New Issue: Global Governance: A Review of Multilateralism and International Institutions

The latest issue of Global Governance: A Review of Multilateralism and International Institutions (Vol. 19, no. 2, April-June 2013) is out. Contents include:

• Global Insights
• Cedric de Coning, John Karlsrud, & Ingrid Marie Breidlid, Turning to the South: Civilian Capacity in the Aftermath of Conflict
• Articles
• Justin Gest, Carolyn Armstrong, Elizabeth Carolan, Elliott Fox, Vanessa Holzer, Tim McLellan, Audrey Cherryl Mogan, & Meher Talib, Tracking the Process of International Norm Emergence: A Comparatiave Analysis of Six Agendas and Emerging Migrants’ Rights
• Heidi Nichols Haddad, After the Norm Cascade: NGO Mission Expansion and the Coalition for the International Criminal Court
• Michael Schroeder, The Politics of Change: The Evolution of UN Electoral Services, 1989-2006
• Erin McCandless, Wicked Problems in Peacebuilding and Statebuilding: Making Progress in Measuring Progress Through the New Deal
• Devin Joshi & Roni Kay O’Dell, Global Governance and Development Ideology: The United Nations and the World Bank on the Left-Right Spectrum
• Special Focus
• Tom Farer, Governing the Great Transnational River Systems: An Introductory Word
• Aysegul Kibaroglu & Waltina Scheumann, Evolution of Transboundary Politics in the Euphrates-Tigris River System: New Perspectives and Political Challenges
• Farhad Mukhtarov & Andrea K. Gerlak, River Basin Organizations in the Global Water Discourse: An Exploration of Agency and Strategy
• Book Review
• Catia C. Confortini, Violence Against Women, Masculinities, and the Global Economy

Call for Submissions: Tory Fellowships for Legal Writing

The University of Toronto Faculty of Law Review has issued a call for submissions for its Tory Fellowships for Legal Writing. Here's the call:

Call for Submissions

Tory Fellowships for Legal Writing

To encourage law students and recent law graduates to publish their legal writing, the University of Toronto Faculty of Law Review awards Tory Fellowships each summer. Tory Fellowships are awarded to law students and recent graduates who have written promising legal papers.

Recipients of a Tory Fellowship receive a monetary award as well as detailed commentary on their paper from the Law Review Senior Board. The goal of the Senior Board is to suggest revisions that Fellows can make to their papers that will increase their chance for publication in the Law Review.

The Law Review will award up to four Tory Fellowships of $500 each this summer. A portion of the award is distributed upon award acceptance, and the remainder is distributed when the author resubmits his or her paper to the Law Review after making revisions proposed by the Senior Board.

All submitted papers will be reviewed anonymously by a group of Articles Editors and Senior Editors at the Law Review. Stand out papers will be submitted to the Senior Board for review and final selection.

To apply for a Tory Fellowship, please submit your paper and a brief cover letter to www.utflr.org. In your cover letter, please suggest revisions that you can make to your paper to bring it to a publishable level. Fellows will be selected based on the strength of their submitted paper as well as their proposed revisions. Submissions must be in Word (.doc or .docx) format. Please submit your cover letter and paper in a single word document.

If you experience problems submitting through the website, please submit your paper to law.review@utoronto.ca with “Tory Fellowship” in the subject line. Papers selected for the Fellowships are not assured of publication in the Law Review.

The deadline for submissions is midnight (EST) on Friday, May 31, 2013.

Eligibility requirements:

You and your co-authors must be law students, graduate students in law, clerks, articling students or first year associates.

Join us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/utflr or follow us on Twitter @UTLawReview

Calamita, Earnest, & Burgstaller: The Future of ICSID and the Place of Investment Treaties in International Law

N. Jansen Calamita (British Institute of International and Comparative Law; Univ. of Birmingham - Law), David Earnest (Hogan Lovells International LLP), & Markus Burgstaller (Hogan Lovells International LLP) have published The Future of ICSID and the Place of Investment Treaties in International Law (British Institute of International and Comparative Law 2013). Here's the abstract:

The ICSID system and the international investment treaties that have come to rely upon it face a host of challenges, some new and some persistent. Increasingly arbitral tribunals charged with the interpretation and application of international investment treaties are being asked to address the critical relationship between those treaties and other regimes of international law, such as the international law of human rights, trade law and the law of the European Union. These questions raise fundamental issues about the scope of investment treaty obligations and the resolution of investment treaty disputes through arbitration.

