New Issue: Legal Issues of Economic Integration

The latest issue of Legal Issues of Economic Integration (Vol. 45, no. 4, 2018) is out. Contents include:

• From the Board: Towards a Social Europe?
• Graham Butler, In Search of the Political Question Doctrine in EU Law
• Mbakiso Magwape, The AfCFTA and Trade Facilitation: Re-Arranging Continental Economic Integration
• Marco Inglese, The Collaborative Economy Legal Conundrum: A Way Forward Through Harmonization
• Lilian Meinen, A ‘Frictionless’ Border for Gibraltar: Stumbling Blocks and Solutions Following Brexit
• Yannis Schlüter, Towards a Court Mandated Harmonization of National Tax Rules Case 552/15, Commission v. Ireland

Call for Submissions: International Organizations throughout the 20th and 21st Centuries: Successes, Failures, Transformations, and Challenges

The journal Studia Territorialia has issued a call for submissions for a special issue on "International Organizations throughout the 20th and 21st Centuries: Successes, Failures, Transformations, and Challenges." Here's the call:

The upcoming centenary of the foundation of the League of Nations and associated international bodies represents an invitation for historians, sociologists, political scientists, economists, legal experts, and anthropologists to reflect on the origins of the contemporary system of international organizations, its transformations over the past 100 years and the various challenges it faces today. Moreover, recent methodological evolutions as well as increasing accessibility of sources coming directly from within the international organizations, such as archives of international secretariats, private papers of different important actors, but also ethnographic observations inside those organizations, make the aims of this call especially relevant.

The proposed special issue seeks original theoretical, comparative, and case studies providing disciplinary and multidisciplinary perspectives on the history of international organizations in the 20th and 21st centuries. Suggested subthemes and subtopics include the rise of a specific internationalist culture characterizing the milieu of international organizations; the dynamics of their inner transformations and related tensions; the various actors in international organizations, their circulation, exchange, and links to national or local levels; as well as the impact of global political caesuras on the international organizations’ functioning, such as the two world wars and the end of the bipolar world system.

The articles are to be written in English and should be ideally 7,000 to 10,000 words in length. The contributions are to be sent to the editorial team at stuter@fsv.cuni.cz or uploaded via AUC Studia Territorialia journal management system. The authors should consult the submission guidelines for further instructions and style at http://stuter.fsv.cuni.cz/index.php/stuter/about/submissions#onlineSubmissions. All contributions are subject to double-blind peer-review.

Abstract submission deadline: January 15, 2019.
Notification on further status: January 31, 2019.
Article submission deadline: March 31, 2019.

AUC Studia Territorialia is a leading Czech peer-reviewed academic journal focusing on area studies. It covers history, social, political, and economic affairs of the nations of North America, Europe, and post-Soviet Eurasia in the 20th and 21st centuries. The journal is published by the Institute of International Studies of Charles University, Prague. It is indexed, i.a., in the EBSCO, ERIH PLUS and CEEOL databases.

For further inquiries, please feel free to contact the editors at: stuter@fsv.cuni.cz

New Volume: South African Yearbook of International Law

The latest volume of the South African Yearbook of International Law (Vol. 42, 2017) is out. Contents include:

• Aniel de Beer & Dire Tladi, The prohibition of terrorism as a Jus Cogens norm
• Martha M. Bradley, The ‘intensity’ threshold in article 8(2)(f) of the Rome Statute: the conundrum created by the term ‘protracted armed conflict’ and the possibility of a new category of non-international armed conflict
• Mispa Roux, New era for international criminal law: rethinking the definitions of crimes against humanity and genocide through the scope of its evolution as an outgrowth of war crimes
• Serges Djoyou Kamga, The United Nations system and the realisation of the right to development: challenges and opportunities
• Denning Ngomele Metuge, A critical review of the incorporation of SOLAS survey and certification standards in South African law
• Siqhamo Yamkela Ntola, Africa and the continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles : developments and challenges
• Yolandi Meyer, Reflections on the UN Working Groups on human rights and transnational corporations
• Annet Wanyana Ogutt, OECD multilateral instrument on treaty-related BEPS measures: benefits, challenges and recommended options for South Africa and other developing countries

Conference: 30th Anniversary of the Bangalore Principles on the Domestic Application of International Human Rights Norms

On November 20, 2018, the British Institute of International and Comparative Law will host a conference on "The 30th Anniversary of the Bangalore Principles on the Domestic Application of International Human Rights Norms." Here's the idea:

This one-day conference marks the 30th anniversary of the Bangalore Principles on the Judicial Application of International Human Rights Law. It will provide an opportunity to hear leading experts, including some of those who participated in the 1988 colloquium, reflect on the legacy of the Bangalore Principles as well as the domestication of international human rights law more broadly.

