New Issue: Swiss Review of International and European Law

The latest issue of the Swiss Review of International and European Law (Vol. 27, no. 2, 2017) is out. Contents include:

• Articles
• Céline Bauloz, Le règlement Dublin à l’épreuve du principe de non-­refoulement: Chronique d’une crise annoncée
• Margarite Helena Zoeteweij & Ozan Turhan, Above the Law – Beneath Contempt: The End of the EU-Turkey Deal?
• Stephan Breitenmoser & Giulia Marelli, Die neuste Rechtsprechung des EGMR und des EuGH zu Fragen des Migrationsrechts sowie zu Schengen und Dublin
• Daniel Wüger, Personenkontrollen, Strassenschliessungen, Zäune und ­andere Grenzschutzmassnahmen im Schengen-Raum ohne Binnengrenzen
• Christa Tobler, Homogenität im Rechtsbestand der Schengen- und ­Dublin-Abkommen: Übernimmt die Schweiz im Assoziationsrahmen nicht notifiziertes Asyl- und -Datenschutzrecht der EU?

New Issue: Revue Générale de Droit International Public

The latest issue of the Revue Générale de Droit International Public (Vol. 121, no. 2, 2017) is out. Contents include:

• Articles
• Jiri Malenovský, L'agonie sans fin du principe de non-invocabilite du droit interne
• Gesa Dannenberg, Quelques remarques sur la coordination conventionnelle entre organisations internationales
• Nathalie Clarenc Bicudo, L'OMI et l'air impur du large. La vie juridique des règles relatives à la pollution atmosphérique des navires
• Notes
• Alexandre Hermet, Le constat de l'inexistence d'une saisine par la Cour internationale de Justice: A propos d'un communiqué de presse

Conference: Twenty-Ninth Investment Treaty Forum Public Conference

The British Institute of International and Comparative Law will host the Twenty-Ninth Investment Treaty Forum Public Conference on October 20, 2017. The theme is: "Treaty Law Issues in International Investment Law." The program is here. Here's the idea:

Questions of applicability, interpretation and succession of treaties are decisive for resolution of many investor-state disputes. Although States can be bound by treaties under international law, investors are not parties to treaties but still have rights and obligations under international investment law.

Complex issues of treaty law may arise at the stage of entering into effect and application of unratified investment treaties, for example related to the impact of unratified treaties on customary international law and provisional application of unratified treaties, such as the Energy Charter Treaty.

When applying and interpreting international treaties, tribunals also deal with issues of application of investment treaties in the context of territorial changes and armed conflicts. They also rely on the Vienna Convention on the Law of the Treaties and engage other extraneous legal rules and actors for treaty interpretation.

New Issue: Journal of International Wildlife Law & Policy

The latest issue of the Journal of International Wildlife Law & Policy (Vol. 20, no. 2, 2017) is out. Contents include:

• Hendrik Schoukens, Proactive Habitat Restoration and the Avoidance of Adverse Effects on Protected Areas: Development Project Review in Europe After Orleans
• Arie Trouwborst, Floor M. Fleurke & John D.C. Linnell, Norway's Wolf Policy and the Bern Convention on European Wildlife: Avoiding the “Manifestly Absurd”
• Juan He, The EU Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated Fishing Regulation Based on Trade and Market-Related Measures: Unilateralism or a Model Law?
• Tesfaye Fentaw & Jatni Duba, Human–Wildlife Conflict among the Pastoral Communities of Southern Rangelands of Ethiopia: The Case of Yabello Protected Area

New Issue: International Journal of Human Rights

The latest issue of the International Journal of Human Rights (Vol. 21, no. 8, 2017) is out. Contents include:

• Special Issue: The Sustainable Development Goals and Human Rights: A Critical Early Review
• Inga T. Winkler & Carmel Williams The Sustainable Development Goals and human rights: a critical early review
• Ignacio Saiz & Kate Donald, Tackling inequality through the Sustainable Development Goals: human rights in practice
• Gillian MacNaughton, Vertical inequalities: are the SDGs and human rights up to the challenges?
• Inga T. Winkler & Margaret L. Satterthwaite, Leaving no one behind? Persistent inequalities in the SDGs
• Audrey R. Chapman, Evaluating the health-related targets in the Sustainable Development Goals from a human rights perspective
• Carmel Williams & Paul Hunt, Neglecting human rights: accountability, data and Sustainable Development Goal 3
• Sara L. M. Davis, The uncounted: politics of data and visibility in global health
• Diane F. Frey, Economic growth, full employment and decent work: the means and ends in SDG 8

Hopgood, Snyder, & Vinjamuri: Human Rights Futures

Stephen Hopgood (School of Oriental and African Studies, Univ. of London - Politics and Internatioanl Studies), Jack Snyder (Columbia Univ. - Political Science), & Leslie Vinjamuri (School of Oriental and African Studies, Univ. of London - Politics and International Studies) have published Human Rights Futures (Cambridge Univ. Press 2017). Contents include:

• Stephen Hopgood, Jack Snyder & Leslie Vinjamuri, Introduction: human rights: past, present and future
• Geoffrey Dancy & Kathryn Sikkink, Human rights data, processes, and outcomes: how recent research points to a better future
• Beth A. Simmons & Anton Strezhnev, Human rights and human welfare: looking for a 'dark side' to international human rights law
• Jack Snyder, Empowering rights through mass movements, religion, and reform parties
• Leslie Vinjamuri, Human rights backlash
• Thomas Risse, Human rights in areas of limited statehood: from the spiral model to localization and translation
• Alexander Cooley & Matthew Schaaf, Grounding the backlash: regional security treaties, counternorms and human rights in Eurasia
• Elizabeth Shakman Hurd, Governing religion as right
• Sally Engle Merry & Peggy Levitt, The vernacularization of women's human rights
• Shareen Hertel, Re-framing human rights advocacy: the rise of economic rights
• Samuel Moyn, Human rights and the crisis of liberalism
• Stephen Hopgood, Human rights on the road to nowhere
• Stephen Hopgood, Jack Snyder & Leslie Vinjamuri, Conclusion: human rights futures

New Issue: Diritti umani e diritto internazionale

The latest issue of Diritti umani e diritto internazionale (Vol. 11, no. 2, 2017) is out. Contents include:

• Studi
• Eduardo Savarese, Questioni sul fine vita a vent’anni dalla Convenzione di Oviedo: consolidati principi e permanenti incertezze
• Enrico Zamuner, L’applicazione nel tempo della Convenzione sul genocidio: una retrospettiva sulla giurisprudenza della Corte internazionale di giustizia
• Maurizio Arcari, La risposta statunitense all’uso di armi chimiche in Siria e la (con)fusione delle categorie dello ius ad bellum
• Giulio Bartolini, Gli attacchi aerei in Siria, l’operazione Inherent Resolve e la complessa applicazione del diritto internazionale umanitario
• Mirko Sossai, Come assicurare la punibilità dell’uso di armi chimiche in Siria?
• I rapporti tra giustizia penale internazionale e mantenimento della pace
• Harmen van der Wilt, ‘No Peace Without Justice or No Justice Without Peace?’ Some Reflections on a Complex Relationship
• Emanuele Cimiotta, Giustizia penale internazionale e mantenimento della pace: qualche riflessione conclusiva
• Interventi
• Alberta Fabbricotti, The Transmission of the Mother’s Surname Under the CEDAW
• Elisa Tino, Il diniego di accesso alla giustizia per i soggetti privati nella SADC: alcune considerazioni sul nuovo Protocollo sul Tribunale
• Osservatorio
• Giorgia Bevilacqua, Partecipazione ai processi decisionali e accesso alla giustizia delle associazioni ambientali a tutela degli habitat naturali di importanza europea
• Angelica Bonfanti, Intercettazione di comunicazioni telematiche e acquisizione di dati: sullo studio dell’Unione europea su Legal Frameworks for Hacking by Law Enforcement
• Elena Corcione, Nuove forme di schiavitù al vaglio della Corte europea dei diritti umani: lo sfruttamento dei braccianti nel caso Chowdury
• Alessia Iolanda Matonti, Garanzie procedurali derivanti dall’art. 4 del Protocollo n. 4 CEDU: il caso Khlaifia
• Emma Luce Scali, The Impact of Conditionality on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in the Latest Reports of the UN Independent Expert on Foreign Debt and Human Rights
• Beatrice Gornati, ‘Paesi terzi sicuri’, respingimenti a catena e detenzione arbitraria: il caso Ilias e Ahmed
• Chiara Favilli, Visti umanitari e protezione internazionale: così vicini così lontani
• Francesca Masellis, L’illegittimità della ‘tassa’ italiana sui permessi di soggiorno