At the same time as arbitral tribunals are being presented with these fundamental issues regarding the interpretation and application of investment treaties, the ICSID system upon which thousands of international investment treaties rely faces its own ongoing challenge of meeting the goals set for it by its States Parties. Whether the task is addressing the efficient resolution of disputes through the use of ICSID's new summary procedures mechanism or establishing a consistent jurisprudence on annulment, a wide array of new and perennial questions require answers.

UC Irvine International Justice Clinic: The Council and the Court: Improving Security Council Support of the International Criminal Court

The UC Irvine School of Law International Justice Clinic has published The Council and the Court: Improving Security Council Support of the International Criminal Court (2013). The executive summary is here. Here's the abstract:

The UC Irvine School of Law International Justice Clinic is pleased to release The Council and the Court, a report designed to answer critical questions about how the UN Security Council may improve its support of the International Criminal Court (ICC): What steps may be taken to convert the rhetorical and political support of the Council to concrete measures supporting Court activities? How may supporters build lasting support for the Court on the Council? How can strong support be developed without compromising the ICC’s independence? What kind of efforts might be helpful to build lasting support in perceived-to-be reluctant capitals, especially Beijing and Moscow?

The result of a project supported by Humanity United, and involving a collaboration with the UCLA Burkle Center for International Relations, The Council and the Court explores the relationship between the two institutions and offers proposals to build a sustainable relationship between them, one that is sensitive to the Court’s mandates of accountability and independence and the Council’s mandate of maintaining international peace and security. It addresses factors that animate the Council’s relationship with the Court, highlighting legal, political, and diplomatic dynamics that shape support for the Court on the Security Council. It offers principles that should govern the Council-Court relationship, steps the Council and others may adopt to improve the Council’s support of the Court, and recommendations to engage China and Russia in developing a sustainable relationship between the institutions of security and justice.

Dozens of off-the-record interviews conducted in 2012 in New York, Beijing, Moscow, The Hague, and elsewhere underlie this report. Many of its ideas developed during a two-day workshop held in Laguna Beach, California, in November 2012, which brought together diplomats, ICC officials, NGO leaders, and scholars to identify the needs of the Court, the opportunities for cooperation, and the steps that members of the Council could take in support of the ICC. Details of the Laguna Workshop may be found elsewhere on this website.

The Security Council’s attention has helped catapult the ICC into the international limelight. The Council called upon the Court to investigate alleged crimes against humanity, war crimes, and genocide in Darfur in 2005 and Libya in 2011. One journalist counted nine references to the ICC in Security Council resolutions in 2012 alone. The Council held an unprecedented public session on the ICC during the fall of 2012, with all participating governments expressing a positive view of the Court. A Court whose charter, the Rome Statute, was only adopted in 1998 and entered into force in 2002, now seems anchored to the Security Council in rhetoric and reality. Moving forward, the task is to render that reality effective for the victims of international crimes everywhere.

Call for Papers: Creation of International Law: Exploring the International Law Components of Peace

A call for papers has been issued for a conference on "Creation of International Law: Exploring the International Law Components of Peace," to be held April 4-5, 2014, at the University of Wisconsin Law School, in Madison. Here's the call:

Call for Papers

Creation of International Law: Exploring the International Law Components of Peace

Wisconsin International Law Journal Annual Symposium, April 4-5, 2014, University of Wisconsin Law School, USA

We invite internationally acclaimed women scholars and advanced PhD candidates to the second conference on the Creation of International Law, to be hosted by the University of Wisconsin on April 4-5, 2014 as part of its Wisconsin International Law Journal annual symposium. The intention is to continue and expand the network of women scholars and practitioners that was launched in 2009 in Norway to support their engagement in public international law. The theme of the second conference is: Exploring the International Law Components of Peace. The pursuit of peace remains a global challenge and there is a need for reflection as to how the current international public law institutional and normative structure functions and what are the gaps?

Scholars from across the globe are invited to present papers addressing challenges in relation to the creation of international law from theoretical, normative, or empirical perspectives. We seek to bring together academic women to promote new research collaboration and strengthen their ability to influence the creation and elaboration of international law. The conference seeks to profile women as subjects of international public law development, both for students and researchers seeking recruitment to the law schools. Papers selected for presentation at the symposium will be published in the Wisconsin International Law Journal.

The following are some suggested areas for papers, addressing issues relating to peace at the international level (state-state/international community) and at the domestic level (state-society/individual). Papers can address the tension between the notion of negative peace (prohibition of violence and aggression) and positive peace (elimination of structural violence, respect for human rights, and social justice ). However, the list is not exhaustive and we welcome other areas of international law related to international peace.

• Public International Law: We welcome papers discussing the current divide on R2P, juxtaposing the principles of territorial integrity and state sovereignty against initiatives advocating intervention in response to massive violations of human rights, and the right to democracy. We also welcome papers on reform of international and national institutions in order to improve the implementation and enforcement of peace.

