The objective of the Conference is to highlight and discuss the emerging legal concerns in public international law and put on record the Indian scholars' thinking/views on it. In recent years, some core principles and norms of public international law have been challenged and attempts have been made to reformulate norms and institutions to perpetuate hegemonies and other attendant evils associated therewith. The Eighth International Conference plans to reinvigorate themes that have generated lively discourses among policy and opinion makers and academicians such as (I) Intervention and International Law, (II) ICC and the Crime of Aggression, (III) Prohibition on Torture and Enforced Disappearance, and (IV) Nagoya Protocol and ABS of Genetic Resources.
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Call for Papers: Eighth International Conference of the Indian Society of International Law
Recent Book Reviews at Global Law Books
- Lauterpacht, Elihu, "The Life of Hersch Lauterpacht" - Reviewer: Paz, Reut
- Van Damme, Isabelle, "Treaty Interpretation by the WTO Appellate Body" Linderfalk, Ulf, "On the Interpretation of Treaties: The Modern International Law As Expressed in the 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties " Kolb, Robert, "Interprétation et création du droit international. Esquisse d'une herméneutique juridique moderne pour le droit international public" Romani, Carlos Fernández de Casadevante, "Sovereignty and Interpretation of International Norms" - Reviewer: Waibel, Michael
- Yannaca-Small, Katia, "Arbitration Under International Investment Agreements: A Guide to the Key Issues" Vandevelde, Kenneth J., "Bilateral Investment Treaties. History, Policy, and Interpretation " Salacuse, Jeswald W., "The Law of Investment Treaties" Schreuer, Christoph, Malintoppi, Loretta, Reinisch, August and Sinclair, Anthomy (eds.), "The ICSID Convention. A Commentary" Perkams, Markus, "Internationale Investitionsschutzabkommen im Spannungsfeld zwischen effektivem Investitionsschutz und staatlichem Gemeinwohl" Robert-Cuendet, Sabrina, "Droits de l'investisseur étranger et protection de l'environnement. Contribution à l'analyse de l'expropriation indirecte" Voss, Jan Ole, "The Impact of Investment Treaties on Contracts between Host States and Foreign Investors" Waibel, Michael; Kaushal, Asha; Chung, Kyo-Hwa Liz and Balchin, Claire (eds.), "The Backlash against Investment Arbitration. Perceptions and Reality." Sasson, Monique, "Substantive Law in Investment Treaty Arbitration. The Unsettled Relationship between International Law and Municipal Law" - Reviewer: Schill, Stephan
- Chowdhury, Azizur Rahman and Bhuiyan, Md. Jahid Hossain (eds.), "An Introduction to International Human Rights Law" - Reviewer: Chowdhury, Tareq M R
- Leben, Charles, "The Advancement of International Law" - Reviewer: Staden, Andreas von
- Schill, Stephan, "The Multilateralization of International Investment Law" - Reviewer: Ripinsky, Sergey
Symposium: Perspectives on Genocide: The Adolf Eichmann Trail - Looking Back 50 Years Later
Klabbers & Wallendahl: Research Handbook on the Law of International Organizations
Jan Klabbers (Univ. of Helsinki - Law) & Åsa Wallendahl (Univ. of Helsinki) have published Research Handbook on the Law of International Organizations (Edward Elgar Publishing 2011). Contents include:- Jan Klabbers, Contending Approaches to International Organizations: Between Functionalism and Constitutionalism
- Tarcisio Gazzini, Personality of International Organizations
- Viljam Engström, Reasoning on Powers of Organizations
- Konstantinos D. Magliveras, Membership in International Organizations
- Thordis Ingadóttir, Financing International Institutions
- August Reinisch, Privileges and Immunities
- Inger Österdahl, International Organiazations – Institutions and Organs
- Jan Wouters & Philip De Man, International Organizations as Law-makers
- Nigel D. White, Decision-making
- Kirsten Schmalenbach, Dispute Settlement
- Catherine Brölmann, International Organizations and Treaties: Contractual Freedom and Institutional Constraint
- Niels M. Blokker, Preparing Articles on Responsibility of International Organizations: Does the International Law Commission Take International Organizations Seriously? A Mid-term Review
- Ramses A. Wessel, Dissolution and Succession: The Transmigration of the Soul of International Organizations
- Enzo Cannizzaro & Paolo Palchetti, Ultra Vires Acts of International Organizations