Lünsmann: Unilateraler 'Consent' im System der Streitbeilegung nach der ICSID Konvention

Jesper Lünsmann has published Unilateraler 'Consent' im System der Streitbeilegung nach der ICSID Konvention: 'Consent' als Voraussetzung der 'jurisdiction of the Centre' (Nomos 2017). Here's the abstract:

Der Autor unternimmt die erste umfassende dogmatische Untersuchung der heutzutage wichtigsten Grundlage von ICSID-Schiedsverfahren: dem unilateralen „consent“. Diese staatlichen Erklärungen sind in Internationalen Investitionsabkommen enthalten und bieten Investoren die Möglichkeit, Schiedsverfahren gegen ihren jeweiligen Gaststaat einzuleiten. Die Frage nach der Natur dieser staatlichen Erklärungen wird anhand einer Auslegung der ICSID-Konvention gemäß den Regeln der Wiener Vertragsrechtskonvention beantwortet. Die gefundenen Ergebnisse werden sodann auf zwei offene Fragen des internationalen Investitionsrechts angewandt: zum einen die Folgen des Rücktritts eines Mitgliedstaates der ICSID-Konvention für die Möglichkeit von Investoren ein Schiedsverfahren gegen den Staat einzuleiten; zum anderen die Frage, welches Recht auf den „consent“ anzuwenden, und nach welchen Regeln ein solcher auszulegen ist.

The author provides the first comprehensive theoretical analysis of the most important foundation of ICSID-arbitrations: the unilateral consent. These declarations of state are included in International Investment Agreements and open the possibility for investors to initiate arbitration against its host-state. The central goal of the analysis is to determine the nature of these declarations of state. In order to do so, the author interprets the ICSID-Convention according to the rules of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties. In a second step, the conclusions will be applied to two practical questions of International Investment Law: first, the consequences of a denunciation of the ICSID-Convention for the investor‘s possibility to initiate an arbitration against its host-state; second, the question of which law and which rules of interpretation applies to „consent“.

Conference: The Next Generation of International Trade Agreements

On September 18, 2017, the Dean Rusk International Law Center at the University of Georgia School of Law and the Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law will hold a conference on "The Next Generation of International Trade Agreements." The program is here. Here's the idea:

International trade law is at inflection point. Until quite recently, international trade agreements appeared to be moving along a relatively predictable trajectory. Reforms and changes were discussed and negotiated, but mostly along the margins of a supposed consensus about the general direction of the field. Political events of the past year, though – Brexit, the United States’ abandonment of TPP, calls to renegotiate NAFTA, accelerating negotiations of RCEP, and China’s roll out of its One Belt One Road initiative, among others – have challenged that trajectory and sent policymakers and trade lawyers in search of a new trade compass. A new period of negotiation and renegotiation, however, is on the horizon. While this is a source for many of anxiety, it is also an opportunity for progress, reform, and creative thinking. This conference will bring together top scholars and practitioners in the field to discuss the directions forward for international agreements. What should be on the table as old agreements are reopened and new ones are negotiated? What changes are needed to adapt trade agreements to new economic and technological realities? And how can the next generation of trade agreements respond to globalization’s discontents?