• International Human Rights: Peace: Is it a Human Right? Is it an individual or collective right? Who are the beneficiaries of this right and who are the duty-bearers? How should we move forward in terms of defining the scope of the right to peace and ensuring compliance? Freedom of Expression- what is the scope of this right and its relation to peace? The Rights to Non-Discrimination, Equality, Freedom of Expression, Food, Water, Housing, and Education- how do we measure progress?

• International Humanitarian Law: We welcome papers on prohibition of nuclear weapons and weapons composed with nuclear byproducts, incendiary weapons, and autonomous weapons systems. We also welcome papers addressing initiatives to regulate disarmament or regulate the arms trade.

• International Environmental Law: We welcome papers on peace, sustainable development, and the interface between climate change and human rights/migration law

• International Trade Law/Economic Law: We welcome papers addressing institutional and normative roots of structural violence, poverty, and global inequality/inequity. We also seek papers addressing the marginalization of women and efforts to empower them.

• Dispute Resolution: We welcome papers on mediation, conciliation, arbitration, commissions of inquiry, peace commissions, tribunals, and other non-violent mechanisms. We also welcome papers addressing the participation of women in these forums.

• Education: We welcome papers discussing the teachingof International Law- is there a bias towards topics addressing violence and use of force? How can we improve the teaching of peace within the law school?

The deadline for submission of abstracts is October 1, 2013. Scholars whose abstracts are selected for the symposium will be notified by November 1, 2013. Complete papers from those selected are due on March 1, 2014. Please email your abstracts of not more than 500 words including your institutional affiliation and contact details to Cecilia Marcela Bailliet (c.m.bailliet@jus.uio.no) and Sumudu Atapattu (saatapattu@wisc.edu) by the deadline. Late submissions will not be accepted.

Pollack: Political Science and International Courts

Mark A. Pollack (Temple Univ. - Political Science) has posted Political Science and International Courts (in The Oxford Handbook of International Adjudication, Cesare Romano, Karen Alter & Yuval Shany eds., forthcoming). Here's the abstract:

The aim of this paper is to examine the essential features of political science theories and methods as applied to international courts and tribunals, and to identify the value-added insights as well as the weaknesses of this research. The paper proceeds in five parts. Following a brief introduction, the second part of the paper considers a fundamental, epistemological distinction between law and political science as disciplines, with the former taking a largely – but not exclusively – doctrinal and “internalist” approach to international law, while the latter generally adopts a positivist and “externalist” approach. Next, in the third section, I briefly explore the range of political science theories about international politics, and the ways in which these theories have been adapted to the study of international law and courts. Building on this epistemological and theoretical basis, part four identifies five substantive, value-added contributions of political science to the study of international adjudication, which I organize under the rubrics of institutional design, judicial behavior, the behavior of litigants, judgment compliance, and the dynamic evolution of international adjudication systems over time. The fifth and final section identifies weaknesses, lacunae and blind spots of the extant political science literature, which I argue has drawn too heavily on off-the-shelf IR approaches and not enough on the insights of international legal scholarship, and concludes with a call for a more truly interdisciplinary law-and-politics approach to the study of international courts.

Wei: Rethinking the New York Convention: A Law and Economics Approach

Shen Wei has published Rethinking the New York Convention: A Law and Economics Approach (Intersentia 2013). Here's the abstract:

The New York Convention is regarded as one of the most successful treaties in the past fifty-five years. Its simplicity and brevity in wording but complexity and diversity in application have triggered endless discussions, debates and writings. Rethinking the New York Convention – A Law and Economics Approach for the first time offers a unique jurisprudence-oriented analysis by applying two major analytic approaches, namely Darwinian legal theory and game theory.

Four key topics are analysed in this book: the evolution of the treaty, the competition among various jurisdictions, lex mercatoria and governing law in arbitration, and the doctrine of public policy. This choice of key topics offers the opportunity to look into these so-called core dilemmas surrounding the New York Convention from different angles, inspiring the reader to think outside the box. In addition, against the background of the current financial crisis, this book focuses on the use of the New York Convention in the context of global governance and discusses the need for a reform of the existing regime of cross-border transactions and activities.

Conference: Culture and International Economic Law

On June 20-21, 2013, the Maastricht University Faculty of Law will host a conference on "Culture and International Economic Law." The program is here. Here's the idea:

Can states promote economic development without infringing their cultural wealth? Culture represents inherited values, ideas, beliefs, and traditions, which characterize social groups and their behaviour. Culture is not a static concept but rather a dynamic force, which evolves through time and shapes countries and civilizations. As such, culture has always benefitted from economic exchange. Nowadays globalization and international economic governance have spurred a more intense dialogue and interaction among nations: thus, they offer unprecedented opportunities for cultural exchange. In parallel, foreign direct investments can promote cultural diversity and provide the funds needed to locate, recover and preserve cultural heritage.

