Conference: Disruptive Technologies and International Law

On December 7-9, 2020, the Stockton Center for International Law of the U.S. Naval War College will hold an online conference on "Disruptive Technologies and International Law." The conference is co-sponsored by Directorate Legal Services (Royal Air Force), the West Point Lieber Institute for Law and Land Warfare, the United States Army National Security Law Division, United States Air Force Academy, and the Yale Law School Paul Tsai China Center. The program is here.

New Issue: Review of International Political Economy

The latest issue of the Review of International Political Economy (Vol. 27, no. 6, 2020) is out. Contents include:

• Special Issue: International Financial Institutions and Gendered Circuits of Labour and Violence
• Jacqui True & Aida A. Hozić, Don’t mention the war! International Financial Institutions and the gendered circuits of violence in post-conflict
• Carol Cohn & Claire Duncanson, Whose recovery? IFI prescriptions for postwar states
• Jennifer G. Mathers, Women, war and austerity: IFIs and the construction of gendered economic insecurities in Ukraine
• Daniela Lai, What has justice got to do with it? Gender and the political economy of post-war Bosnia and Herzegovina
• Vesna Bojičić-Dželilović & Aida A. Hozić, Taxing for inequalities: gender budgeting in the Western Balkans
• Melissa Frances Johnston, Frontier finance: the role of microfinance in debt and violence in post-conflict Timor-Leste
• Pedagogical Intervention
• Juliette Schwak, Film in an IPE classroom: for a critical pedagogy of the everyday
• Review Essay
• Ignacio Puente & Ben Ross Schneider, Business and development: how organization, ownership and networks matter

Conference: ILA 79th Biennial Conference

The International Law Association will hold its 79th Biennial Conference entirely online from November 29 to December 13, 2020. The program is here.

Andersen & Khetarpal: As Protests Surge Globally, the UN Human Rights Committee Provides Timely Guidance

Elizabeth Andersen (World Justice Project) & Jaya Khetarpal (World Justice Project) have posted an ASIL Insight on As Protests Surge Globally, the UN Human Rights Committee Provides Timely Guidance.

New Issue: Transnational Environmental Law

The latest issue of Transnational Environmental Law (Vol. 9, no. 3, November 2020) is out. Contents include:

• Editorial
• Thijs Etty, Veerle Heyvaert, Cinnamon Carlarne, Bruce Huber, Jacqueline Peel, & Josephine van Zeben, Indigenous Rights Amidst Global Turmoil
• Symposium: Indigenous Water Rights in Comparative Law
• Elizabeth Macpherson, Symposium Foreword: Indigenous Water Rights in Comparative Law
• Erin O’Donnell, Anne Poelina, Alessandro Pelizzon & Cristy Clark, Stop Burying the Lede: The Essential Role of Indigenous Law(s) in Creating Rights of Nature
• Mihnea Tănăsescu, Rights of Nature, Legal Personality, and Indigenous Philosophies ˘
• Karen Fisher & Meg Parsons, River Co-governance and Co-management in Aotearoa New Zealand: Enabling Indigenous Ways of Knowing and Being
• Elizabeth J. Macpherson & Pia Weber Salazar, Towards a Holistic Environmental Flow Regime in Chile: Providing for Ecosystem Health and Indigenous Rights
• Elizabeth Macpherson, Julia Torres Ventura & Felipe Clavijo Ospina, Constitutional Law, Ecosystems, and Indigenous Peoples in Colombia: Biocultural Rights and Legal Subjects
• Anne Poelina, Donna Bagnall & Michelle Lim, Recognizing the Martuwarra’s First Law Right to Life as a Living Ancestral Being Martuwarra RiverOfLife,
• Articles
• Laura Schimmöller, Paving the Way for Rights of Nature in Germany: Lessons Learnt from Legal Reform in New Zealand and Ecuador
• Huanhuan Wang, Retroactive Liability in China’s Soil Pollution Law: Lessons from Theoretical and Comparative Analysis

New Issue: Europa Ethnica

The latest issue of Europa Ethnica (Vol. 77, nos. 3/4, 2020). Contents include:

• Anna-Maria Plautz, Leonie Hasenauer, Peter Čede & Ernst Steinicke, Das Ende der autochthonen Minderheiten im Kanaltal (Friaul/Italien)? Viersprachigkeit als Reminiszenz – regionale Identität als Emergenz
• Oskar Peterlini, Hongkong – die Schwächen einer starken Autonomie Gründe für ihre Krise – Aufbau und Vergleich mit Südtirols Rechtssystem
• Gilbert Gornig, Minderheiten und Minderheitenschutz in Frankreich
• Werner Pescosta, Die Ladiner heute und vor hundert Jahren
• Thomas Benedikter, Die baskische Sprache macht weiter Boden gut
• Holger Kremser, Die dänische Minderheit in Deutschland
• Raffaella Ritucci, Kinder und Jugendliche multiethnischer Klassen in Turin: Komplexität, Chancen und Herausforderungen der Mehrsprachigkeit im Schulsystem
• Olesja Sydorenko & Lubov Matsko, The Ukrainian language: origin, development and present-day situation