Ohlin, May, & Finkelstein: Weighing Lives in War

Jens David Ohlin (Cornell Univ. - Law), Larry May (Vanderbilt Univ. - Philosophy), & Claire Finkelstein (Univ. of Pennsylvania - Law) have published Weighing Lives in War (Oxford Univ. Press 2017). Contents include:

• Jens David Ohlin, Larry May, & Claire Finkelstein, Introduction
• Gabriella Blum, The Dispensable Lives of Soldiers
• Jens David Ohlin, Sharp Wars are Brief
• Larry May, Humanity, Necessity, and the Rights of Soldiers
• Michael L. Gross, The Deaths of Combatants
• Jeff McMahan, Proportionate Defense
• Jovana Davidovic, Justification and Proportionality in War
• Saba Bazargan-Forward, Compensation and Proportionality in War
• Adil Haque, A Theory of Jus in Bello Proportionality
• Ariel Colonomos, Proportionality in Warfare as a Political Norm
• Claire Finkelstein, The Equality of Lives in War and the Principle of Distinction
• Jon Todd, Guiding Executive Decisions on Combatancy in War
• Andrew Forcehimes, Weighing Unjust Lives
• Michael Schmitt, Jeffrey Biller, Sean C. Fahey, David S. Goddard, & Chad Highfill, Joint and Combined Targeting: Structure and Process

AJIL Unbound Symposium: International Institutional Bypass

AJIL Unbound has posted a symposium on "International Institutional Bypass." The symposium includes an introduction by Mariana Mota Prado and Steven Hoffman and contributions by Mariana Mota Prado and Steven Hoffman, Oliver Stuenkel, Rohinton P. Medhora, and Edefe Ojomo.

Ghent Rolin-Jaequemyns International Law Institute "International Order and Justice" 2017-2018 Lecture Series

Here's the schedule for the 2017-2018 Ghent Rolin-Jaequemyns International Law Institute "International Order and Justice" lecture series:

• October 31, 2017: Erik Franckx (Vrije Universiteit Brussel), The UN Convention for the Law of the Sea and the Scramble for the Arctic
• November 22, 2017: Anne van Aaken (University of St Gallen), Behavioural economics and international law
• December 7, 2017: James Crawford (Judge, International Court of Justice), Public policy v. property protection - an international law perspective
• December 12, 2017: Anne Orford (Univ. of Melbourne), Civil War, Intervention, and the Transformation of International Law
• February 19, 2018: Stephen Neff (Univ. of Edinburgh), The Standard of Civilization in International Law
• March 6, 2018: Larissa van den Herik (Leiden Univ.), Fact-finding and inquiry in International Law
• March 13, 2018: Hans Van Houtte (President, Iran-US Claims Tribunal), Reparation of damages after war
• March 19, 2018: Georg Nolte (International Law Commission; Humboldt Univ. Berlin), The International Law Commission after 70 years: Its Role and Challenges

New Issue: Climate Law

The latest issue of Climate Law (Vol. 7, nos. 2/3, 2017) is out. Contents include:

• Special Issue On China
• Benoit Mayer, Climate Change Mitigation in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region
• Benoit Mayer; Mikko Rajavuori & Mandy Meng Fang, The Contribution of State-Owned Enterprises to Climate Change Mitigation in China
• Hao Zhang & Ping Xu, Designing Regulation for China’s Emission-Trading Pilot Programs Through Trial and Error: An Effective Approach?
• Yixin Xu, An Analysis of China’s Legal and Policy Framework for the Sustainability of Foreign Forest Carbon Projects
• Gu Gong & Ran An, Progress and Obstacles in Environmental Public-Interest Litigation under China’s New Environmental Law: An Analysis of Cases Accepted and Heard in 2015
• Current Legal Developments
• Samvel Varvaštian, Climate Change and the Constitutional Obligation to Protect Natural Resources: The Pennsylvania Atmospheric Trust Litigation

Wilson: Incitement on Trial: Prosecuting International Speech Crimes

Richard Ashby Wilson (Univ. of Connecticut - Law) has published Incitement on Trial: Prosecuting International Speech Crimes (Cambridge Univ. Press 2017). Here's the abstract:

International and national armed conflicts are usually preceded by a media campaign in which public figures foment ethnic, national, racial or religious hatred, inciting listeners to acts of violence. Incitement on Trial evaluates the efforts of international criminal tribunals to hold such inciters criminally responsible. This is an unsettled area of international criminal law, and prosecutors have often struggled to demonstrate a causal connection between speech acts and subsequent crimes. This book identifies 'revenge speech' as the type of rhetoric with the greatest effects on empathy and tolerance for violence. Wilson argues that inciting speech should be handled under the preventative doctrine of inchoate crimes, but that once international crimes have been committed, then ordering and complicity are the most appropriate forms of criminal liability. Based in extensive original research, this book proposes an evidence-based risk assessment model for monitoring political speech.