Nonetheless, globalization and international economic governance can also jeopardize cultural diversity and determine the erosion of the cultural wealth of nations. While trade in cultural products can lead to cultural homogenization and even cultural hegemony, foreign direct investments have an unmatched penetrating force with the ultimate capacity of changing landscapes and erasing memory. At the same time, the increase in global trade and foreign direct investment (FDI), has determined the creation of legally binding and highly effective regimes that demand states to promote and facilitate trade and FDI. Has an international economic culture emerged that emphasizes productivity and economic development at the expense of the common wealth?

This conference, funded by the European Union and Maastricht University, aims to explore the ‘clash of cultures’ between international economic law and international cultural law. It is articulated into four parts: the first part introduces the main themes and challenges. Parts II, III and IV explore the interplay between culture and economic interests in international economic law, international intellectual property law and European law respectively.

New Issue: Journal of World Investment & Trade

The latest issue of the Journal of World Investment & Trade (Vol. 14, no. 2, 2013) is out. Contents include:

• Kálmán Kalotay, Inward FDI in the Western Balkans in the wake of Croatia’s EU accession
• Xiuli Han, Zhiyi Liu, & Lingzi Liu, Revisiting the Case of China-Measures Involving the Exportation of Various Raw Materials from the perspective of Effectiveness of the Necessity Defence
• Michail Dekastros, Portfolio Investment: Reconceptualising the Notion of Investment under the ICSID Convention
• An Chen & E-Nuo Gu, Should “the Perspective of South-North Contradictions” Be “Abandoned”? – Focusing on “2012 Sino-Canada BIT”
• Jacopo Tavassi, The regime of international investments within the EC-Chile Association Agreement: towards a possible renegotiation?
• Akansha Dubey & Puloma Mukherjee, Double Remedies: A Feasible Option?
• Jacques Werner, Arbitral Chronicle VIII A Swiss Arbitrator’s View of the CIETAC Arbitration System

Fineman & Zinsstag: Feminist Perspectives on Transitional Justice: From International and Criminal to Alternative Forms of Justice

Martha Albertson Fineman (Emory Univ. - Law) & Estelle Zinsstag (KU Leuven - Leuvens Instituut voor Criminologie) have published Feminist Perspectives on Transitional Justice: From International and Criminal to Alternative Forms of Justice (Intersentia 2013). The table of contents is here. Here's the abstract:

Truth-seeking mechanisms, international criminal law developments, and other forms of transitional justice have become ubiquitous in societies emerging from long years of conflict, instability and oppression and moving into a post-conflict, more peaceful era.

In practice, both top-down and bottom-up approaches to transitional justice are being formally and informally developed in places such as South Africa, Liberia, Peru, Chile, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sierra Leone, Rwanda, the former Yugoslavia, and Northern Ireland. Many studies, conferences and debates have taken place addressing these developments and providing elaboration of theories relating to transition justice generally.

However, rarely have these processes been examined and critiqued through a feminist lens. The position of women, particularly their specific victimisation, typically has not been taken into account in any systematic manner. Seldom do commentators specifically consider whether the recently developed mechanisms for promoting peace and reconciliation will actually help the position of women in a society moving out of repression or conflict. This is unfortunate, since women’s issues are often overlooked and post-conflict societies, because they must rebuild, are ideally poised to introduce standards that would enable and ensure the active participation of the entire population, including women, in rebuilding a more stable, fair and democratic polity.

This book offers some insights into women’s perspectives and feminist views on the topic of transitional justice or ‘justice in transition’. Bringing feminism into the conversation allows us to expand the possibilities for a transformative justice approach after a period of conflict or insecurity, not by replacing it with feminist theory, but by broadening the scope and vision of the potential responses.

New Issue: Human Rights Review

The latest issue of the Human Rights Review (Vol. 14, no. 2, June 2013) is out. Contents include:

• Lindsey N. Kingston, “A Forgotten Human Rights Crisis”: Statelessness and Issue (Non)Emergence
• Kamal Halili Hassan & Mostafa Seraji, Addressing Workers’ Freedom of Association and its Dispute Resolution in the Context of the Shari’ah
• Laura K. Landolt, Externalizing Human Rights: From Commission to Council, the Universal Periodic Review and Egypt
• Federico Merke & Gino Pauselli, Foreign Policy and Human Rights Advocacy: An Exercise in Measurement and Explanation

New Issue: Transnational Dispute Management

The latest issue of Transnational Dispute Management (2013, no. 3) is out. This is a special issue on "Corruption and Arbitration." The table of contents is here.