- Jarna Petman, Deformalization of International Organizations Law
- Geir Ulfstein, Reflections on Institutional Design – Especially Treaty Bodies
- Joxerramon Bengoetxea, The EU as (More Than) an International Organization
- Sabine von Schorlemer, The United Nations
Provost & Akhavan: Confronting Genocide
René Provost (McGill Univ. - Law) & Payam Akhavan (McGill Univ. - Law) have published Confronting Genocide (Springer 2011). The table of contents is here. Here's the abstract:“Never again” stands as one the central pledges of the international community following the end of the Second World War, upon full realization of the massive scale of the Nazi extermination programme. Genocide stands as an intolerable assault on a sense of common humanity embodied in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other fundamental international instruments, including the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide and the United Nations Charter. And yet, since the Second World War, the international community has proven incapable of effectively preventing the occurrence of more genocides in places like Cambodia, Yugoslavia, Rwanda and Sudan. Is genocide actually preventable, or is “ever again” a more accurate catchphrase to capture the reality of this phenomenon? The essays in this volume explore the complex nature of genocide and the relative promise of various avenues identified by the international community to attempt to put a definitive end to its occurrence. Essays focus on a conceptualization of genocide as a social and political phenomenon, on the identification of key actors (Governments, international institutions, the media, civil society, individuals), and on an exploration of the relative promise of different means to prevent genocide (criminal accountability, civil disobedience, shaming, intervention).
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
New Issue: Revue trimestrielle des droits de l'homme
The latest issue of the Revue trimestrielle des droits de l'homme (No. 87, July 2011) is out. Contents include:- Antoine Garapon, Les limites à l’interprétation évolutive de la Convention européenne
- Rusen Ergec, Fiscalité et droit de propriété sous l’angle de la Convention européenne des droits de l'homme
- Michel Levinet, La conciliation du droit à l’instruction de l’enfant et de l'obligation de respecter les convictions religieuses des parents à la lumière de la Convention européenne des droits de l'homme
- Azzouz Kerdoun, La place des droits économiques, sociaux et culturels dans le droit international des droits de l'homme
- Jérôme de Hemptinne, Réflexion sur l’évolution des rôles normatif et judiciaire du juge pénal international
New Issue: Die Friedens-Warte
The latest issue of Die Friedens-Warte (2011, nos. 3-4) is out. The theme is "10 Jahre Krieg gegen den Terror." Contents include:- Patrick Rosenow, United we fight? Terrorismusbekämpfung im Rahmen der Vereinten Nationen seit dem 11. September 2001
- Mathias Bug, Sebastian Enskat, Susanne Fischer, Philipp Klüfers, Jasmin Röllgen, & Katrin Wagner, Strategien gegen die Unsicherheit. Europäische Sicherheitsmaßnahmen nach 9/11
- Noam Lubell, Nur Schall und Rauch? Die Kategorisierung von Personen im Recht des bewaffneten Konflikts
- Christian Schaller, Operation Enduring Freedom und das Recht auf Selbstverteidigung gegen Terroristen
- Aidan Hehir, Zum vermeintlichen Zusammenhang zwischen gescheiterten Staaten und globalem Terrorismus
- Daniela Schiek & Carsten G. Ullrich, „Generation 9/11“? Zur Frage der gesellschaftlichen Verarbeitung der Terroranschläge in Deutschland
Burgorgue-Larsen & Ubeda de Torres: The Inter-American Court of Human Rights: Case Law and Commentary
Laurence Burgorgue-Larsen (Université de Paris 1, Panthéon-Sorbonne - Law) & Amaya Ubeda de Torres (Université de Paris 1, Panthéon-Sorbonne - Law) have published The Inter-American Court of Human Rights: Case Law and Commentary (Oxford Univ. Press 2011). Here's the abstract:This work offers the first systematic analysis of the case law of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights to be published in the English language. The book provides a comprehensive collation and commentary on the jurisprudence of the Court, situating it in the broader context of international human rights law, drawing comparisons in particular with the case law of the European Court of Human Rights. It features coverage of both procedural and substantive human rights law.
