Call for Papers: Ethical Governance of Surveillance Technologies in Times of Crisis: Global Challenges and Divergent Perspectives

The Utrecht Centre for Global Challenges has issued a call for papers for an online workshop on "Ethical Governance of Surveillance Technologies in Times of Crisis: Global Challenges and Divergent Perspectives," which will take place on October 30 and November 5, 2020. This event is organised by the research platform on Disrupting Technological Innovation? Towards an Ethical and Legal Framework at Utrecht University. The deadline for the applications is July 15, 2020. The call is here.

Lentner: Law, Language, and Power: English and the Production of Ignorance in International Law

Gabriel M. Lentner (Donau-Universität Krems - Law) has published Law, Language, and Power: English and the Production of Ignorance in International Law (International Journal of Language & Law, Vol. 8, pp. 50-66, 2019). Here's the abstract:

In this article I examine the unintentional production of ignorance following from the hegemony of the English language in international law scholarship and its impact on legal outcomes. In doing so, I am influenced by critical discourse analysis (CDA), specifically following Fairclough and Van Dijk and their focus on the relationship between language and power – specifically their focus on how language contributes to the domination of some people over others. In developing this I start with arguing that the dominance of English in the expert discourse in international law means that priority is given to certain narratives (e.g., the canon of Western philosophy) and epistemologies (of ignorance) over others. This is because the use of English appears to be symptomatic of the dominance of Western (Euro-American) legalism, and the use of English may reinforce this dominance. Illustrating these points, I use the dissenting opinion of Judge Weeramantry in the Nuclear Weapons case before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and international criminal law. I conclude with some reflections on law and language more generally and propose themes for further research and offer practical suggestions for a more pluralistic knowledge production in international law.

Richardson-Little: The Human Rights Dictatorship: Socialism, Global Solidarity and Revolution in East Germany

Ned Richardson-Little (Universität Erfurt) has published The Human Rights Dictatorship: Socialism, Global Solidarity and Revolution in East Germany (Cambridge Univ. Press 2020). Here's the abstract:

Richardson-Little exposes the forgotten history of human rights in the German Democratic Republic, placing the history of the Cold War, Eastern European dissidents and the revolutions of 1989 in a new light. By demonstrating how even a communist dictatorship could imagine itself to be a champion of human rights, this book challenges popular narratives on the fall of the Berlin Wall and illustrates how notions of human rights evolved in the Cold War as they were re-imagined in East Germany by both dissidents and state officials. Ultimately, the fight for human rights in East Germany was part of a global battle in the post-war era over competing conceptions of what human rights meant. Nonetheless, the collapse of dictatorship in East Germany did not end this conflict, as citizens had to choose for themselves what kind of human rights would follow in its wake.

New Issue: International Review of the Red Cross

The latest issue of the International Review of the Red Cross (Vol. 101, no. 911, August 2019) is out. The theme is: "Children and War." Contents include:

• Ellen Policinski & Kvitoslava Krotiuk, Childhood in the crossfire: How to ensure a dignified present and future for children affected by war
• Interview with Mira Kusumarini: Executive Director of the Coalition of Civil Society Against Violent Extremism (C-SAVE)
• Testimonies of former child soldiers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
• Helen Berents, “This is my story”: Children's war memoirs and challenging protectionist discourses
• Rochelle L. Frounfelker, Nargis Islam, Joseph Falcone, Jordan Farrar, Chekufa Ra, Cara M. Antonaccio, Ngozi Enelamah, & Theresa S. Betancourt, Living through war: Mental health of children and youth in conflict-affected areas
• Kathryn Hampton, Born in the twilight zone: Birth registration in insurgent areas
• Diane Marie Amann, The Policy on Children of the ICC Office of the Prosecutor: Toward greater accountability for crimes against and affecting children
• Ahmed Al-Dawoody & Vanessa Murphy, International humanitarian law, Islamic law and the protection of children in armed conflict
• Dyan Mazurana, Anastasia Marshak, & Kinsey Spears, Child marriage in armed conflict
• Pascal Bongard & Ezequiel Heffes, Engaging armed non-State actors on the prohibition of recruiting and using children in hostilities: Some reflections from Geneva Call's experience
• Benyam Dawit Mezmur, Taking measures without taking measurements? An insider's reflections on monitoring the implementation of the African Children's Charter in a changing context of armed conflict
• The ICRC's engagement on children in armed conflict and other situations of violence: In conversation with Monique Nanchen, Global Adviser on Children, ICRC
• Bede Sheppard, Keeping schools safe from the battlefield: Why global legal and policy efforts to deter the military use of schools matter
• Julie Freccero, Audrey Taylor, Joanna Ortega, Zabihullah Buda, Paschal Kum Awah, Alexandra Blackwell, Ricardo Pla Cordero, & Eric Stover, Safer cash in conflict: Exploring protection risks and barriers in cash programming for internally displaced persons in Cameroon and Afghanistan
• James W. Houlihan, Lex Innocentium (697 AD): Adomnán of Iona – father of Western jus in bello
• Suzannah Linton, Deciphering the landscape of international humanitarian law in the Asia-Pacific
• Duncan McLean, Medical care in armed conflict: Perpetrator discourse in historical perspective