New Issue: International Criminal Law Review

The latest issue of the International Criminal Law Review (Vol. 13, no. 2, 2013) is out. Contents include:

• Anjali Pathmanathan, 'Round Peg, Square Hole?' The Viability of Plea Bargaining in Domestic Criminal Justice Systems Prosecuting International Crimes
• Manisuli Ssenyonjo, The Rise of the African Union Opposition to the International Criminal Court’s Investigations and Prosecutions of African Leaders
• Avitus Agbor Agbor, The Problematic Jurisprudence on Instigation under the Statute of the ICTR: The Consistencies, Inconsistencies and Misgivings of the Trial and Appeal Chambers of the ICTR
• Henri Decœur, Avoiding Strict Liability in Mixed Conflicts: A Subjectivist Approach to the Contextual Element of War Crimes

New Issue: Human Rights Quarterly

The latest issue of the Human Rights Quarterly (Vol. 35, no. 2, May 2013) is out. Contents include:

• Kenneth A. Rodman & Petie Booth, Manipulated Commitments: The International Criminal Court in Uganda
• Christof Heyns & Sharath Srinivasan, Protecting the Right to Life of Journalists: the Need for a Higher Level of Engagement
• Susan Ariel Aaronson & Ian Higham, "Re-Righting Business": John Ruggie and the Struggle to Develop International Human Rights Standards for Transnational Firms
• Eleni Coundouriotis, "You Only Have Your Word": Rape and Testimony
• Merris Amos, Transplanting Human Rights Norms: The Case of the United Kingdom's Human Rights Act
• Vinodh Jaichand & Alexandre Andrade Sampaio, Dam and Be Damned: the Adverse Impacts of Belo Monte on Indigenous Peoples in Brazil
• Karl Shaddox, Generic Considerations in Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go
• Nadia Bernaz, Life Imprisonment and the Prohibition of Inhuman Punishments in International Human Rights Law: Moving the Agenda Forward

New Issue: Journal du Droit International

The latest issue of the Journal du Droit International ("Clunet") (Vol. 140, no. 2, Avril-Mai-Juin 2013) is out. Contents include:

• Doctrine
• Nathalie Ros, L’Arctique face au changement climatique
• Jorge E. Viñuales, Cartographies imaginaires : Observations sur la portée juridique du concept de « régime spécial » en droit international
• Variétés
• Ghislain Poissonnier, La Palestine, État non-membre observateur de l’Organisation des Nations Unies

Wuerth: The Supreme Court and the Alien Tort Statute: Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum Co.

Ingrid B. Wuerth (Vanderbilt Univ. - Law) has posted The Supreme Court and the Alien Tort Statute: Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum Co. (American Journal of International Law, forthcoming). Here's the abstract:

Alien Tort Statute litigation has generated a growing number of questions about the the scope of statute, but in Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum Co. the Supreme Court finally answered one of them: the presumption against extraterritoriality applies to the statute. Going forward, courts may apply a robust version of the presumption, effectively ending ATS litigation as we currently know it. Or, they may not. The Court’s citations to Morrison v. Nat’l Austl. Bank Ltd. suggest the former; some language in the various opinions suggests the latter. This article explores these uncertainties and also discusses additional factors that may be significant for the courts’ application of the presumption in future cases: a potential analogy between the ATS and the Sherman Act, the purpose of the ATS, and the appropriate deference to accord the executive branch in ATS litigation. Finally, it considers the significance of Kiobel to the development and enforcement of international law and argues that the uncertain course charted by the Court in ATS litigation is in many respects unexceptional.

Centre for International Law and Human Rights Lecture and Workshop

This week, the Centre for International Law and Human Rights at the University of Lancaster Law School will hold two events, part of a series to mark the Centre's launch. Today, Allen Buchanan (Duke Univ. - Philosophy) will be giving a public lecture on "Human Rights: Taking International Legalization Seriously." Tomorrow, a workshop will be held on the topic "Is there anything special about international human rights law?"

New Issue: Yale Journal of International Law

The latest issue of the Yale Journal of International Law (Vol. 38, no. 1, Winter 2013) is out. Contents include:

• Rebecca M. Kysar, On the Constitutionality of Tax Treaties
• Gabriella Blum, The Crime and Punishment of States
• Oona Hathaway et al., The Power To Detain: Detention of Terrorism Suspects After 9/11
• Pierre N. Leval, Distant Genocides

Colloquium: Legal Dimensions of the International Financial Crisis

Today, the Kalliopi Koufa Foundation will host a colloquium on the "Legal Dimensions of the International Financial Crisis," in Thessaloniki. The program is here.

