In a 2015 article, my coauthor, Susy Frankel, and I warned that shifts in international lawmaking — from the World Intellectual Property Organization, to the World Trade Organization (WTO), and then to bilateral investment treaties and free trade agreements — have erected, in the terms used in the Conference at which this paper was presented, a high hedge around intellectual property rights, one that may protect these rights from state action designed to protect constitutive values and further legitimate sovereign needs. Since that article was published, two investor-state dispute settlements (ISDS) involving intellectual property have been resolved by final award. In both cases, the state prevailed, suggesting to many that the hedge may not be as impenetrable as we suggested.
In this piece, I argue that this view is wrong. A comparison of an ISDS case challenging tobacco legislation to a similar challenge in the WTO demonstrates that ISDS is a highly pernicious constraint. It creates opportunities for forum shopping and raises the cost of defending regulatory activity. The framing of investment disputes means that even actions that comply with international law can be challenged as undermining investments or denying fair and equitable treatment. To complicate matters, investors may be more eager to bring disputes than state entities. At the same time, the professional arbitrators who hear ISDS disputes may be less likely to take account of the state’s obligations to serve the needs all its citizens. Furthermore, they may be more likely to decide disputes in ways that encourage further challenges. As a result, ISDS hedges cast a heavy shadow on state action and may chill important state activity. Clipping the hedge requires the drafters of investment obligations and the tribunals that hear ISDS disputes to take account of the intangibility of IP rights in determining when IP is sufficiently localized in the host state that it should be considered protectable by that state’s investment obligations. Further, I explore institutional changes, such as the standing tribunal proposed by CETA and other ways to discourage ISDS challenges. At the end of the day, however, one must question whether ISDS, which allows foreigners to challenge a government’s choices, is an appropriate vehicle for maintaining hedges — for striking the right domestic balance between the interests of IP holders and those of the public.
Friday, September 6, 2019
Dreyfuss: Hedging Bets with BITS: The Impact of Investment Obligations on Intellectual Property
Rochelle Cooper Dreyfuss (New York Univ. - Law) has posted Hedging Bets with BITS: The Impact of Investment Obligations on Intellectual Property (in The Constitutional Transformation of Global IP Protection, Jonathan Griffiths & Tuomas Mylly eds., forthcoming). Here's the abstract:
Wählisch: Peacemaking, Power-sharing and International Law: Imperfect Peace
This monograph provides a contemporary analysis of the frictions between peacemaking and international human rights law based on the cases of postconflict power-sharing in Lebanon and Bosnia-Herzegovina. In this context it evaluates the long-standing debate in the United Nations and human rights bodies about the 'imperfect peace'. Written from a practitioner–scholarly viewpoint and drawing from new authentic sources, the book describes the mechanisms used in peace agreements and post-conflict constitutions for managing ethnic or religious diversity, explains their legal limits under international human rights law, and provides a conceptual framework for analysing the nexus between law and peacemaking. The book argues that the relationship between the content of peace agreements and post-conflict constitutions, their negotiation process and the element of time, needs to be untangled to better understand the legal limits of statebuilding in the aftermath of armed conflict. It is a key resource for scholars in human rights law and peace and conflict studies, advisers in peace processes, constitution-makers, and peace mediators.
SFDI: Tribunaux régionaux et développement du droit international : Hommage au Professeur Maurice Kamto
En octobre 2015, la Société Africaine pour le Droit International (SADI), en collaboration avec le Centre d’Etudes et de Recherche en Droit International et Communautaire de l’Université de Yaoundé II (CEDIC) et le Manchester International Law Centre (MILC), organisait, en l’honneur du Professeur Maurice Kamto, son quatrième colloque annuel consacré au thème des tribunaux régionaux et du développement du droit international. Les actes de ce colloque démontrent à quel point, à l’image des articles rassemblés, la contribution des tribunaux régionaux à l’application et à l’évolution du droit international peut être riche et multiforme. Le présent ouvrage est publié en hommage au Professeur Maurice Kamto et en reconnaissance de son engagement incessant en faveur du droit international et du respect des droits fondamentaux.
