Thursday, December 31, 2015

New Volume: Anuario Iberoamericano de Derecho Internacional Penal

The latest volume of the Anuario Iberoamericano de Derecho Internacional Penal (Vol. 3, 2015) is out. Contents include:
  • Sección de Investigación
    • Ana Isabel Pérez Cepeda, Ley Orgánica 1/2014, de 13 de marzo: Ley de punto final del principio de justicia universal en España
    • Enrique Carnero Rojo, Crónica de una muerte anunciada: la jurisdicción de los tribunales españoles sobre crímenes internacionales antes y después de la Ley Orgánica 1/2014 relativa a la justicia universal
  • Sección de Ensayos de Investigación
    • Fernando Geraldo Leão Simões, Os grupos protegidos pela Convenção do Genocídio: perspectivas e desafios interpretativos
    • Carmen Vallejo Pena, La fragilidad de una jurisdicción universal complementaria de la justicia internacional penal: el reciente paradigma español
    • Ana Elena Abello Jiménez, El “margen protector” de la Corte Penal Internacional
  • Sección de Reseñas Jurisprudenciales
    • Steffany Serebrenik Beltrán, Observaciones sobre la situación en la República Democrática del Congo, Caso de la Fiscalía c. Thomas Lubanga Dyilo
    • Paula Viviana Fierro Barreto, Situación en Libia, Caso de la Fiscalía c. Saif Al Islam Gaddafi y Abdullah Al-Senussi

De Vos, Kendall, & Stahn: Contested Justice: The Politics and Practice of International Criminal Court Interventions

Christian De Vos (Open Society Justice Initiative), Sara Kendall (Univ. of Kent - Law), & Carsten Stahn (Leiden Univ. - Law) have published Contested Justice: The Politics and Practice of International Criminal Court Interventions (Cambridge Univ. Press 2015). Contents include:
  • Ruti G. Teitel, Foreword
  • Christian M. De Vos, Sara Kendall & Carsten Stahn, Introduction
  • Frédéric Mégret, In whose name? The ICC and the search for constituency
  • Carsten Stahn, The ICC and conceptions of the 'local'
  • David S. Koller, The global as local: the limits and possibilities of integrating international and transitional justice
  • Jaya Ramji-Nogales, Bespoke transitional justice at the International Criminal Court
  • Michael A. Newton, A synthesis of community based justice and complementarity
  • Stephen Oola, In the shadow of Kwoyelo's trial: the ICC and complementarity in Uganda
  • Pascal Kalume Kambale, A story of missed opportunities: the role of the International Criminal Court in the Democratic Republic of Congo
  • Njonjo Mue & Judy Gitau, The justice vanguard: Kenyan civil society and the pursuit of accountability
  • Deirdre Clancy, 'They told us we would be part of history': reflections on the civil society intermediary experience in the Great Lakes region
  • Matias Hellman, Challenges and limitations of outreach: from the ICTY to the ICC
  • Kamari Maxine Clarke, 'We ask for justice, you give us law': justice talk and the encapsulation of victims
  • Laurel E. Fletcher, Refracted justice: the imagined victim and the International Criminal Court
  • Peter J. Dixon, Reparations and the politics of recognition
  • Sara Kendall, Beyond the restorative turn: the limits of legal humanitarianism
  • Christian M. De Vos, All roads lead to Rome: implementation and domestic politics in Kenya and Uganda
  • Patryk I. Labuda, Applying and 'misapplying' the Rome Statute in the Democratic Republic of Congo
  • Jennifer Easterday, Beyond the 'shadow' of the ICC: struggles over control of the conflict narrative in Colombia
  • Mark Kersten, Between justice and politics: the ICC's intervention in Libya
  • Juan E. Mendez & Jeremy Kelley, Peace making, justice, and the ICC

New Issue: International Review of the Red Cross

The latest issue of the International Review of the Red Cross (Vol. 96, nos. 895-896, Autumn/Winter 2014) is out. The theme is "Generating Respect for the Law." Contents include:
  • Vincent Bernard, Time to take prevention seriously
  • Interview with Emanuele Castano - Professor and Chair of Psychology, New School for Social Research
  • Knut Dörmann & Jose Serralvo, Common Article 1 to the Geneva Conventions and the obligation to prevent international humanitarian law violations
  • Naz K. Modirzadeh, International law and armed conflict in dark times: A call for engagement
  • Dale Stephens, Behaviour in war: The place of law, moral inquiry and self-identity
  • Chris Jenks & Guido Acquaviva, Debate: The role of international criminal justice in fostering compliance with international humanitarian law
  • Elizabeth Stubbins Bates, Towards effective military training in international humanitarian law
  • Marion Harroff-Tavel, The International Committee of the Red Cross and the promotion of international humanitarian law: Looking back, looking forward
  • Sharon Weill, Building respect for IHL through national courts
  • Annyssa Bellal, Building respect for the rule of law in violent contexts: The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights' experience and approach
  • Geoffrey S. Corn, Contemplating the true nature of the notion of “responsibility” in responsible command
  • Andrew J. Carswell, Converting treaties into tactics on military operations
  • Laurie R. Blank & David Kaye, Direct participation: Law school clinics and international humanitarian law
  • Tim McCormack, Australian Red Cross leadership in the promotion of international humanitarian law
  • Kate Jastram & Anne Quintin, Prevention in practice: Teaching IHL in US legal academia
  • Ido Rosenzweig, Promoting respect for IHL by NGOs: The case of ALMA – Association for the Promotion of IHL
  • Cristina Pellandini, Ensuring national compliance with IHL: The role and impact of national IHL committees
  • Mariana Salazar Albornoz, The work of Mexico's Interministerial Committee on International Humanitarian Law
  • Tania Elizabeth Arzapalo Villón, Peru's National Committee for the Study and Implementation of International Humanitarian Law
  • Frédéric Casier & Alix Janssens, Belgium's Interministerial Commission for Humanitarian Law: Playing a key role in the implementation and promotion of IHL
  • What's new in law and case law around the world? - Biannual update on national implementation of international humanitarian law January–June 2014
  • Matthias Lanz, Emilie Max & Oliver Hoehne, The Conference of High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention of 17 December 2014 and the duty to ensure respect for international humanitarian law

Wednesday, December 30, 2015

New Issue: Michigan Journal of International Law

The latest issue of the Michigan Journal of International Law (Vol. 36, no. 4, Summer 2015) is out. Contents include:
  • Rochelle Dreyfuss & Susy Frankel, From Incentive to Commodity to Asset: How International Law is Reconceptualizing Intellectual Property
  • Carlo Garbarino & Giulio Allevato, The Global Architecture of Financial Regulatory Taxes

New Issue: China and WTO Review

The latest issue of China and WTO Review (Vol. 1, no. 2, 2015) is out. Contents include:
  • Articles
    • Xuewei Feng, On the Feasibility of Self-Correction of the Appellate Body's Previous Decision: Lessons from China-Rare Earths
    • Jingjia Ke, The ASEAN-China Free Trade Area: Neighbors, Relatives or Foes?
    • Haijun Lu, Changing Tides of the Chinese Trademark Act
  • Current Developments
    • Jaemin Lee, The Other Side of the FTAs: China's Multilateralism and the Balkanization of the Global Trading Rules
    • Lin Zhang, Law, Financial Stability and Economic Development: With Special References to the Financial Regulatory Structures in Hong Kong, Mainland China, the UK and the US

Bruinsma: Histories of Transnational Crime

Gerben Bruinsma (VU Univ. Amsterdam - Law) has published Histories of Transnational Crime (Springer 2015). Contents include:
  • Gerben Bruinsma, Criminology and Transnational Crime
  • Bruce Elleman, Historical Piracy and its Impact
  • Marlou Schrover, History of Slavery, Human Smuggling and Trafficking 1860–2010
  • Jonathan Grant, The Arms Traffic in World History
  • Carl Trocki, The Criminalization of Drugs. Drugs Before they Were Criminalized
  • Noah Charney, A History of Transnational Trafficking in Stolen and Looted Art and Antiquities
  • Wim Huisman, Annika van Baar & Madelijne Gorsira, Corporations and Transnational Crime
  • Edward R. Kleemans, Criminal Organization and Transnational Crime

Tanzi, McIntyre, Kolliopoulos, Rieu-Clarke, & Kinna: The UNECE Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes

Attila Tanzi (Univ. of Bologna - Law), Owen McIntyre (Univ. Cork College - Law), Alexandros Kolliopoulos (Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Greece), Alistair Rieu-Clarke (Univ. of Dundee - Law), & Rémy Kinna (Oxfam Australia) have published The UNECE Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes: Its Contribution to International Water Cooperation (Brill | Nijhoff 2015). Contents include:
  • Alistair Rieu-Clarke, Remarks on the Drafting History of the Convention
  • Iulia Trombitcaia & Sonja Koeppel, From a Regional towards a Global Instrument – the 2003 Amendment to the UNECE Water Convention
  • Francesca Bernardini, The Normative and Institutional Evolution of the Convention
  • Stephen Mccaffrey, The 1997 UN Convention: Compatibility and Complementarity
  • Laurence Boisson de Charzournes, Christina Leb & Mara Tignino, The UNECE Water Convention and Multilateral Environmental Agreements
  • Owen McIntyre, The Water Convention and other UNECE Environmental Treaties
  • Gábor Baranyai, The Water Convention and the European Union: the Benefits of the Convention for EU Member States
  • Malgosia Fitzmaurice & Panos Merkouris, Scope of the UNECE Water Convention
  • Attila Tanzi, Alexandros Kolliopoulos & Nataliya Nikiforova, Normative Features of the UNECE Water Convention
  • Attila Tanzi & Alexandros Kolliopoulos, The No-Harm Rule
  • Owen McIntyre & Attila Tanzi, The Principle of Equitable and Reasonable Utilisation
  • Nicolas de Sadeleer & Mehdy Abbas Khayli, The Role of the Precautionary Principle in the UNECE Water Convention
  • Leslie-Anne Duvic-Paoli & Pierre-Marie Dupuy, The Polluter-Pays Principles in the UNECE Water Convention
  • Alistair Rieu-Clarke, The Sustainability Principle
  • Rémy Kinna, The Development of Legal Provisions and Measures for Preventing and Reducing Pollution to Transboundary Water Resources under the UNECE Water Convention
  • Heide Jekel, Integrated Water Resources Management as a Tool to Prevent or Mitigate Transboundary Impact
  • Annukka Lipponen & Lea Kauppi, Monitoring and Assessment and the duty of cooperation under the Water Convention: exchange of information among the riparian parties
  • Serhiy Vykhryst, Public Information and Participation under the Water Convention
  • Patricia Wouters & Christina Leb, The Duty to Cooperation in International Water Law – Examining the Contribution of the UN Water Conventions to Facilitating Transboundary Water Cooperation
  • Ruby Moynihan, The Contribution of the UNECE Water Regime to Transboundary Cooperation in the Danube River Basin
  • Antti Belinskij, Cooperation between Finland and the Russian Federation
  • Attila Tanzi & Cristina Contartese, Dispute Prevention, Dispute Settlement and Implementation Facilitation in International Water Law: the Added Value of the Establishment of an Implementation Mechanism under the Water Convention
  • Phani Dascalopoulou-Livada & Alexandros Kolliopoulos, The 2003 Kiev Protocol on Civil Liability and Compensation for Damage Caused by the Transboundary Effects of Industrial Accidents on Transboundary Waters
  • Owen McIntyre, The Water Convention and the Human Right to Access to Water: The Protocol on Water and Health
  • Alexandros Kolliopoulos, The UNECE Model Provisions on Transboundary Flood Management
  • Vasiliki-Maria Tzatzaki & A. Dan Tarlock, International Water Law and Climate Disruption Adaptation
  • Bo Libert & Iulia Trombitcaia, Advancing Dam Safety in Central Asia: The Contribution of the UNECE Water Convention
  • Attila Tanzi & Alexandros Kolliopoulos, The International Water Law Process and Transboundary Groundwater: Supplementing the Water Convention with the 2012 UNECE Model Provisions
  • Emma S. Norman, Alice Cohen & Karen Bakker, The Water Convention from a North American Perspective
  • Lilian del Castillo-Laborde, The UNECE Water Convention from a Latin American Perspective
  • Patricia Wouters, Enhancing China’s transboundary water cooperation – what role for the UNECE Water Convention?
  • Rémy Kinna, The UNECE Water Convention Viewed from the perspective of the SADC Revised Protocol on Shared Watercourses
  • Raya Marina Stephan, The development of a regional legal framework for shared waters in the Arab Region: potential guidance from the UNECE Water Convention
  • .A. Vaughan Lowe, Environmental Conditionalities and International Funding of Water Works of a Transboundary Relevance
  • Salman M.A. Salman, International Financial Institutions and the Water Convention: Consultations Arrangements
  • Attila Tanzi, Owen Mcintyre & Alexandros Kolliopoulos, The Contribution of the UNECE Water Convention to International Water Law

New Issue: Zeitschrift für ausländisches öffentliches Recht und Völkerrecht

The latest issue of the Zeitschrift für ausländisches öffentliches Recht und Völkerrecht (Vol. 75, no. 4, 2015) is out. Contents include:
  • Abhandlungen
    • Georg Nolte, Faktizität und Subjektivität im Völkerrecht
    • Stefan Oeter, Bundesstaat, Föderation, Staatenverbund – Trennlinien und Gemeinsamkeiten föderaler Systeme
    • Christian Walter, Der Internationale Menschenrechtsschutz zwischen Konstitutionalisierung und Fragmentierung
    • Matthias Hartwig, Überholen, ohne einzuholen – Die Transformation in Osteuropa zwischen Standardsetzung und Standardumsetzung
    • Thilo Marauhn, Obituary
    • Mieke van der Linden, The Neglected Colonial Root of the Fundamental Right to Property
    • Federico Fabbrini, Representation in the European Parliament: Of False Problems and Real Challenges
    • Maximilian J. Alter, “Judicial Review” im englischen Sicherheitsrecht: Von der Rationalitäts- zur Verhältnismäßigkeitskontrolle
    • Matthias Hartwig, Völkerrechtliche Praxis der Bundesrepublik Deutschland 2011

Tuesday, December 29, 2015

Call for Nominations: 2016 Lieber Society Richard R. Baxter Military Prize

The Lieber Society on the Law of Armed Conflict, an interest group of the American Society of International Law, has issued a call for nominations for the Richard R. Baxter Military Prize, which is awarded for exceptional writing in English by an active member of the regular or reserve armed forces, regardless of nationality. The deadline is December 31, 2015. The call is here.

Tzanakopoulos: The Influence of English Courts on the Development of International Law

Antonios Tzanakopoulos (Univ. of Oxford - Law) has posted The Influence of English Courts on the Development of International Law (in Contemporary Perspectives on British Influences on International Law, Robert McCorquodale & Jean-Pierre Gauci eds., forthcoming). Here's the abstract:
This contribution does not aim to quantify the influence of English courts on the development of international law, but rather to highlight their contribution in that development by focusing on important decisions on the law of immunity and on UN Law and the law of international organisations, and by referring to further notable decisions in other areas of international law. This is done against the background of an understanding of domestic courts as 'agents' of international law development through instigation, reaction, and approval, which is also explained in the paper.

New Issue: Revue trimestrielle des droits de l'homme

The latest issue of the Revue trimestrielle des droits de l'homme (No. 105, January 2016) is out. Contents include:
  • Patrick de Fontbressin, In memoriam – Michel Puéchavy
  • Linos-A Sicilianos, La Cour européenne des droits de l’homme face à l’Europe en crise
  • Frédéric Bernard, La Cour européenne des droits de l’homme et la lutte contre le terrorisme
  • Adeline Gouttenoire, Les enlèvements internationaux d’enfants devant la Cour européenne des droits de l’homme : entre obligation positive et ingérence
  • Julie Ringelheim, La discrimination dans l’accès à l’éducation : les leçons de la jurisprudence de la Cour européenne des droits de l’homme
  • Marjolaine Monot-Fouletier, De la régulation du port de signes religieux dans les établissements et l’espace publics – L’exemple français ?
  • Suliane Neveu, Reconnaissance mutuelle et droits fondamentaux : quelles limites à la coopération judiciaire pénale ?
  • Arnaud Lebreton, Les défis de l’entrée en vigueur du Protocole facultatif se rapportant au Pacte international relatif aux droits économiques, sociaux et culturels
  • Mihaela Ailincai, Céline Fercot, Stéphane Gerry-Vernières, Sabine Lavorel, Xavier Souvignet, & Sandrine Turgis, La soft law dans le domaine des droits fondamentaux (juin 2014 – juin 2015)
  • Laura Van Den Eynde, Requêtes d’ONG à la Cour européenne des droits de l’homme : la Cour tente (trop) prudemment d’élargir l’accès à son prétoire en contournant ses propres embûches (obs/s. Cour eur. dr. h., Gde Ch., Affaire Centre de ressources juridiques au nom de Valentin Câmpeanu c. Roumanie, 17 juillet 2014)
  • Céline Lageot, Les enseignements de l’affaire Tarakhel : le raisonnement enrichi des juges à la source d’une protection renforcée des migrants en Europe (obs/s. Cour eur. dr. h., Gde Ch., Tarakhel c. Suisse, 4 novembre 2014)
  • Thierry Bontinck & Anaïs Guillerme, L’encadrement timide des « perquisitions concurrence » par la Cour européenne des droits de l’homme (obs/s. Cour eur. dr. h., Vinci Construction et GTM Génie Civil et services c. France, 2 avril 2015)

