Call for Papers: 2024 ASIL Research Forum

The American Society of International Law has issued a call for papers for its 2024 Research Forum, a part of the Society's Midyear Meeting, which will be held November 14-16, in Chicago. The deadline is June 5, 2024 at 5:00PM EDT. The call is here.

Contesse: The American Convention on Human Rights in Latin American National Courts

Jorge Contesse (Rutgers Univ. - Law) has posted The American Convention on Human Rights in Latin American National Courts (in Research Handbook on Constitutional Interpretation, Catherine O'Regan, Carlos Bernal & Sujit Choudhry eds., forthcoming). Here's the abstract:

This Chapter addresses the role that Latin America’s major human rights treaty—the American Convention on Human Rights, adopted in 1969, with the Inter-American Court as its main interpreter—plays in constitutional interpretation conducted by national courts. The Chapter proceeds as follows: in Part II, I describe domestic constitutional law in Latin America, focusing on both national constitutions and decisions by Latin American courts. I show that the trend, since at least the late 1980s, is one of great interdependence between domestic and international law. Consequently, international law is a key interpretive guideline to domestic courts. In Part III, I discuss the Court’s main functions—contentious, advisory and monitoring—and explain how the Court has increasingly become a crucial tool for domestic constitutional interpretation. I use the anti-impunity doctrine and the articulation of the conventionality control doctrine as key examples of this trend. In this Part, I also use the same-sex marriage advisory opinion as an instance of robust interaction between the domestic and international realms. Finally, I turn to instances of domestic judicial implementation of the Court’s judgments as another example of the Court’s influence on national courts as a constitutional interpreter.

New Issue: International Community Law Review

The latest issue of the International Community Law Review (Vol. 26, no. 3, 2024) is out. Contents include:

• Elżbieta Karska & Bartłomiej Oręziak, European Paradigm of the Protection of Aliens: Categorisation of Foreigners Seeking International Protection in the European Union
• Ludovica Di Lullo, Striving for Fairness: A Critical Examination of the ‘Common but Differentiated Responsibilities and Capabilities’ Principle in International Health Law
• Maciej Oksztulski, Maciej Perkowski, & Wojciech Zoń, Person on the Autism Spectrum on (the margin of) the Labour Market: The Nominal International Standard versus the Reality of a European Union Member State – (The Example of Poland)
• Maria Oluyeju & Olufemi Oluyeju, Normative Framework for the Regulation of Holdout Creditors in the Sovereign Debt Market

Segura Serrano: Global Cybersecurity and International Law

Antonio Segura Serrano (Univ. of Grenada - Law) has published Global Cybersecurity and International Law (Routledge 2024). The table of contents is here. Here's the abstract:

Assessing the need to regulate cyberspace has triggered the re-emergence of new primary norms. This book evaluates the ability of existing international law to address the threat and use of force in cyberspace, redefining cyberwar and cyberpeace for the era of the Internet of Things. Covering critical issues such as the growing scourge of economic cyberespionage, international co-operation to fight cybercrime, the use of foreign policy instruments in cyber diplomacy, it also looks at state backed malicious cyberoperations, and the protection of human rights against State security activities. Offering a holistic examination of the ability of public international law, the book addresses the most pressing issues in global cybersecurity.

Call for Papers: Distributive Justice in International Law

A call for papers has been issued for a conference on “Distributive Justice in International Law,” to be held October 3-4, 2024, at LUISS Guido Carli University. The call is here.

Call for Engaged Listeners: Defund Meat Conference (Doctoral and Postdoctoral Researchers)

The Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law invites doctoral and postdoctoral researchers to apply to be "engaged listeners" at the Defund Meat Conference, which will take place January 16-17, 2025, in Heidelberg. Engaged listeners will be admitted to the conference, including meals free of charge, and will be listed in the program. Engaged listeners do not give a talk but are expected to participate actively in the discussions. Travel and accommodation are at own expenses. Details are here.

AJIL Unbound Symposium: Akande's “An Imperial History of Race-Religion in International Law”

AJIL Unbound has posted a symposium on Rabiat Akande's “An Imperial History of Race-Religion in International Law.” The symposium includes an introduction by S. James Anaya and Adrien K. Wing and contributions by Oded Y. Steinberg, Samuel Moyn, Sahar Aziz, Ntombizozuko Dyani-Mhango, Waheeda Amien, and S. James Anaya.

Call for Session Ideas: 2025 ASIL Annual Meeting

The American Society of International Law has issued a call for session ideas for its 119th Annual Meeting, which will take place April 16-18, 2025, in Washington, DC. The conference theme is: "Traditions and Transitions in International Law." The deadline is July 22, 2024. The call is here.

Kiel: Arms Transfers to Non-State Actors: The Erosion of Norms in International Law

Hannah Kiel has published Arms Transfers to Non-State Actors: The Erosion of Norms in International Law (Edward Elgar Publishing 2024). This is the latest volume in the Elgar International Law Series. Here's the abstract:

This insightful book analyses the issue of norm erosion in international law by examining arms transfers to non-state actors. Balancing empirical research with legal theory, the author dissects recent case studies, tracing individual changes in norms against a background of systemic transformation.

Arms Transfers to Non-State Actors follows changes in the prohibition of arms transfers to non-state actors since the pivotal International Court of Justice''s Nicaragua ruling in 1986. Hannah Kiel critically discusses the legal developments through relevant case studies, including Abkhazia, Bosnia, Congo, Eastern Ukraine, Kosovo, Libya, Northern Iraq, South Ossetia, Syria and Yemen. Adopting a customary law perspective while also placing the narratives of states in the context of international structural changes, Kiel emphasises the interplay between state practice and the strengthening of a human rights-based paradigm. Kiel ultimately shows that changes in norms at the individual level indicate a larger transformation in the international order, and while the arming of non-state actors remains formally illegal, the prohibition of this practice is informally eroding.

Commemoration of the 75th Anniversary of the UN International Law Commission

On May 24, 2024, the International Law Commission and the Department of International Law of the Graduate Institute will hold a Commemoration of the 75th Anniversary of the UN International Law Commission, at the Geneva Graduate Institute. Details are here.

New Podcast: Talking Human Rights

For those interested in human rights and international law, there's a new podcast - Talking Human Rights - hosted by Leens van Kessel.