Borch: Military Trials of War Criminals in the Netherlands East Indies 1946-1949

Fred L. Borch (Judge Advocate General's Corps, U.S. Army) has published Military Trials of War Criminals in the Netherlands East Indies 1946-1949 (Oxford Univ. Press 2017). Here's the abstract:

From 1946 to 1949, the Dutch prosecuted more than 1000 Japanese soldiers and civilians for war crimes committed during the occupation of the Netherlands East Indies during World War II. They also prosecuted a small number of Dutch citizens for collaborating with their Japanese occupiers. The war crimes committed by the Japanese against military personnel and civilians in the East Indies were horrific, and included mass murder, murder, torture, mistreatment of prisoners of war, and enforced prostitution. Beginning in 1946, the Dutch convened military tribunals in various locations in the East Indies to hear the evidence of these atrocities and imposed sentences ranging from months and years to death; some 25 percent of those convicted were executed for their crimes. The difficulty arising out of gathering evidence and conducting the trials was exacerbated by the on-going guerrilla war between Dutch authorities and Indonesian revolutionaries and in fact the trials ended abruptly in 1949 when 300 years of Dutch colonial rule ended and Indonesia gained its independence.

Until the author began examining and analysing the records of trial from these cases, no English language scholar had published a comprehensive study of these war crimes trials. While the author looks at the war crimes prosecutions of the Japanese in detail this book also breaks new ground in exploring the prosecutions of Dutch citizens alleged to have collaborated with their Japanese occupiers. Anyone with a general interest in World War II and the war in the Pacific, or a specific interest in war crimes and international law, will be interested in this book.

Wheatley: Spectral Legal Personality in Interwar International Law: On New Ways of Not Being a State

Natasha Wheatley (Princeton Univ. - History) has published Spectral Legal Personality in Interwar International Law: On New Ways of Not Being a State (Law and History Review, Vol. 35, no. 3, pp. 753-87, August 2017). Here's the abstract:

That spirits and gods, devils and idols, should be endowed with legal rights and enjoyments is again a practice as common as it seems to be ancient. Perhaps you will go to the length of saying that much the most interesting person that you ever knew was persona ficta. In May 1926, the German Society for International Law discussed the foundational question of the subjects of international law. “Who can appear independently before international forums? only states? or also others, particularly individuals?” asked the speaker, Godehard Josef Ebers, a professor at the University of Cologne. The topic possessed a strange novelty. “In the nineteenth century one hardly even considered the problem,” Ebers noted incredulously. Now it appeared both neglected and pressing. The society's resolutions that year recognized that ever more non-state “factors”—including groups such as minorities as well as individuals—were emerging as the bearers of international rights and duties. The appearance of these new subjects suggested a transformation in the deep conceptual substructure (Grundauffassung) of international law, which had hitherto recognized states alone as international persons.

Conference: 13th Annual Conference of the European Society of International Law

The 13th Annual Conference of the European Society of International Law will take place September 7-9, 2017, in Naples. The theme is: "Global Public Goods, Global Commons and Fundamental Values: The Responses of International Law." The program is here. ESIL Interest Groups will hold events today, September 6. Details are available here.

Conference: The Duties, Rights and Powers of International Arbitrators

On September 19, 2017, the American University Washington College of Law will hold a conference on "The Duties, Rights and Powers of International Arbitrators." The program is here.