New Issue: La Comunità Internazionale

The latest issue of La Comunità Internazionale (Vol. 70, no. 3, 2015) is out. Contents include:
  • Interventi
    • Umberto Leanza, Conflitti armati interni e regionalizzazione delle guerre civili
  • Articoli e Saggi
    • Ludovica Chiussi, Food for thought on the right to food
  • Osservatorio Diritti Umani
    • Salvo Emanuele Leotta, L’esposizione in pubblico dei simboli religiosi individuali: la pronuncia sul caso S.A.S. v. France, ennesima chance persa per Strasburgo?
  • Note e Commenti
    • Andrea Insolia, The Haiti Cholera Case and UN’s Immunity from Civil Jurisdiction: Nothing New Under the Sun

Monday, December 28, 2015

Singh: Sino–Indian Attitudes to International Law: of Nations, States and Colonial Hangovers

Prabhakar Singh (Jindal Global Law School) has published Sino–Indian Attitudes to International Law: of Nations, States and Colonial Hangovers (Chinese Journal of Comparative Law, Vol. 3, no. 2, pp. 348-374, 2015). Here's the abstract:
Behind China’s and India’s different attitudes to international law lie China’s semi-colonial and India’s colonial past. Indeed, Asia’s colonial past is central to the many cartographic hangovers that have remained between China and India and China and its neighbours in the South China Sea. While India has adhered to the British colonial position since 1947, China has denounced colonial treaties since 1920. However, China and its publicists’ acceptance of even post-colonial treaties, such as the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (VCLT) and the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), is selective and political.1 Such an attitude strategically suspends international law’s primary sources. Contrarily, India and its courts have not just adhered to these colonial treaties, but the Indian courts have also upheld customary laws as common law. The 1954 Agreement on Trade and Intercourse between the Tibet Region of China and India (Panchsheel Treaty) is often said to embody the Sino–Indian post-colonial engagement.2 The functional role of this 1954 Sino–Indian treaty, however, remains overstated, although, recently, a Sino–Indian joint statement acknowledged the positive role of bilateral agreements since 1954. This article compares the attitudes to international law in China and India based on (i) their construction of sovereignty since 1947–9; (ii) their mutual engagement via the 1954 Panchsheel Treaty’s bilateralism and the politics of colonial maps; and (iii) Sino–Indian approaches to the sources of international law.

New Issue: Indian Journal of International Law

The latest issue of the Indian Journal of International Law (Vol. 55, no. 2, May 2015) is out. Contents include:
  • Helmut Tuerk, Liability of international organisations for illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing
  • Surya P. Subedi, The universality of human rights and the UN human rights agenda: the impact of the shift of power to the East and the resurgence of the BRICS
  • Abhimanyu George Jain, Universal civil jurisdiction in international law
  • R. Rajesh Babu, State responsibility for illegal, unreported and unrelated fishing and sustainable fisheries in the EEZ: some reflections on the ITLOS Advisory Opinion of 2015

Djeffal: Static and Evolutive Treaty Interpretation: A Functional Reconstruction

Christian Djeffal has published Static and Evolutive Treaty Interpretation: A Functional Reconstruction (Cambridge Univ. Press 2015). Here's the abstract:
How should international treaties be interpreted over time? This book offers fresh insights on this age-old question. The Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (VCLT) sets out the rules for interpretation, stipulating that treaties should be interpreted inter alia according to the 'ordinary meaning' of the text. Evolutive interpretation has been considered since the times of Gentili and Grotius, but this is the first book to systematically address what evolutive interpretation looks like in reality. It sets out to address how and under what circumstances it can be said that the interpretation of a treaty evolves, and under what circumstances it remains static. With the VCLT as its point of departure, this study develops a functional reconstruction of the rules of treaty interpretation, and explores and analyses how the International Court of Justice and the European Court of Human Rights have approached the issue.

Sunday, December 27, 2015

Vadi: Analogies in International Investment Law and Arbitration

Valentina Vadi (Lancaster Univ. - Law) has published Analogies in International Investment Law and Arbitration (Cambridge Univ. Press 2015). Here's the abstract:
Although investment treaty arbitration has become the most common method for settling investor-state disputes, some scholars and practitioners have expressed concern regarding the magnitude of decision-making power allocated to investment treaty tribunals. Many of the recent arbitral awards have determined the boundary between two conflicting values: the legitimate sphere for state regulation in the pursuit of public goods, and the protection of foreign private property from state interference. Can comparative reasoning help adjudicators in interpreting and applying broad and open-ended investment treaty provisions? Can the use of analogies contribute to the current debate over the legitimacy of investor-state arbitration, facilitating the consideration of the commonweal in the same? How should comparisons be made? What are the limits of comparative approaches to investment treaty law and arbitration? This book scrutinises the impact a comparative approach can have on investment law, and identifies a method for drawing sound analogies.

Ahmed: Boundaries and Secession in Africa and International Law: Challenging Uti Possidetis

Dirdeiry M. Ahmed (Dirdeiry and Associates) has published Boundaries and Secession in Africa and International Law: Challenging Uti Possidetis (Cambridge Univ. Press 2015). Here's the abstract:
This book challenges a central assumption of the international law of territory. The author argues that, contrary to the finding in the Frontier Dispute case, uti possidetis is not a general principle of law enjoining states to preserve pre-existing boundaries on state succession. It demonstrates that African state practice and opinio juris gave rise to customary rules that govern sovereign territory transfer in Africa. It explains that those rules changed international law as it relates to Africa in many respects, leading chiefly to creating norms of African jus cogens prohibiting secession and the redrawing of boundaries. The book examines in-depth the singularity of secession in Africa exploring extensive state practice and case law. Finally, it advances a daring argument for a right to egalitarian self-determination, addressing people-to-people domination in multi-ethnic African states, to serve as an exception to the fast special customary rule against secession.

Saturday, December 26, 2015

Dupont & Schultz: Towards a New Heuristic Model: Investment Arbitration as a Political System

Cedric G. Dupont (Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies) & Thomas Schultz (King's College London – Law) have posted Towards a New Heuristic Model: Investment Arbitration as a Political System (Journal of International Dispute Settlement, forthcoming). Here's the abstract:
In this introduction to the Special Issue "Empirical Studies on Investment Disputes", we offer a new heuristic model to structure the thinking about investment arbitration. Investment arbitration is presented here as a political system in a sense inspired by David Easton's landmark theory: it transforms the input of key actors (namely states, investors, arbitrators, and arbitration institutions) into output (namely arbitral awards taken in the aggregate), with feedback loops from output to input, leading to or calling for adjustments or other reactions from these actors. We use this model to review some of the leading existing research and bring together key insights offered by the contributions to the issue.

Friday, December 25, 2015

Murphy: New Mechanisms for Punishing Atrocities Committed in Non-International Armed Conflicts

Sean D. Murphy (George Washington Univ. - Law) has posted New Mechanisms for Punishing Atrocities Committed in Non-International Armed Conflicts (Melbourne Journal of International Law, forthcoming). Here's the abstract:

Three core crimes have emerged as a part of the jurisdiction of international criminal tribunals: war crimes; genocide; and crimes against humanity. Only two of these crimes (war crimes and genocide) have been addressed through a global treaty that requires States to prevent and punish such conduct and to cooperate among themselves toward those ends. Yet crimes against humanity may be more prevalent than either genocide or war crimes, and are a recurrent feature in non-international armed conflicts (NIACs).

As such, a global convention on prevention, punishment, and inter-State cooperation with respect to crimes against humanity appears to be a key missing piece in the current framework of international humanitarian law, international criminal law, and international human rights law. Such a convention could help to stigmatize such egregious conduct, could draw further attention to the need for its prevention and punishment, and could help to harmonize national laws relating to such conduct, thereby opening the door to more meaningful inter-State cooperation on the investigation, prosecution, and extradition for such crimes. In July 2014, the International Law Commission embarked on the drafting of such a convention, in the hope of presentation to the U.N. General Assembly within the next five years.

These remarks were the opening address at a conference on ‘Non-International Armed Conflicts (NIAC): Developments and Challenges’ held at Melbourne Law School, Australia, on 17 March 2015.