Conference: Forum on Investor-State Mediation

On December 8-9, 2020, the Investment Treaty Forum of the British Institute of International and Comparative Law in cooperation with the ISDS Mediation Working Group will host a Forum on Investor-State Mediation. The program is here.

New Issue: Asian Journal of International Law

The latest issue of the Asian Journal of International Law (Vol. 10, no. 2, July 2020) is out. Contents include:

• Notes and Comments
• Md Tabish Eqbal, Historicizing the Dual Categorization of the General Principles of Law by the ILC
• Articles
• Bjørn Kunoy, Classification of Seafloor Highs According to Legal Hermeneutics
• Sean Richmond, Unbound in War? International Law and Britain's Participation in the Korean War
• Vanshaj Ravi Jain, Broken Boundaries: Border and Identity Formation in Post-Colonial Punjab
• Yuan Yi Zhu, Suzerainty, Semi-Sovereignty, and International Legal Hierarchies on China's Borderlands
• Abdulmalik M. Altamimi, An Appraisal of the Gulf Cooperation Council's Mechanisms for Co-operation and the Settlement of Disputes
• I Gusti Ngurah Parikesit Widiatedja, The Evolution of the Dispute Settlement Mechanism in Preferential Trade Agreements [PTAs]: The Case of Indonesia
• Dilini Pathirana, The Paradox of Chinese Investments in Sri Lanka: Between Investment Treaty Protection and Commercial Diplomacy

New Issue: Revista Peruana de Derecho Internacional

The latest issue of Revista Peruana de Derecho Internacional (Vol. 70, no. 165, Mayo-Agosto 2020) is out. Contents include:

• Manuel Rodríguez Cuadros, El Espacio Nacional Y Las Fronteras Como Variables De Las Relaciones Internacionales Y De La Política Exterior: La Especificidad De Las Negociaciones Territoriales
• Oscar Schiappa-Pietra, La Pandemia Del Covid-19 Ante El Derecho Internacional: Una Exploración Preliminar
• Oswaldo de Rivero Barreto, Un Mundo Apolar: Anárquico Y Violento
• Fernando D’Alessio Ipinza, Frederick H. Hartmann Y La Relación De Las Naciones
• Alan Fairlie Reinoso, Integración Regional Y Convergencia En Contexto Internacional Adverso
• Humberto Umeres Alvarez, El Debate Juridico-Politico Del Parlamento Aleman Del 10 De Marzo De 1965 Como Antecedente Inmediato De La Convencion De Las Nn.Uu. Sobre La Imprescriptibilidad De Los Crimenes De Guerra Y De Los Crimenes De Lesa Humanidad
• Jorge Colunge Villacorta, La Prision Preventiva Y El Derecho Internacional
• Ricardo Arredondo, El Asalto De Trump Al Derecho Internacional: Su Impacto En La Omc
• Carmen Montero Ferrer, La Expresión Del ‘Interés’ En Los Amicus Curiae Presentados Por La Sociedad Civil Ante La Corte Penal Internacional
• Márcio Ricardo Staffen, Burocratizar Para No Corromper: El Impacto De Los Actores Transnacionales En Las Medidas Anticorrupción De La Estrategia Nacional Para Combatir La Corrupción Y Blanqueo De Capitales
• Jorge Luis Silva González, Yesenia Tamayo Zamora, & Amarys Morejón Madiedo, La Recepción Y Jerarquía De Los Tratados En El Derecho Interno De Los Estados Americanos
• Juan Francisco Morales Giraldo, Las Raíces Epistemológicas Del Realismo Estructural: Modelos Y Representación En La Teoría De Relaciones Internacionales
• Mijail Quispe Sandoval, Posibilidades Y Beneficios De Una Extension Del Espacio De Integracion Fronterizo Con Chile Mas Alla De Tacna Y Arica

New Issue: Human Rights Quarterly

The latest issue of the Human Rights Quarterly (Vol. 42, no. 4, November 2020) is out. Contents include:

• Mattia Pinto, Historical Trends of Human Rights Gone Criminal
• Suzanne Egan, Transforming the UN Human Rights Treaty System: A Realistic Appraisal
• Jessika Eichler, “Migrating Recognition” or “Constitutionalism Reversed”: Relating Andean Plurinational Constitutionalism and European Integration Politics
• W. Kathy Tannous & Alicia Gaffney, Charles H. Malik and Religious Freedom: The Influence of Biography on Malik’s Contributions to the Drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
• Aoife Daly & Catherine O’Sullivan, Sexuality Education and International Standards: Insisting Upon Children’s Rights
• Lorenza B. Fontana, The Contentious Politics of Labor Rights as Human Rights: Lessons from the Implementation of Domestic Workers Rights in the Philippines
• Mark S. Berlin, Revising the “Hibernation” Narrative: Technocratic Legal Experts and the Cold War Origins of the “Justice Cascade”
• Wade M. Cole & Gaëlle Perrier, Is Religion Really the Enemy of Human Rights? A Reply to Cingranelli and Kalmick
• David L. Cingranelli & Carl Kalmick, Yes, Societal Religiosity and Muslim Governments Threaten Human Rights

New Issue: Revista Española de Derecho Internacional

The latest issue of the Revista Española de Derecho Internacional (Vol. 72, no. 2, 2020) is out. Contents include:

• Estudios
• Carlos Espaliú Berdud, Locus standi de los Estados y obligaciones erga omnes en la jurisdicción contenciosa de la Corte Internacional de Justicia
• José Ángel López Jiménez, Bielorrusia existe: equilibrio inestable entre una política exterior multivectorial y el Tratado de Unión con Rusia
• Jonathan Pass, El statecraft institucional de China dentro del orden internacional liberal: el Banco Asiático de Inversión en Infrastructura
• Beatriz Pérez de las Heras, La Unión Europea en la transición hacia la neutralidad climática: retos y estrategias en la implementación del Acuerdo de París
• M.ª Ángeles Sánchez Jiménez, Acción de responsabilidad parental vinculada a un proceso de divorcio en el nuevo Reglamento (UE) 2019/1111
• Estudios Sobre España Y El Derecho Internacional
• María Amparo Alcoceba Gallego, Límites a la discrecionalidad del Estado español en el ejercicio de la protección diplomática
• Crespo Navarro, Elena: La naturaleza de la protección diplomática en el caso Couso: la compleja relación entre Derecho internacional y Derecho interno
• Ángel Sánchez Legido, Las devoluciones en caliente españolas ante el Tribunal de Estrasburgo: ¿Apuntalando los muros de la Europa fortaleza?
• Jesús Verdú Baeza, España y los problemas de aplicación del Convenio de aguas de lastre en el área del estrecho de Gibraltar. A propósito del alga invasora Rugulopterix okamurae
• Foro
• El Derecho De Las Relaciones Exteriores
• Montserrat Abad Castelos, Nota introductoria. El Derecho español de las relaciones exteriores
• Carlos Espósito, El Derecho español de las relaciones exteriores
• Javier Roldán Barbero, Derecho español de las relaciones exteriores: ¿Un tertium genus?
• La Sentencia Del Tribunal Constitucional 132/2019
• Miguel Gardeñes Santiago, Nota introductoria. El estado de la plurilegislación civil en España tras la Sentencia del Tribunal Constitucional 132/2019
• Santiago Álvarez González, La STC 132/2019, sobre el Libro VI del Código Civil de Cataluña. ¿Incidente o punto de inflexión?
• Albert Font i Segura, La STC 132/2019, sobre el Libro VI del Código Civil de Cataluña. ¿Una cuestión de principios?
• 75 Años De Naciones Unidas
• Rafael Grasa, Nota introductoria. 75 años de Naciones Unidas: balance y reflexiones sobre su futuro en el nuevo sistema internacional
• Itziar Ruiz-Giménez Arrieta, Algunas reflexiones teóricas sobre la relevancia actual de Naciones Unidas
• Pol Bargés, La ONU y la idea de «sostener la paz» en un mundo multipolar

New Issue: Swiss Review of International and European Law

The latest issue of the Swiss Review of International and European Law (Vol. 30, no. 4, 2020) is out. Contents include:

• Articles
• Leander D. Loacker & Gian Andri Capaul, Gibt es einen "unechten" Auslandsbezug? Zur Frage ausschliesslich rechtswahlbegründeter Internationalität und ihrer Beurteilung nach dem IPRG
• Alexander R. E. Kistler & Michael Daphinoff, Der Schiedsgerichtsbarkeitsausschluss der EuGVVO und des Lugano Übereinkommens
• Georges Pavlidis, Asset Recovery in the Context of International Criminal Court Proceedings in Light of FATF Standards