Joyner: Strategic Trade Controls

Daniel Joyner (Univ. of Alabama - Law) has posted Strategic Trade Controls (in Research Handbook on Arms Control Law, Thilo Marauhn & Eric Myjer eds., forthcoming). Here's the abstract:

The establishment and maintenance of an effective strategic trade control (STC) system is an often overlooked and undervalued element in the broader context of international WMD nonproliferation law. However its importance at the practical level in the effort to regulate the spread and use of goods and technologies that can contribute to WMD programs around the world has always been significant. The implementation of effective national STC legal regimes has never been perfect or universal. But where implemented effectively, strategic trade controls materially contribute to international aims of keeping WMD sensitive goods and technologies out of the hands of dangerous actors. In this chapter I will first review the international legal basis for STCs, which is to be found in the three primary international treaties applying to nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons proliferation, as well as in U.N. Security Council Resolution 1540. In doing so I will also briefly review the Nuclear Suppliers Group, the Australia Group, and the Missile Technology Control Regime, which operate as fora for coordination of national technology control lists and trade control policies. I will then focus on the implementation of STC legal systems at the national level by identifying and discussing common elements of effective STC systems. Finally, I will review some common challenges to implementing national STC systems, and discuss current developments relative to national and international STC regulation.

Inaugural Issue: European Convention on Human Rights Law Review

The inaugural issue of the European Convention on Human Rights Law Review (Vol. 1, no. 1, 2020) is out. Contents include:

• Kanstantsin Dzehtsiarou & Vassilis P Tzevelekos, The Conscience of Europe that Landed in Strasbourg: A Circle of Life of the European Court of Human Rights
• Eva Brems, Key Challenges for the ECHR System: Protecting and Empowering Institutions, Human Rights Defenders and Minorities
• Angelika Nussberger, The European Court of Human Rights at Sixty – Challenges and Perspectives
• Ed Bates, Strasbourg’s Integrationist Role, or the Need for Self-restraint?
• Christos Rozakis, The European Convention on Human Rights as a Tool of European Integration
• Corina Heri, Loyalty, Subsidiarity, and Article 18 echr: How the ECtHR Deals with Mala Fide Limitations of Rights
• Daniel Rietiker, The European Court of Human Rights and FIFA: Current Issues and Potential Challenges
• Natasa Mavronicola, Bouyid v Belgium: The ‘Minimum Level of Severity’ and Human Dignity’s Role in Article 3 ECHR

Saksena: Jousting Over Jurisdiction: Sovereignty and International Law in Late Nineteenth-Century South Asia

Priyasha Saksena (Univ. of Leeds - Law) has published Jousting Over Jurisdiction: Sovereignty and International Law in Late Nineteenth-Century South Asia (Law and History Review, Vol. 38, no. 2, pp. 409-457, May 2020). Here's the abstract:

The article examines the relationship between colonialism and international law by focusing on late nineteenth century debates surrounding the sovereignty of the “princely states” of colonial South Asia. The princely states were ruled by indigenous rulers and were not considered to be British territory, but remained subject to British “influence;” as a result, there were numerous controversies over their legal status. During the course of jurisdictional disputes, a variety of interested players - British politicians, colonial officials, international lawyers, rulers and advisors of princely states - engaged in debates over the idea of sovereignty to resolve questions of legal status, the extent of rights and powers, and to construct a political order that supported their interests and aspirations. I focus on legal texts written by British international lawyers and colonial officials as well as material relating to two jurisdictional disputes (one between the state of Travancore and the British Government and another between the state of Baroda and the British Government) to trace two versions of sovereignty that were articulated in late nineteenth century South Asia - unitary and divisible. In doing so, I argue that international law, and the doctrine of sovereignty in particular, became the shared language for participants to debate political problems and a key forum for the negotiation of political power.

