Trade and Translation

Evandro Menezes de Carvalho has published Semiotics of International Law: Trade and Translation (Springer 2011). Here's the abstract:

Language carries more than meanings; language conveys a means of conceiving the world. In this sense, national legal systems expressed through national languages organize the Law based on their own understanding of reality. International Law becomes, in this context, the meeting point where different legal cultures and different views of world intersect.

The diversity of languages and legal systems can enrich the possibilities of understanding and developing international law, but it can also represent an instability and unsafety factor to the international scenario. This multilegal-system and multilingual scenario adds to the complexity of international law and poses new challenges. One of them is legal translation, which is a field of knowledge and professional skill that has not been the subject of theoretical thinking on the part of legal scholars. How to negotiate, draft or interpret an international treaty that mirrors what the parties, – who belong to different legal cultures and who, on many occasions, speak different mother tongues – , want or wanted to say?

By analyzing the decision-making process and the legal discourse adopted by the WTO’s Appellate Body, this book highlights the active role of language in diplomatic negotiations and in interpreting international law. In addition, it also shows that the debate on the effectiveness and legitimacy of International Law cannot be separated from the linguistic issue.

Call for Submissions: Journal of International Law and International Relations

The Journal of International Law and International Relations, a peer-reviewed journal at the University of Toronto, has issued a call for submissions for its forthcoming issue 2 of volume 7. Here's the call:

jilir journal of international law & international relations

Call for Submissions

Volume 7, Issue 2

Deadline for Submissions: January 24th, 2010

The Journal of International Law and International Relations (JILIR) invites submissions from scholars of both International Law and International Relations for its Winter 2011 issue. The Journal is a peer-reviewed scholarly journal that seeks to develop interdisciplinary discourse at the nexus of two dynamic disciplines.

JILIR is welcoming submissions on the wide variety of topics located in the intellectual space jointly occupied by International Law and International Relations.

A joint venture of the University of Toronto Faculty of Law and the Munk School of Global Affairs, the Journal's advisory board is comprised of scholars from both International Law and International Relations, including Martti Koskenniemi, Robert Keohane, Benedict Kingsbury, Janice Gross Stein, Michael Byers, Kenneth Abbott, Jose Alvarez, Upendra Baxi, Laurence Boisson de Chazournes, Jutta Brunnée, Martha Finnemore, Karen Knop, Stephen Krasner, Friedrich Kratochwil, Oona Hathaway, Réné Provost, Philippe Sands, Shirley Scott, Gerry Simpson, Stephen Toope, and Rob Walker.

Please send submissions via e-mail to submissions@jilir.org, as attachments in Microsoft Word. Please include the author's full contact information (name, institutional affiliation, mailing address, telephone number(s), and e-mail address) in the body of the e-mail. JILIR will consider submissions of all lengths, but prefers works in the range of 20-50 pages.The deadline for submissions is January 24th, 2011.

Yarwood: State Accountability under International Law: Holding States Accountable for a Breach of Jus Cogens Norms

Lisa Yarwood (Univ. of Exeter - Law) has published State Accountability under International Law: Holding States Accountable for a Breach of Jus Cogens Norms (Routledge 2010). Here's the abstract:

This book considers the extent to which States are held accountable for breaches of jus cogens norms under international law. The concept of State accountability is distinguished from the doctrine of State responsibility and refers to an ad hoc practice in international relations that seeks to ensure States do not escape with impunity when they violate norms that are considered fundamental to the interests of the international community as a whole.

State Accountability under International Law sets forth a definition of State accountability and establishes a threshold against which the existence, or not, of State accountability can be determined. Using a Foucauldian influenced interpretive methodology, this book adopts a novel construction of State accountability as having legal, political and even moral characteristics. It argues that the international community seeks to hold States accountable utilising a variety of traditional and non-traditional responses that cumulatively recognise that the institutions that comprise and legitimise the State were instrumental in the particular breach. Using case studies taken from State practice from throughout the twentieth century and covering a range of geographic contexts, the conclusion is that there is evidence that State accountability, as it is conceptualised here, is evolving into a legal principle.