Qureshi: Trade Remedies: A Development Perspective
Under the framework of the WTO Member States are allowed to respond to three types of imports which harm or have the potential of harming a domestic industry. The imports in question are those which either involve a State subsidy, for example an export subsidy from the State where the goods are being exported from; or where goods are being imported at a price that is less than the price they are being sold at in the exporting State (practice known as dumping); or where there is a sudden surge of imports which injure the domestic industry. With respect to each of these different types of imports under the WTO a Member is entitled to avail itself of certain trade remedies namely the imposition countervailing measures with respect to subsidised goods; anti-dumping measures with respect to dumped goods; and safeguard measures with respect to the situation where there is a sudden upsurge of imports.
The apparatus and framework within which trade remedies in the WTO can be imposed by a Member are highly technical, and trade remedies historically are rooted in developed States in particular the United States and Europe. However, many developing countries have now introduced legislation enabling them to use trade remedies, and have acted under the legislation. Trade remedies are of particular significance to developing economies both in terms of their need to respond to flows of imports as well as recipients of such responses. Indeed, such is the perceived importance of trade remedies in relation to developing countries that the Doha Round of trade negotiations have stalled as a consequence of disagreement between developed and developing countries over the particular design of the Special Safeguard Mechanism in the agricultural sector. This book approaches the issues relating to trade remedies from a developing country perspective. Drawing on the practice of a number of developing and developed countries the book explores how developing countries relate to trade remedies both as users of trade remedies as well being on the receiving end of such responses to their exports. The book clarifies what the issues, problems and perspectives are, or ought to be, relating to trade remedies in terms of advancing development and the spectrum of developing countries.
Monday, September 5, 2011
Schwebel: Justice in International Law: Further Selected Writings
Stephen M. Schwebel (formerly, Judge, International Court of Justice) has published Justice in International Law: Further Selected Writings (Cambridge Univ. Press 2011). Here's the abstract:Since 1947, Stephen M. Schwebel has written some 200 articles and book reviews on topics of international law, international arbitration and international relations. This volume brings together thirty-two of the legal articles and commentaries written since the first volume of his essays was published in 1994. The essays analyze contentious issues of international arbitration and international law such as the place of preparatory work in interpreting treaties, the role of a judge of the nationality of a party to a case sitting in judgment in the International Court of Justice, and the meaning of the term 'investment' in ICSID jurisprudence. Together with his unofficial writings, his judicial opinions are catalogued in the list of publications with which this volume concludes.
Aust: Complicity and the Law of State Responsibility
Helmut Philipp Aust (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin - Law) has published Complicity and the Law of State Responsibility (Cambridge Univ. Press 2011). Here's the abstract:This systematic analysis of State complicity in international law focuses on the rules of State responsibility. Combining a theoretical perspective on complicity based on the concept of the international rule of law with a thorough analysis of international practice, Helmut Philipp Aust establishes what forms of support for wrongful conduct entail responsibility of complicit States and sheds light on the consequences of complicity in terms of reparation and implementation. Furthermore, he highlights how international law provides for varying degrees of responsibility in cases of complicity, depending on whether peremptory norms have been violated or special subject areas such as the law of collective security are involved. The book shows that the concept of State complicity is firmly grounded in international law, and that the international rule of law may serve as a conceptual paradigm for today's international legal order.