New Issue: Michigan Journal of International Law

The latest issue of the Michigan Journal of International Law (Vol. 34, no. 2, Winter 2013) is out. Contents include:

• Harlan Grant Cohen, International Law’s Erie Moment
• Karen N. Scott, International Law in the Anthropocene: Responding to the Geoengineering Challenge
• André Nollkaemper & Dov Jacobs, Shared Responsibility in International Law: A Conceptual Framework

New Issue: Arbitration International

The latest issue of Arbitration International (Vol. 29, no. 2, 2013) is out. Contents include:

• W. Michael Reisman, 'Case Specific Mandates' versus 'Systemic Implications': How Should Investment Tribunals Decide? – The Freshfields Arbitration Lecture
• Gabrielle Kaufmann-Kohler, Commercial Arbitration Before International Courts and Tribunals – Reviewing Abusive Conduct of Domestic Courts
• William W. Park, Convention Violations and Investment Claims
• Stephen Fietta & James Upcher, Public International Law, Investment Treaties and Commercial Arbitration – An Emerging System of Complementarity?
• Luca G. Radicati Di Brozolo, EU Merger Control Commitments and Arbitration – Reti Televisive Italiane v. Sky Italia
• Mara Valenti, The Scope of an Investment Treaty Dispute Resolution Clause – It is Not Just a Question of Interpretation
• Peter J. Pettibone, The Nonarbitrability of Corporate Disputes in Russia
• The White Industries Australia Limited – India BIT Award –A Critical Assessment', Sumeet Kachwaha
• Anthony Connerty, International Cotton Arbitration

Call for Submissions: AJIL Agora on "Transnational Human Rights Litigation After Kiobel"

The American Journal of International Law has issued a call for submissions for an agora on "Transnational Human Rights Litigation After Kiobel." Here's the call:

The American Journal of International Law is calling for short submissions (maximum 3000 words, including footnotes) for a forthcoming agora on "Transnational Human Rights Litigation After Kiobel." Contributions must not have been previously published in whole or in substantial part (on the web or elsewhere). Some of the chosen contributions will be published in the October 2013 issue of the Journal. Other selected contributions may be published electronically in a special ASIL online publication. All contributions must be submitted no later than June 15 in order to be considered. Contributions on U.S. law issues, and on comparative and non-U.S. dimensions, are welcome. The editors aim to publish a set of distinctive contributions, rather than many making similar points. All selections for publication in AJIL or in the ASIL online publication will be peer reviewed by a committee of the AJIL editorial board consisting of Carlos Vázquez (chair), Curtis Bradley, and Ingrid Wuerth, in consultation with Co-Editors in Chief José Alvarez and Benedict Kingsbury. Decisions on publication (including requests for revisions) will be made on a rolling basis, but in any case no later than June 30. Submit contributions toajil@asil.org with "Kiobel Agora" in the subject line.

Lode: Die Internationale Finanz-Corporation: Nachhaltige Entwicklung im Rahmen der Förderung privater Unternehmen

Birgit Lode (Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies) has published Die Internationale Finanz-Corporation: Nachhaltige Entwicklung im Rahmen der Förderung privater Unternehmen (Universitätsverlag Halle-Wittenberg 2012). Here’s the abstract:

Mit der fortschreitenden Globalisierung steigt die Bedeutung internationaler Organisationen und Institutionen. Im Zentrum dieses Prozesses steht die Internationale Finanz-Corporation (IFC). Als Teil der Weltbankgruppe und größte multilaterale Anbieterin von Finanzdienstleistungen für den Privatsektor in Entwicklungsländern befindet sie sich wie keine andere internationale Finanzinstitution in der Lage, globale Herausforderungen annehmen und öffentliche mit privatwirtschaftlichen Lösungsansätzen kombinieren zu können.

An dieser Stelle setzt die vorliegende Untersuchung an, die sich mit der Frage beschäftigt, ob und gegebenenfalls inwieweit der IFC im Rahmen der Förderung privater Unternehmen eine führende Rolle im Hinblick auf die Beförderung einer nachhaltigen Entwicklung zukommt.