Dutton, Dancy, Aloyo, & Alleblas: Collective Identity, Memories of Violence, and Belief in a Biased International Criminal Court: Evidence from Kenya

Yvonne Dutton (Indiana Univ., Indianapolis - Law), Geoff Dancy (Tulane Univ.), Eamon Aloyo (Leiden Univ.), & Tessa Alleblas have posted Collective Identity, Memories of Violence, and Belief in a Biased International Criminal Court: Evidence from Kenya. Here's the abstract:

International judicial institutions consistently struggle to build diffuse support. This struggle is particularly visible at the International Criminal Court (ICC), which aims to hold leaders accountable for grave atrocity crimes. In situation countries, the push for accountability invites an 'us vs. them' narrative, which frames the ICC as an outsider court set on intruding in sovereign affairs. When the ICC charged political operatives with organizing bloody post-election violence in 2007-8, Kenyan leaders publicly advanced a conspiratorial narrative that the Court is a neocolonial institution biased against Africa. This article uses unique survey data collected throughout Kenya to seek answers to the following question: which citizens are most likely to believe this story that the ICC is politically biased? The psychological approach we advance predicts that people negotiate between collective identities and personal experience when evaluating narratives about the performance of international institutions in their country. Ruling-party supporters, who are also ethnically similar, are far more likely to agree that the ICC is biased against Africans. However, those with a personal experience of post-election violence are much less likely agree that the ICC is biased against Africa, even if they are members of the ethnic groups represented in the ruling coalition. Among other things, this implies that the ICC is more supported by those who have borne the brunt of political violence.

Conference: Corporations on Trial: International Criminal and Civil Liability for Corporations for Human Rights Violations

On September 15, 2017, the Case Western Reserve University School of Law will hold a conference on "Corporations on Trial: International Criminal and Civil Liability for Corporations for Human Rights Violations." The program is here.

New Issue: Global Trade and Customs Journal

The latest issue of Global Trade and Customs Journal (Vol. 12, no. 9, 2017) is out. Contents include:

• Fernando González-Rojas, All Parts Should Have Meaning: A Proposal on the Correct Interpretation of section 15(a) & (d) of China’s Protocol of Accession
• Timothy Lyons, Commentary: Customs Union: EU Foundation Stone, Brexit Stumbling Stone
• Nellie Munin, Israeli Purchase Tax on Commercially Imported Cars: An Illegal Barrier to International Trade or a Legitimate Domestic Policy Instrument?
• Cornelia Furculiță, Cost of Production Calculation in EU Anti-Dumping Law: WTO Consistent ‘As Such’ After EU – Biodiesel

New Volume: Max Planck Yearbook of United Nations Law

The latest volume of the Max Planck Yearbook of United Nations Law (Vol. 20, 2016) is out. Contents include:

• Part I: The Law and Practice of the United Nations
• Michael Wood, The Interpretation of Security Council Resolutions, Revisited
• Paula M. Vernet, The Work of the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf: Current Accomplishments and Challenges on the Verge of Its 20th Anniversary
• Natalie Y. Morris-Sharma, Marine Genetic Resources in Areas beyond National Jurisdiction: Issues with, in and outside of UNCLOS
• Wiebke Ringel, Non-discrimination, Accommodation, and Intersectionality under the CRPD: New Trends and Challenges for the UN Human Rights System
• Fruzsina Molnár-Gábor, The Realization of the Ethical Mandate of UNESCO in 2015 and in 2016
• Ghazia Popalzai & Hiba Thobani, The Complexities of the Gravity Threshold in the International Criminal Court: A Practical Necessity or an Insidious Pitfall?
• Zsuzsanna Deen-Racsmány, The Status and Criminal Accountability of Members of Formed Police Units: Conflicting Positions, Current Status Quo and Future Prospects
• Ginevra Le Moli, Autonomy and Accountability of the UN in Peacekeeping Operations: The Case of the Central African Republic
• Part II: Legal Issues Related to the Goals of the United Nations
• Ulrich Sieber & Carl-Wendelin Neubert, Transnational Criminal Investigations in Cyberspace: Challenges to National Sovereignty
• Christian Riffel, Regulatory Safeguards in Mega-Regionals against Sovereignty Loss
• Jin-Hyun Paik, South China Sea Arbitral Awards: Main Findings and Assessment
• Meltem Ineli-Ciger, Protection Gaps and Temporary Protection
• Yateesh Begoore, Prisoners Dilemma: Ascertaining and Augmenting the Multinational NIAC Detention Regime
• Part III: Report on Key Legal Developments at the United Nations in 2016
• Tilmann J. Röder & Maximilian Spohr, Key Legal and Political Developments at the United Nations in 2016