Conference: Human Rights: Old Dichotomies Revisited
The purpose of this conference will be to reflect upon the traditional, ‘classical’ dilemmas and taxonomies in the philosophy of human rights, in the light of recent developments in theories of rights and in the international law of human rights. We all have been taught, and have taught, a number of traditional dichotomies that have been entrenched in theories of human rights for a number of decades: moral versus legal, positive versus negative, first-generation versus second- (and third- ) generation; vertical (against the state) versus horizontal (against other citizens); universal versus relative (or particular); judicially-enforced versus legislatively-protected, etc. Have these dichotomies retained their validity and only the circumstances of their practical applications been altered or have they outgrown their validity altogether?
There have been important developments in the philosophy of human rights and in the international law of human rights, both of which may shed a new light on the dilemmas encapsulated by these (and other) dichotomies. As a starting point, we – the planners and organisers of this conference – believe that both disciplines have a lot to learn from each other: that the scholarship of international law should keep track of the recent philosophising on human rights and that theorists of human rights should take on board the developments in international legal instruments, in the practices of human rights and development-related international institutions and in the debates of the international human-rights community. In short, philosophies of human rights (which are usually advanced by scholars of jurisprudence) and international-law scholarship must interact with each other. This is the fundamental premise behind the conference.
The conference will, therefore, bring together the leading international and Australian scholars in jurisprudence and in international human-rights law who will be asked to reflect upon the relevance (or otherwise) of the traditional ‘dichotomies’ at the end of the first decade of the 21st Century. Each of the main themes will, ideally, be elucidated from a philosophical, political, legal and practical point of view. We will structure the conference in the following way: there will be seven main sessions, each of which will be inaugurated by a major paper, presented either from a philosophical or from an international-law perspective, with the invited commentators representing both of these disciplines
Lauterpacht Centre Friday Lunchtime Lecture Series for Michaelmas Term 2011
Here's the schedule for the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law's Michaelmas Term 2011 Friday Lunchtime Lectures:- October 7, 2011: Christopher Greenwood (Judge, International Court of Justice), Challenges of International Litigation
- October 14, 2011: Ralph Wilde (Univ. College London), The Al-Skeini Case in the ECHR : A Landmark?
- October 21, 2011: Surya P. Subedi (Univ. of Leeds - Law; UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in Cambodia), Reassessing and Redefining the Principle of Economic Sovereignty of States
- October 28, 2011: James Summers (Univ. of Lancaster - Law), tba
- November 4, 2011: André Nollkaemper (Univ. of Amsterdam - Law), Dual Attribution: Liability of the Netherlands for the Removal of Individuals from the Compound of Dutchbat
- November 11, 2011: Laurence Boisson de Chazournes (Univ. of Geneva - Law), International Organizations and Sanction and Accountability Mechanisms: Trends and Prospects
- November 14, 2011: Fred H. Cate (Indiana Univ. - Law), Snyder Lecture: The Growing Importance (and Irrelevance) of International Data Protection Law?
- November 18, 2011: Catherine Redgewell (Univ. College London), tba
- November 25, 2011: Michael Carrel (ICRC/BRC CIHL Update Project; Lauterpacht Centre), The Customary International Humanitarian Law Project: Working to Protect the Victims of Armed Conflict
- December 2, 2011: International Law: The Year in Review (Panel Discussion)
Sunday, September 4, 2011
Conference: International Law Weekend 2011
The American Branch of the International Law Association and the International Law Students Association will host International Law Weekend 2011, October 20-22, 2011, in New York City. The conference theme is "International Law and National Politics." The schedule of events is available here.