Schill, Tams, & Hofmann: International Investment Law and Development: Bridging the Gap

Stephan W. Schill (Univ. of Amsterdam - Law), Christian J. Tams (Univ. of Glasgow - Law), & Rainer Hofmann (Univ. of Frankfurt - Law) have published International Investment Law and Development: Bridging the Gap (Edward Elgar Publishing 2015). Contents include:
  • Stephan W. Schill, Christian J. Tams & Rainer Hofmann, International Investment Law and Development: Friends or Foes?
  • Muthucumaraswamy Sornarajah, Developing Countries in the Investment Treaty System: A Law for Need or a Law for Greed?
  • Yannick Radi, International Investment Law and Development: A History of Two Concepts
  • Markus W. Gehring & Marie-Claire Cordonier Segger, Overcoming Obstacles with Opportunities: Trade and Investment Agreements for Sustainable Development
  • Andrea Saldarriaga & Kendra Magraw, UNCTAD’s Effort to Foster the Relationship between International Investment Law and Sustainable Development
  • Celine Tan, Reviving the Emperor’s Old Clothes: The Good Governance Agenda, Development and International Investment Law
  • Antonius R. Hippolyte, Aspiring for a Constructive TWAIL Approach Towards the International Investment Regime
  • Melaku Geboye Desta, Sovereignty over Natural Resources and International Investment Law: The Elusive Search for Equilibrium
  • Isabel Feichtner, International (Investment) Law and Distribution Conflicts over Natural Resources
  • Jonathan Bonnitcha, Democracy, Development and Compensation under Investment Treaties: The Case of Transition from Authoritarian Rule
  • Walid Ben Hamida, Investment Treaties and Democratic Transition: Does Investment Law Authorize Not to Honor Contracts Concluded with Undemocratic Regimes?
  • Diane A. Desierto, The International Mandate for Development: Building Compliant Investment within the State’s Development Decision-Making Processes
  • Krista Nadakavukaren Schefer, The Law of Investment Protection and Poverty Reduction
  • Vid Prislan & Ruben Zandvliet, Mainstreaming Sustainable Development into International Investment Agreements: What Role for Labor Provisions?
  • Christina Binder, Investment, Development and Indigenous Peoples

Lauterpacht Centre Friday Lunchtime Lecture Series for Lent Term 2016

Here's the schedule for the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law's Lent Term 2016 Friday Lunchtime Lectures:
  • January 15, 2016: Eyal Benvenisti (Univ. of Cambridge - Law), Can Courts Promote Democracy in an Era of Global Governance? The Case of the Mega Regionals
  • January 22, 2016: Anne van Aaken (Univ. of st. Gallen - Law), Can Behavioural Economics Inform International Legal Theory?
  • January 29, 2016: Masaharu Yanagihara (Kyushu Univ. - Law), Shioki (Control), Fuyo (Dependency) and Sovereignty: The Status of the Ryukyu Kingdom in Early-modern and Modern Times
  • February 5, 2016: Andrew Williams (Univ. of Warwick - Law), The UK and Allegations of War Crimes in the Occupation of Iraq: A Failure of Accountability?
  • February 12, 2016: Laurel E. Fletcher (Univ. of California, Berkeley - Law), A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing? Transitional Justice and the Effacement of State Accountability for International Crimes
  • February 19, 2016: Kevin Jon Heller (SOAS, Univ. of London - Law), The Use and Abuse of Analogy in International Humanitarian Law
  • February 26, 2016: Martins Paparinskis (Univ. College London - Law), The Rise and Rise of Legitimate Expectations: A Reflection on Sources and Development of International Investment Law
  • March 4, 2016: Markus Krajewski (Univ. of Erlangen-Nürnberg - Law), Leading the reform of the global investment regime. The EU’s approach towards International Investment Law
  • March 11, 2016: Danae Azaria (Univ. College London - Law), Treaties on Transit Pipelines: A European Perspective

Thursday, December 24, 2015

Shaffer, Wolfe, & Le: Can Informal Law Discipline Subsidies?

Gregory Shaffer (Univ. of California, Irvine - Law), Robert Wolfe (Queen's Univ., Canada - Policy Studies), & Vinhcent Le (Univ. of California, Irvine - Law) have posted Can Informal Law Discipline Subsidies? (Journal of International Economic Law, forthcoming). Here's the abstract:
Some subsidies (such as for fossil fuels and fisheries) adversely affect global public goods (such as a stable climate and the maintenance of global fish stocks); others affect global price levels (domestic support for certain agriculture commodities), or have negative consequences for a trading partner. WTO members have negotiated an agreement on subsidies, but there are severe limits to that agreement’s ability to exercise discipline, and the prospects of its amendment remain limited. This article examines whether states can improve discipline through the use of informal mechanisms and, if so, under what conditions. Informal discipline on subsidies depends on the existence of fora to discuss definitions, generate information about their incidence, discuss whether a particular measure fits the definition, and consider whether a remedy exists. This article takes international organizations seriously as fora for generating “law,” not simply as bodies exercising power or coercion, and it explores a particular view of law. If codification is not the only indicator of law, if one accepts that law also emerges in social interaction, then we must attend to the less formal places where the law of subsidies emerges, and affects state actions. The analysis of where disciplines might be found is based on a three-level set of comparisons: (i) Within the WTO, involving horizontal compared to sectoral disciplines, with a focus on committee and other peer-review processes, rather than the traditional focus on the dispute settlement system; (ii) the WTO compared to, and in complement with, other international organizations addressing particular sectors; and (iii) international organizations compared to, and in complement with, non-governmental organizations. The article provides four case studies involving subsidies: (i) export credits, (ii) shipbuilding, (iii) fisheries, and (iv) fossil fuels. It assesses variations in number of actors, the conceptualization of the problem, definitions, obligation, data, and organizations across these case studies and the impact of such differences on the development of subsidy disciplines.

Job Opening: Georgia (Gabriel N. Wilner/UGA Foundation Professorship)

The University of Georgia School of Law invites applications for the Gabriel N. Wilner/UGA Foundation Professorship in International Law. The advertisement is here.

Hurd: Enchanted and Disenchanted International Law

Ian Hurd (Northwestern Univ. - Political Science) has posted Enchanted and Disenchanted International Law (Global Policy, forthcoming). Here's the abstract:
Scholars and activists commonly see international law in a privileged normative and political position in world politics, where international legal institutions are assumed to advance important goals such as international stability, human justice and even global order as a whole. I explore this attitude toward international law, which I call an ‘enchanted’ view, and contrast it to the ‘disenchanted’ alternative. Where the enchanted attitude presumes the normative valence and political wisdom of following international law, the disenchanted approach treats these as open questions for inquiry and discussion. The disenchanted approach is more empirically minded, and more politically open, than the enchanted, and leads to a distinct research program on legalization in international affairs – one that is attentive to the politics of law, the connections between law and power, the ambiguity that exists between legality and policy wisdom.

AJIL Unbound Symposium: Sykes's "Economic ‘Necessity’ in International Law"

AJIL Unbound has posted a symposium on the Alan O. Sykes's article "Economic ‘Necessity’ in International Law." The symposium includes an introduction by Gregory Shaffer and essays by Alberto Alvarez-Jimenez and Anne van Aaken.

New Issue: Questions of International Law

The latest issue of Questions of International Law / Questioni di Diritto Internazionale (no. 23, 2015) is out. Contents include:
  • Is the settlement of trade disputes under Regional Trade Agreements undermining the WTO dispute settlement mechanism and the integrity of the world trading system?
    • Introduced by Angelica Bonfanti & Cesare Pitea
    • Gabrielle Marceau, The primacy of the WTO dispute settlement system
    • Luiz Eduardo Salles, A Deal is a Deal: Party Autonomy, the Multiplication of PTAs, and WTO Dispute Settlement

New Issue: Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights

The latest issue of the Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights (Vol. 33, no. 4, 2015) is out. Contents include:
  • K. Arts, Reflections on Human Rights in the Netherlands
  • A. Gurmendi Dunkelberg, ‘Their Way of Punishing’: Corporal Punishment by Indigenous Peoples and the Prohibition of Torture
  • C. Romainville, Defining the Right to Participate in Cultural Life as a Human Right
  • R. Pereira, Government-sponsored Population Policies and Indigenous Peoples: Challenges for International Human Rights Law
  • I. Kfir, Refugeeship and Natural Law: The European Court of Human Rights
  • B. Oomen, ‘Where Law and Politics Meet’: Looking at Human Rights Law Through the Lens of Legitimacy