Longobardo: The Criminalisation of Intra-Party Offences in Light of Some Recent ICC Decisions on Children in Armed Conflict
Marco Longobardo (Univ. of Westminster - Law) has posted The Criminalisation of Intra-Party Offences in Light of Some Recent ICC Decisions on Children in Armed Conflict (International Criminal Law Review, forthcoming). Here's the abstract:
Traditionally, international humanitarian law is considered to be applicable only to the relationship between different parties of an armed conflict, while domestic law and international human rights law address situations of intra-party conduct, i.e., conduct involving members of the same party only. In the recent case law of the International Criminal Court, however, intra-party offences against children used as child soldiers have been treated as war crimes. Various Chambers have offered different arguments on this inclusion, which touches upon fundamental issues related to the scope of application of international humanitarian law. This article explores whether the criminalisation of intra-party offences as war crimes is in line with contemporary international humanitarian law, arguing that a positive answer must be based on the correct interpretation of international humanitarian law rules.
Baetens: Legitimacy of Unseen Actors in International Adjudication
International courts and tribunals differ in their institutional composition and functions, but a shared characteristic is their reliance on the contribution of individuals other than the judicial decision-makers themselves. Such 'unseen actors' may take the form of registrars and legal officers, but also non-lawyers such as translators and scientific experts. Unseen actors are vital to the functioning of international adjudication, exerting varying levels of influence on judicial processes and outcomes. The opaqueness of their roles, combined with the significance of judicial decisions for the parties involved as well as a wider range of stakeholders, raises questions about unseen actors' impact on the legitimacy of international dispute settlement. This book aims to answer such legitimacy questions and identify 'best practices' through a multifaceted enquiry into common connections and patterns in the institutional composition and daily practice of international courts and tribunals.
Conference: Governance of International Courts and Tribunals: Ensuring Judicial Independence and Accountability
On September 20-21, 2019, Leiden Law School will host a conference on "Governance of International Courts and Tribunals: Ensuring Judicial Independence and Accountability." The program is here. Here's the idea:
The rapidly growing number of international judicial institutions and the increased resort to international adjudication over the past few decades have led to a boom in scholarship on international courts and tribunals. The theoretical and practical dimensions of their operation have been comprehensively studied. One important gap in the burgeoning literature has been the aspect of governance of the international courts and tribunals by states and international organizations. The research on the legal nature, practices, and workings of the bodies exercising governance functions vis-à-vis these courts and tribunals remains limited and fragmented. The scarce attention these bodies have received is not commensurate to the critical importance of competent, effective and accountable governance to the orderly functioning of the international judiciaries.
In the present era of nationalist and populist pushback against multilateralism and withdrawal from international institutions by states, various international courts find themselves in a vulnerable position. As their effectiveness and legitimacy come under attack, courts are often left to perform their mandates on shoestring budgets, inadequately staffed, and lacking essential state support. An ongoing failure to appoint members of the World Trade Organization’s Appellate Body and the budgetary constraints and non-enforcement of arrest warrants crippling the International Criminal Court’s operations are more than isolated examples.
This conference inaugurates the International Judicial Governance project devoted to the study of normative and legal policy questions concerning the status, organization, functions, and accountability of international judicial governance bodies. It brings together international legal scholars and practitioners, including international judges, members of the courts’ registries, and diplomats with experience in judicial governance matters. It aims to provide a forum for critical reflection and constructive dialogue between the key actors, and to delineate this new field of research, mapping out the salient theoretical issues and practical challenges.
Conference: 2019 ASIL Midyear Meeting
On November 7-9, 2019, the American Society of International Law will hold its Midyear Meeting at Brooklyn Law School. Registration is now open. The program is here.