Madsen & Slosser: Institutionally Embodied Law: Cognitive Linguistics and the Making of International Law

Mikael Madsen (Univ. of Copenhagen - Law) & Jacob Livingston Slosser (Univ. of Copenhagen - iCourts) have posted Institutionally Embodied Law: Cognitive Linguistics and the Making of International Law. Here's the abstract:

This chapter examines language’s role in the formation of legal categories. It situates itself within the tension that exists between the certainty that seems to exist when applying legal categories (as realised through principles, rules or standards) and the ambiguity that necessarily comes with them. This chapter holds that legal categories are not just subject to whims of negotiated power dynamics and firm political choices but under-girding those choices are the dynamics of how human beings - i.e. lawyers, lawmakers, jurists, judges, and their respective staffs – operationalise the cognitive processes that enable category building and their application to legal decisions. We focus on the process of law making by cognitive category making. We promote a methodological intervention to examine the processes of classification and categorisation of legal principles to explore the politics of legal practice in action as, in part, an embodied cognitive process. Although public hearings, consultation, and deliberation are all part of the legal process, we focus on how law is performed as a written exercise with the goal of understanding the law through its use of linguistic choices. The result an exploration of how that language displays the cognitive underpinnings of legal category making and the development of legal institutions, legal rules and, more broadly, the law itself.

Afroukh & Marguénaud: Protocole N°16 à la Convention européenne des droits de l’homme

Mustapha Afroukh & Jean-Pierre Marguénaud have published Le Protocole N°16 à la Convention européenne des droits de l’homme : Actes du séminaire du 19 avril 2019 (Pedone 2020). The table of contents is here. Here's the abstract:

Fruit d’un séminaire organisé par l’IDEDH en avril 2019, le présent ouvrage – Le Protocole n° 16 à la Convention européenne des droits de l’homme – porte sur une question importante et d‘actualité, à savoir les rapports de systèmes de protection des droits et libertés. Entré en vigueur le 1er août 2018 à la suite de sa 10ème ratification par la France, ce protocole permet aux plus hautes juridictions d’un Etat, de saisir la Cour européenne d’une demande d’avis sur des « questions de principe relatives à l’interprétation ou à l’application des droits et libertés définis par la Convention ou ses protocoles ». Partant de l’hypothèse que le Protocole n° 16 replace le juge national au cœur de la protection des droits et libertés et qu’elle invite à repenser le rôle de la Convention européenne des droits de l’homme dans l’ordre juridique interne, l’ambition de l’ouvrage est de prendre l’exacte mesure de ses effets sur le système européen de protection des droits de l’homme et ses potentialités en termes de dialogue des juges. Ainsi, en prise sur les développements les plus récents en particulier l’activation récente du mécanisme par la Cour de cassation dans une affaire particulièrement sensible, l’ouvrage permet de croiser les points de vues sur la manière dont les juridictions suprêmes appréhendent cette nouvelle procédure consultative et sur son articulation avec d’autres contrôles ainsi qu’avec le renvoi préjudiciel devant la Cour de justice de l’Union européenne. Un premier bilan de ce mécanisme optionnel d’avis consultatif en souligne son utilité certaine, ses spécificités et ses ambiguïtés.

Zhao: Coopérer en droit international des cours d'eau transfrontaliers : État du droit et étude du cas chinois

Yue Zhao (Université du Sichuan - Law) has published Coopérer en droit international des cours d'eau transfrontaliers : État du droit et étude du cas chinois (L'Harmattan 2020). Here's the abstract:

La plupart des cours d'eau transfrontaliers de la Chine prennent leur source en Chine. On prétend généralement que ce pays, profitant de sa position géohydrologique avantageuse, adopte une stratégie unilatérale dans ses projets hydrauliques. Cet ouvrage étudie de façon approfondie et systématique les pratiques de la Chine dans les coopérations hydriques bilatérales et multilatérales, en exposant sa vision du droit international, surtout en matière de cours d'eau transfrontaliers. À partir de l'exemple chinois, un nouvel éclairage est jeté sur un concept important, essentiel et complexe du droit international, à savoir l'obligation générale de coopérer.

Dinh: Rules of Origin for Services: From the Early Days of GATS to the Era of Servicification

Duy Dinh (ASEAN) has published Rules of Origin for Services: From the Early Days of GATS to the Era of Servicification (Edward Elgar Publishing 2020). Here's the abstract:

In an era where services play an increasingly vital role in servicified global value chains, this insightful book provides a comprehensive study of legal aspects of rules of origin for services and their importance in international trade. The author identifies and examines the defects in the current approach to rules of origin for services through an astute analysis of these rules in the General Agreement on Trade in Services and in preferential trade agreements. In addition, by asserting that trade in goods and trade in services cannot be separated, the author provides a comparative analysis of rules of origin in these two fields, offering a better understanding of their boundaries and connections. Paving the way for further development, the author concludes that certain aspects of rules of origin for goods, such as the product-based approach, may be repurposed for services.