Saturday, September 3, 2011
Petty: Protecting Children from Cyber Crime: The Twentieth Session of the UN Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice
Friday, September 2, 2011
d'Aspremont: The Permanent Court of International Justice and Domestic Courts: A Variation in Roles
By virtue of other international adjudicatory bodies or the role of domestic courts, the Permanent Court of International Justice (hereafter PCIJ) was far from being entrusted of any sort of monopoly on the application of international law. It is fair to say that the PCIJ operated in a multi-judiciary world made of domestic and international judicial bodies equally dealing with questions of international law. In such a context, this paper examines some of the dynamics of the multi-judiciary world of the first half of the 20th century. It particularly zeroes in on the interactions of the Permanent Court of International Justice with other judicial bodies, in particular domestic judges. The first section offers a brief overview of the PCIJ’s claim that it is a court of the international legal order and its use of the case-law of other international adjudicatory bodies. The second section examines in further detail the relationship between the PCIJ and domestic courts, contrasting it with the Court’s self-proclaimed international character. On that occasion, it will be particularly shown that, while, on the surface, the Court stopped short of engaging with domestic courts, paying lip-service to their case-law, the PCIJ was inclined to freely interpret domestic law and actually operate as a municipal court itself. A few concluding and critical remarks are formulated, drawing on some analogies with the current dynamics in the practice of the International Court of Justice (hereafter the ICJ).
Sarfaty: Regulating Through Numbers: A Case Study of Corporate Sustainability Reporting
Over the past two decades, there has been a drive to reduce complex concepts into simple numbers. Corruption, rule of law, human rights, and more have all been reduced to quantitative indicators. Under the theory that what gets measured gets done, international law has begun relying on these tools to operationalize global norms and assess compliance. In particular, private regulatory bodies are using indicators to claim scientific authority as they set global standards and shape domestic law. Yet legal scholarship has been largely silent about the implications of these statistical tools for governance.In this Article, I analyze the prevalence of quantitative indicators as a regulatory tool, identify the limits of using these techniques to inform decision making, and offer recommendations on how to increase their legitimacy in domestic and global governance. The appeal of indicators lies in their ability to translate social phenomena into a numerical representation that is transparent, easy to understand, and comparable across actors. Yet I argue that there are potential costs of incorporating indicators in regulation - specifically, the promotion of box-ticking and superficial compliance, the dominance of technical experts over decision making, and the distortion of public values when converted to numbers. My analysis draws from an empirical study of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), based on personal interviews and participation in a GRI-certified training program. The GRI is a private transnational body that has produced the leading standard for sustainability reporting, used by more than three-quarters of the Global Fortune 250 companies. Its guidelines include 79 indicators for corporations to report on their social, environmental, and economic performance. Based on this study, I contend that the use of indicators can be fraught with problems, which are often overlooked due to the authoritative nature of numbers. In order to maximize their effectiveness, I recommend that government agencies and private actors design meaningful indicators, avoid data overload, require third-party verification, and expand participation by citizens and a broad group of experts.
Boon: Regime Conflicts and the U.N. Security Council: Applying the Law of Responsibility
The law of responsibility and the law of collective security are structured as parallel bodies of law. However, the Articles on the Responsibility of States and the controversial new Draft Articles on the Responsibility of International Organizations, are routinely arising in collective security situations. This Article explores how the law of responsibility applies to the Security Council and UN member states, and why it is arising in regime conflicts involving the Security Council. The Article begins by analyzing three common types of regime conflicts confronting the Security Council: those arising from embedded conflicts, strategic inconsistency, and separate legal personality. The Article then examines how the rules of responsibility are applied where human rights and collective security collide, and why the principles of responsibility factor into both the definition of aggression and shared jurisdiction of the Security Council and International Criminal Court over this crime. Finally, this Article discusses the role of the law of responsibility in important recent decisions including the Kadi, Al-Jedda, Behrami, and Saramati cases, and concludes by arguing that the law of responsibility may play a constitution-like function.