New Issue: Revista Electrónica de Estudios Internacionales

The latest issue of the Revista Electrónica de Estudios Internacionales (No. 30, December 2015) is out. Contents include:
  • Estudios
    • Ester Muñoz Nogal & Felipe Gómez Isa Derechos económicos y sociales en procesos de justicia transicional: Debates teóricos a la luz de una práctica emergente
    • Mª del Pilar Diago Diago, El islam en Europa y los conflictos ocultos en el ámbito familiar
    • Javier M Ruiz Arévalo, Género, derechos humanos y conciencia intecultural. El ejemplo de Afganistán
    • Carmen Quesada Alcalá, La labor del Tribunal Europeo de Derechos Humanos en torno al discurso de odio en los partidos políticos: coincidencias y contradicciones con la jurisprudencia española
    • Carmela Pérez Bernárdez, La problemática coordinación de la ayuda humanitaria de la Unión Europea
    • Millán Requena Casanova, La recepción de la jurisprudencia de la CIJ en las decisiones de los tribunales del CIADI: Especial referencia a las cuestiones de jurisdicción
    • Laura García-Álvarez, Las acciones colectivas en los litigios internacionales por daños ambientales
  • Notas
    • Werner Miguel Kühn Baca, Aspectos jurídicos y perspectivas políticas de una posible retirada de la Unión Europea por parte del ReinoUnido
    • Antonio Segura Serrano, El Acuerdo de Libre Comercio entre la UE y CANADA (CETA): Una evaluación de la política comercial de la UE
    • Ruth Abril Stoffels, El Comité de la CEDAW ante las comunicaciones individuales: Requisitos de admisión y medidas provisionales
    • Antonio José Rengifo Lozano, El poder constituyente de los pueblos
    • Félix Vacas Fernández, El reconocimiento de la jurisdicción y la ratificación del Estatuto de la Corte Penal Internacional por el Estado de Palestina: Un proceso complejo con importantes consecuencias jurídicas
    • Cayetana Santaolalla Montoya, La extinción de las cuotas lácteas en la Unión Europea y el futuro del ganadero español en el mercado mundial de alimentos
    • Francisco Galán Pablo, La financiación de las operaciones de mantenimiento de la paz por parte de las organizaciones internacionales: Los casos de Naciones Unidas, OTAN y UE
    • Gisela Moreno Cordero, La identidad causal como condición para el reconocimiento en Colombia de las decisiones españolas de divorcio: Incidencia del reglamento “Roma III”

Wednesday, December 23, 2015

New Additions to the UN Audiovisual Library of International Law

The Codification Division of the UN Office of Legal Affairs recently added two lectures to the UN Audiovisual Library of International Law. They were given by John Norton Moore on “The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea: One of the Greatest Achievements in the International Rule of Law (Shabtai Rosenne Memorial Lecture)” and Theodor Meron on “The Mechanism: A New Model of International Criminal Tribunal.”

New Issue: Review of International Political Economy

The latest issue of the Review of International Political Economy (Vol. 22, no. 6, 2015) is out. Contents include:
  • Roman Goldbach, Asymmetric influence in global banking regulation: Transnational harmonization, the competition state, and the roots of regulatory failure
  • Kristen Hopewell, Multilateral trade governance as social field: Global civil society and the WTO
  • Jonas Meckling, Bo Kong & Tanvi Madan, Oil and state capitalism: government-firm coopetition in China and India
  • Alexandre Bohas, Neopluralism and globalization: the plural politics of the Motion Picture Association
  • Peter Knaack, Innovation and deadlock in global financial governance: transatlantic coordination failure in OTC derivatives regulation
  • David Demortain, The tools of globalization: ways of regulating and the structure of the international regime for pharmaceuticals

Tuesday, December 22, 2015

New Issue: Netherlands International Law Review

The latest issue of the Netherlands International Law Review (Vol. 62, no. 3, December 2015) is out. Contents include:
  • Simone F. van den Driest, Crimea’s Separation from Ukraine: An Analysis of the Right to Self-Determination and (Remedial) Secession in International Law
  • Peter McEleavy, The European Court of Human Rights and the Hague Child Abduction Convention: Prioritising Return or Reflection?
  • Jane M. Rooney, The Relationship between Jurisdiction and Attribution after Jaloud v. Netherlands
  • Paul J. Omar, The Inevitability of ‘Insolvency Tourism’
  • Jennifer Anna Sellin, Does One Size Fit All? Patents, the Right to Health and Access to Medicines

Monday, December 21, 2015

von Arnauld, Matz-Lück, & Odendahl: 100 Years of Peace Through Law: Past and Future

Andreas von Arnauld (Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel - Walther-Schücking-Institut für Internationales Recht), Nele Matz-Lück (Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel - Walther-Schücking-Institut für Internationales Recht), & Kerstin Odendahl (Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel - Walther-Schücking-Institut für Internationales Recht) have published 100 Years of Peace Through Law: Past and Future (Duncker & Humblot 2015). Contents include:
  • Knut Ipsen, 100 Years of Public International Law in Kiel: The History of the Walther Schücking Institute
  • James Crawford, The Unfolding of Public International Law Since 1914: International Judgments and Domestic Courts with Special Reference to Germany
  • Gunter Pleuger, Maintenance and Restoration of International Peace and Security by Diplomatic Means
  • Francisco Orrego Vicuña, Maintenance and Restoration of International Peace and Security Through Arbitration and Judicial Settlement
  • Théodore Christakis & Karine Bannelier, Maintenance and Restoration of International Peace and Security by Means of Force
  • Lucy Keller Läubli, Case Study on Cambodia
  • Frank Hoffmeister, Case Study on Cyprus
  • Jean-Yves de Cara, Case Study on Libya
  • Marco Sassòli & Yvette Issar, Challenges to International Humanitarian Law
  • Andreas Paulus, UN Missions and the Law of Occupation
  • Marth Noortmann & Ioannis Chapsos, Private Military Companies: A Transnational Legal Approach

Job Opening: Glasgow (Lecturer)

The University of Glasgow School of Law invites applications for the position of lecturer in international law. The advertisement is here.

New Issue: Diritti umani e diritto internazionale

The latest issue of Diritti umani e diritto internazionale (Vol. 9, no. 3, 2015) is out. Contents include:
  • Studi
    • Cesare Pitea, Azioni di contrasto alla pirateria e Convenzione europea dei diritti umani: questioni di attribuzione e di applicazione extraterritoriale
    • Laura Magi, Gli obblighi incompatibili derivanti dalla CEDU e dalla Carta delle Nazioni Unite, nella giurisprudenza della Corte europea dei diritti umani: riflessioni critico-ricostruttive
    • La nozione di genocidio tra storia e diritto: un problema ancora aperto
    • Micaela Frulli, Fulvio Maria Palombino, Introduzione
    • Marcello Flores, Come si è giunti alla Convenzione sul genocidio
    • Alessandro Bufalini, La responsabilità internazionale dello Stato per atti di genocidio: un regime in cerca di autonomia
    • Chantal Meloni, I nodi della responsabilità per genocidio nel diritto penale internazionale: tra dimensione collettiva e imputazione individuale, precetto internazionale e accertamento nazionale
    • Il caso
    • Vladimiro Zagrebelsky, Parrillo c. Italia. Il destino degli embrioni congelati tra Convenzione europea dei diritti umani e Costituzione
    • Barbara Randazzo, Sussidiarietà della tutela convenzionale e nuove prove di dialogo tra le Corti. Parrillo c. Italia: novità in tema di accessibilità del giudizio costituzionale dopo le ‘sentenze gemelle’ (e la sentenza n. 49 del 2015)
    • Maria Chiara Vitucci, La sentenza della Corte suprema degli Stati Uniti sul matrimonio omosessuale nella prospettiva di una internazionalista
    • Angelo Schillaci, «Enjoy liberty as we learn its meaning». Obergefell v. Hodges tra libertà, uguaglianza e pari dignità
  • Interventi
    • Eduardo Savarese, In margine al caso Oliari: ovvero di come il limbo italiano delle coppie omosessuali abbia violato gli obblighi positivi dell’art. 8 CEDU
  • Osservatorio
    • Marco Fasciglione, Towards a Human Rights Treaty on Transnational Corporations and Other Business Enterprises: The First Session of the UN Openended Intergovernmental Working Group
    • Raffaella Nigro, La responsabilità degli Internet service providers e la Convenzione europea dei diritti umani: il caso Delfi AS
    • Andrea Spagnolo, Attribuzione delle condotte e accertamento della giurisdizione in casi di violazioni di massa dei diritti fondamentali: sulla recente giurisprudenza della Corte europea
    • Giulia Borgna, Il genocidio armeno (non) passa in giudicato: in margine al caso Perinçek
    • Andrea Caligiuri, La Commissione verità e riconciliazione del Canada e la riscoperta del concetto di ‘genocidio culturale’
    • Stefano Montaldo, La compatibilità con il diritto UE dei test di integrazione per i migranti regolari: sulla decisione della Corte di giustizia nel caso P. e S.

