New Volume: Yearbook of Polar Law

The latest volume of the Yearbook of Polar Law (Vol. 13, 2021) is out. Contents include:

• Gudmundur Alfredsson, Indigenous Peoples in the Arctic Council: A Unique Feature?  
• Yuko Osakada, From Victims to Contributors: A Human Rights Approach to Climate Change for the Indigenous Peoples of the Arctic  
• Rachel Westrate & Sarah E. Mackie, The Role of Governance in Promoting the Resilience of Arctic Communities
• Barry Scott Zellen, Co-management as a Foundation of Arctic Exceptionalism: Strengthening the Bonds between the Indigenous and Westphalian Worlds  
• Rachael Lorna Johnstone, Colonisation at the Poles: A Story of Ineffective Occupation  
• Gabriela Argüello, Opportunities for Protecting Biological Diversity in the Arctic Ocean  
• Caroline E. Foster, Due Diligence and Compliance with the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty  
• Sabrina Hasan, Appraising the Modus of Conservation and Sustainable Use of Arctic Marine Biodiversity of Areas beyond National Jurisdiction under the Umbrella of the BBNJ Treaty  
• Ognyan Savov, The Polluter-Pays Principle in a Transboundary Context – the Case of Arctic Ocean Continental Shelf Oil Production  
• Carolina Flores, An Ecological Reading of Sovereignty Claims in Antarctica  
• Vonintsoa Rafaly, The Law of the Sea in the Age of Building an Appropriate Arctic Ocean Governance Addressing Climate Change Issues  
• Alexander Sergunin, Between Economic Nationalism and Globalism: Evaluating Russia’s Recent Regulations on Arctic Shipping  
• Kentaro Nishimoto, The Impact of the BBNJ Agreement on the Legal Framework for the Governance of the Central Arctic Ocean
• Medy Dervovic, Sharing Arctic Science: Applying the Common Heritage and Common Concern of Humankind in the Arctic  
• Makoto Seta, Incorporating Traditional Ecological Knowledge into Science under the Law of the Sea via the Arctic Ocean Governance  
• Hilde J. Woker, The Law-Science Interface in the Arctic: Science and the Law of the Sea  

Fernández-Sánchez: The Limitations of the Law of Armed Conflicts: New Means and Methods of Warfare - Essays in Memory of Rosario Domínguez Matés

Pablo Antonio Fernández-Sánchez (Univ. of Seville - Law) has published The Limitations of the Law of Armed Conflicts: New Means and Methods of Warfare - Essays in Memory of Rosario Domínguez Matés (Brill | Nijhoff 2022). The table of contents is here. Here's the abstract:

In the law of armed conflicts, one of the elements that has changed the most has been the means and methods of warfare. Yet there are few legal answers for the many questions these changes pose. This volume, therefore, seeks to identify the limitations of current international law on this double plane, the means and methods of combat, and to offer insights about how to address them. Topics include the use of nuclear energy, which without being a weapon, can have the same effect as one, chemical and biological weapons, autonomous artificial intelligence weapons, and biobots. Similarly, fake news, the hostile use of cyberspace, lawfare, the use of big data, terrorism as a combat method, premeditated poisoning, sexual humiliation, the impact of such news on the armed forces and the reorganization needed to face the new scenarios are all situations not contemplated in classical law and which require new legal and operational responses.

New Issue: Korean Journal of International and Comparative Law

The latest issue of the Korean Journal of International and Comparative Law (Vol. 10, no. 1, 2022) is out. Contents include:

• Seokwoo Lee, Kevin Yl Tan, & Hee Eun Lee, Asian State Practice in the Domestic Implementation of International Law
• Andrew Wolman, Refugee Status for North Korean Dual Nationals: A Study of Recent Cases from New Zealand

Workshop: Sanctions in the Light of Russia's Invasion of Ukraine: What's New in Law and Practice?

On July 4, 2022, the Department of Law of the Faculty of Law, Economics and Finance at the University of Luxembourg will host a workshop, in the hybrid format, on "Sanctions in the Light of Russia's Invasion of Ukraine: What's New in Law and Practice?" Details are here.

