New Issue: Goettingen Journal of International Law

The latest issue of the Goettingen Journal of International Law (Vol. 3, no. 2, 2011) is out. Contents include:

• Jean d'Aspremont, The Politics of Deformalization in International Law
• Mayeul Hiéramente, The Myth of 'International Crimes': Dialectics and International Criminal Law
• Alexander R. J. Murray, Does International Criminal Law Still Require a ‘Crime of Crimes’? A Comparative Review of Genocide and Crimes against Humanity
• Christopher Peters, Subsequent Practice and Established Practice of International Organizations: Two Sides of the Same Coin?
• Ranieri Lima Resende, Normative Heterogeneity and International Responsibility: Another View on the World Trade Organization and its System of Countermeasures
• Vasiliki Saranti, A System of Collective Defense of Democracy: the Case of the Inter-American Democratic Charter
• Killian S. O'Brien, Refugees on the High Seas: International Refugee Law Solutions to a Law of the Sea Problem
• Julian M. Lehmann, Rights at the Frontier: Border Control and Human Rights Protection of Irregular International Migrants
• Vladislava Stoyanova, Complementary Protection for Victims of Human Trafficking under the European Convention on Human Rights

Enonchong: The Independence Principle of Letters of Credit and Demand Guarantees

Nelson Enonchong (Univ. of Birmingham - Law) has published The Independence Principle of Letters of Credit and Demand Guarantees (Oxford Univ. Press 2011). Here's the abstract:

The Independence Principle of Letters of Credit and Demand Guarantees offers a comprehensive and authoritative analysis of the principle of independence, a fundamental element of Letters of Credit and Demand Guarantees. It examines the key issues involved in the practical application of this principle and the increasing exceptions to it, including a detailed account of the rules in this area.

Beginning with an elementary account of the law of Letters of Credit and Demand Guarantees, the following chapters guide practitioners on the parameters of the Independence Principle. It will discuss the limitations of the principle, and assess whether new exceptions should be introduced.

With English law and practice as the main focus of the work, comparisons to other major common law jurisdictions (including Australia, Canada, USA and Singapore) will be made where relevant and instructive.

The landscape of the law in this area has changed markedly as a result of judicial decisions within the last five years,and revisions of the ICC Uniform Customs and Practice for Documentary Credits (2007) and ICC Uniform Rules for Demand Guarantees (2010). The fully updated analysis takes into account all the important developments that have taken place in this field in recent years and will prove a valuable reference tool to practitioners and academics alike.

New Issue: Manchester Journal of International Economic Law

The latest issue of the Manchester Journal of International Economic Law (Vol. 8, no. 2, 2011) is out. Contents include:

• Sadeq Z. Bigdeli, Resurrecting the Dead? The Expired Non-Actionable Subsidies and the Lingering Question of ‘Green Space’
• Mohammad Towhidul Islam, TRIPS Agreement and Agriculture: Implications and Challenges for Bangladesh
• Hailang Wang, The (In)applicability of Sino-foreign BITs to Hong Kong and Macao

New Issue: Journal of International Trade Law and Policy

The latest issue of the Journal of International Trade Law and Policy (Vol. 10, no. 3, 2011) is out. Contents include:

• Azmat Gani, The effect of business environment on trade in Gulf Cooperation Council countries
• Ben Chigara, European/Southern African Development Community (SADC) states' bilateral investment agreements (BITs) for the promotion and protection of foreign investments vs post-apartheid SADC economic and social reconstruction policy
• Mervyn Martin & Maryam Shademan Pajouh, Rebalancing the balance: How the WTO's HR policy impacts on its very objectives for welfare enhancement and development
• Torsten Schmitz, The bill of lading as a document of title
• Lekha Laxman & Abdul Haseeb Ansari, GMOs, safety concerns and international trade: developing countries' perspective

Grau & Markwardt: Internationale Verträge

Carsten Grau & Karsten Markwardt have published Internationale Verträge (Springer 2011). Here's the abstract:

Internationale Verträge sind in fast jedem Unternehmen zu einem wichtigen Thema geworden. Im Vorfeld und Umfeld dieser Verträge bestehen zahlreiche Einzelprobleme, die man als Praktiker beantworten muss. Dazu gehört etwa die Frage, welche internationalen Regelungen zu beachten sind, welches nationale Recht zur Anwendung kommen soll und vor welchen Gerichten notfalls geklagt werden muss. Das vorliegende Buch liefert in neun übersichtlichen Kapiteln einen kompakten Einstieg in den Bereich „Internationale Verträge" für jeden damit beschäftigten Praktiker. Es beantwortet die wichtigsten Fragen und schärft das Problembewusstsein für die Abfassung und Prüfung künftiger Verträge. Es beinhaltet neben zahlreichen Fallbeispielen, die vorwiegend der ober- und höchstgerichtlichen Rechtsprechung entnommen sind, Vorschläge zur Vertragsgestaltung, Vertragsdurchführung, Konfliktbewältigung, Durchsetzung von Ansprüchen im Ausland sowie Checklisten – von Praktikern für Praktiker.

Spiro: The End of Olympic Nationality

Peter J. Spiro (Temple Univ. - Law) has posted The End of Olympic Nationality (in Allegiance and Identity in a Globalised World, Kim Rubenstein ed., forthcoming). Here's the abstract:

Sport supplies useful terrain on which to explore meanings of loyalty and identity. At the international level, the preferences of consuming publics break down along national lines. In perhaps no other context are states and their citizens as unified as they are with respect to international competition, overcoming political, social, and cultural cleavages. The Olympic Games represents an apex of this national solidarity.

This paper describes the hybrid public/private regime of Olympic nationality, the baseline of which requires athletes to be citizens of the countries for which they compete. The regime obstructs transfer of Olympic nationality in important respects. This regime has been justified as a shield against instrumental naturalization and lax state naturalization regimes, and ostensibly works to maintain some correlation between an athlete’s organic national identity and the flag for which she competes. But eligibility requirements relating to eligibility are easily gamed. They create barriers to movement and discriminate against naturalized citizens inconsistent with human rights norms.

The paper argues that nationality requirements should be abandoned. Olympic competition should move to a club sports model in which athletes can play for any national team that will have them. This change would not detract from the quality of Olympic competition nor would it diminish sentimental attachment to national teams.

New Issue: Journal of International Organizations Studies

The latest issue of the Journal of International Organizations Studies (Vol. 2, no. 1, March 2011) is out. Contents include:

• Editorial
• John Mathiason & Kirsten Haack, How to Study International Organizations
• Theorizing International Organizations
• Christopher Balding & Daniel Wehrenfennig, An Organizational Theory of International Institutions
• Explaining International Organizations
• Kent J. Kille & Ryan C. Hendrickson, NATO and the United Nations: Debates and Trends in Institutional Coordination
• Dieter Kerwer & Rainer Huelsse, How International Organizations Rule the World: The Case of the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering
• Insider’s View
• Tapio Kanninen & Georgios Kostakos, Can the United Nations Address the Interconnected Global Challenges of Today and Tomorrow?

Chadwick: Self-Determination in the Post-9/11 Era

Elizabeth Chadwick (Nottingham Trent Univ. - Law) has published Self-Determination in the Post-9/11 Era (Routledge 2011). Here's the abstract:

This book discusses the increasing tendency in certain government quarters to incorporate struggles by peoples for their self-determination into the wider anti-terrorist agenda of the post-9/11 era. This tendency distorts the laws of armed conflict and of peace alike. As inter-state anti-terrorist co-operation becomes more extensive, the transaction costs of international peace and security between states increase. Modes of domestic state governance are left increasingly to the vagaries of inter-state non-interference in the domestic affairs of each other. The ‘war on terror’ and an increasingly strict, domestic state law-and-order approach to silence political opponents increases the dangers for civilians, eliminates rights, and generates suspect communities. At the same time, public institutions and private corporations are harnessed into the mechanics of a broad project of prevention and control.

Distinctively, the book considers the impact of the recent ‘war on terror’ on the politics of the self-determination of peoples. It draws together issues related to governmental forceful action, an increasing intolerance towards non-state violent acts, the content of international and regional codifications, expansions in state discretion, the encroachment of surveillance powers, and the interaction and overlap between intelligence and law enforcement agencies.