Kurban: Limits of Supranational Justice: The European Court of Human Rights and Turkey's Kurdish Conflict

Dilek Kurban (The Hertie School) has published Limits of Supranational Justice: The European Court of Human Rights and Turkey's Kurdish Conflict (Cambridge Univ. Press 2020). Here's the abstract:

With its contextualized analysis of the European Court of Human Rights' (ECtHR) engagement in Turkey's Kurdish conflict since the early 1990s, Limits of Supranational Justice makes a much-needed contribution to scholarships on supranational courts and legal mobilization. Based on a socio-legal account of the efforts of Kurdish lawyers in mobilizing the ECtHR on behalf of abducted, executed, tortured and displaced civilians under emergency rule, and a doctrinal legal analysis of the ECtHR's jurisprudence in these cases, this book powerfully demonstrates the Strasbourg court's failure to end gross violations in the Kurdish region. It brings together legal, political, sociological and historical narratives, and highlights the factors enabling the perpetuation of state violence and political repression against the Kurds. The effectiveness of supranational courts can best be assessed in hard cases such as Turkey, and this book demonstrates the need for a reappraisal of current academic and jurisprudential approaches to authoritarian regimes.

Pobjie: COVID-19 and the Scope of the UN Security Council’s Mandate to Address Non-Traditional Threats to International Peace and Security

Erin Pobjie (Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law) has posted COVID-19 and the Scope of the UN Security Council’s Mandate to Address Non-Traditional Threats to International Peace and Security. Here's the abstract:

In Resolution 2532 (2020), the UN Security Council characterised the COVID-19 pandemic as an endangerment to international peace and security and, for the first time, demanded a general ceasefire and humanitarian pause in armed conflicts across the globe. This article analyses the resolution and its broader implications. In particular, it examines the significance of the Council’s characterisation of the COVID-19 pandemic, the binding powers of the Security Council for addressing threats to international peace and security which are not ‘threats to the peace’, and the implications for the Council’s mandate and the collective security framework. This article argues that the concept of ‘international peace and security’ under article 24(1) of the UN Charter – rather than article 39 ‘threats to the peace’ – is fundamental to the delimitation of the Security Council’s mandate and powers for addressing non-traditional threats to international peace and security such as pandemics and the climate crisis.

Kaplan, Pryles, & Bao: International Arbitration: When East Meets West: Liber Amicorum Michael Moser

Neil Kaplan, Michael Pryles, & Chiann Bao have published International Arbitration: When East Meets West: Liber Amicorum Michael Moser (Wolters Kluwer 2020). The table of contents is here. Here's the abstract:

International Arbitration: When East Meets West provides an extensive review and comparison of mediation and other forms of dispute resolution practiced in Asia and the West. As Asia, China in particular, gains economic momentum and increasingly attracts global attention, disputes between Asian and Western parties will inevitably increase. This book, the first to address issues arising from these types of disputes in depth, collects incisive articles by both well-known Asian arbitrators and non-Asian practitioners with extensive experience dealing with arbitrations involving Asian parties, all under the aegis of Michael Moser, a Western-trained lawyer who had the foresight to build a China-focused dispute resolution practice at a time when it was not fashionable to do so. The chapters reflect Moser’s exemplary career as an independent arbitrator who has navigated between Asian and Western legal cultures seamlessly for decades. The upshot is an authoritative investigation of the differences and similarities of international arbitration between two contrasting cultures – both from a legal and social perspective – as well as a consideration of how each culture has influenced international arbitration practice overall.

Lin & Kysar: Climate Change Litigation in the Asia Pacific

Jolene Lin (National Univ. of Singapore) & Douglas A. Kysar (Yale Univ.) have published Climate Change Litigation in the Asia Pacific (Cambridge Univ. Press 2020). The table of contents is here. Here's the abstract:

This is the first scholarly examination of climate change litigation in the Asia Pacific region. Bringing legal academics and lawyers from the Global South and Global North together, this book provides rich insights into how litigation can galvanize climate action in countries including Pakistan, Indonesia, Malaysia and China. Written in clear and accessible language, the fourteen chapters in this book shed light on the important question of how litigation may unfold as a potential regulatory pathway towards decarbonization in the world's most populous region.