New Issue: Review of International Studies

The latest issue of the Review of International Studies (Vol. 48, no. 3, July 2022) is out. Contents include:

• Claudia Aradau & Sarah Perret, The politics of (non-)knowledge at Europe's borders: Errors, fakes, and subjectivity
• Martina Tazzioli, Governing refugees through disorientation: Fragmented knowledges and forced technological mediations
• Jamal Barnes, Torturous journeys: Cruelty, international law, and pushbacks and pullbacks over the Mediterranean Sea
• Maria Koinova, Polycentric governance of transit migration: A relational perspective from the Balkans and the Middle East
• Sahil Jai Dutta, Samuel Knafo, & Ian Alexander Lovering, Neoliberal failures and the managerial takeover of governance
• Alex Nunn & Stuart Shields, The intellectual and institutional challenges for International Political Economy in the UK: Findings from Practitioner Survey Data
• Mélanie Albaret & Élodie Brun, Dissenting at the United Nations: Interaction orders and Venezuelan contestation practices (2015–16)
• Sara Hellmüller, Peacemaking in a shifting world order: A macro-level analysis of UN mediation in Syria
• Kazushige Kobayashi, Keith Krause, & Xinyu Yuan, Pathways to socialisation: China, Russia, and competitive norm socialisation in a changing global order
• Kye J. Allen, An anarchical society (of fascist states): Theorising illiberal solidarism

Conference: 17th Annual Conference of the European Society of International Law

On August 31-September 1, 2022, the European Society of International Law will hold its 17th Annual Conference in Utrecht. The theme is: "In/Ex-Clusiveness of International Law." The program is here. Registration is here.

New Issue: Journal of World Trade

The latest issue of the Journal of World Trade (Vol. 56, no. 4, 2022) is out. Contents include:

• Joel Slawotsky, The Weaponization of Human Rights in US-China Trade Policy: Impacts and Risks
• Peter A.G. van Bergeijk, Sanctions Against the Russian War on Ukraine: Lessons from History and Current Prospects
• Jeheung Ryu, How Do the Third Parties Contribute to WTO Dispute Resolution?
• Julio Antonio García López & María Moreno Sancho, The US and EU Solar Trade Remedies Saga: The Globalization of Mercantilism
• Olga Hrynkiv, Export Controls and Securitization of Economic Policy: Comparative Analysis of the Practice of the United States, the European Union, China, and Russia
• Xin Wang, Online Personal Data Protection and Data Flows Under the RCEP: A Nostalgic New Start?
• Mariagrazia Alabrese & Francesca Coli, International Trade in the CFS Voluntary Guidelines on Food Systems and Nutrition: A Missed Opportunity?

Mavroidis: The Sources of WTO Law and their Interpretation: Is the New OK, OK?

Petros C. Mavroidis (Columbia Univ. - Law) has published The Sources of WTO Law and their Interpretation: Is the New OK, OK? (Edward Elgar Publishing 2022). Here's the abstract:

In this incisive book, Petros C. Mavroidis examines the complex practice of interpreting the various sources of World Trade Organization (WTO) law. Written by a leading expert in WTO scholarship, the book serves as a broad grounding in the legal theory of the WTO contract and its sources, as well as its application in practice.

Delving into the workings of the Vienna Convention of the Law of Treaties (VCLT) and its use within the WTO courts, the author provides a critical assessment of the interpretation of the WTO contract and illuminates the role of WTO adjudicators and the Secretariat in clarifying obligations. Mavroidis then explores the uncertainty and distortion that emerge as a result of the discretion from adjudicators invited by the VCLT, explaining why this matters and offering steps towards resolving these issues.

Call for Papers: Nordic perspectives on the international legal regulation of cyberspace

A call for papers has been issued for a conference on "Nordic perspectives on the international legal regulation of cyberspace," to be held September 28-29, 2022, at the University of Copenhagen. The call is here.

Lecture: Okowa on "The International Law Commission: Challenges and Opportunities?"

On June 15, 2022, Phoebe Okowa (Queen Mary Univ. London - Law) will deliver a lecture on "The International Law Commission: Challenges and Opportunities?" as part of the Hamburg Lecture Series in Public & Comparative Law. Details are here.