Winkler: Die Vereinten Nationen im Gefüge der internationalen Organisationen: Eine rechtsdogmatische Untersuchung
Das Werk analysiert die Bedeutung der Organisation der Vereinten Nationen und der ihr zugrundeliegenden Charta im Recht der internationalen Organisationen. Es untersucht die rechtliche Stellung der Vereinten Nationen im Verhältnis zu anderen internationalen Organisationen und zeigt auf, ob und inwieweit die anderen internationalen Organisationen an das Recht der Vereinten Nationen gebunden sind. Dafür identifiziert der Autor die Wesensmerkmale internationaler Organisationen, die ihr Verhältnis zueinander bestimmen. Er legt dar, dass internationale Organisationen grundsätzlich als gleichrangige und autonome Gebilde nebeneinander stehen. Schließlich begründet er ausführlich, dass den Vereinten Nationen ein rechtlich wirkender Vorrang vor anderen internationalen Organisationen zuzusprechen ist. Dabei weist er nach, dass die anderen internationalen Organisationen verpflichtet sind, bei der Ausübung ihrer Befugnisse zumindest auf das Recht der Vereinten Nationen Rücksicht zu nehmen.
Conference: The Global Citizen Lawyer: 40 Years of the Urban Morgan Institute
On October 25-27, 2019, the University of Cincinnati College of Law will host a conference on "The Global Citizen Lawyer: 40 Years of the Urban Morgan Institute." The program is here.
Thursday, September 5, 2019
Hodson & Lavers: Feminist Judgments in International Law
- Loveday Hodson & Troy Lavers, Feminist Judgments in International Law: An Introduction
- Christine Chinkin, Gina Heathcote, Emily Jones & Henry Jones, Bozkurt Case, aka the Lotus Case (France v Turkey): Ships that Go Bump in the Night
- Kasey McCall-Smith, Rhona Smith & Ekaterina Yahyaoui Krivenko, Reservations to the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide
- Kathryn Greenman & Troy Lavers, The Lockerbie Case (Libyan Arab Jamahiriya v United States of America)
- Zoi Aliozi, Bérénice K. Schramm & Ekaterina Yahyaoui Krivenko, Germany v Italy
- Marta Carneiro, Kirsten Ketscher & Freya Semanda, Gómez-Limón Sánchez-Camacho v Instituto Nacional de la Seguridad Social (INSS) and others
- Sara Bengtson, Damian Gonzalez-Salzberg, Loveday Hodson & Paul Johnson, Christine Goodwin v the United Kingdom
- Amel Alghrani, Amal Ali & Jill Marshall, Leyla Sahin v Turkey
- Nicola Barker, Burden v the United Kingdom
- Shazia Choudhry & Jonathan Herring, Opuz v Turkey
- Helen Fenwick, Wendy Guns & Ben Warwick, A, B and C v Ireland
- Merris Amos, Maribel Canto-Lopez & Nani Jansen Reventlow, Ruusunen v Finland
- Lolita Buckner Inniss, Jessie Hohmann & Enzamaria Tramontana, Cecilia Kell v Canada
- Olga Jurasz, Sheri Labenski, Solange Mouthaan & Dawn Sedman, AFRC Trial Judgment (Prosecutor v Brima, Kamara and Kanu)
- Yassin M Brunger, Emma Irving & Diana Sankey, The Prosecutor v Thomas Lubanga Dyilo
- Celestine Greenwood, Prosecutor v Radovan Karadžic
- Hilary Charlesworth, Prefiguring Feminist Judgment in International Law
Wednesday, September 4, 2019
Conference: How healthy is the ocean’s constitution? 25 Years of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea
On October 17-18, 2019, Indiana University's Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies, Universität Hamburg, and the International Foundation for the Law of the Sea will hold a conference on "How healthy is the ocean’s constitution? 25 Years of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea," at the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea in Hamburg. The program is here.