The book draws together the many academic theories relating to accountability that have arisen in various areas of international law including environmental law, human rights and trade law before going on to examine an emerging practice of State accountability. A variety of ad hoc attempts and informal mechanisms are assessed against the threshold of State accountability established, with emphasis being given to practical examples ranging from the accountability of Germany and Japan after World War Two to the current attempts to seek accountability from Russia for former crimes of the USSR.

Vincent: L'OMC et les pays en développement

Philippe Vincent has published L'OMC et les pays en développement (Larcier 2010). Here's the abstract:

Longtemps considérés comme les parents pauvres de la société internationale et quémandeurs de traitements préférentiels, les pays en développement représentent à l'heure actuelle 80% de la population mondiale, et peuvent être perçus à la fois comme de gigantesques marchés potentiels pour les entreprises des pays du Nord et comme des concurrents sans merci sur la scène commerciale internationale.

L'objectif de cet ouvrage est de décrire la façon dont le système commercial multilatéral prend en compte les caractéristiques et les besoins particuliers des pays en développement.

La première partie est consacrée à la description de l'évolution du traitement que ces pays ont reçu tout au long de l'existence de l'Accord général sur les tarifs douaniers et le commerce (de 1947 à 1994).

La seconde partie est consacrée, quant à elle, à une étude exhaustive de leur statut actuel au sein de l'Organisation mondiale du commerce. Les différentes dispositions relatives au traitement spécial et différencié en leur faveur sont mises en évidence, ainsi que leur efficacité parfois toute relative.

L'ouvrage met également l'accent sur le formidable effort de mobilisation dont certains pays du Sud ont fait preuve ces dernières années pour faire entendre leur voix au sein des forums de négociations de l'OMC, ainsi que sur les réformes institutionnelles qui ont permis la prise en compte de la situation particulière de ces pays et l'application effective des dispositions prises en leur faveur.

Eriksen & Emberland: The New International Law: An Anthology

Christoffer C. Eriksen & Marius Emberland have published The New International Law: An Anthology (Martinus Nijhoff Publishers 2010). Contents include:

• Ivar Alvik, Marius Emberland, &Christoffer C. Eriksen, Polycentric Decision-making Structures and Fragmented Spheres of Law: A New Generation of International Legal Discourse?
• Stéphane Beaulac, Thinking Outside the “Westphalian Box”: Dualism, Legal Interpretation and the Contextual Argument
• Nikolaos Lavranos, Jurisdictional Competition between International Courts and Tribunals: How to Square the Circle?
• Antoine Buyse, Piercing the Tattered Veil: Housing Restitution in Bosnia as a Case Study of Researching Human Rights with the Help of International Relations Theory
• Ole Jacob Sending, The Power of Administration: Law and Politics in Global Governance
• Ivar Alvik, The Hybrid Nature of Investment Treaty Arbitration – Straddling the National/International Divide
• Ingunn Ikdahl, Competing Notions of Property Rights: Land Rights Reform at the Intersection of the International and the Local
• Natasha Balendra, International Human Rights Law and International Humanitarian Law: Alternative Frameworks for Interaction
• Kristin Bergtora Sandvik, Rapprochement and Misrecognition: Humanitarianism as Human Rights Practice
• Moria Paz, A Non-territorial Ethnic Network and the Making of Human Rights Law: The Case of the Alliance Israélite Universelle
• Jo Stigen, What’s in the ICC for States?
• Aristotle Constantinides, ‘Securitizing’ Development: Advantages and Pitfalls of the Security Council’s Involvement in Development Issues
• Cecilia M. Bailliet, Constitutional Underpinnings for Conscientious Objection in Allegiance to International Public Law Norms pertaining to War
• Christina Voigt, Sustainable Development in Practice: The Flexibility Mechanisms of the Kyoto Protocol
• Nicolai Nyland, What may be the New International Environmental Law?