Hierzu analysiert sie zunächst den Wandel und die Relevanz einer wichtigen Sonderorganisation der Vereinten Nationen, die nahezu ein Drittel der Entwicklungsfinanzierung verantwortet, die von Seiten internationaler Finanzinstitutionen an den Privatsektor fließt. Die Untersuchung kommt zu dem Ergebnis, dass das Konzept der nachhaltigen Entwicklung inzwischen eine feste Verankerung im Völkerrecht erfahren hat, was nicht zuletzt auf die diesbezügliche Führungsrolle der Vereinten Nationen zurückzuführen ist. Darüber hinaus zeigt sie auf, dass „sustainable development“ einen integralen Bestandteil der Aktivitäten der IFC bildet sowohl das hohe Niveau ihres organisationsinternen Leistungsvermögens als auch ihre führende Stellung im Bereich des „sustainable private sector development“ sind bislang unangefochten. Schließlich hebt die Untersuchung anhand der Analyse der Umwelt- und Sozialstandards der Corporation deren prominente Stellung für die Fortentwicklung des Allgemeinen-, Umwelt-, und Entwicklungsvölkerrechts hervor, indem sie unter anderem auf ihre standardisierende, strukturierende und regulierende Wirkung eingeht.

Conference: Global Finance Between Rigor and Growth: Which Implications for International Governance?

On May 31-June 1, the Group of Lecce, in cooperation with the Università del Salento, is organizing a conference on "Global Finance Between Rigor and Growth: Which Implications for International Governance?," in Lecce. The program is here.

Kumar: The Indus Waters Kishenganga Arbitration (Pakistan v. India)

Shashank Kumar (National Law Univ., Jodhpur - Law) has posted an ASIL Insight on The Indus Waters Kishenganga Arbitration (Pakistan v. India).

New Issue: Journal of the History of International Law

The latest issue of the Journal of the History of International Law / Revue d'histoire du droit international (Vol. 15, no. 1, 2013) is out. Contents include:

• Lea Heimbeck, Liquidation of State Bankruptcies in Public International Law. Juridification and Legal Avoidance between 1824 and 1907
• Jo-Anne Claire Pemberton, The So-Called Right of Civilisation in European Colonial Ideology, 16th to 20th Centuries
• Timothy L. Schroer, The Emergence and Early Demise of Codified Racial Segregation of Prisoners of War under the Geneva Conventions of 1929 and 1949
• Dwight S. Mears, Neutral States and the Application of International Law to United States Airmen during World War II. To Intern or Not to Intern?

New Issue: International Journal of Refugee Law

The latest issue of the International Journal of Refugee Law (Vol. 25, no. 1, March 2013) is out. Contents include:

• Dallal Stevens, Legal Status, Labelling, and Protection: the Case of Iraqi ‘Refugees’ in Jordan
• Andreas Schloenhardt & Hadley Hickson, Non-Criminalization of Smuggled Migrants: Rights, Obligations, and Australian Practice under Article 5 of the Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea, and Air
• Efrat Arbel, Shifting Borders and the Boundaries of Rights: Examining the Safe Third Country Agreement between Canada and the United States
• David Kosar, Inclusion before Exclusion or Vice Versa: What the Qualification Directive and the Court of Justice Do (Not) Say

New Issue: Journal of International Humanitarian Legal Studies

The latest issue of the Journal of International Humanitarian Legal Studies (Vol. 3, no. 1, 2012) is out. Contents include:

• Helen Durham, The Role of Civil Society in Creating the International Criminal Court Statute: Ten Years On and Looking Back
• Emily Crawford, Road to Nowhere? The Future for a Declaration on Fundamental Standards of Humanity
• Ben Clarke, Proportionality in Armed Conflicts: A Principle in Need of Clarification?
• Graham Cronogue, Responsibility to Protect: Syria The Law, Politics, and Future of Humanitarian Intervention Post-Libya
• Nelleke van Amstel, In Search of Legal Grounds to Detain for Armed Groups
• Niaz A. Shah, The Taliban Layeha for Mujahidin and the Law of Armed Conflict

Symeonides: The Hague Principles on Choice of Law for International Contracts: Some Preliminary Comments

Symeon C. Symeonides (Willamette Univ. - Law) has posted The Hague Principles on Choice of Law for International Contracts: Some Preliminary Comments (American Journal of Comparative Law, forthcoming). Here's the abstract:

This Article discusses The Hague Principles on Choice of Law for International Contracts, a new soft-law instrument recently adopted by the Hague Conference of Private International Law.

The Principles will apply to “commercial” contracts only, specifically excluding consumer and employment contracts. For this reason, the Principles adopt a decidedly liberal stance toward party autonomy, exemplified inter alia by a strong endorsement of non-state norms. Such a liberality would be unobjectionable, indeed appropriate, if a contract’s “commerciality” alone would preclude the disparity of bargaining power that characterizes consumer and employment contracts. The fact that — as franchise contracts illustrate — this is not always the case makes even more necessary the deployment of other mechanisms of policing party autonomy. The Principles provide these mechanisms under the rubric of public policy and mandatory rules, but their effectiveness is not beyond doubt.