Biehler: Das Vergewaltigungsverbot im bewaffneten Konflikt

Anke Biehler has published Das Vergewaltigungsverbot im bewaffneten Konflikt: Entwicklung, Definition und Durchsetzung (Duncker & Humblot 2017). Here's the abstract:

Gegenstand der Arbeit ist das Vergewaltigungsverbot im bewaffneten Konflikt. Anke Biehler behandelt die historische Entwicklung des Verbots im Hinblick auf dessen völkerrechtliche Bedeutung und Definition sowie im Hinblick auf das Problem der Durchsetzung des Verbots. Dazu wird zunächst die historische Entwicklung des Vergewaltigungsverbots im bewaffneten Konflikt nachvollzogen. Anschließend wird untersucht, was es völker- und völkerstrafrechtlich im Detail umfasst und welche rechtlichen Möglichkeiten es zu seiner Durchsetzung gibt. Hierbei ist zwischen Durchsetzungsmöglichkeiten auf individual-strafrechtlicher Ebene und auf zwischenstaatlicher Ebene – etwa durch Staatenverantwortlichkeit – zu unterscheiden. Abschließend werden Überlegungen angestellt, ob das Vergewaltigungsverbot im bewaffneten Konflikt heute nicht nur als Völkergewohnheitsrecht, sondern auch als jus cogens anzusehen ist.

New Issue: Journal of the History of International Law / Revue d'histoire du droit international

The latest issue of the Journal of the History of International Law / Revue d'histoire du droit international (Vol. 19, no. 3, 2017) is out. Contents include:

• Emily Crawford, Tracing the Historical and Legal Development of the Levée en Masse in the Law of Armed Conflict
• Steven Harris, Taming Arbitration: States’ Men, Lawyers, and Peace Advocates from the Hague to the War
• Leonardo Valladares Pacheco de Oliveira, Overcoming the Challenges in Establishing Arbitration in Brazil: A Historical Perspective

Conference: Fall Meeting of the ABA Section of International Law

The 2017 Fall Meeting of the American Bar Association Section of International Law will take place October 24-27 in Miami. The program is here.

Casey-Maslen & Connolly: Police Use of Force under International Law

Stuart Casey-Maslen (Univ. of Pretoria) & Sean Connolly have published Police Use of Force under International Law (Cambridge Univ. Press 2017). Here's the abstract:

Policing is commonly thought to be governed by domestic legal systems and not international law. However, various international legal standards are shown to have an impact in situations where police use force. Police Use of Force under International Law explores this tension in detail for the first time. It critically reviews the use of force by law enforcement agencies in a range of scenarios: against detainees, during protests, and in the context of counterterrorism and counterpiracy operations. Key trends, such as the growing use of private security services, are also considered. This book provides a human rights framework for police weaponry and protection of at-risk groups based on critical jurisprudence from the last twenty years. With pertinent case law and case studies to illustrate the key principles of the use of force, this book is essential reading for anyone interested in policing, human rights, state use of force or criminology.

Conference: Society of Legal Scholars 2017 Conference

Today through Friday September 5-8, the Society of Legal Scholars will hold its 2017 conference in Dublin. The program (including panels organized by the International Law Section) is here.

Call for Papers: Thinking About Global Trade Governance for the 21st Century: Challenges and Opportunities on the Eve of the WTO's 11th Ministerial Conference

A call for papers and panel proposals has been issued for a conference on "Thinking About Global Trade Governance for the 21st Century: Challenges and Opportunities on the Eve of the WTO's 11th Ministerial Conference," to take place in Buenos Aires, on December 13, 2017. The call is here. The deadline is September 15, 2017.