Desierto: Development as an International Right: Investment in the New Trade-Based IIAs

Diane Alferez Desierto (Yale Univ. - Law) has posted Development as an International Right: Investment in the New Trade-Based IIAs (Trade, Law & Development, forthcoming). Here's the abstract:

This article explores the international right of development, as expressed in the design of new trade-based international investment agreements (IIAs). I show that, hitherto, development has figured mostly in investment arbitration primarily through the question of jurisdictional gate keeping – and how to reconcile the meaning of investment within Article 25 of the ICSID Convention with the effect of pro-development language in the Preamble to the ICSID Convention. While the Salini test will remain a much-debated approach in international investment interpretation, the main subjective difficulty in elevating development into a condition or criterion for investment treaty coverage is that the international right of development is itself a dynamic concept, with equally divergent methods for assessing “contributions to economic development”. The inherent fluidity of the concept of development, coupled with the absence of any language within Article 25 of the ICSID on the international right to development, further supports the view that the Convention did not intend to impose development contributions as a strict condition or mandatory criterion before gaining access to ICSID jurisdiction. Rather than focus on the problematic uses of the international right of development in jurisdictional gate keeping, I draw attention to the actual nature of the international right to development and its implementation, which has less to do with justiciability (or adjudicated remedies), than the direct implementation and supervision of States. The practicable development-oriented innovations in new trade-based IIAs (such as the COMESA Common Investment Agreement, the ASEAN Comprehensive Investment Agreement, and the ASEAN-China Investment Agreement) appears to align more closely with the actual nature of the right to development. These particular types of IIAs, which often form part of a complete trade cooperation package, operationalize the international right of development through: 1) permissible differentiation or graduated implementation of host State obligations, taking the host State’s stage of economic development into account; 2) transparency obligations and information exchanges between treaty partners; 3) joint investment promotion activities by treaty partners; and 4) coordinated institutional mechanisms that enable host State participation and access in monitoring treaty interpretation and any investment-related rule making. These phenomena demonstrate a marked paradigm shift towards more effective deployment of the international right of development in international investment rule-making.

Special Issue: Strengthening Cooperation on Transboundary Groundwater Resources

The latest issue of Water International (Vol. 36, no. 5, 2011) focuses on the topic "Strengthening Cooperation on Transboundary Groundwater Resources." Contents include:

• Special Issue: Strengthening Cooperation on Transboundary Groundwater Resources
• Alice Aureli & Gabriel Eckstein, Strengthening cooperation on transboundary groundwater resources
• Chusei Yamada, Codification of the Law of Transboundary Aquifers (Groundwaters) by the United Nations
• Stephen C. McCaffrey, The International Law Commission's flawed Draft Articles on the Law of Transboundary Aquifers: the way forward
• Gabriel E. Eckstein, Managing buried treasure across frontiers: the international Law of Transboundary Aquifers
• Joseph W. Dellapenna, The customary law applicable to internationally shared groundwater
• Salman M.A. Salman, The World Bank policy and practice for projects affecting shared aquifers
• Jamie Linton & David B. Brooks, Governance of transboundary aquifers: new challenges and new opportunities
• W. Todd Jarvis, Unitization: a lesson in collective action from the oil industry for aquifer governance
• Anita Milman & Isha Ray, Interpreting the unknown: uncertainty and the management of transboundary groundwater
• Pilar Carolina Villar & Wagner Costa Ribeiro, The Agreement on the Guarani Aquifer: a new paradigm for transboundary groundwater management?
• David N. Cassuto & Romulo S.R. Sampaio, Keeping it legal: transboundary management challenges facing Brazil and the Guarani
• Mehmet Öztan & Mark Axelrod, Sustainable transboundary groundwater management under shifting political scenarios: the Ceylanpinar Aquifer and Turkey–Syria relations
• Götz Reichert, Transboundary groundwater law in Europe: a look at an evolving multi-level regime

Güner-Özbek: The United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Carriage of Goods Wholly or Partly by Sea