The Principles are intended to serve as a model for other international or national instruments and as a guide to courts and arbitrators in interpreting or supplementing rules on party autonomy. Like other international instruments, the Principles are as good as the consensus of the participating delegations would allow. But the real test of success for these Principles depends not on academic approbation but on their reception by contracting parties, courts, and arbitrators. While it is too early to tell whether the Principles will pass this test, there is reason for optimism.

In any event, and regardless of whether they will be widely accepted, the Principles will enrich the quality of the international discourse by providing a guiding light in the search for proper solutions to the problems encountered in honoring, and defining the limits of, contractual choice of law in international contracts. This alone would be a significant contribution to the advancement of the art and science of law-shaping.

Hartwig-Asteroth: Untersuchungshaft im Völkerstrafrecht

Alena Hartwig-Asteroth has published Untersuchungshaft im Völkerstrafrecht: Menschenrechtliche Vorgaben bei der Implementierung und Durchsetzung der Untersuchungshaft vor internationalen Strafgerichten (Duncker & Humblot 2013). Here's the abstract:

Gegenstand der Untersuchung ist eine rechtsvergleichende Betrachtung von menschenrechtlichen Vorgaben betreffend die Untersuchungshaft und deren Umsetzung an internationalen Strafgerichten. Die Gewährleistungen für Untersuchungshäftlinge in der EMRK und im IPbpR bilden als »internationale Werteordnung« den Maßstab der Arbeit. Ausgehend hiervon wird untersucht, ob die Regelungen, die der Jugoslawien- und Ruandastrafgerichtshof als Tribunale der Vereinten Nationen und der Internationale Strafgerichtshof für Untersuchungshaft vorsehen, diese Mindeststandards gewährleisten. Dabei besteht gerade angesichts der Schwere und des Ausmaßes von Völkerrechtsverbrechen einerseits sowie der in diesem Zusammenhang sensiblen Fragestellung der Rechte des inhaftierten Beschuldigten andererseits erhebliches Konfliktpotenzial. Die Arbeit enthält eine umfassende Aufarbeitung der rechtlichen Grundlagen und der praktischen Umsetzung und bewertet diese anhand der menschenrechtlichen Vorgaben.

ILR: Six Years On

Yesterday marked the sixth anniversary of the International Law Reporter's inaugural post.

The idea behind ILR was straightforward - to post the latest and most interesting news and information on scholarship, events, and ideas in international law and related fields. An obvious corollary was that reports should reflect the wide range of scholarship out there - in terms of viewpoint, scholarly discipline, type of publication, and language. Another was that ILR's coverage must encompass the full scope of contemporary international law subjects. In other words, the assumption was that folks interested in international law needed to know not only what was going on in their own particular specialty and in their own particular country but also what was going on in seemingly unrelated substantive areas and unfamiliar disciplines and in journals and books published in different languages and in different parts of the world.

I have tried hard to do all this, but I know that there is always room for improvement. Suggestions are most welcome. And though I cannot guarantee that I will post everything I receive, I encourage you to contact me with announcements of events and publications.

New Issue: International Criminal Law Review

The latest issue of the International Criminal Law Review (Vol. 13, no. 1, 2013) is out. Contents include:

• Special Issue: The Realities of International Criminal Justice
• Alette Smeulers, Barbora Hola, & Tom van den Berg, Sixty-Five Years of International Criminal Justice: The Facts and Figures
• Stephan Parmentier & Elmar Weitekamp, Punishing Perpetrators or Seeking Truth for Victims: Serbian Opinions on Dealing with War Crimes
• Kenneth A. Rodman, Justice is Interventionist: The Political Sources of the Judicial Reach of the Special Court for Sierra Leone
• Giorgia Tortora, The Financing of the Special Tribunals for Sierra Leone, Cambodia and Lebanon
• Cedric Ryngaert, State Cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda
• Rosa Aloisi, A Tale of Two Institutions: The United Nations Security Council and the International Criminal Court
• James Meernik, Justice, Power and Peace: Conflicting Interests and the Apprehension of ICC Suspects
• Dawn L. Rothe & Victoria E. Collins, The International Criminal Court: A Pipe Dream to End Impunity?
• Isabella Bueno & Andrea Diaz Rozas, Which Approach to Justice in Colombia under the Era of the ICC
• Steven C. Roach, Multilayered Justice in Northern Uganda: ICC Intervention and Local Procedures of Accountability
• Jonathan O’Donohue, Financing the International Criminal Court
• Mark Findlay, Enunciating Genocide: Crime, Rights and the Impact of Judicial Intervention