The latest issue of the Nordic Journal of Human Rights (Vol. 35, no. 2, 2017) is out. Contents include:
Entry into force of the UN Watercourses Convention in August 2014, and the opening of the UNECE Water Convention to all states in March 2016, are significant milestones in international water law. A comparative analysis of these two global water conventions and the 1995 Mekong Agreement reveals that all three instruments are generally compatible. Nonetheless, the international legal principles and processes set forth in the two conventions can render the Mekong Agreement more up-to-date, robust and practical.
The Governance Regime of the Mekong River Basin: Can the Global Water Conventions Strengthen the 1995 Mekong Agreement? contends that strengthening the Agreement would be timely, given the increasing pressures associated with the rapid hydropower development within the basin and the gradually emerging disputes therein. Due to these fast-moving developments, Kinna and Rieu-Clarke strongly recommend that the Mekong states should seriously consider joining both conventions in order to buttress and clarify key provisions of the 1995 Mekong Agreement.
The latest issue of the Inter-American and European Human Rights Journal (Vol. 9, no. 2, 2016) is out. Contents include:
La notion de soft law désigne un phénomène extrêmement disparate. Il recouvre par exemple les décisions, avis ou rapports du Défenseur des droits français, les codes d’éthique des entreprises, les résolutions et recommandations de l’Assemblée parlementaire du Conseil de l’Europe ou encore les décisions, conclusions ou observations des comités onusiens de protection des droits de l’homme. Cette hétérogénéité rend veine la quête d’une définition consensuelle de la soft law. Il faut se contenter de quelques critères d’identification, dont le caractère juridiquement non obligatoire et non contraignant des actes concernés et leur caractère normatif. Bien que les contours de la notion soient imprécis, ses manifestations sont ostensibles, en particulier dans le domaine des droits de l’homme.
Le colloque dont les actes sont ici publiés s’est donné pour objectif de dépasser les problèmes de définition et d’identification de la soft law, au profit d’une approche fonctionnelle visant à chercher à comprendre ce que la soft law apporte au droit des droits de l’homme. L’ouvrage se structure autour de deux axes principaux. Il s’agit d’une part de s’interroger sur une éventuelle spécificité de la soft law en matière de droits fondamentaux. Il s’agit d’autre part de questionner sa plus-value dans ce domaine. Sur ces deux points, les contributions d’universitaires et de praticiens assemblées dans cet ouvrage apportent des éclairages incitant à répondre par l’affirmative aux deux questions posées. Cette conclusion donne un sens et une légitimité à la soft law, au moins dans le droit des droits de l’homme.
Access and Exclusion in Global Governance
Barcelona, 11 & 12 January 2018
Call for Papers
Global governance today involves a wide range of actors, ranging from governments to civil society organizations and multinational corporations, both in formal international organizations as well as in novel, transnational settings. The ‘opening up’ of global governance has been widely hailed for ushering in broader participation and closer links with the public sphere, while it has also drawn critique from those who fear capture by special interests the marginalization of states, governments and the public interest. However, we still know little about which actors enjoy what kind of access, and with what consequences. On the flipside, we know little about who is excluded, formally and informally, and the problems this creates. With this conference, we seek to place access and exclusion into the centre of attention and gain greater clarity as regards the variety of questions that surround them.
The Barcelona Workshop on Global Governance is a venue for the study of global governance – its structure, effects, and problems – from an interdisciplinary perspective, bringing together scholarship from international relations, law, sociology, anthropology, political theory, public administration and history. Its 5th edition will be held on 11 and 12 January 2018 in Barcelona.
Confirmed speakers include Deborah Avant (University of Denver), B. S. Chimni (Jawaharlal Nehru University), Anna Leander (Copenhagen Business School and the Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro), and Joost Pauwelyn (Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva). The workshop is organized by ESADEgeo (ESADE Business School’s Center for Global Economy and Geopolitics) and IBEI (Institut Barcelona d’Estudis Internacionals). It is financially supported by the Fritz Thyssen Foundation.
We invite abstract proposals from interested scholars from all disciplines. Proposals should not exceed 500 words in length. Preferred format for all submissions is PDF. Please send your proposals an attachment to info@bcnwgg.net and insert “Submission: Barcelona Workshop on Global Governance” as the subject line of the message. The deadline for abstracts is 30 June 2017. All proposals will undergo peer review and notifications of acceptance will be sent out by 31 July 2017. Full papers are expected to be delivered by 31 December 2017 for circulation among participants.
We expect to be able to provide support as regards participants’ travel expenses where this is necessary. Further details can be found here.