New Issue: L'Observateur des Nations Unies

The latest issue of L'Observateur des Nations Unies (# 28, 2010-1) is out. The theme is "Quelle place pour la victime en droit international ?" Contents include:

• Première Partie – La Victime Entendue Par Le Droit International
• Hélène Hurpy, L'élargissement de la notion de victime dans la jurisprudence de la Cour européenne des droits de l'homme : développements récents
• Kornelis Kasper, Victim Status before the European Court of Human Rights – A Practical Overview
• Huma Haider & Tim Welch, The Use of Protective Measures for Victims and Witnesses and the Balance of Competing Interests under International Law: the Special Case of War Crimes Trials
• Mark E. Wojcik, False Hope: the Rights of Victims before International Criminal Tribunals
• Silvestro Stazzone, Victims' Participation in International Criminal Proceeding: the Early Jurisprudence of the International Criminal Court
• Laurène Graziani, La place de l'enfant victime dans les procédures contentieuses internationales
• Deuxième Partie – La Victime Écoutée Par Le Droit International
• Nada Youssef, Le droit à réparation pour les victimes de violations des droits fondamentaux dans le cadre de la transition démocratique
• Lisa J. Laplante, Evaluating Truth Commissions and Reparations through the Eyes of Victims
• Isabell Verdier-Büschel, Quelle protection pour la victime en droit de l’Union européenne ? – Un bref état des lieux
• Caroline Si Bouazza, La montée en puissance de la victime de pratiques anticoncurrentielles dans le droit de l'Union européenne
• Hana K. Missaoui, Le Léviathan désacralisé : l'État et la notion de victime de pillage de ses ressources naturelles
• Point D'Appui
• Anaïd Panossian, L'action du Conseil de sécurité en Somalie : entre lutte contre la piraterie et restauration de l'État
• Actualité des Juridictions Internationales
• Thomas Margueritte, L'avis consultatif de la Cour internationale de Justice sur le Kosovo : une occasion manquée

Workshops: Simmons, Wood & Crawford

Beth Simmons (Harvard Univ. - Government) will give a talk today at the New York University School of Law Hauser Globalization Colloquium on "Inter-subjective Frames and Rational Choice: Transnational Crime and the Case of Human Trafficking."

Sir Michael Wood (20 Essex St; formerly, Legal Adviser, Foreign & Commonwealth Office) and James Crawford (Univ. of Cambridge - Law) will give a talk today at the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law's Friday Lunchtime Lecture Series on "The ICJ's Kosovo Opinion."

Doumbe-Bille: Défis énergétiques et droit international

Stéphane Doumbe-Bille has published Défis énergétiques et droit international (Larcier 2010). The table of contents is here. Here's the abstract:

Le Centre de droit international de l’université Jean Moulin Lyon 3 coordonne, depuis deux ans, un projet de recherche inter-universitaire sur le thème des défis énergétiques au XXIe siècle à la lumière du droit international. Cette problématique est au cœur des préoccupations de la société internationale actuelle. Elle interpelle donc son droit. Les acteurs du projet, soutenu par la Région Rhône-Alpes et l’université Jean Moulin Lyon 3, ont pu étudier l’impact du défi énergétique sur les mécanismes, notions et aspects essentiels du droit international public, à savoir la souveraineté, les investissements, le droit des organisations internationales, la construction européenne, l’environnement ou encore les droits de l’homme.

Le présent ouvrage collectif, réalisé par les membres des différentes unités de recherche associées au projet (Chaire de droit européen de l’université de Varsovie, Chaire de droit international de l’université d’État de Chisinau, Chaire de droit international de l’université Al Farabi à Almaty, Chaire de droit international de l’université de Bucarest et Centre de droit international de l’université Jean Moulin Lyon 3), en est l’aboutissement scientifique. Publié sous la direction scientifique du Professeur Stéphane Doumbé-Billé, Directeur du Centre de droit international et Coordonnateur de la recherche, il regroupe 18 études en langues française et anglaise autour de trois grands axes : les défis de la souveraineté, notamment la problématique des investissements; les défis de la coopération internationale et régionale, notamment européenne ; les enjeux environnementaux.