d'Aspremont: The League of Nations and the Power of 'Experiment Narratives' in International Institutional Law

Jean d'Aspremont (Sciences Po - Law; Univ. of Manchester - Law) has posted The League of Nations and the Power of 'Experiment Narratives' in International Institutional Law (International Community Law Review, forthcoming). Here's the abstract:

This article engages with the image of the League of Nations as an experiment in international law and the law of international institutions. This image populates international legal literature of the second half of the 20th century and of the 21st century. It corresponds to what is called here the “experiment narrative” about the League. Many of the claims made about international institutional law, collective security and international institutions in international legal discourses are informed by this specific narrative. Drawing on the “experiment narratives” about the League, this article shows that “experiment narratives” in international law constitute a common tool for international lawyers to uphold a progressive and linear global history and to organize their discourses.

Call for Papers: Global Public-Private Law Approaches to the COVID-19 Pandemic

The School of Law of the Singapore Management University has issued a call for papers for a virtual conference on "Global Public-Private Law Approaches to the COVID-19 Pandemic," on September 10, 2020. The call is here.

New Additions to the UN Audiovisual Library of International Law

The Codification Division of the UN Office of Legal Affairs recently added two lectures to the UN Audiovisual Library of International Law Podcast Channel. Due to current circumstances, the AVL team can post these only to the podcast channel and not the website. The lectures were given by Steven Hill on "Legal Aspects of the Work of NATO" and Donald M. McRae on "Varieties of International Dispute Settlement: From Litigation to Conciliation."

New Issue: International Organizations Law Review

The latest issue of the International Organizations Law Review (Vol. 17, no. 1, 2020) is out. Contents include:

• Special Issue: International Institutions, Public Governance and Future Regulation of Work: Taking Stock at the International Labour Organization’s Centenary
• Franz Christian Ebert & Tonia Novitz, Introduction: International Institutions, Public Governance and Future Regulation of Work: Taking Stock at the International Labour Organization’s Centenary
• Tonia Novitz, Past and Future Work at the International Labour Organization: Labour as a Fictitious Commodity, Countermovement and Sustainability
• Janelle M. Diller, The Role of the State in the Exercise of Transnational Public and Private Authority over Labour Standards
• Henner Gött, Interactions between International Organizations: Approaching a Neglected Governance Dimension
• Franz Christian Ebert, A Public Law Perspective on Labour Governance by International Financial Institutions: The Case of the IMF’s Article IV Consultations
• Gabriele Buchholtz, Social and Labour Standards in the OECD Guidelines: Enforcement Mechanisms
• Joo-Cheong Tham & K D Ewing, Labour Provisions in Trade Agreements: Neoliberal Regulation at Work?
• Reingard Zimmer, International Framework Agreements: New Developments through Better Implementation on the Basis of an Analysis of the Bangladesh Accord and the Indonesian Freedom of Association Protocol
• Petra Herzfeld Olsson, The Role of Effective Enforcement in International Law on Labour Migration
• Antonio Garcia-Muñoz Alhambra, Beryl Ter Haar & Attila Kun, Harnessing Public Institutions for Labour Law Enforcement: Embedding a Transnational Labour Inspectorate within the ILO
• Steven A. Solomon & Claudia Nannini, Participation in the World Health Organization
• Francis Maupain, A Second Century for What? The ILO at a Regulatory Crossroad

New Issue: Swiss Review of International and European Law

The latest issue of the Swiss Review of International and European Law (Vol. 30, no. 1, 2020) is out. Contents include:

• Adeline Michoud, L’Europe: un havre de protection contre les abus des entreprises multinationales à l’étranger? – considérations de droit international privé
• Lorenz Raess, Court Assistance in the Taking of Evidence: Switzerland’s Way Forward

Chinoy: Are You With Me? Kevin Boyle and the Rise of the Human Rights Movement

Mike Chinoy has published Are You With Me? Kevin Boyle and the Rise of the Human Rights Movement (Lilliput Press 2020). Here's the abstract:

Kevin Boyle was one of the world’s great human rights lawyers. In a career that lasted decades and spanned continents, he tackled issues ranging from freedom of the press to terrorism and Islamic fundamentalism to the rights of gay people, women and minorities. This compelling account of Kevin Boyle’s life and work is an inspiring tale of how a taxi driver’s son from Northern Ireland became a globally renowned activist, advocate, and academic, inspiring the human rights movement around the world.