This event will take a multi-institutional approach to domestication and will consider the judicial application of international human rights norms, as well as the role of parliaments, governments, national human rights institutions and other actors.

At a time of backlash against international standards and institutions, speakers will explore the prospects and challenges for the future. In particular, in the UK context, Brexit and the loss of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights will provide an opportunity to consider the domestic status of other international human rights obligations post-Brexit.

Mishra: Building Bridges: International Trade Law, Internet Governance, and the Regulation of Data Flows

Neha Mishra (Univ. of Melbourne) has posted Building Bridges: International Trade Law, Internet Governance, and the Regulation of Data Flows (Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law, forthcoming). Here's the abstract:

The regulation of data flows through the internet touches upon various distinct disciplines including internet governance and international trade law. In internet governance, three fundamental principles, namely, internet openness, internet security and internet privacy apply to regulation of internet data flows. Existing evidence suggests that internet privacy and security, when implemented in a reasoned and transparent manner by different stakeholders, enables internet openness – thus, challenging the dominant perspective that cybersecurity and privacy requirements constrain free flow of data. This article introduces a unique perspective by arguing that these three principles (notwithstanding their non-binding nature) play an important role in applying trade law to data restrictive measures, particularly by facilitating a sound framework that balances domestic internet regulation and liberalised data flows, thus contributing to balancing of trade and non-trade policy goals. Given this important relationship between trade and internet governance, this article suggests that different options must be explored to enhance dialogue and coordination between these two policy communities so as to build a sound, balanced and holistic regulatory environment for cross-border data flows.

New Issue: Review of International Organizations

The latest issue of the Review of International Organizations (Vol. 13, no. 4, December 2018) is out. Contents include:

• Christoph Mikulaschek, Issue linkage across international organizations: Does European countries’ temporary membership in the UN Security Council increase their receipts from the EU budget?
• Matthias Ecker-Ehrhardt, Self-legitimation in the face of politicization: Why international organizations centralized public communication
• Magnus Lundgren, Theresa Squatrito, & Jonas Tallberg, Stability and change in international policy-making: A punctuated equilibrium approach
• Thomas R. Guarrieri, Guilty as perceived: How opinions about states influence opinions about NGOs
• David H. Bearce & Thomas R. Cook, The first image reversed: IGO signals and mass political attitudes

Conference: 2018 ASIL Midyear Meeting

Tomorrow through Saturday, November 8-10, 2018, the American Society of International Law will hold its 2018 Midyear Meeting at the UCLA School of Law. The program is here.

New Issue: International Legal Materials

The latest issue of International Legal Materials (Vol. 57, no. 5, October 2018) is out. Contents include:

• Abu Zubaydah v. Lithuania (Eur. Ct. H.R.), with introductory note by Christina M. Cerna
• MP v. Secretary of State for the Home Department (CJEU), with introductory note by Anne Aagten
• United Nations Security Council Resolution 2379, with introductory note by Scott A. Gilmore

Call for Papers: Reforming International Investment Arbitration Workshop

The ISDS Academic Forum together with PluriCourts Centre for Excellence (LEGINVEST) and Forum for Law & Social Science at the University of Oslo have issued a call for papers for a workshop on "Reforming International Investment Arbitration," to take place February 1-2, 2019, in Oslo. Here's the call:

The ISDS Academic Forum, together with PluriCourts Centre for Excellence (LEGINVEST) and Forum for Law & Social Science at the University of Oslo, will host a workshop on reforming international investment arbitration in Oslo 1-2 February 2019. 

Submission Deadline: 1 December 2018. 

The workshop will be structured around six themes that have triggered criticism of the existing regime:

• Excessive costs & recoverability of cost awards
• Excessive duration of proceedings
• Lack of consistency & coherence in legal interpretation
• Incorrectness of decisions
• Lack of diversity among ISDS adjudicators
• Lack of independence, impartiality & neutrality

We welcome submissions on these themes and especially how they would be dealt with under many or all of the following four scenarios:

1. Improvement of current system, by effecting changes in respect of appointment of arbitrators or other procedural changes (for instance, appointment of arbitrators entrusted predominantly with arbitral institutions or effected jointly by disputing parties; roster-system; adoption of ethical rules; etc.) (“ISDS improved”);
2. Current ISDS system + appellate mechanism (“ISDS + appeal”);
3. Multilateral investment court, with or without a built-in appeal (“MIC”);
4. No ISDS, with two sub-scenarios, namely (i) recourse to domestic courts only; and (ii) state-to-state arbitration in addition to domestic courts (“No ISDS”).