New Issue: American Journal of International Law

The latest issue of the American Journal of International Law (Vol. 109, no. 3, July 2015) is out. Contents include:
  • Exploring Comparative International Law
    • Anthea Roberts, Paul B. Stephan, Pierre-Hugues Verdier & Mila Versteeg, Comparative International Law: Framing the Field
    • Katerina Linos, How to Select and Develop International Law Case Studies: Lessons from Comparative Law and Comparative Politics
    • Neha Jain, Comparative International Law at the ICTY: The General Principles Experiment
    • Mathias Forteau, Comparative International Law Within, Not Against, International Law: Lessons from the International Law Commission
    • Pierre-Hugues Verdier & Mila Versteeg, International Law in National Legal Systems: An Empirical Investigation
    • Christopher McCrudden, Why Do National Court Judges Refer to Human Rights Treaties? A Comparative International Law Analysis of CEDAW
  • Editorial Comment
    • Michael J. Glennon, The Executive's Misplaced Reliance on War Powers “Custom”
  • Notes and Comments
    • Alain Pellet, Response to Koh and Buchwald's Article: Don Quixote and Sancho Panza Tilt at Windmills
    • Bing Bing Jia, The Crime of Aggression as Custom and the Mechanisms for Determining Acts of Aggression
  • Current Developments
    • Christine Gray, The 2014 Judicial Activity of the International Court of Justice
  • International Decisions
    • Charles Chernor Jalloh, Prosecutor v. Ruto
    • Elizabeth Trujillo, China—Measures Related to the Exportation of Rare Earths, Tungsten, and Molybdenum
    • Klaus Ferdinand Gärditz, Shepherd v. Germany
    • Dinah Shelton, Konaté v. Burkina Faso
    • Ingrid Wuerth, Zivotofsky ex rel. Zivotofsky v. Kerry
  • Contemporary Practice of the United States Relating to International Law
    • Kristina Daugirdas & Julian Davis Mortenson, Contemporary Practice of the United States Relating to International Law
  • Recent Books on International Law
    • José E. Alvarez, Global Judicialization Revisited, reviewing The New Terrain of International Law: Courts, Politics, Rights, by Karen J. Alter
    • Rüdiger Wolfrum, reviewing Justice Among Nations: A History of International Law, by Stephen C. Neff
    • Gian Luca Burci, reviewing Global Health Law, by Lawrence O. Gostin
    • Nancy Amoury Combs, reviewing Fraudulent Evidence Before Public International Tribunals: The Dirty Stories of International Law, by W. Michael Reisman and Christina Skinner
    • Stanimir A. Alexandrov, reviewing Corruption in International Investment Arbitration, by Aloysius P. Llamzon

Call for Papers: Strengthening the Validity of International Criminal Tribunals

Pluricourts, at the University of Oslo Faculty of Law, has issued a call for papers for a conference on "Strengthening the Validity of International Criminal Tribunals." Here's the call:

Strengthening the Validity of International Criminal Tribunals Conference

Pluricourts, University of Oslo

29 – 30 August 2016

CALL FOR PAPERS

International criminal law (ICL) re-emerged onto the global stage in the 1990s in a flood of good will and optimism. Two decades later, with its honeymoon stage well behind it, states, practitioners, scholars and others are asking where we go from here. The ad hoc tribunals are in the process of winding down amid mixed reviews. The creation of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has failed to live up to many of the optimistic expectations that were imposed upon it, with some African states such as Namibia and South Africa taking steps to withdraw from the Rome Statute. At the same time, calls are being made for new courts and ad hoc jurisdictions to be created as a solution to atrocities and for new crimes to be added to the list of core international crimes. The processes of international criminal justice are also under scrutiny, with some asking whether international criminal courts are trying to do too much. Some see an answer in complementarity- that national courts should assume the responsibility for trying those responsible for the worst atrocities, but this too may not be the panacea it appears to be. This conference seeks to explore these controversies. It seeks practical solutions to make international criminal justice more effective and relevant as it enters a more mature stage in its development.

The conference will bring together a mix of practitioners and scholars from the field of international criminal justice to exchange perspectives and to suggest solutions. We are particularly interested in the experiences of those who work in the field- fact finders, prosecution and defence lawyers, judges, NGO representatives and those involved in the post-trial stage such as members of the prison service. What challenges do they face? What works? What does not work?

We seek papers pursuing empirical, normative, comparative or theoretical approaches, and encourage papers applying alternative theories such as feminist theory, critical legal theory and TWAIL perspectives. We welcome contributions from law and the social sciences, including philosophy, sociology, criminology, psychology and history.

Papers are requested on the following topics:

    1. More Courts? More Crimes?

    Despite the existence of the permanent ICC, there continue to be calls for new jurisdictions to be created as a solution to atrocities- an ad hoc court for Syria, an International Court against Terrorism, an EU sponsored tribunal for the prosecution of war crimes and alleged human trafficking in Kosovo, a special tribunal for South Sudan. Is there a need for new courts? What does this say about the ICC itself, the political realities of ICL institutionalisation, the realities of contemporary violence and our imagination as responders to large-scale human suffering?

    There are several challenging issues of global importance that ICL does not address at present, is it time for this to change? Are there other crimes which should be included within the remit of international criminal law, such as ecocide, terrorism, narcotics, piracy, human trafficking, money-laundering and corruption, that would make international criminal law more relevant and would increase its effectiveness?

    2. Making the processes of international criminal justice more effective

    What can be done to streamline international criminal procedure without undercutting the legitimate interests of key constituencies, such as states, victims and communities affected by violence, or the need to safeguard fair trial guarantees? Are we being overambitious in our expectations of ICL and its institutions? What role does the judiciary play in increasing the effectiveness of ICL procedure? Does the way that common and civil law traditions intermingle in ICL enhance the system or confuse it?

    How are the various functions and responsibilities of a fully-fledged criminal justice system distributed within and across international criminal courts and tribunals? Does the particular way in which they are formulated leave any of these functions and responsibilities inadequately covered? Should that affect how we critique the courts and tribunals? For example, does the fact that each international criminal court or tribunal has its own office of the prosecutor, rather than, say, an independent international prosecutor’s office with standing to appear in multiple jurisdictions, colour the way in which we debate issues such as prosecutorial independence, accountability and selectivity? Should there be an international criminal defence bar? An international public defender’s office? Might the accountability of child soldiers be better addressed if more international courts were like the Special Court for Sierra Leone, with jurisdiction and special provisions over juvenile offenders? What would make the presidents of international criminal courts and tribunals more suitable as authorities responsible for overseeing the enforcement of sentences and other penitentiary matters for international convicts? How can reparations for victims of international crimes be awarded equitably across institutions and regions? How can we make our critiques pertinent, on point and meaningful in general?

    In what way do different actors, such as states, various organs of international criminal courts and tribunals, states, NGOs and others interact with each other? Does this relationship function in a way which makes international criminal justice more effective? Do their expectations and actions really converge around international criminal justice institutions in a way that strengthens the system? How can this be improved?

    3. Learning from and relying upon other courts

    Some see complementarity as providing at least one answer to making international criminal justice more effective and relevant. However, what is the reality? What are the dilemmas of complementarity? How well is complementarity working in different countries, such as the Balkans, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka? Does Libya give us reason to pause over what consequences we are prepared to accept under the banner of positive complementarity? What regional approaches are being taken? Should regional criminal courts (e.g. the new jurisdiction envisaged in Africa) be encouraged as an intermediate layer in the ICC’s complementarity regime and, if so, what adjustments and safeguards would be needed? What problems are there? How can these problems be solved?

    International criminal courts and tribunals are not the first kind of international institutions to have experienced similar challenges- the European Court of Human Rights and the WTO for example. How have these institutions responded? Are there lessons that international criminal institutions can learn?

Paper proposals should be emailed to c.m.bailliet@jus.uio.no by 29 February 2016 with an abstract no longer than 500 words. Please include your CV. All proposals will be answered by 15 April 2016. Draft papers should be submitted by 30 June 2016. Conference papers will be selected for publication either in a special edition of a journal or in an anthology.