New Issue: International Relations
- Cynthia Enloe, Wounds: Militarized nursing, feminist curiosity, and unending war
- Alan Collins, W(h)ither the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN)? W(h)ither constructivism? Fixity of norms and the ASEAN Way
- Ricardo Villanueva, The Marxian influence on Leonard Woolf’s theory of imperialism
- Michal Smetana & Jan Ludvik, Theorising indirect coercion: The logic of triangular strategies
- Andreas H Hvidsten, Karl Mannheim and the liberal telos of realism
- Keith Smith, Recollecting a lost dialogue: Structural Realism meets neoclassical realism
New Issue: Revue belge de droit international
- F. Dubuisson & G. Poissonnier, La politique de différenciation de l’Union européenne à l’égard des produits originaires des colonies israéliennes: quels fondements en droit européen et international?
- E. Delval, Trafficking and exploitation of migrants in Libya: focus on the legal and administrative framework, and exploration of the international responsibility of the state of Libya
- K. Willaert, Alternatieve instrumenten in de strijd tegen piraterij: pleidooi voor een creatieve, opportunistische benadering
- A. Lebreton, Le principe de l’intégrité territoriale des états et le droit à l’autodétermination des peuples — Retour sur les conflits géorgien et ukrainien
- C. Régis & F. Kastler, Improving the world health organization’s normative strategy with respect to global health goals: what should we aim for?
- H. Azari, La condition de l’existence du différend revisitée ? L’analyse du « critère de connaissance » retenu par la C.I.J. dans les affaires des Îles Marshall
- A.F. Belle, La loi belge anti-fonds vautours au sein du droit international sur la dette souveraine : le droit national comme outil de signalement et de gestion de risques de défaut
Conference: Cynical International Law? Abuse and Circumvention in International and European Law
On September 6-7, 2019, the Working Group of Young Scholars in Public International Law and the German Society of International Law will hold a conference on "Cynical International Law? Abuse and Circumvention in International and European Law," in Berlin. The program is here. Voelkerrechtsblog is hosting online symposium in conjunction with the conference.
Symposium: Legitimate Role for Investment Law and Arbitration in Protecting Human Rights
Today and tomorrow, September 4 and 5, 2019, LEGINVEST and PluriCourts, in collaboration with Monash University and the Minerva Center for Human Rights at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, will hold a symposium on "Legitimate Role for Investment Law and Arbitration in Protecting Human Rights," in Oslo. The program is here.
Tuesday, September 3, 2019
New Issue: International Interactions
- Articles
- William Christiansen, Tobias Heinrich & Timothy M. Peterson, Foreign policy begins at home: the local origin of support for US democracy promotion
- Fabio Wasserfallen, Global diffusion, policy flexibility, and inflation targeting
- Jori Breslawski & David E. Cunningham, International Influences on Nonviolent and Violent Contention
- Sebastian Schutte, Politics or prejudice? Explaining individual-level hostilities in India’s Hindu–Muslim conflict
- Brandon Ives, Religious Institutionalism: A Domestic Explanation for External Support of Rebel Groups
- Research Note
- Zhanna Terechshenko, Charles Crabtree, Kristine Eck & Christopher J. Fariss, Evaluating the influence of international norms and shaming on state respect for rights: an audit experiment with foreign embassies
- Sarah Kreps & Stephen Roblin, Treatment format and external validity in international relations experiments
- Special Date Feature
- Eitan Y. Alimi, Gregory M. Maney & Alon Burstein, Beyond the media’s radar: Introducing the Intifada Non-Media-Based Dataset
Conference: A Century of Internationalisms: The Promise and Legacies of the League of Nations
New Issue: International Journal of Human Rights
The latest issue of the International Journal of Human Rights (Vol. 23, no. 8, 2019) is out. Contents include:- Øyvind Stiansen, Delayed but not derailed: legislative compliance with European Court of Human Rights judgments
- Amanda Cahill-Ripley, ‘Exploring the local: vernacularizing economic and social rights for peacebuilding within the Protestant/Unionist borderland community in Northern Ireland’
- Shaina D. Western, Sarah P. Lockhart & Jeannette Money, Does anyone care about migrant rights? An analysis of why countries enter the convention on the rights of migrant workers and their families
- Albina Balidemaj, Human Rights Legislation in Albania: the case of human trafficking
- Ruth Abril Stoffels, The role of the CEDAW Committee in the implementation of public policies on gender issues: analysis through a study of the protection of girls’ rights in Spain
- Theresa Reinold, When is more more? The proliferation of international courts and their impact on the rule of law in Africa
- Matthew I. Mitchell & Davis Yuzdepski, Indigenous peoples, UNDRIP and land conflict: an African perspective
- Nicole Stremlau, Developing bottom-up indicators for human rights
Workshop: 3rd Hamburg Young Scholars' Workshop in International Law
On September 20-21, 2019, the Law Faculty of the University of Hamburg will host the 3rd Hamburg Young Scholars' Workshop in International Law. The program is here. Here's the idea:
The workshop is based on a peer-to-peer concept for doctoral students and post docs in international law. We have received a great response to our Call for Paper in spring and have put together an exciting program from all submissions. The provisional programme is attached to this email. We have limited places for spectators, who are cordially invited to take part in the discussions on the individual presentations and have the opportunity to talk to international PhDs and Post Docs through the workshop. Especially students are invited! Interested persons are requested to register at workshop-pil@uni-hamburg.de. Registration for the audience is open from now until 16 September.