This book canvasses the autonomous position of victims before the International Criminal Court. It seeks to provide an objective and balanced perspective, and neither rejects the idea of victims’ participation nor seeks to extend it beyond the contours determined by the founders of the ICC. The author contributes to the existing debate in academia and in practice by delineating the core, most complex and contentious matters ensuing from the role assigned to victims. The scrupulously selected issues unveil and blueprint the essential characteristics that delimit the standing of victims as independent actors in the ICC’s arena, distinct from the parties and other non-party participants. As an integral part of the ICC’s synergy, victims converge and interact with its other components. Therefore, the position and role of victims are contemplated in the context of the Court’s procedural mechanism and the mission pursued by the parties and the Chamber. The philosophy underpinning the ICC’s design and the standing of victims therein also requires analysis from a wider perspective. Accordingly, the volume draws an in-depth parallel with relevant developments and trends at the international and domestic level. Close attention is paid to the legal instruments and jurisprudence of international(ized) criminal justice bodies, human rights institutions and non-criminal jurisdictions to the extent useful for shedding further light on the issues at hand. Recourse is also made to various national systems, whenever relevant.
International Marine Economy offers contributions from marine experts around the globe on the economic impacts of recent developments in international waters. From the South China Arbitration Award to the Bay of Bengal Case, this text includes important writings on Artic Shipping and Fisheries, the deep seabed, resources and maritime boundary regimes and studies the possibility of a new international agreement regulating the conservation of biological diversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction. Finally, it concludes by considering the challenges and opportunities of whaling in the Antarctic Case, ocean governance issues in Southeast Asia, and the exercise of control over foreign merchant vessels and state liability for wrong assessments. This volume offers much needed contemporary commentary from renowned scholars on rapidly evolving maritime topics.
In Maritime Disputes in Northeast Asia: Regional Challenges and Cooperation, Suk Kyoon Kim provides an important multidisciplinary perspective on maritime disputes in one of the most dynamic areas of the world: Northeast Asia, a region of divergent political and economic systems where the legacy of a tumultuous past continues to overshadow current events. The text highlights maritime issues on the Korean Peninsula and extends an analytical eye to neighboring China, Japan and Russia. Kim explores in-depth the factors and issues at stake with complex maritime disputes, focusing on maritime boundary delimitation, territory, energy resources, fishery, marine pollution, and security and safety. This volume provides a timely international law perspective informed by an intricate historical, political, and socio-economic context, while offering a vision for future cooperation.
Article 38 of the Statute of the International Court of Justice defines "international law" to include not only "custom" and "convention" between States but also "the general principles of law recognized by civilized nations" within their municipal legal systems. In 1953, Bin Cheng wrote his seminal book on general principles, identifying core legal principles common to various domestic legal systems across the globe. This monograph summarizes and analyzes the general principles of law and norms of international due process, with a particular focus on developments since Cheng's writing. The aim is to collect and distill these principles and norms in a single volume as a practical resource for international law jurists, advocates, and scholars. The information contained in this book holds considerable importance given the growth of inter-state intercourse resulting in the increased use of general principles over the past 60 years.
General principles can serve as rules of decision, whether in interpreting a treaty or contract, determining causation, or ascertaining unjust enrichment. They also include a core set of procedural requirements that should be followed in any adjudicative system, such as the right to impartiality and the prohibition on fraud. Although the general principles are, by definition, basic and even rudimentary, they hold vital importance for the rule of law in international relations. They are meant not to define a rule of law, but rather the rule of law.
On 30 May 2016, the International Law Commission (ILC) adopted a set of 16 draft Conclusions providing a methodology on how to identify customary international law. Although largely based on the two elements approach set forth in Article 38(1)(b) of the ICJ Statute, the ILC study pushes the boundaries of the formal sources of international law beyond the realm of state practice by recognizing that the practice of international organizations (IOs) as such may be constitutive of custom. This article critically examines the ILC draft Conclusions concerning the role of IOs in the process of custom creation. It examines the concept of resolution adopted by the ILC and assesses the coherence of the interpretive methodology devised by the ILC using the UN General Assembly resolutions as a case study. The findings show that the draft Conclusions fall short of expectation in providing authoritative guidance to scholars and practitioners alike.
Regional human rights have been heralded as one of the greatest innovations of international law of the 20th century. And yet, the broader debate on the history of human rights has paid surprisingly little attention to regional human rights systems, thereby missing some of the most salient strands of the larger history. This article represents a first systematic attempt to compare the institutional histories of the regional human rights systems in Europe, the Americas and Africa. It reveals how the regional rights systems’ evolution has been shaped in part by the same geopolitical dynamics, and how, in many ways, they have explicitly and implicitly worked in tandem, linked by common challenges, and notably by shared ideas and practices. Our story also uncovers that the paths of influence between the regional rights systems are not, as is often assumed, simply unidirectional: while it is undoubtedly the case that the European human rights system became influential in its region earlier, the Latin American and African systems have also contributed to the making of the broader international human rights order.
Human rights violations occurring as a consequence of drug control and enforcement are a growing concern, and raise questions of treaty interpretation and of the appropriate balancing of concomitant obligations within the drug control and human rights treaty regimes. Tracing the evolution of international drug control law since 1909, this book explores the tensions between the regime's self-described humanitarian aspirations and its suppression of a common human behaviour as a form of 'evil'. Drawing on domestic, regional and international examples and case law, it posits the development of a dynamic, human rights-based interpretative approach to resolve tensions and conflicts between the regimes in a manner that safeguards human rights. Highlighting an important and emerging area of human rights inquiry from an international legal perspective, this book is a key resource for those working and studying in this field.