Born in Newry in 1943, Boyle attended Queen’s University Belfast in the early 1960s, beginning to teach law in 1966. He was a co-founder of the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association and the People’s Democracy, mediated during the 1981 hunger strikes and helped forge the intellectual underpinning of the agreement that ended the Troubles. Through a series of landmark cases at the European Court of Human Rights, he left an enduring mark on international human rights law, campaigning against apartheid in South Africa and repression in Turkey. He also played a critical role as the senior advisor to Mary Robinson, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, as well as helping to found human rights law centres at universities from Ireland and Britain to Brazil and Japan.

Though Kevin Boyle was a towering figure in his field, his personal story and his impact in crucial areas is not well known. Now, based on years of research, thousands of documents, and scores of interviews, former CNN correspondent Mike Chinoy has crafted the compelling life story of a remarkable Irishman.

New Issue: Human Rights Review

The latest issue of the Human Rights Review (Vol. 21, no. 2, June 2020) is out. Contents include:

• Adam Kochanski, Mandating Truth: Patterns and Trends in Truth Commission Design
• Sarah Pedigo Kulzer & Ryan Phillips, Those Who Must Die: Syrian Refugees in the Age of National Security
• Daniel Vázquez & Horacio Ortiz, Impunity and Economic and Social Rights
• Lantz Fleming Miller, Human Rights of Users of Humanlike Care Automata

Call for Papers: The Evolution of Transnational Private Rule-Makers: Understanding Drivers and Dynamics

The Tilburg Law and Economics Center has issued a call for papers for a conference on "The Evolution of Transnational Private Rule-Makers: Understanding Drivers and Dynamics," to take place December 3-4, 2020, in Tilburg. The call is here.

Horowitz: Cyber Operations under International Humanitarian Law: Perspectives from the ICRC

Jonathan Horowitz (ICRC) has posted an ASIL Insight on Cyber Operations under International Humanitarian Law: Perspectives from the ICRC.

New Issue: Human Rights Quarterly

The latest issue of the Human Rights Quarterly (Vol. 42, no. 2, May 2020) is out. Contents include:

• Todd Landman, Measuring Modern Slavery: Law, Human Rights, and New Forms of Data
• Sebastian Porsdam Mann, Helle Porsdam, & Yvonne Donders, “Sleeping Beauty”: The Right to Science as a Global Ethical Discourse
• Sun Meng & Lu Haina, China and the Special Procedures of the UN Human Rights Council: Is China Cooperative and Can They Work Better With Each Other?
• Patricia Palacios Zuloaga, Judging Inter-American Human Rights: The Riddle of Compliance with the Inter-American Court of Human Rights
• Michael J. Perry, The Morality of Human Rights
• Ertuğrul Apakan & Cono Giardullo, UAVs for the Benefit of People: The use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Within the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission
• James L. Cavallaro & Meghna Sridhar, Reducing Bias in Human Rights Fact-Finding: The Potential of the Clinical Simulation Model to Overcome Ethical, Practical, and Cultural Tensions in “Foreign” Contexts

New Issue: ASA Bulletin

The latest issue of the ASA Bulletin (Vol. 38, no. 1, 2020) is out. Contents include:

• Catherine A. Kunz, Revision of Arbitral Awards in Switzerland: An Extraordinary Tool or Simply a Popular Chimera?
• Bernhard Berger, Die Schweiz als Schiedsort für Investitionsstreitigkeiten – Erkenntnisse aus der neueren Rechtsprechung des Bundesgerichts Teil I
• Marco Stacher, Jurisdiction and Admissibility under Swiss Arbitration Law – the Relevance of the Distinction and a New Hope
• Hans-Ueli Vogt & Patrick Schmidt, Schiedsklauseln in Vereinsstatuten Bemerkungen zum Bundesgerichtsurteil 5A_1027/2018* vom 22. Juli 2019 und zur Revision des 12. Kapitels des IPRG und des Aktienrechts (Teil I)

New Issue: Air & Space Law

The latest issue of Air & Space Law (Vol. 45, no. 2, 2020) is out. Contents include:

• Martin Strom, European Union Competition Law Developments in the Aviation Sector: July to December 2019
• Michael K. Simpson, Benefit in Space Law: Principle and Pathway
• Magda Cocco & Helena Correia Mendonça, The Portuguese Space Act: An Innovative Framework for Space Activities
• Solange Leandro, The Tale of the Airfreight Cartel Case
• John Balfour, Pablo Mendes de Leon, Increase of the Limits Laid Down in the Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules for International Carriage by Air, Done at Montreal, 1999 (Montreal Convention, 1999)