One paper on each theme will be selected for the workshop and be presented alongside the studies prepared by the Forum’s working groups.

The workshop will also include a public session on the reform process while the remainder of the workshop will be limited to Forum members, presenters and a limited number of academic observers.

There is no registration fee. 

Submit a paper abstract

In order to apply, please submit a paper abstract of 250-500 words and an academic CV by 1 December 2018. Notification of acceptance will occur by 7 December 2018.

The full draft paper of maximum 8,000 words must be submitted by 25 January 2019.

Programme Committee

• Gabrielle Kaufmann-Kohler, President, International Council for Commercial Arbitration and Professor Emerita, Geneva University Law School, CIDS Geneva
• Michele Potestà, Senior Researcher, Geneva Center for International Dispute Settlement (CIDS)
• Malcolm Langford, Professor of Public Law & Affiliate, Pluricourts, University of Oslo
• Daniel Behn, Associate Professor, Pluricourts, University of Oslo and Lecturer, University of Liverpool

Charlesworth, Heathcote, & Jones: Feminist Scholarship on International Law in the 1990s and Today: An Inter-Generational Conversation

Hilary Charlesworth (Univ. of Melbourne - Law), Gina Heathcote (SOAS Univ. of London - Law), & Emily Jones (Univ. of Essex - Law) have posted Feminist Scholarship on International Law in the 1990s and Today: An Inter-Generational Conversation (Feminist Legal Studies, forthcoming). Here's the abstract:

The world of international relations and law is constantly changing. There is a risk of the systematic undermining of international organisations and law over the next years. Feminist approaches to international law will need to adapt accordingly, to ensure that they continue to challenge inequalities, and serve as an important and critical voice in international law. This article seeks to tell the story of feminist perspectives on international law from the early 1990s till today through a discussion between three generations of feminist international legal scholars: Hilary Charlesworth, who, with her colleagues, contributed to the area in the immediate post-Cold War years, Gina Heathcote, who over the past decade has published extensively on feminist perspectives on the use of force and collective security, and Emily Jones, an early career scholar working on feminist approaches to international law. The conversation, which began as a Skype discussion, considers both the ways in which feminist approaches to international law have changed over the past two decades, as well as the ways in which they have been shaped by global politics, before turning to consider the future for feminist approaches to international law. The impact of feminist approaches to international law has been considerable. However, it seems that feminist approaches still lack legitimacy and credibility in many mainstream circles, remaining on the disciplinary periphery. Charlesworth, Heathcote and Jones discuss potential ways in which to manage some of these tensions, noting both the importance of ‘speaking to ourselves’ (Charlesworth in Feminist perspectives on contemporary International Law: Between resistance and compliance? Hart, Oxford, pp. 17–32, 2011) as a creative and nurturing space, as well as the need to be seen as a more credible voice in the mainstream. They note the need, too, for further feminist work beyond the realms of sexual violence and women’s representation. While the great amount of work in this area is, indeed, foundational, having achieved many important legal and political outcomes, feminist approaches should now develop beyond these areas. Doing so will not only propel this area of scholarship in new and exciting directions, but it might help feminist scholarship gain further traction by avoiding categorisation only under the umbrella of “women’s issues” and thus ready dismissal as just another specialist area of international law in the era of fragmentation.

Call for Submissions: The Protection of Minorities under International Law

The journal Laws has issued a call for submissions for a special issue on "The Protection of Minorities under International Law," to be guest edited by Noelle Higgins (Maynooth Univ. - Law). Here's the call:

The protection of minorities has been a central issue in inter-state relationships since the rise of the state system in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and indeed, the protection of minority groups is one of the oldest motifs of international law. However, minority groups continue to be targeted in various places around the world, with a recent increase in attacks on minorities through the destruction of cultural property in the Middle East. Minority cultures are being destroyed, their identity is being attacked, and their very existence is under threat. Despite the numerous problems facing the world’s minorities, no universal binding instrument exists to protect them. While the rights of national minorities in the fields of language, ethnicity and religion had been protected under the League of Nations regime, when the UN was created, there was a difference of opinion as to if, and indeed how, the rights of minorities should be dealt with within its framework. The lack of agreement on the question of minorities led to their omission from the UDHR, with only a limited reference to the protection of general cultural rights. Article 27 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), adopted in 1966, is the only universal legal binding provision on the rights of minorities, providing that ‘[i]n those States in which ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities exist, persons belonging to such minorities shall not be denied the right, in community with the other members of their group, to enjoy their own culture, to profess and practise their own religion, or to use their own language’.[1] However, the question must be asked if this provision is adequate to address the multifarious threats facing today’s minority groups, or if the legal framework needs to be re-imagined in the face of increased threats to the survival of minority groups? This is the focus of this Special Issue.

(a) The focus of this Special Issue is the protection of the rights of minorities under international law. It will deal with the extant legal framework, both from an international and regional perspective and analyze how the legal framework is implemented in practice.

(b) Numerous issues face minority groups, and the Special Issue will address a number of these, including minority identity; minority culture; destruction of cultural property belonging to minority groups; linguistic rights; religious rights etc.

(c) The purpose of the Special Issue is to bring together academics working in the field of minority rights to provide perspectives on a number of current issues facing minority groups and on how the international legal framework applies. The Special Issue will provide an in-depth analysis of the how the extant legal framework on the rights of minorities operates and can apply in practice.

The Special Issue will draw on, and develop, the seminal work on the rights of minorities by Thornberry International Law and the Rights of Minorities, (Clarendon Press, 1991), Minority Rights in Europe (Council of Europe, 2004), Weller, The Rights of Minorities in Europe (Oxford University Press, 2006), Universal Minority Rights (Oxford University Press, 2007) Pentassuglia, Minority Groups and Judicial Discourse in International Law (Brill, 2009) and Castellino, Global Minority Rights (Ashgate, 2011). It will also analyse literature on cultural diversity concerning minority groups, e.g., Pentassuglia, Ethno-Cultural Diversity and Human Rights: Challenges and Critiques (Brill, 2017), religious concerns of minority groups, e.g. Ghanea, The Challenge of Religious Discrimination at the Dawn of the New Millennium (Brill, 2004) and the destruction of the cultural property of such groups, e.g. Turku, The Destruction of Cultural Property as a Weapon of War (Palgrave MacMillan, 2018).

[1] Article 27 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, UNGA Res 2200A (XXI).

Dr. Noelle Higgins
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All papers will be peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Laws is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charges (APCs) of 350 CHF (Swiss Francs) per published paper are fully funded by institutions through the Knowledge Unlatched initiative, resulting in no direct charge to authors. Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Bórquez: Hacia una igualdad transformadora en las producciones de la Corte y de la Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos

Natalia Bórquez (Erlangen-Nürnberg Univ.) has published Hacia una igualdad transformadora en las producciones de la Corte y de la Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos. Derechos sociales, mujeres y maquilas / Towards transformative equality in the work of the Inter-American Court and Commission of Human Rights. Social rights, women and maquilas (Revista Electrónica del Instituto de Investigaciones Jurídicas y Sociales "Ambrosio L. Gioja", Vol. 19, 2017). Here's the abstract:

En este estudio, analizo la relación existente entre violencia contra las mujeres y la falta de acceso a derechos económicos, sociales y culturales. Se toma como ejemplo el contexto de la maquila marcado por la precarización laboral de sus trabajadoras. La hipótesis que se sostiene es que tanto la Corte Interamericana de Derechos Humanos (en adelante “CoIDH” o “Corte”) como la Comisión interamericana de Derechos Humanos (en adelante “CIDH” o “Comisión”) en casos contenciosos relacionados con la maquila invisibiliza la situación de violencia de género ocasionada por la falta de acceso real de las mujeres trabajadoras a los derechos sociales. Esto contrasta con informes más recientes de la CIDH en donde la maquila aparece en forma expresa como expresión de la desigualdad estructural de la que son objeto las mujeres en el acceso al mundo del trabajo y en el lugar de trabajo.