New Issue: Arbitration International
- Articles
- Stavros Michalopoulos & Edward Hicks, Dual nationality revisited: a modern approach to dual nationals in non-ICSID arbitrations
- Michelle Markham, Mandatory binding tax arbitration—is this a pathway to a more efficient Mutual Agreement Procedure?
- Morten Frank, Where to go: the floating arbitration agreement
- Hans Mooij, Tax treaty arbitration
Workshop: The Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties 50 Years After
The 16th Meeting of the Young Italian International Law Scholars will take place September 30-October 1, at the premises of the University of Trieste in Gorizia. The topic is: "The Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties 50 Years After." The program is here.
Monday, September 2, 2019
New Volume: African Yearbook of International Law
- Obiora Chinedu Okafor, Canadian–Nigerian International Human Rights Engagements (1999–2011): An Introduction
- Udoka Ndidiamaka Owie, Nigeria’s Contributions to International Human Rights Praxis
- Uchechukwu Ngwaba, Democratization
- Uchechukwu Ngwaba & Ibe Okegbe Ifeakandu, Children’s Rights
- Izevbuwa Kehinde Ikhimiukor, Canadian-Nigerian Engagements in the Area of International Criminal Justice: An Overview
- Obiora Chinedu Okafor, Baxian TREMF Anxieties and Patterns of Norm Entrepreneurship in Canadian–Nigerian Human Rights Engagements: A Theoretical Overview
- Obiora Chinedu Okafor, The Nature, Attainments, Problems and Prospects of Canadian–Nigerian International Human Rights Engagements: An Analytical Overview and Some Recommendations
- James L. Kateka, The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea and Africa
- Maurice K. Kamga, L’affermissement des principes juridiques applicables à l’exploitation des gisements pétroliers ou gaziers transfrontaliers en mer
- Awalou Ouédraogo, Progressive Humanization of International Legal Order: a Kantian Perspective
- Catherine Maia, Palestine and the International Criminal Court: Back to a Judicial Saga
New Issue: Trade, Law and Development
The latest issue of Trade, Law and Development (Vol. 11, no. 1, Summer 2019) is out. Contents include:- 10th Anniversary Special Issue: Trade Facilitation
- Nora Neufeld, Great Expectations: How the World Trade Organization’s Trade Facilitation Agreement Impacts Trade and Trade Cooperation
- Maureen Irish, The Trade Facilitation Agreement: Is the Doha Development Round Succeeding?
- Mohammed Saeed, The ‘Rights’ of the Private Sector in the Trade Facilitation Agreement
- Bipin Menon, Trade Facilitation—A Boundless Opportunity for India
- Stephen Creskoff, India’s Path to Improved Trade Facilitation and Enhanced Economic Development
- Christina Wiederer, The Role of Logistics in Supporting International Trade and Development—A Literature Review
- Hsing-Hao Wu, Refining the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement in the Face of an Uncertain Trade Environment: Challenges and Opportunities
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