Meltem Deniz Güner-Özbek (Koç Univ. - Law) has published The United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Carriage of Goods Wholly or Partly by Sea: An Appraisal of the "Rotterdam Rules" (Springer 2011). The table of contents is here. Here's the abstract:

The international carriage of goods by sea has been regulated by international conventions. These include the “International Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules of Law relating to Bills of Lading” (“Hague Rules”); the “Protocol to Amend the International Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules of Law Relating to Bills of Lading” (“Visby Rules”); and the “UN Convention on the Carriage of Goods by Sea." They were adopted in 1924, 1968 and 1978 respectively and the transport industry's commercial needs have since substantially changed. Furthermore the advent of subsequent regimes has resulted in the uniformity in the carriage of goods by sea once provided by the Hague Rules being lost. In order to update and modernize existing regimes the “UN Convention on Contracts for the International Carriage of Goods Wholly or Partly by Sea” (“Rotterdam Rules”) was adopted on December 11, 2008 by the UN General Assembly and opened for signature on September 23, 2009. Since then drafters of the Rotterdam Rules, academics and practitioners have been publicizing, discussing, and evaluating the Rules. This book is an effort to further explore those same goals.

Shaffer: Transnational Recursivity Theory: A Review Essay of Halliday & Carruthers’ Bankrupt

Gregory Shaffer (Univ. of Minnesota - Law) has posted Transnational Recursivity Theory: A Review Essay of Halliday & Carruthers’ Bankrupt. Here's the abstract:

This review essay for the Socio-Economic Review examines Terence Halliday and Bruce Carruthers’ book Bankrupt: Global Lawmaking and Systemic Financial Crisis. The essay notes how the authors build and apply theory along the following dimensions within a single book, addressing (i) the construction of global norm-making; (ii) the intermediating processes through which global norms are conveyed to national settings; (iii) the national enactment and implementation of global norms; and (iv) the recursive processes through which global norm-making and national lawmaking interact dynamically over time. After providing a brief overview of the authors’ major contributions (on mechanisms for change, the role of intermediaries, and the concept of recursivity), the essay examines the challenges that this work faces if it is to have a long-term theoretical impact, as it merits. The essay contends that since the authors’ key theoretical contribution is encapsulated in the concept of the “recursivity” of global and national processes, we should call their analytic framework Transnational Recursivity Theory. Such work requires the simultaneous study of the construction of global legal norms, their transnational transmission, their reception in national legal systems, and the processes through which this reception feeds back and potentially reshapes the globalizing legal norm.

New Issue: Chinese Journal of International Law

The latest issue of the Chinese Journal of International Law (Vol. 10, no. 3, September 2011) is out. Contents include:

• Articles
• Mohamed Shahabuddeen, Teething Phase of the ECCC
• Sienho Yee, Universal Jurisdiction: Concept, Logic, and Reality
• Claudia Annacker, Protection and Admission of Sovereign Investment under Investment Treaties
• Comments
• Rhona K.M. Smith, More of the Same or Something Different? Preliminary Observations on the Contribution of Universal Periodic Review with Reference to the Chinese Experience
• Tor Krever, “Mopping-up”: UNHCR, Neutrality and Non-Refoulement since the Cold War
• Paul A. Barresi, US-China Relations and the Fate of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change: Traditional Conservatism as an Ideological and Cultural Constraint on US Participation in a Successor to the Kyoto Protocol on Chinese Terms

Gaillard & Bachand: Fifteen Years of NAFTA Chapter 11 Arbitration

Emmanuel Gaillard (Univ. of Paris XII - Law) & Frédéric Bachand (McGill Univ. - Law) have published Fifteen Years of NAFTA Chapter 11 Arbitration (Juris Publishing 2011). Contents include:

• Thomas E. Carbonneau, Is NAFTA Arbitration "International"
• Meg Kinnear, NAFTA at Fifteen--A View from ICSID
• William S. Dodge, Local Remedies under NAFTA Chapter 11
• Armand de Mestral, Lessons of Chapter 11: Procedural Integrity and Systemic Integrity
• Henri C. Alvarez, Judicial Review of NAFTA Chapter 11 Arbitral Awards
• Gabrielle Kaufmann-Kohler, Interpretive Powers of theFree Trade Commission and the Rule of Law
• Andrea K. Bjorklund, NAFTA Chapter 11 and the Environment: An Assessment after Fifteen Years
• Luis González García, The Future of NAFTA Chapter 11: The Next Fifteen Years
• Mark Feldman, NAFTA Chapter 11 at Fifteen: A Few Key Questions Resolved