In this study I analyse the relationship between violence against women and the lack of access to economic, social and cultural rights. In this context the example of the Maquilas, marked by the precarious labour conditions of its female workers, will be in the focus of research. The hypothesis is that both the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (hereinafter "IACourtHR" or "Court") and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (hereinafter "IACHR" or "Commission") in contentious cases related to the Maquilas ignore the situation of gender violence caused by the lack of real access to social rights. This contrasts with more recent reports of the IACHR in which the Maquilas particularly appear as an expression of the structural inequality that women are subjected to in the access to work and in the workplace.

Dominelli: Current and Future Perspectives on Cross-Border Service of Documents

Stefano Dominelli (Università degli Studi di Genova) has posted Current and Future Perspectives on Cross-Border Service of Documents (Aracne editrice 2018). Here's the abstract:

This volume is the result of a number of thoughts developed on the possible amendment of the 2007 Service Regulation. The work addresses the issue of cross–border service of documents within the European judicial space, taking in particular account practical issues that have emerged from the case law of a number of Member States. Statutory and practical problems are rationalized and constitute an element to address the proposals for the amendment of the current legal framework.

Kassoti: The EU and Western Sahara: an assessment of recent developments

Eva Kassoti (The Hague Univ. - Law) has published The EU and Western Sahara: an assessment of recent developments (European Law Review, Vol. 43, no. 5, pp. 751-769, 2018). Here's the abstract:

The purpose of this comment is to take stock of recent developments regarding the EU’s relationship with Western Sahara by discussing the recent Front Polisario judgments, their reception in the literature and their possible repercussions on the pending litigation regarding the territory before the Union Courts. The comment not only sheds light on these important developments, but also directly feeds into the burgeoning debate regarding the CJEU’s approach to international law by examining how the Court approached questions of interpretation and application of cardinal principles of international law, such as the principle of self-determination.

Call for Papers: ASIL International Organizations Interest Group Workshop

The International Organizations Interest Group of the American Society of International Law has issued a call for papers for its biennial works-in-progress workshop, to be held March 15, 2019, at Seton Hall School of Law. The call is here.

Magraw & Puig: Greening Investor-State Dispute Settlements

Daniel Magraw (Center for International Environmental Law) & Sergio Puig (Univ. of Arizona - Law) have posted Greening Investor-State Dispute Settlements (Boston College Law Review, forthcoming). Here's the abstract:

Climate change poses serious threats to human society. Climate change is already affecting our environment and thus, many aspects of human and economic activity. Among the challenges ahead, governments will need to more actively adopt regulatory policies given the international obligations in this area, such as the Paris Agreement, as well as promote green private investment as a means toward unlocking sustainable growth. How can international investment law be adapted and modernized to respond to these challenges? In this Essay, we summarize a comprehensive set of innovations that could be included in International Investment Agreements to address international obligations regarding climate change. Our discussion, based on a Green Treaty Model, first stresses the role of balanced obligations for investors and host countries, and then focuses on dispute settlement. We conclude by explaining how the current process of reform under the auspices of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law can be used for a more ambitious transformation of international investment; a transformation in which investment treaties can act as catalysts for green foreign direct investment necessary to reverse the momentum for climate change already built into the atmosphere.

Call for Papers: Global Governance at a Critical Moment: Insights from Asia

A call for papers has been issued by the Japan Chapter of the Asian Society of International Law for its 10th Anniversary Annual Conference, to be held July 14, 2019, at Meiji Gakuin University, Tokyo. The theme is: "Global Governance at a Critical Moment: Insights from Asia." Here's the call:

Call for Papers

The Japan Chapter of the Asian Society of International Law

The 10th Anniversary Annual Conference

14 July 2019

Meiji Gakuin University, Tokyo, Japan

All academics, practitioners, lawyers, and government officials around the world are invited to submit a proposal.

Conference Theme: Global Governance at a Critical Moment: Insights from Asia

The year 2019 will mark a century since the signing of the Covenant of the League of Nations. In the wake of the two world wars, people pledged to establish conditions under which justice and respect for international law can be maintained.

International organizations and institutions, including treaty and non-treaty bodies as well as administrative and judicial bodies, have since been developed in the pursuit of peace and prosperity. They range from universal organizations, such as the United Nations, to regional ones, such as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Their respective mandates extend over a wide range of areas such as security, environment, human rights, economy, and dispute settlement. They have been lauded as contributing to global governance, of which Asia has been both a beneficiary and a promoter.

Today, distrust of international organizations and institutions is spreading among people. They are being criticized for not only failing to properly address the concerns of the international community but also undermining its essential values. The demand for the restructuring of global governance is growing. Amid the rise of populism, global governance stands at a crossroads of demise or resurrection. The objective of the Conference is to look back at the history of global governance and look ahead to its future.