Newton: Evolving U.S. Efforts to Support Domestic Accountability

Michael A. Newton (Vanderbilt Univ. - Law) has posted Evolving U.S. Efforts to Support Domestic Accountability (American Society of International Law Discussion Paper Series, November 2010). Here's the abstract:

During the review conference of the International Criminal Court in Kampala, Uganda, the large and well prepared United States delegation announced a new policy of "principled engagement" with the Court. The American Society of International Law commissioned eight expert papers on the direction that engagement should take, with particular focus on four topics: fostering state cooperation with the Court, developing complementarity between national and ICC jurisdiction, strengthening the impact of the Court on victims and witnesses, and shaping the Court’s jurisdiction over the crime of aggression. This essay was written as part of the ASIL report and proposes a series of specific recommendations designed to strengthen the principle of complementarity, which in practice may be the fulcrum supporting the long term legitimacy and effectiveness of the ICC as an apolitical arbiter of justice. The Rome Statute established a treaty-based framework for a permanent supranational prosecutorial authority built on the principle that state sovereignty can be subordinated on occasion to the goal of achieving accountability for egregious international crimes. Properly understood and implemented, the jurisdictional relationship between the ICC and sovereign states is conceived as a tiered allocation of authority to adjudicate. The creation of a vertical level of prosecutorial authority that operates as a permanent backdrop to the horizontal relations between sovereign states in large part depended on a delineated mechanism for prioritizing jurisdiction to serve the ends of authentic justice while simultaneously preserving sovereign rights. The balance of adjudicative authority between the ICC and states is therefore the bridge that carries the weight of the entire Court structure. In fact, the complementarity structure was an integral component of the overarching multilateral agreement without which the ICC would arguably not have been created. The unambiguous reaffirmation of the complementarity principle by the Assembly of States Parties at the 2010 Kampala Conference means that the U.S. policy preference for assisting states in strengthening domestic prosecutorial systems should move ahead reflecting a principled harmony of values rather than being misbranded as a manifestation of institutional hostility. In the wake of the Kampala Conference, U.S. policymakers and legislators have a clear window of opportunity to augment the efforts of the Assembly of States Parties by reinvigorating aid to domestic systems seeking to develop or enhance domestic capacity to address the enforcement gap that remains an unfortunate reality.

Roach: Suppressing Somali Piracy – Next Steps

J. Ashley Roach (formerly, U.S. Department of State) has posted an ASIL Insight on Suppressing Somali Piracy – Next Steps.

New Issue: Zeitschrift für ausländisches öffentliches Recht und Völkerrecht

The latest issue of the Zeitschrift für ausländisches öffentliches Recht und Völkerrecht (Vol. 70, no. 2, 2010) is out. Contents include:

• Christian Tomuschat, Lisbon - Terminal of the European Integration Process? The Judgement of the German Constitutional Court of 30 June 2009
• Giacinto della Cananea, Is European Constitutionalism Really "Multilevel"?
• Jure Vidmar, Confining New International Borders in the Practice of Post-1990 State Creations
• Robert Muharremi, The European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo (EULEX) from the Perspective of Kosovo Constitutional Law

Workshop: Haslan

Emily Haslan (Univ. of Kent - Law) will give a talk today at the Oxford Public International Law Discussion Group on "The Trials of Samo and Tufft and the Development of International Criminal Law."

UPDATE: This workshop has been cancelled due to inclement weather.

New Volume: Yearbook of Polar Law

The latest volume of the Yearbook of Polar Law (Vol. 2, 2010) is out. Contents include:

• Gudmundur Alfredsson & Timo Koivurova, Introduction
• Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, The North: A New Academic Frontier - An Opening Address by the President of Iceland at the Second Akureyri Polar Law Symposium, University of Akureyri 10 September 2009
• R. Douglas Brubaker, The Arctic – Navigational Issues under International Law of the Sea
• Timo Koivurova, Governing Arctic Shipping: Finding a Role for the Arctic Council
• Kamrul Hossain, International Governance in the Arctic: The Law of the Sea Convention with Special Focus on Offshore Oil and Gas
• Ron Macnab, Nationalizing the Arctic Maritime Commons: UNCLOS Article 76 and the Polar Sea
• Louis W. Pauly, The Increasing Complexity of Global and Regional Governance: New Context for Polar Law
• Alyson JK Bailes, Potential Roles of NATO and the EU in High Northern Security
• Mark Nuttall, Resource Frontier or Extractive Periphery?: The Political Ecology of Oil and Gas in the North
• Ron Macnab, The Southern and Arctic Oceans: Polar Opposites in Many Respects
• Malgosia Fitzmaurice, Indigenous Whaling, Protection of the Environment, Intergenerational Rights and Environmental Ethics
• Md. Waliul Hasanat, Cooperation in the Barents Euro-Arctic Region in the Light of International Law

New Volume: Max Planck Yearbook of United Nations Law

The latest volume of the Max Planck Yearbook of United Nations Law (Vol. 14, 2010) is out. Contents include:

• Ulrich Sieber, Legal Order in a Global World – The Development of a Fragmented System of National, International, and Private Norms
• Giulia Bigi, Joint Criminal Enterprise in the Jurisprudence of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and the Prosecution of Senior Political and Military Leaders: The Krajišnik Case
• Marco Roscini, World Wide Warfare – Jus ad bellum and the Use of Cyber Force
• Suzette V. Suarez, Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf
• Maximilian Spohr, United Nations Human Rights Council
• Carlos Fernández de Casadevante Romani, International Law of Victims
• Eugenia López-Jacoiste, The UN Collective Security System and its Relationship with Economic Sanctions and Human Rights
• Katya Göcke, The Case of Ángela Poma Poma v. Peru before the Human Rights Committee
• Katrin Tiroch, Violence against Women by Private Actors: The Inter-American Court’s Judgment in the Case of Gonzalez et al. (“Cotton Field”) v. Mexico
• Sonja Neudorfer & Claudia Wernig, Implementation of International Treaties into National Legal Orders: The Protection of the Rights of the Child within the Austrian Legal System
• Katarina Weilert, Taming the Untamable? Transnational Corporations in United Nations Law and Practice
• Michael Ioannidis, Naming a State – Disputing over Symbols of Statehood at the Example of “Macedonia”

Carmody: Is Our House in Order? Canada's Implementation of International Law

Chios Carmody (Univ. of Western Ontario - Law) has posted Is Our House in Order? Canada's Implementation of International Law (McGill-Queen's Univ. Press 2010). Contents include:

• Chios Carmody, Introduction: Is Our House in Order? Canada’s Implementation of International Law
• Michael Byers, Canada’s Implementation of International Law: Why It Matters
• Armand de Mestral, The Relationship of International and Domestic Law as Understood in Canada
• Stéphane Paquin, Federalism and Multi-Level Governance in Foreign Affairs:A Comparison of Canada and Belgium
• Jaye Ellis, On the Nature and Meaning of International Legal Obligation: Canada’s Responses to Kyoto
• Lucie Lamarche, Economic and Social Rights in an Era of Governance and Governance Arrangements in Canada: The Need to Re-visit the Issue of the Implementation of International Human Rights Law
• Chios Carmody, Canada’s Implementation of the WTO Agreement
• Anthony R. Daimsis, Canada’s Indoor Arbitration Management: Making Good on Promises to the Outside World
• Robert J. Currie, Libman at Twenty-five; or, Canada and Qualified Territoriality: Do We Understand Jurisdiction Yet?
• Christopher K. Penny, Domestic Reception and Application of International Humanitarian Law: Coming Challenges forCanadian Courts in the “Campaign against Terror”
• Dwight G. Newman, Letting the Elephants Watch the Mice: The Surrender of Canadian Anti-Bribery Legislation to American Jurisdiction
• Margaret Ann Wilkinson, Confidential Information and Privacy-Related Law in Canada and in International Instruments

Workshop: Davis & Kingsbury

Kevin Davis (New York Univ. - Law) & Benedict Kingsbury (New York Univ. - Law) will give a talk today at the New York University School of Law Hauser Globalization Colloquium on "Obligation Overload: Adjusting the Obligations of Fragile or Failed States."