Yearwood: The Interaction between World Trade Organisation (WTO) Law and External International Law

Ronnie R.F. Yearwood has published The Interaction between World Trade Organisation (WTO) Law and External International Law: The Constrained Openness of WTO Law (A Prologue to a Theory) (Routledge 2011). Here's the abstract:

International legal scholarship is concerned with the fragmentation of international law into specialised legal systems such as trade, environment and human rights. Fragmentation raises questions about the inter-systemic interaction between the various specialised systems of international law. This study conceptually focuses on the interaction between World Trade Organisation (WTO) law and external international law. It introduces a legal theory of WTO law, constrained openness, as a way to understand that interaction. The idea is that WTO law, from its own internal point of view, constructs its own law. The effect is that external international law is not incorporated into WTO law wholesale, but is (re)constructed as WTO law. It follows that legal systems do not directly communicate with each other. Therefore, to influence WTO law, an indirect strategic approach is required, which recognises the functional nature of the differentiated systems of the fragmented international legal system.

Cerone: The UN and the Status of Palestine – Disentangling the Legal Issues

John Cerone (New England Law Boston) has posted an ASIL Insight on The UN and the Status of Palestine – Disentangling the Legal Issues.

Lee, Horlick, Choi, & Broude: Law and Development Perspective on International Trade Law

Yong-Shik Lee (The Law and Development Institute, Sydney), Gary Horlick (Georgetown Univ. - Law), Won-Mog Choi (Ewha Womans Univ. - Law), & Tomer Broude (Hebrew Univ. of Jerusalem - Law) have published Law and Development Perspective on International Trade Law (Cambridge Univ. Press 2011). Contents include:

• Yong-Shik Lee, Law and development for lease-developed countries: theoretical basis and regulatory framework for microtrade
• Tomer Broude, Development disputes in international trade
• Bryan Mercurio, Intellectual property rights, trade, and economic development
• Maureen Irish, Trade, border security, and development
• Yong-Shik Lee, World Trade Organization and developing countries: reform proposal
• Faizel Ismail, Rediscovering the role of developing countries in GATT/WTO before the Doha Round
• Gary Horlick & Katherine Fennell, The WTO dispute settlement from the perspective of developing countries
• Andrew Mitchell & Joanne Wallis, Pacific countries in the WTO: accession and accommodation, the reality of WTO accession
• Moshe Hirsch, North-South regional trade agreements: prospects, risks, and legal regulation
• Mitsuo Matsushita & Yong-Shik Lee, Free trade agreements: WTO disciplines and development perspectives
• Anthony Cassimatis, FTAs, developing countries, and human rights conditionality
• Yong-Shik Lee, Free trade agreement and foreign direct investment: a viable answer for economic development?
• Colin Picker, Islands of prosperity and poverty: a rational trade development policy for economically heterogeneous states
• Caf Dowlah, The generalized system of preferences of the United States: does it promote industrialization and economic growth in least developed countries?
• Yong-Shik Lee, Young-Ok Kim & Hye Seong Mun, Economic development of North Korea: call for international trade based development policy and legal reform
• Xiaojie Lu, Applying the 'specificity' test of the WTO subsidy rule in the context of China's foreign investment policies
• Gary Horlick, Non-conclusion

Ronen: Entities that Can Be States But Do Not Claim to Be

Yael Ronen (Sha'arei Mishpat College) has posted Entities that Can Be States But Do Not Claim to Be. Here's the abstract:

This article concerns quasi-states, namely territorial entities that operate in an effective manner similar to that of states, but do not claim to be states. As a consequence, they may be exempt, wholly or partly, from the obligations and constraints which international law places on states. This places a strain on the international legal system, particularly if the exemption from or commitment to the law applicable to states appears to hinge on the quasi-state’s own discretion (namely the political choice not to declare statehood).