Proposals for papers are welcome in all areas of international law, including:

• theory and history of international law
• international organizations and other systems and institutions
• international dispute settlement, including international courts and tribunals
• security
• international humanitarian law
• international environmental and energy law
• law of the sea
• international commercial law
• international trade and investment law
• international human rights law

Submission Details

Proposals must be sent to asiansil-jp2019@nifty.com by 31 January 2019.

Submission must include the following:

1. An abstract of an unpublished paper (The abstract must be no more than 500 words, including the title.)

2. The proposal author’s CV of no more than 2 pages (The CV must include the author’s contact details and a list of relevant publications. It should also indicate whether the author is a member of the Japan Chapter of the Asian Society of International Law and/or the Asian Society of International Law.)

*The abstract and the CV must be in English and in a single PDF file.

Review of Proposals

Proposals will be reviewed by the Research and Planning Committee of the Japan Chapter of the Asian Society of International Law. The authors of accepted proposals will be notified by early March 2019.

Full Papers

The authors of accepted proposals must submit a full paper by 30 June 2019. The paper must not be published elsewhere. The paper will be made available to the participants of the Conference.

Registration Fees and Expenses

All speakers and panelists are exempt from registration fees for the Conference. Please note that the registration fees do not include lunch and reception. All participants, including the speakers and panelists, must be able to cover their own travel and accommodation expenses.

Best Paper Award

The Best Paper Award is awarded to a speaker who presents the best paper at the Conference. The awarded speaker will receive a grant of JPY50,000.

Language

The working language of the Conference is English. A few sessions in Japanese may be conducted concurrently.

Inquiries

For inquiries about the Conference, please contact asiansil-jp2019@nifty.com

Call for Papers: Attribution, causality and evidentiary rules: Mere technicalities or the heart of the matter?

The European Society of International Law and ELTE Law School have issued a call for papers for a workshop on "Attribution, causality and evidentiary rules: Mere technicalities or the heart of the matter?," to take place May 16-17, 2019, in Budapest. The call is here.

Workshop: Sociological Perspectives on International Tribunals

On November 8-9, 2018, the Max Planck Institute Luxembourg for Procedural Law will hold a workshop on "Sociological Perspectives on International Tribunals." The program is here. Here's the idea:

The workshop will focus on sociological aspects of practices by international tribunals. Speakers will discuss diverse socio-cultural issues involved in the operation and impact of international tribunals as: the interactions between formal procedural rules and informal norms; the formal and social functions of tribunals; the symbolic aspects of tribunals’ proceedings and their decisions; the legal cultures (national and international ones) of international adjudication; the socio-cultural factors influencing the diffusion of procedural rules across international tribunals; and the production of knowledge and cognitive aspects of the work of such tribunals.

Call for Papers: Inaugural Edinburgh-Glasgow International Law Workshop

The Edinburgh Institute for International and Global Law of Edinburgh Law School and the International Law and Security Research Group of the Glasgow Law School have issued a call for papers for the first annual Edinburgh-Glasgow International Law Workshop, April 8-9, 2019. The deadline is November 15, 2018. The call is here.

Call for Papers: The Legacy of the League of Nations

The Centre for European Law and Internationalisation at the University of Leicester has issued a call for papers from early career researchers for a conference on "The Legacy of the League of Nations," to take place January 31, 2019. The call is here.

Oberleitner: International Human Rights Institutions, Tribunals, and Courts

Gerd Oberleitner (Universität Graz - Law) has published International Human Rights Institutions, Tribunals, and Courts (Springer 2018). The table of contents is here. Here's the abstract:

This book introduces readers to the major human rights institutions, courts, and tribunals and critically assesses their legacy as well as the promise they hold for realizing human rights globally, and the challenges they face in doing so. It traces the rationale of setting up international institutions, courts, and tribunals with the aim of ensuring respect for international human rights law and presents their historic development, and critically analyzes their contribution to the promotion and protection of human rights. At the same time, it asks which promises old and new (and envisaged) human rights institutions hold for safeguarding human rights in light of continuing violations and recent global trends in human rights and politics. The first section presents institutions created within the framework of the United Nations. The second part of the volume assesses how international criminal tribunals have reframed human rights violations as individual criminal acts. The third part of the volume is devoted to established and emerging regional human rights bodies and courts around the world.