Inaugural Issue: China and WTO Review

The inaugural issue of China and WTO Review (Vol. 1, no. 1, 2015) is out. Contents include:
  • Articles
    • Qingjiang Kong & Yilin Wang, Transparency Standards in International Investment Agreement Negotiations: A Chinese Lawyer’s Perspective on the UNCITRAL Rules
    • Guang Ma & Jiangn Li, From GATT to WTO: The Legalization of Compliance Procedures in Trade Dispute Settlement System
    • Yang Yu, 'Contemporary Meaning' in Treaty Interpretation in the WTO and ICJ Cases
  • Current Developments
    • Xifeng Chen, The WTO Panel’s Report concerning Anti-Dumping and Countervailing Duties on Certain Automobiles from the United States: Reasoning and Evidence for WT/DS 440
    • Bomin Ko, Uneasy Days of Push-and-Pull between China and the WTO: Recent Issues of China in the WTO
    • Kelly Gieop Na, Designing Economic Integration of East Asia: An Outlook of Korea-China Free Trade Agreement

Sunday, December 20, 2015

Van Schaack: The Building Blocks of Hybrid Justice

Beth Van Schaack (Stanford Univ. - Law) has posted The Building Blocks of Hybrid Justice. Here's the abstract:

The commission of mass atrocities — genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes — inevitably generates clarion calls for accountability from a range of international actors, including civil society organizations, governments, and United Nations bodies. These demands often center on an appeal that the situation be taken up by the International Criminal Court (ICC) via a Security Council referral or action by the Prosecutor herself. Although the ICC is now fully operational, its jurisdiction remains incomplete and its resources limited. Furthermore, the ICC is plagued by challenges to its legitimacy, erratic state cooperation, and persistent perceptions of inefficacy and inefficiency. Originally envisioned as a standing institution that would obviate the need for new ad hoc courts, it is now clear that the ICC cannot handle all the atrocity situations ravaging our planet. As such, there is an enduring need for the international community to create, and enable, additional accountability mechanisms to respond to the commission of international crimes when the political will for an ICC referral is lacking, the ICC is inappropriate or foreclosed for whatever reason, or only a fraction of the abuses or perpetrators in question are before the ICC. This contribution analyzes the accumulated experience with international, hybrid, and internationalized judicial institutions prior to and since the establishment of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in 1993 and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) in 1994. This paper assumes the continuing utility of such mechanisms as tools to provide accountability for mass violence amounting to international crimes, particularly in situations requiring an alternative or supplement to the ICC. It thus focuses on practical elements of institutional design, with particular attention to the origins, structure, jurisdictional limitations, financing, and procedures of the hybrid courts, dedicated chambers, specialized prosecutorial cells, and other accountability innovations established to prosecute atrocity crimes at the domestic level with some measure of international support, expertise, and/or personnel. From this historical and comparative analysis, the paper develops a taxonomy of models and a “menu” of elements that can be mixed and matched as new accountability mechanisms are under consideration for historical, current, and emerging atrocity situations, such as Syria, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Colombia, North Korea, South Sudan, Sri Lanka, Libya, Burundi, and even the July 2014 downing of Malaysian Air Flight 17 (MH-17) over rebel-controlled Ukraine.

Karton: The Structure of International Arbitration Law and the Exercise of Arbitral Authority

Joshua Karton (Queen's Univ., Canada - Law) has posted The Structure of International Arbitration Law and the Exercise of Arbitral Authority (Contemporary Asia Arbitration Journal, Vol. 8, No. 2, pp. 229-266, November 2015). Here's the abstract:
Existing theoretical treatments of international arbitration deal adequately with the sources of international arbitrators’ authority to resolve disputes, but tend to neglect the exercise of that authority. In what ways is arbitral decision-making constrained? Are international arbitrators obliged to exercise their authority in any particular ways? If so, what are the sources of such obligations, and how might they be enforced? This article contributes to the theoretical literature on international commercial arbitration by adding a dimension that has thus far been neglected: the structure of the legal regime that governs international arbitrations. It applies a familiar concept from Anglo-American jurisprudence, H.L.A. Hart’s typology of primary and secondary rules, to argue that international arbitration law is essentially contractarian in its structure. The article concludes by considering the implications of the contractarian structure of international arbitration law for the ways that arbitrators may and must exercise their authority.

Saturday, December 19, 2015

Call for Submissions: Ethiopian Yearbook of International Law

The Ethiopian Yearbook of International Law has issued a call for submissions for its inaugural volume. Here's the call:
The Ethiopian Yearbook of International Law (EtYIL) is a peer-reviewed academic journal that publishes scholarly works of the highest standard in the field of international law broadly defined, but with a focus on Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa region. The first edition of EtYIL is due for publication in 2016. All are invited to submit ideas, abstracts, and manuscripts by emailing the editorial team at ethiopianyearbook@gmail.com. For more information on the Yearbook and submission guidelines, click here.

Call for Submissions: Yearbook of International Environmental Law

The Yearbook of International Environmental Law has posted a call for submissions for volume 26 (2015) on the theme: "Addressing Climate Change in the Context of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)." Here's the call:

Yearbook of International Environmental Law

Vol 26. (2015)

Call for Papers

Addressing Climate Change in the Context of Sustainable Development Goals

The Editors of the Yearbook of International Environmental Law (YIEL) welcome submissions for Volume 26 (2015) on the theme: Addressing Climate Change in the Context of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Once again the world’s leaders gather in Paris (30 November to 11 December 2015) in a Conference of the Parties (COP) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to address the consequences of our present lifestyle: greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) from human activities are now driving climate change at the highest levels in history with carbon dioxide emissions having risen by almost 50% (since 1990), average global temperature increasing (between 1880 to 2012) by 0.85°C and the global average sea level rising between 1901 to 2010. It is quite clear that the proposals offered to simply stall the degradation and mitigate its immediate effects go beyond the traditional solutions usually reflected in a ‘legal instrument’. The minimum measures required constitute a major interference with the economic and social structure of States and effectively the economic paradigm of our era.

A blueprint of such a massive intervention may be found in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted on 25 September 2015 in the UN Sustainable Development Summit (UNSDS) in New York. Essentially a sequel to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) adopted in 2000, the SDGs are to be realized in an incremental, persuasive and leisurely way in a 15-year cycle. They include challenges as diverse as inequality in living standards, sustainable cities, clean water and energy, women’s empowerment, quality education, healthy lives, poverty and hunger. Interestingly, Goal 13 specifically addresses mitigating threats of climate change through strengthening resilience to climate-related hazards; integrating climate change measures into national policies, and improving human and institutional capacity. Although, it is supplemented by the commitment undertaken by developed States parties to the UNFCCC to jointly mobilize $100 billion annually by 2020 from all sources to address the needs of developing countries in the context of meaningful mitigation actions, transparency on implementation and full operationalization of the Green Climate Fund through its capitalization, it is important to note that both developing and developed States undertake obligations relating to climate change.

It is in this context that the present call for papers invites contributions on climate change in the wider context of the SDGs with a view to enriching our knowledge-base and understanding of both the problems we may usefully address and the tentative and wide- ranging solutions offered in UNFCCC COP 21 and elsewhere. Papers may encompass empirical approaches, theoretical discussions and perspectives from practice.

Topics of interest for submission could include, but are not limited to:

    1. Comments on the outcome of UNFCCC COP 21 (Paris)
    2. Blueprint for Climate Change Action (Sustainable Development Goal 13)
      a. Approaches – mitigation and adaptation
      b. Mechanisms
      c. Resources
      d. COP 21 Outcome: Road Ahead
    3. Environmental Dimension of the SDGs
      a. Concept
      b. Process
      c. Normative value
      d. Institutions
      e. Enforcement
    4. Global Conferencing Technique in IEL and SDGs
    5. “Collective Journey” - People vs. Planet
    6. Monitoring SDGs - Commitments of OECD countries
    7. Effectuation of SDGs at national and regional level
    8. Lessons learnt from MDGs - Realism vs. Optimism

Submissions should be sent by 31st March 2016 to our Assistant Editor Stacy Belden (stacybelden@gmail.com).

Friday, December 18, 2015

New Issue: Michigan Journal of International Law

The latest issue of the Michigan Journal of International Law (Vol. 36, no. 3, Spring 2015) is out. Contents include:
  • Steven R. Ratner, After Atrocity: Optimizing UN Action Toward Accountability for Human Rights Abuses
  • Annecoos Wiersema, Uncertainty, Precaution, and Adaptive Management in Wildlife Trade
  • Kevin Kolben, Dialogic Labor Regulation in the Global Supply Chain
  • Laurie R. Blank & Benjamin R. Farley, Identifying The Start of Conflict: Conflict Recognition, Operational Realities and Accountability in the Post-9/11 World

New Issue: Revista Tribuna Internacional

The latest issue of Revista Tribuna Internacional (Vol. 4, no. 7, 2015) is out. Contents include:
  • Sergio Muñoz Gajardo, El trabajo de la Corte Suprema de Chile en el ámbito procesal internacional. Comentarios con motivo de la presentación del libro Derecho Procesal Internacional de la profesora Carola Canelo Figueroa
  • Laura Araceli Aguzin, Impacto de las fuentes del derecho internacional en la jurisprudencia de la Corte Suprema de Justicia de la Nación Argentina
  • Leopoldo M. A. Godio & Julián M. Rosenthal, The Prompt Release of Vessels in Provisional Measures Procedures. New Trends and Challenges?
  • Moisés A. Montiel M., La Responsabilidad Democrática en las Américas: Un mandato compartido
  • Gladys Fabiola Morales Ramírez, Esfuerzos nacionales para la implementación de las sentencias interamericanas: La experiencia mexicana
  • Giancarlo Mosciatti Gómez, Los argumentos estadounidenses para justificar el uso de la fuerza contra el Estado Islámico
  • Virginia Petrova Georgieva, El principio Nemo iudex in causa sua ante los tribunales internacionales. Un estado de la cuestión
  • Luis Valentín Ferrada Walker, La Antártica ante la Corte Internacional de Justicia: A 60 años de los casos Reino Unido c. Chile y Reino Unido c. Argentina

Madsen: The New Sociology of International Courts

Mikael Rask Madsen (Univ. of Copenhagen - Law) has posted an ESIL Reflection on The New Sociology of International Courts.