The article considers some of the challenges resulting from quasi-states’ maintenance of non-state status, and queries whether the international community can respond to this challenge by apprehending quasi-states into the legal regime applicable to states, when no claim to statehood is made by the quasi-state. It considers possible triggers for such capture, as well as the question whether statehood is an all-or-nothing concept or one which can be applied in part.

The article rejects the notion of imposing statehood contrary to the quasi-state’s choice, on both normative and practical grounds. It proposes that acts of a quasi-state in the realm reserved to states can, in some exceptional situations, serve as implicit claims of statehood which can allow lawful recognition of statehood. It also highlights the normative and practical challenges to adopting the statehood-for-a-limited-purpose approach.

Milanovic: Aggression and Legality: Custom in Kampala

Marko Milanovic (Univ. of Nottingham - Law) has posted Aggression and Legality: Custom in Kampala (Journal of International Criminal Justice, forthcoming). Here's the abstract:

This article tests the Kampala compromise on the aggression amendments to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court against the principle of legality, nullum crimen sine lege, requiring criminal law to be reasonably clear and prohibiting its retrospective application. It outlines three possible legality-based challenges to incriminating aggression: the supposed indeterminacy of the jus ad bellum and the lack of an incrimination under customary international law; the vagueness of the definition of the crime of aggression introduced in Article 8 bis; and the uncertainty regarding the application of this definition to situations in which the ICC’s jurisdiction over a particular individual arises only ex post factor. The article argues that it is the last of these three challenges, based on retro-activity rather than vagueness, that is the most serious one.

A fundamental ambiguity about the legal nature of the Rome Statute has direct bearing on this issue: it is either substantive in nature, directly creating the crimes it defines, or jurisdictional in nature, in that it merely sets out the subject-matter jurisdiction of the Court over offenses which are substantively defined elsewhere, in customary international law. The main practical consequence of this distinction is in the further question whether defendants charged before the Court have the right to challenge the legality of the charges against them on the basis that they do not comport with customary law. The article argues that this ambiguity about the nature of the Rome Statute was if anything only exacerbated in Kampala, discusses the substantive scope of application of Article 8 bis as well as the intricate jurisdictional regime introduced by the aggression amendments, and finally briefly turns to the question whether the definition of aggression adopted in Kampala departed from custom.

Drews: Die völkerrechtlichen Dimensionen des staatlichen Einsatzes privater Militärfirmen

Imke-Ilse Drews has published Die völkerrechtlichen Dimensionen des staatlichen Einsatzes privater Militärfirmen (Nomos 2011). Here's the abstract:

Die Autorin analysiert auf einer breiten Literaturbasis die völkerrechtlichen Rahmenbedingungen des Einsatzes privater Militärfirmen. Im Ergebnis ihrer Untersuchung beantwortet sie u.a. die folgenden völkerrechtlichen Fragen, die sich aus der Erfüllung hoheitlicher militärischer Aufgaben durch private Akteure in aktuellen Konfliktszenarien stellen: Dürfen solche Firmen eingesetzt werden? Agieren sie in einem völkerrechtsfreien Raum? Sind die Mitarbeiter privater Militärfirmen Söldner oder welchen völkerrechtlichen Status haben sie? Wie können Firmen und Mitarbeiter bei Fehlverhalten zur Verantwortung gezogen werden? Können sich die Staaten ihrer völkerrechtlichen Verantwortlichkeit durch den Einsatz dieser Firmen entziehen?

Das Werk leistet einen weiterführenden Beitrag für die Einordnung privater Militärfirmen in den völkerrechtlichen Kontext. Es hinterfragt die Konstruktionen des tradierten Rechts und setzt sich kritisch mit den bisherigen Forschungsergebnissen auseinander. Die Fülle des aufbereiteten Materials macht die Analyse zu einer Fundgrube für alle, die sich mit dieser Thematik beschäftigen.

Lewis: Australians Get Their First Taste of New Zealand Apples in Ninety Years

Meredith Kolsky Lewis (Victoria Univ. of Wellington - Law) has posted an ASIL Insight on Australians Get Their First Taste of New Zealand Apples in Ninety Years.