Roth: P.C. Chang and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Hans Ingvar Roth (Stockholm Univ.) has published P.C. Chang and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Univ. of Pennsylvania Press 2018). Here's the abstract:

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is one of the world's best-known and most translated documents. When it was presented to the United Nations General Assembly in December in 1948, Eleanor Roosevelt, chair of the writing group, called it a new "Magna Carta for all mankind." The passage of time has shown Roosevelt to have been largely correct in her prediction as to the declaration's importance. No other document in the world today can claim a comparable standing in the international community.

Roosevelt and French legal expert René Cassin have often been represented as the principal authors of the declaration. But in fact, it resulted from a collaborative effort involving a number of individuals in different capacities. One of the declaration's most important authors was the vice chairman of the Human Rights Commission, Peng Chun Chang (1892-1957), a Chinese diplomat and philosopher whose contribution has been the focus of growing attention in recent years. Indeed, it is Chang who deserves the credit for the universality and religious ecumenism that are now regarded as the declaration's defining features. Despite this, Chang's extraordinary contribution has been overlooked by historians.

Peng Chun Chang was a modern-day Renaissance man—teacher, scholar, university chancellor, playwright, diplomat, and politician. A true cosmopolitan, he was deeply involved in the cultural exchange between East and West, and the dramatic events of his life left a profound mark on his intellectual and political work. P. C. Chang and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is the first biography of this extraordinary actor on the world stage, who belonged to the same generation as Mao Zedong and Chiang Kai-shek. Drawing on previously unknown sources, it casts new light on Chang's multifaceted life and involvement with one of modern history's most important documents.

Call for Papers: Cambridge International Law Journal 2019 Conference

The Cambridge International Law Journal has issued a call for papers for its 2019 Conference. The theme is: "New Technologies: New Challenges for Democracy and International Law." Here's the call:

The Editors of the Cambridge International Law Journal (CILJ) and the Conference Convenors welcome submissions for the Cambridge International Law Conference 2019, which will be held at the Faculty of Law, University of Cambridge on the 20th and 21st of March 2019. This year’s Conference will comprise of invited presentations by senior academics and experts in fields related to the Conference theme, unpublished paper presentations in panel format, and paper presentations in roundtable discussions.

THEME

Ours is an era of technological revolutions, characterised by profound transformations in social, economic and legal structures. This year, the Conference invites the submission of papers under the theme ‘New Technologies: New Challenges for Democracy and International Law’. The Conference is interested in papers which explore and reflect on the ways in which the proliferation of novel technologies challenge foundational assumptions, principles, and norms in international law, and influence democratic institutions and processes. The Conference is interested in a broad range of topics, including but not limited to, issues pertaining to cyberspace, big data, digital economy companies, information and communications, artificial intelligence, or other technological innovations, and their implications for global governance and regulation; global justice and development; the laws of war; international human rights, labour and employment law; data privacy; trade and investment law and law of state responsibility, sovereignty and democratic decision-making.

CONFIRMED SPEAKERS

Professor Benedict Kingsbury, NYU School of Law, to deliver the Keynote address.

Professor Michael Schmitt, University of Exeter.

Professor Mark Leiser, Leiden University.

ABSTRACTS

The deadline for abstracts for both panel and roundtable presentations is Monday, December 3rd 2018. Submissions should be made here.

Papers for panel presentations: Abstracts of no more than 500 words should be submitted together with your CV (separately uploaded). Successful applicants will be notified by email by Monday, January 14th, 2019. The authors of selected papers will be required to submit a 2,000-word extended abstract to conference@cilj.co.uk by Friday, February 15th, 2019.

Papers for roundtable discussion: This year the Conference will include paper presentations in roundtable format. The authors of selected papers will present their full papers after which a designated commentator will comment, followed by an open discussion for all participants. Abstracts of no more than 750 words should be submitted together with your CV (separately uploaded). Successful applicants will be notified by email by Monday, January 14th, 2019. The authors of selected papers will be required to submit a full paper of up to 10,000 words in length (including footnotes) by Friday, March 1st, 2019.

Authors that will present at the Conference will also be invited to submit their papers to be considered for publication in Volume 8(2), the conference issue of the Journal, to be published in December 2019, subject to the normal double-blind peer-review process. Authors will be contacted about this after the Conference.

FURTHER INFORMATION

Further information will be posted on the CILJ website in due course. In the interim, please contact conference@cilj.co.uk with any question or concerns.