Cheah: The Curious Case of Singapore’s BIA Desertion Trials: War Crimes, Projects of Empire, and the Rule of Law

W.L. Cheah (National Univ. of Singapore - Law) has posted The Curious Case of Singapore’s BIA Desertion Trials: War Crimes, Projects of Empire, and the Rule of Law (European Journal of International Law, forthcoming). Here's the abstract:

This article studies a set of war crimes trials that dealt with the contentious issue of deserting British Indian Army soldiers and were conducted by the British colonial authorities in post-Second World War Singapore (BIA desertion trials). Though the British intended for these trials to facilitate the return of British colonial rule, these trials resulted in to unexpected acquittals and non-confirmation of sentences. While seemingly obscure, these trials illuminate important lessons about rule of law dynamics in war crimes trials. By applying British military law as a ‘back-up’ source of law when prosecuting “violations of the laws and usages of war”, these trials contravened the rule of law by retrospectively subjecting the Japanese defense to unfamiliar legal standards. However, by binding themselves to a pre-existing and relatively clear source of law, the British were constrained by the rule of law even as this empowered the Japanese defense. This article’s findings also speak to broader debates on the challenges of developing a universally legitimate international criminal law, by provocatively suggesting that, from a rule of law perspective, what is most important in a body of law is its clarity, accessibility, and comprehensiveness rather than its source or its purported ‘universality’.

New Issue: Melbourne Journal of International Law

The latest issue of the Melbourne Journal of International Law (Vol. 18, no. 1, July 2017) is out. Contents include:

• Lecture
• Alex Mills, The Hague Choice of Court Convention and Cross-Border Commercial Dispute Resolution in Australia and the Asia-Pacific
• Articles
• Jonathan Crowe & Anna John, The Status of Private Military Security Companies in United Nations Peacekeeping Operations under the International Law of Armed Conflict
• Federico Lupo-Pasini, Financial Stability in International Law
• Linlin Sun, Dispute Settlement relating to Deep Seabed Mining: A Participant's Perspective

New Issue: Chinese Journal of International Law

The latest issue of the Chinese Journal of International Law (Vol. 16, no. 2, June 2017) is out. Contents include:

• Articles
• Massimo Lando, Delimiting the Continental Shelf Beyond 200 Nautical Miles at the International Court of Justice: The Nicaragua v. Colombia Cases
• Alexandra Hofer, The Developed/Developing Divide on Unilateral Coercive Measures: Legitimate Enforcement or Illegitimate Intervention?
• Asif H. Qureshi, International Legal Aspects of “Monetary” Relations in Northeast Asia
• Comments
• George Rodrigo Bandeira Galindo & César Yip, Customary International Law and the Third World: Do Not Step on the Grass
• Zhixiong Huang & Kubo Mačák, Towards the International Rule of Law in Cyberspace: Contrasting Chinese and Western Approaches
• Qinmin Shen, Lingering Issues of Foreign Official Immunity in Enforcing Prohibition against Torture in Domestic Courts: Pinochet’s Reasoning Reassessed
• Sienho Yee, Notes on the International Court of Justice (Part 6)—The Fourth Use of Travaux Préparatoires in the LaGrand Case: To Prove the Non-preclusion of an Interpretation
• Letters to the Editor
• Gerard J. Sanders, The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the Belt and Road Initiative: Complementarities and Contrasts

New Issue: International Criminal Law Review

The latest issue of the International Criminal Law Review (Vol. 17, no. 4, 2017) is out. Contents include:

• Special Issue: Strengthening the Validity of International Criminal Tribunals
• Marieke de Hoon, The Future of the International Criminal Court. On Critique, Legalism and Strengthening the ICC’s Legitimacy
• Mandiaye Niang, Africa and the Legitimacy of the ICC in Question
• Geoff Dancy, Searching for Deterrence at the International Criminal Court
• Joanna Nicholson, Strengthening the Effectiveness of International Criminal Law through the Principle of Legality
• Yvonne McDermott, Strengthening the Evaluation of Evidence in International Criminal Trials
• Hemi Mistry, The Significance of Institutional Culture in Enhancing the Validity of International Criminal Tribunals
• Avidan Kent & Jamie Trinidad, The Management of Third-party Amicus Participation before International Criminal Tribunals: Juggling Efficiency and Legitimacy