Trebilcock: Understanding Trade Law

Michael J. Trebilcock (Univ. of Toronto - Law) has published Understanding Trade Law (Edward Elgar Publishing 2011). Here's the abstract:

This book provides a short, straightforward account of the basic structure and principles of international trade law written by one of the leading authorities in this field.

The book covers, in a series of short chapters, all the major issues in international trade law, including dispute settlement; the Most Favoured Nation Principle; preferential trade agreements; the National Treatment Principle; contingent protection laws (anti-dumping, countervailing duties and safeguards); trade and agriculture; trade and services; trade and investment; trade-related intellectual property rights; trade policy and domestic health; safety, environmental and labour regulation; and trade policy and developing countries. Each chapter sets out the basic provisions and relevant GATT/WTO agreements governing the issues in question, the central issues or conflicts that have arisen in the interpretation and application of these provisions, leading GATT/WTO case law generated by the formal dispute settlement processes of the GATT/WTO, and unresolved issues that remain a matter of controversy.

Krenc: Les mesures provisoires devant la Cour européenne des droits de l'homme

Frédéric Krenc has published Les mesures provisoires devant la Cour européenne des droits de l'homme: Un référé à Strasbourg ? (Larcier 2011). Here's the abstract:

La Cour européenne des droits de l’homme peut être saisie de demandes de mesures provisoires. Cette procédure est de plus en plus usitée, alors que la Cour éprouve les pires difficultés pour juguler le développement exponentiel de sa charge contentieuse ordinaire.

Cette procédure reste cependant encore relativement méconnue. elle est, dans certains cas, mal utilisée.

Il faut dire que les mesures provisoires sont assez peu réglementées – elles sont même ignorées par le texte de la Convention européenne des droits de l’homme – et la jurisprudence de la Cour en ce domaine n’est malheureusement pas publiée.

C’est dans ce contexte que la Conférence du jeune barreau de Bruxelles a, en collaboration avec l’institut des droits de l’homme du barreau de Bruxelles, pris l’initiative de consacrer un colloque relativement à ces mesures.

Ce colloque, dont le présent ouvrage comprend les actes, s’est tenu le 18 mars 2011 à Bruxelles et a réuni, autour d’une même table, un panel d’experts composés d’académiques, d’avocats mais aussi d’agents du gouvernement et de membres éminents de la Cour, lesquels ont pu échanger leurs expertises et leurs pratiques, faire part de leurs critiques et formuler d’utiles recommandations.

New Issue: Journal of World Investment & Trade

The latest issue of the Journal of World Investment & Trade (Vol. 12, no. 5, October 2011) is out. Contents include:

• Ahmad S.A.S. Al-Tayer & A F M Maniruzzaman, Addressing the Global Climate Change Problem in GATT/WTO Law: The Vision of a New International Climate Law Based on International Distributive Justice
• Chen Huiping, The Expansion of Jurisdiction by ICSID Tribunal: Approaches, Reasons and Damages
• Timothy G. Nelson, RSM and Millicom: Two African Cases Illustrate the Continued Vitality of Contractual Arbitration Clauses within ICSID
• M Rafiqul Islam & Iman Prihandono, Political Strategies of TNCs for Corporate Interest in Indonesian Public Interest Litigation: Lessons for Developing Countries Hosting FDIs
• Claus D. Zimmermann, The Promotion of Transfer-of-Funds Liberalisation across International Economic Law
• Neeti Shikha, Globalisation and Competition Asymmetry in International Trade And Development- Challenges And Opportunity
• C Chatterjee & Anna Lefcovitch, When an Investment is not an Investment: Anderson et al and The Republic of Costa Rica
• Alberto Tita, Book review of Reports of Overseas Private Investment Corporation Determinations

Call for Submissions: Hague Yearbook of International Law

The Hague Yearbook of International Law has issued a call for submissions for its forthcoming 2011 volume. Here's the call:

The Hague Yearbook of International Law is an annual peer-reviewed publication that provides a forum for analyzing the most recent trends in international law, which is shaped by the many international institutions that are based in The Hague. Thus, the Hague Yearbook of International Law is a reference tool for tracking the current trends in practice and scholarly discussions in international law broadly understood. Accordingly, the scope of the Hague Yearbook of International Law covers public international law, private international law, international investment law, international criminal law as well as relevant European law.