Brekoulakis & Dimitropoulos: International Commercial Courts: The Future of Transnational Adjudication

Stavros Brekoulakis (Queen Mary Univ. of London) & Georgios Dimitropoulos (Hamad Bin Khalifa Univ.) have published International Commercial Courts: The Future of Transnational Adjudication (Cambridge Univ. Press 2022). The table of contents is here. Here's the abstract:

The book offers a comprehensive analysis of the role, importance and place of international commercial courts in the field of international adjudication from a comparative perspective. In a time where scholarly and academic debates revolve around the issues of the role of law in the post-globalization era, the new international commercial courts seem to be in the position to bridge concerns regarding diminished sovereignty, on the one hand, and the necessity of globalizing dispute resolution, on the other. International commercial courts thus present themselves as the paradigm for the future of adjudication.

Conference: Second Energy Transition Colloquium

The Second Energy Transition Colloquium will take place June 16-17, 2022. Details are here.

Ridi & Gasbarri: The Role of Previous Resolutions in the Practice of the Security Council

Niccolò Ridi (King's College London - Law) & Lorenzo Gasbarri (Bocconi Univ.- Law) have posted The Role of Previous Resolutions in the Practice of the Security Council. Here's the abstract:

In this article, we carry out the first large-scale examination of the Security Council’s practice of citing previous resolutions. We ground our study in an analysis of the referencing patterns extracted from a corpus comprising all the 2489 Security Council Resolutions adopted up to the end of 2019, creating a dataset including 21,274 unique references to previous SCRs. By employing network analysis and automated text classification, we seek to unpack the practice, discussing its normative and methodological implications. After illustrating our findings, we discuss methodological consequences for the way SCRs are interpreted, the validity of controversial measures, the formation of customary law and substantive consequences insofar as it provides a channel for norm diffusion within the institutional practice of the Security Council and beyond. The article moves in four parts. After the present introduction, Part 2 briefly problematizes the practice of referencing previous SCRs and engages with the literature on the topic. Part 3 introduces our methodology and dataset, illustrating the general characteristics and topology of the resulting citation network, including its evolution over time and ‘extreme points’. Part 4 discusses the methodological and normative implications of the practice. We then offer a conclusion.

New Issue: Questions of International Law

The latest issue of Questions of International Law / Questioni di Diritto Internazionale (no. 92, 2022) is out. Contents include:

• The tyranny of living in the public eye: How do international courts portray themselves and behave in the digital arena?
• Introduced by Micaela Frulli
• Lorenzo Gradoni, They tweet too: Sketches of international courts’ digital lives
• Elena Pavan, International Courts and their politics of (in)visibility
• Anne Lagerwall, Quelles images les juridictions internationales donnent-elles d’elles-mêmes sur les internets? La CIJ et la CPI comme des agentes de paix et de justice

Gillett: Prosecuting Environmental Harm before the International Criminal Court

Matthew Gillett (Univ. of Essex - Law) has published Prosecuting Environmental Harm before the International Criminal Court Part of Studies on International Courts and Tribunals (Cambridge Univ. Press 2022). Here's the abstract:

The threat of anthropocentric environmental harm grows more pressing each year. Around the world, human activities are devastating the natural environment and contributing to potentially irreversible climate change. This book explores the ways in which the International Criminal Court may effectively prosecute those who cause or contribute to serious environmental destruction. Written by an international lawyer who has prosecuted cases of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide, it provides insights into the procedures, laws, and techniques capable of leading to convictions against those who harm the environment.

Conference: 11th Conference of the Postgraduate and Early Professionals/Academics Network of SIEL

On June 8-10, 2022, Birmingham Law School will host, in the hybrid format, the 11th Conference of the Postgraduate and Early Professionals/Academics Network of the Society of International Economic Law. Program and registration are here.

Bens: The Sentimental Court: The Affective Life of International Criminal Justice

Jonas Bens (Freie Universität Berlin - Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology) has published The Sentimental Court: The Affective Life of International Criminal Justice (Cambridge Univ. Press 2022). Here's the abstract:

Modern law seems to be designed to keep emotions at bay. The Sentimental Court argues the exact opposite: that the law is not designed to cast out affective dynamics, but to create them. Drawing on extensive ethnographic fieldwork - both during the trial of former Lord's Resistance Army commander Dominic Ongwen at the International Criminal Court's headquarters in The Netherlands and in rural northern Uganda at the scenes of violence - this book is an in-depth investigation of the affective life of legalized transitional justice interventions in Africa. Jonas Bens argues that the law purposefully creates, mobilizes, shapes, and transforms atmospheres and sentiments, and further discusses how we should think about the future of law and justice in our colonial present by focusing on the politics of atmosphere and sentiment in which they are entangled.