New Issue: International Journal of Human Rights

The latest issue of the International Journal of Human Rights (Vol. 20, no. 1, 2016) is out. Contents include:
  • Kirsten Juhl, The politicisation of the missing persons issue in Bosnia and Herzegovina
  • Kalina Arabadjieva, Challenging the school segregation of Roma children in Central and Eastern Europe
  • Benjamin Thomas Greer & Jeffrey G. Purvis, Corporate supply chain transparency: California's seminal attempt to discourage forced labour
  • Sam Raphael, Crofton Black, Ruth Blakeley & Steve Kostas, Tracking rendition aircraft as a way to understand CIA secret detention and torture in Europe
  • Patricia Lundy & Bill Rolston, Redress for past harms? Official apologies in Northern Ireland
  • Reed Coughlan, Kathryn Stam & Lindsey N. Kingston, Struggling to start over: human rights challenges for Somali Bantu refugees in the United States
  • Meredith Raley, The drafting of Article 33 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: the creation of a novel mechanism

De Baere & Wouters: The Contribution of International and Supranational Courts to the Rule of Law

Geert De Baere (KU Leuven - Law) & Jan Wouters (KU Leuven - Law) have published The Contribution of International and Supranational Courts to the Rule of Law (Edward Elgar Publishing 2015). Contents include:
  • Antônio Augusto Cançado Trindade, Prologue: An Overview of the Contribution of International Tribunals to the Rule of Law
  • Geert De Baere, Anna-Luise Chané & Jan Wouters, The Contribution of International and Supranational Courts to the Rule of Law: A Framework for Analysis
  • Philippe Couvreur, The International Court of Justice
  • Kenneth Chan & Jan Wouters, Constructing the International Criminal Court’s Rule of Law Identity
  • Peter Van den Bossche, The Appellate Body of the World Trade Organization
  • Philippe Gautier, The Contribution of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea to the Rule of Law
  • Paul Lemmens, The Contribution of the European Court of Human Rights to the Rule of Law
  • Koen Lenaerts, The Court of Justice as the Guarantor of the Rule of Law Within the European Union
  • Serge Brammertz, International Criminal Justice and the Rule of Law: The Experience of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY)
  • Hans Van Houtte & Barbara Concolino, The Iran-United States Claims Tribunal and its Contribution to International Law
  • Daniel Fransen, The Special Tribunal for Lebanon and the Rule of Law
  • Andreas Follesdal, Epilogue: Curb, Channel and Coordinate: The Constitutionalism of International Courts and Tribunals

Thursday, December 17, 2015

New Issue: Revista de Direito Internacional

The latest issue of Revista de Direito Internacional (Vol. 12, no. 1, 2015) is out. Contents include:
  • Tullio Treves, Coastal States’ Rights in the Maritime Areas under UNCLOS
  • Victor Alencar Mayer Feitosa Ventura, Tackling illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing: the ITLOS Advisory Opinion on Flag-state Responsibility for IUU fishing and the principle of due diligence
  • Luciana Fernandes Coelho, Reflexões provenientes do dissenso: uma análise crítica do caso Austrália vs. Japão perante a Corte Internacional de Justiça
  • Tiago Vinicius Zanella, Os tratados internacionais de direito do mar e seus efeitos sobre terceiros Estados
  • Carina Costa de Oliveira &Sandrine Maljean-Dubois, Os limites dos termos bem público mundial, patrimônio comum da humanidade e bens comuns para delimitar as obrigações de preservação dos recursos marinhos
  • Carina Costa de Oliveira & Luciana Coelho, Os limites do planejamento da ocupação sustentável da zona costeira brasileira
  • Ana Flávia Barros-Platiau, Jorge Gomes do Cravo Barros, Pierre Mazzega, & Liziane Paixão Silva Oliveira, Correndo para o mar no antropoceno: a complexidade da governança dos oceanos e a estratégia brasileira de gestão dos recursos marinhos
  • Alexandre Pereira da Silva, A Comissão de Limites da Plataforma Continental (CPLC) e os desafios na delineação das plataformas continentais estendidas
  • Fernando Rei & Valeria Cristina Farias, O grande jogo do Ártico: reflexões a partir da perspectiva econômica à tutela ambiental
  • Renata Brockelt Giacomitti & Katya Regina Isaguirre, Instrumentos Públicos e Privados para o dano ambiental causado por derramamento de óleo no mar sem origem definida: as manchas órfãs
  • Marcelo D. Varella, A necessidade de repensar os mecanismos da responsabilidade ambiental em caso de riscos de vazamento de petróleo na zona econômica exclusiva no Brasil
  • Inez Lopes Matos Carneiro de Farias, O Direito Internacional Privado e a Responsabilidade Civil Extracontratual por Danos Ambientais causados por Transportes Marítimos à luz do Direito Brasileiro
  • Joedson de Souza Delgado & Ana Paula Henriques da Silva, A fiscalização sanitária das embarcações em águas jurisdicionais brasileiras – notas acerca da (in)efetividade da Súmula 50 da AGU
  • André Panno Beirão & Charles Piñon, A IMO e a repressão ao roubo armado contra navios: da retórica internacional à cooperação regional
  • Maiquel Aneglo Dezordi Wermuth & Rafaela Corrêa, O Direito Internacional em face da pirataria em alto-mar: uma perspectiva crítica
  • Eduardo Augusto Souto da Costa Schneider, Pirataria marítima: a experiência Somali
  • Leonardo de Camargo Subtil, As interferências entre a política externa e de segurança comum europeia (PESC) e o direito das Nações Unidas
  • Paul Hugo Weberbauer & Eugênia Cristina Ribeiro Nielsen, Introdução às regras de aplicação da convenção da ONU sobre contratos de compra e venda internacional de mercadorias e o Direito Internacional Privado brasileiro
  • Mariano De Alba Uribe, Drawing the Line: Addressing Allegations of Unclean Hands in Investment Arbitration
  • Mateus de Oliveira Fornasier & Luciano Vaz Ferreira, A regulação das empresas transnacionais entre as ordens jurídicas estatais e não-estatais
  • George Rodrigo Bandeira Galindo, Para que serve a história do direito internacional?
  • Stefan Kirchner, Outlawing Hate Speech in Democratic States — The Case against the Inherent Limitations Doctrine concerning Article 10 (1) of the European Convention on Human Rights

New Issue: Revista Latinoamericana de Derecho Internacional

The latest issue of the Revista Latinoamericana de Derecho Internacional (no. 3, 2015) is out. Contents include:
  • Ariel Dulitzky & Maria Daniela Rivero, Trabajo de orfebrería: Las relaciones entre la Corte Interamericana de Derechos Humanos y los Procedimientos Especiales del Consejo de Derechos Humanos de las Naciones Unidas
  • Carlos Espósito, Sobre plomeros y arquitectos sociales: elementos y problemas del fallo de la Corte Internacional de Justicia sobre la inmunidad jurisdiccional de los Estados
  • Hernán Gullco, El juicio por jurados y el derecho al recurso
  • Sebastián Machado Ramírez, La controversia territorial y marítima entre la República de Colombia y la República de Nicaragua: navegando en aguas turbias
  • Liliana Obregón, Carlos Calvo y la profesionalización del derecho internacional
  • Marko Milanovic, Tratados de derechos humanos y vigilancia extranjera: La privacidad en la era digital
  • Fernando Tesón, Falsa costumbre
  • Mark Pieth, De las palabras a la acción: la experiencia de la OCDE en la lucha contra la corrupción
  • Entrevista a Juan Méndez
  • Entrevista a Alicia Ely Yamin