The Editorial Board welcomes both longer in-depth articles (8,000-20,000 words) and shorter notes and commentaries (4,000-7,000 words), which analyze the most recent developments in international law that have a nexus with the international institutions based in The Hague.

The deadline for submission is 31 October 2011.

All submissions should be written in English or French, in MS WORD compatible format and delivered by email to the Editorial Board: hagueyearbook@gmail.com

All submissions must be submitted in conformity with the “Authors' Instructions”, which is available here.

All submissions must be original, unpublished works and will be peer-reviewed. Submissions will only be definitely accepted if they are in full comliance with the "Authors' Instructions". Publication is subject to transfer of copyright to the publisher.

Leader & Ong: Global Project Finance, Human Rights and Sustainable Development

Sheldon Leader (Univ. of Essex) & David Ong (Univ. of Essex) have published Global Project Finance, Human Rights and Sustainable Development (Cambridge Univ. Press 2011). The table of contents is here. Here's the abstract:

Many infrastructure projects around the world are funded through the project finance method, which combines private financing with public sector backing from multilateral finance institutions such as the World Bank. This examination of the theoretical and practical implications of such funding begins with a discussion of the relationship between the financial structuring of these projects and finance, policy and legal disciplines, especially in the form of investment law, human rights and environmental law. A number of case studies are then examined to provide practical insights into the application (or otherwise) of human rights and sustainable development objectives within such projects. While these theoretical perspectives do not conclude that the project finance method detracts from the application or implementation of human rights and sustainable development objectives, they do highlight the potential for the prioritisation of investment returns at the expense of human rights and environmental protection standards.

Leyh: Procedural Justice? Victim Participation in International Criminal Proceedings

Brianne McGonigle Leyh has published Procedural Justice? Victim Participation in International Criminal Proceedings (Intersentia 2011). Here's the abstract:

In early 2006, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights called for more detailed research into the relevant international standards and national and international practices concerning the role of victims in criminal proceedings. In response to this call and the increased attention paid to victims at international criminal institutions, this study explores the role of victims in international criminal proceedings.

As such, the aim of this study is threefold: (i) to describe, explain and clarify the procedural role afforded to victims in international criminal proceedings; (ii) to evaluate whether the current approaches to victim participation in international criminal proceedings are consistent with human rights standards; and (iii) to determine the proper scope and content of victim participation in international criminal proceedings. To structure the analysis, the framework focuses on two central concepts, namely the unique characteristics of international criminal proceedings and human rights standards.

Broken up into two main parts, the first part of the study covers criminal law theories and the current role afforded to victims in domestic jurisdictions. It further examines the development of their procedural rights both domestically and internationally. The second part of the study then deals exclusively with international criminal justice institutions and the participatory rights afforded to victims therein. Using two case studies, one on the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia and the other on the International Criminal Court, the research highlights how these courts have approached the issue of victim participation. The study concludes with general recommendations.

It is hoped that the findings of this study may contribute to a better understanding of competing rights within international criminal justice and that they provide those involved in the shaping of international criminal justice a means through which to view the participatory rights of victims.

New Issue: ICSID Review: Foreign Investment Law Journal

The latest issue of the ICSID Review: Foreign Investment Law Journal (Vol. 26, no. 1, Spring 2011) is out. Contents include:

• Articles
• William W. Park, Maturity in Arbitration
• Martin J. Valasek & Patrick Dumberry, Developments in the Legal Standing of Shareholders and Holding Corporations in Investor-State Disputes
• Lucy Reed, Allocation of Costs in International Arbitration
• Special Focus - State Court Intervention in Arbitration
• Nassib G. Ziadé, State Court Intervention in Arbitration - Introductory Remarks by the Moderator
• Carolyn B. Lamm & Eckhard R. Hellbeck, State Court Intervention in International Arbitration: The United States Perspective
• Juan Fernández-Armesto, Different Systems for the Annulment of Investment Awards
• Haya Rashed Al Khalifa, State Court Intervention in Arbitration in Bahrain