New Volume: Anuario Español de Derecho Internacional

The latest volume of the Anuario Español de Derecho Internacional (Vol. 38, 2022) is out. Contents include:

• Estudios
• Javier-A. González-Vega, «¿Retorno a la historia?» El Tribunal General de la UE ante el Acuerdo de Pesca UE-Marruecos de 2019. Consideraciones en torno a la Sentencia TG (Sala 9ª) de 29 de septiembre de 2021, «Frente Polisario C. Consejo de la Unión Europea», asuntos acumulados T-344/2019 y T-356/19
• Carlos Ruiz-Miguel, El Derecho a la Autodeterminación en serio: el Sahara Occidental, piedra de toque de la Unión Europea como «Comunidad de Derecho» y como Actor Internacional
• Sagrario Morán-Blanco, Una cuestión de derechos humanos: las prácticas nocivas descritas en la meta 5.3. de la Agenda 2030: el matrimonio infantil, precoz y forzado, y la mutilación genital femenina
• Selma Delalić & Adem Olovčić, Politics and War in Historical and Theoretical Perspective. With EU Case Study
• Isabel Lirola-Delgado, La misión de asistencia de las Naciones Unidas para Afganistán en el nuevo escenario de un gobierno de facto talibán
• María-Isabel Torres-Cazorla, La disputa por los tesoros arqueológicos de Crimea: arte y controversias territoriales en el punto de mira
• Félix Vacas-Fernández, El final del examen preliminar sobre la situación de Colombia ante la Corte Penal Internacional: ¿éxito de la estrategia de complementariedad positiva de la Fiscalía o cierre en falso?
• Mónica Chinchilla-Adell, La contribución del «soft law» a la no proliferación biológica y química
• Irene Vázquez-Serrano, El último capítulo del conflicto israelí-palestino: el Acuerdo del Siglo y la reciente cooperación árabe-israelí con los Acuerdos de Abraham
• Notas
• Géraldine Giraudeau, Pacific Islands in the face of sea level rise: some reflections from an international law perspective
• Miguel-Ángel Acosta-Sánchez, La crisis migratoria de 2020 en las Islas Canarias: algunas opciones de solidaridad europea
• Theresa-Erna Jürgenssen, Protecting Human Rights While Conducting Military Operations Abroad: a Critical Analysis of The European Court of Human Rights’ Recent Judgement in «Hanan v. Germany»

Waxman & Oakley: The Future Law of Armed Conflict

Matthew C. Waxman (Columbia Univ. - Law) & Thomas W. Oakley (U.S. Military Academy) have published The Future Law of Armed Conflict (Oxford Univ. Press 2022). The table of contents is here. Here's the abstract:

Warfare is changing - and rapidly. New technologies, new geopolitical alignments, new interests and vulnerabilities, and other developments are changing how, why, and by whom conflict will be waged. Just as militaries must plan ahead for an environment in which threats, alliances, capabilities, and even the domains in which they fight will differ from today, they must plan for international legal constraints that may differ, too.

This volume considers how law and institutions for creating, interpreting, and enforcing it might look two decades ahead - as well as what opportunities may exist to influence it in that time. Such assessment is important as the U.S. and other governments plan for future warfare. It is also important as they formulate strategies for influencing the development of law to better serve security, humanitarian, and other interests. This volume examines not just specific questions, such as how might a particular technology require adaptive interpretation of existing law, but also grand ones, such as whether law is capable at all of keeping up with these changes.

Symposium on Early Career International Law Academia - Closing Panel Discussion

On June 8, 2022, Opinio Juris and Afronomicslaw, together with the New Professionals Interest Group of the American Society of International Law, will hold an online closing panel discussion for their symposium on early career international law academia. Details are here.

Conference: Exploring Various Legal Methods for Sustainable Development: Theoretical and Practical Contributions from Asia

On July 9, 2022, the Japan Chapter of the Asian Society of International Law will hold online its the 13th Annual Conference. The theme is: "Exploring Various Legal Methods for Sustainable Development: Theoretical and Practical Contributions from Asia." Program and registration are here.