Hufgard: Das Recht auf Informationszugang bei Internationalen Organisationen am Beispiel der Weltbank

Katharina Hufgard has published Das Recht auf Informationszugang bei Internationalen Organisationen am Beispiel der Weltbank: Eine Untersuchung zum Beschwerdeverfahren der Access to Information Policy (Nomos 2021). Here's the abstract:

Wird die Weltbank ihrer Vorreiterrolle in Bezug auf Transparenz und Informationszugang gerecht? Die Autorin hat dies kritisch hinterfragt und anhand von 75 Einzelfallentscheidungen untersucht, wie eine der zentralsten Institutionen der Entwicklungsverwaltung ihre Access to Information Policy in der Praxis umsetzt und sich dabei im Spannungsfeld zwischen Entwicklungsmandat, Souveränität der Mitgliedstaaten und Menschenrechten bewähren muss. Konkrete Vorschläge zur Reform dieser Policy zeigen auf, wie die Weltbank das subjektive Recht auf Informationszugang stärken und ihre Entwicklungspolitik transparenter gestalten kann. Diese Untersuchung leistet damit einen wichtigen Beitrag auf dem noch jungen Feld des internationalen Verwaltungsrechts.

New Issue: Global Trade and Customs Journal

The latest issue of Global Trade and Customs Journal (Vol. 16, nos. 7-8, 2021) is out. Contents include:

• Stephanie Noel, Editorial: Guest Editorial: Selected Perspectives On Sustainable Trade
• Stephanie Ghislain, Animal Welfare in Trade Policy After the Covid-19 Pandemic: Another Set of learnings
• Gabrielle Marceau & Pramiti Parwani, COVID-19 and International Trade: The Role of the WTO in Fighting the Pandemic and Building Back Better
• Valentina Ferraro & Hong Nguyen, Customs Fostering Sustainability: Leading by Example in the International Arena
• Carolyn Deere Birkbeck, Ronald Steenblik, Mahesh Sugathan, & David Vivas Eugui, A Review of Trade Policies and Measures Relevant to Trade in Plastics and Plastic Pollution
• Joachim Monkelbaan, Interactions Between Trade and Climate Governance: Policy Options and Innovative Ways Forward Through Climate Clubs
• Apoorva Singh Vishnoi & Rishabha Meena, Technology Transfer at the WTO: Old Promises and New Hopes of the Developing World
• Anzhela Makhinova & Mariia Shulha, The Arbitration Panel Ruling on Ukraine’s Certain Wood Restrictions under the EU-UA Association Agreement
• Hoda Ahmadi, Maryam Mohebi, Hossein Nikbeen, Karim Rasoli, Yousef Sharifpour, Abdorreza Soleymani, Vahid Mohamad Taghvaee, & Abdolaziz Yousefi, Sustainable Development and Modern Customs: A Review on Customs Conventions of World Customs Organization (p. 363)

New Issue: Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The latest issue of the Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law (Vol. 54, no. 2, March 2021) is out. Contents include:

• Jeremie Bracka, A False Messiah? The ICC in Israel/Palestine and the Limits of International Criminal Justice
• Luke Nwibo Eda, How Transnationally Effective Are the UK Migration Policies in Relation to Missing Migrants? A Transnational Law Perspective
• Ana Santos Rutschman, Intellectual Property as a Determinant of Health

Call for Submissions: NLIU International Trade Law Journal

The NLIU International Trade Law Journal has issued a call for submissions for its inaugural issue. The call is here.

Socher: Russia and the Right to Self-Determination in the Post-Soviet Space

Johannes Socher (Freie Universität Berlin) has published Russia and the Right to Self-Determination in the Post-Soviet Space (Oxford Univ. Press 2021). Here's the abstract:

The right to self-determination is renowned for its lack of clear interpretation. Broadly speaking, one can differentiate between a 'classic' and a 'romantic' tradition. In modern international law, the balance between these two opposing traditions is sought in an attempt to contain or 'domesticate' the romantic version by limiting it to 'abnormal' situations, that is cases of 'alien subjugation, domination and exploitation'.

This book situates Russia's engagement with the right to self-determination in this debate. It shows that Russia follows a distinct approach to self-determination that diverges significantly from the consensus view in international state practice and scholarship, partly due to a lasting legacy of the former Soviet doctrine of international law. Against the background of the Soviet Union's role in the evolution of the right to self-determination, the bulk of the study analyses Russia's relevant state practice in the post-Soviet space through the prisms of sovereignty, secession, and annexation. Drawing on analysis of all seven major secessionist conflicts in the former Soviet space and a detailed study of Russian sources and scholarship, it traces how Russian engagement with self-determination has changed over the past three decades. Ultimately, the book argues that Russia's approach to the right of peoples to self-determination should not only be understood in terms of power politics disguised as legal rhetoric but in terms of a continuously assumed regional hegemony and exceptionalism, based on balance-of-power considerations.

Sekalala et al.: Decolonising human rights: how intellectual property laws result in unequal access to the COVID-19 vaccine

Sharifah Sekalala, Lisa Forman, Timothy Hodgson, Moses Mulumba, Hadijah Namyalo-Ganafa, & Benjamin Mason Meier have published Decolonising human rights: how intellectual property laws result in unequal access to the COVID-19 vaccine (BMJ Global Health, Vol. 6, no. 7, 2021). Here's the abstract:

The recent rapid development of COVID-19 vaccines offers hope in addressing the worst pandemic in a hundred years. However, many countries in the Global South face great difficulties in accessing vaccines, partly because of restrictive intellectual property law. These laws exacerbate both global and domestic inequalities and prevent countries from fully realising the right to health for all their people. Commodification of essential medicines, such as vaccines, pushes poorer countries into extreme debt and reproduces national inequalities that discriminate against marginalised groups. This article explains how a decolonial framing of human rights and public health could contribute to addressing this systemic injustice. We envisage a human rights and global health law framework based on solidarity and international cooperation that focuses funding on long-term goals and frees access to medicines from the restrictions of intellectual property law. This would increase domestic vaccine production, acquisition and distribution capabilities in the Global South.

Conference: Nuremberg Forum 2021

The Nuremberg Forum 2021 will be held October 15-16, 2021 online. The theme is: "The Fight against Impunity since 1950: Living up to the Nuremberg Principles?" Program and registration are here.

Call for Papers: Conference on the United Nations War Crimes Commission

The Maynooth University Law Department and the Centre for International Studies and Diplomacy at SOAS have issued a call for papers for an online conference on the United Nations War Crimes Commission, to be held November 19, 2021. The call is here.