Shaffer & Bodansky: Transnationalism, Unilateralism and International Law
This paper for the launching of the journal Transnational Environmental Law first sets forth a concept of transnational environmental law that encompasses but is broader than international environmental law. When we speak of transnational law and legal process, we are concerned with the migration and impact of legal norms, rules and models across borders. Such migration can occur through the mediation of international law and institutions, or through the impact of unilateral legal developments in one jurisdiction that affect behavior in others. The paper then discusses the importance of assessing transnational environmental law in light of the constraints facing consent-based international environmental law, examines the tradeoffs between transnational and international environmental law from the perspective of legitimacy, and concludes by discussing the important but delicate relation of international law to transnational environmental law as both a check and a consolidator. International law should guard against the self-serving unilateral use of transnational environmental law, but it should do so in a way that preserves (and does not shut off) the dynamic, responsive character of the transnational environmental law process. Otherwise international law itself will be delegitimized.
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Knox: The Ruggie Rules: Applying Human Rights Law to Corporations
This paper examines the application of human rights law to corporations. It focuses on the six-year mandate of John Ruggie as the special representative of the U.N. Secretary-General on human rights and corporations, which culminated in June 2011 with the endorsement by the U.N. Human Rights Council of his Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. Although the Guiding Principles are not, and do not purport to be, legally binding in themselves, together with Ruggie’s earlier work they shed light on several contested legal issues, including (a) whether human rights law directly applies to corporations; (b) the standard for corporate complicity in state violations of human rights law; and (c) whether states’ duties to protect against corporate misconduct extend extraterritorially. Clarification of these issues may influence whether corporations are subject to legal remedies for violating human rights law, including under the Alien Tort Statute, which allows aliens to seek monetary damages for torts committed in violation of international law. Ruggie’s work has already been cited in ATS litigation.
New Issue: Schweizerische Zeitschrift für internationales und europäisches Recht
The latest issue of the Schweizerische Zeitschrift für internationales und europäisches Recht (Vol. 21, no. 2, 2011) is out. Contents include:- Aufsätze
- Lorenz Langer, Menetekel oder Musterlösung: Das amerikanische Ausländerrecht und die Umstzung der schweizerischen Auschaffungsinitiative
- Peter Hilpold, Die Schutzverantwortung im Recht der Vereinten Nationen (Responsibility to Protect) - auf dem Weg zur Etablierung eines umstrittenen Konzepts
- Frank Vischer, Die Stellung des Anleihensgläubigers bei Zahlungsunähigkeit des Schuldnerstaates
- Ingeborg Schwenzer & Alain Hosang, Menschenrechtsverletzung - Schadenersatz vor Schweizer Gerichten
Momirov: Accountability of International Territorial Administrations
Aleksandar Momirov has published Accountability of International Territorial Administrations: A public law approach (Eleven International Publishing 2011). Here's the abstract:This book conceptualizes the accountability deficit of missions engaged in the international administration of territories. In so doing, a public-law approach is adopted. The book explores to what extent it is warranted to perceive these missions as public entities exercising public power rather than international organizations merely engaged in extensive peacekeeping and, if such a paradigm shift is accepted, how public law influences our understanding of the accountability deficit. The linkage is explored between the rule of law, judicial review and an independent judiciary as cornerstone-principles of public law on the one hand and the main institutional and conceptual characteristics of international territorial administration on the other hand. The author concludes that insufficient regard for public law principles is at the core of the accountability deficit and that public law should play a role in addressing this deficit. This book is of interest to both international and constitutional lawyers, as well as practitioners engaged with international organizations and their subsidiary field missions.
New Issue: Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights
The latest issue of the Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights (Vol. 29, no. 3, 2011) is out. Contents include:- E. Domínguez Redondo, Rethinking the Legal Foundations of Control in International Human Rights Law – The Case of Special Procedures
- R. Freedman, New Mechanisms of the UN Human Rights Council
- J. Kratochvíl, The Inflation of the Margin of Appreciation by the European Court of Human Rights
- M. Ssenyonjo, Analysing the Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Jurisprudence of the African Commission: 30 Years Since the Adoption of the African Charter