New Issue: Europa Ethnica

The latest issue of Europa Ethnica (Vol. 77, nos. 1/2, 2020). Contents include:

• Gilbert Gornig, Europäische Grundwerte. Insbesondere der Minderheitenschutz in Deutschland
• Peter Hilpold, Minderheitenschutz in Österreich – Die Rechtsstaatlichkeitsfrage im europäischen Kontext
• Oskar Peterlini, Droht ein Italexit? Gefahren, Garantien, Minderheiten
• Władysław Czapliński, Protection of National and Ethnic Minorities in Poland: a European Dimension
• Vadzim Samaryn, Belarus: Wahrung der Souveränität in der vorherrschenden Sprache des Nachbarn
• Harald Christian Scheu, Der Kampf gegen Stereotype als eine neue Dimension des europäischen Antidiskriminierungsrechts
• Hans-Ingo Radatz, „Nation ohne Staat“ oder „Unruheprovinz“? Spanien, Katalonien und die Nationalismuskritik
• Georg Kremnitz, Gedanken zu Katalonien, Spanien – und zur Europäischen Union. Aus Anlass eines neuen Buches

Steininger: The Role of Human Rights in Investment Law and Arbitration: State Obligations, Corporate Responsibility, and Community Empowerment

Silvia Steininger (Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law) has posted The Role of Human Rights in Investment Law and Arbitration: State Obligations, Corporate Responsibility, and Community Empowerment. Here's the abstract:

This paper investigates the multiple roles of human rights in investment law and arbitration, in particular with respect to state parties, foreign investors, and affected communities. Human rights are not only conflicting and complementary to investment treaties, but can both expand and restrict the scope of jurisdiction of investment tribunals. For states, investors, and third parties alike human rights can be used as a sword or a shield in international investment law and arbitration. By relying on historical, theoretical, and empirical insights, this paper zooms into three different roles of human rights in investment law and arbitration: human rights as obligations for states parties, human rights as defence rights and as part of an emerging responsibility for corporate actors, and human rights as tools to address structural imbalances for affected communities.

Fajdiga et al.: Heightened Scrutiny of Colonial Consent according to the Chagos Advisory Opinion: Pandora's Box Reopened?

Mohor Fajdiga, Ula Aleksandra Kos, Gregor Oprčkal, Anže Mediževec, Pia Novak, Ana Samobor, Miha Plahutnik, Anže Kimovec, Urša Demšar, Vid Drole, & Hana Šerbec (all Univ. of Ljubljana - Law) have posted Heightened Scrutiny of Colonial Consent according to the Chagos Advisory Opinion: Pandora's Box Reopened? (in The International Court of Justice and Decolonization: New Directions from the Chagos Advisory Opinion, T. Burri & J. Trinidad eds., forthcoming). Here's the abstract:

In the Chagos Advisory Opinion, the ICJ held that the detachment of the Chagos Archipelago from colonial Mauritius had not been based on the free and genuine expression of the will of the Mauritian people and had thus been unlawful. This chapter sheds light on the intriguing heightened scrutiny standard, applied but not defined by the ICJ, and the reasons that convinced the Court to hold that the consent given by the Mauritian representatives was invalid.

Renckens: Private Governance and Public Authority: Regulating Sustainability in a Global Economy

Stefan Renckens (Univ. of Toronto - Political Science) has published Private Governance and Public Authority: Regulating Sustainability in a Global Economy (Cambirdge Univ. Press 2020). Here's the abstract:

At a time of significant concern about the sustainability of the global economy, businesses are eager to display responsible corporate practices. While rulemaking for these practices was once the prerogative of states, businesses and civil society actors are increasingly engaged in creating private rulemaking instruments, such as eco-labeling and certification schemes, to govern corporate behavior. When does a public authority intervene in such private governance and reassert the primacy of public policy? Renckens develops a new theory of public-private regulatory interactions and argues that when and how a public authority intervenes in private governance depends on the economic benefits to domestic producers that such intervention generates and the degree of fragmentation of private governance schemes. Drawing on European Union policymaking on organic agriculture, biofuels, fisheries, and fair trade, he exposes the political-economic conflicts between private and public rule makers and the strategic nature of regulating sustainability in a global economy.

Evans & Galani: Maritime Security and the Law of the Sea: Help or Hindrance?

Malcolm D. Evans (Univ. of Bristol - Law) & Sofia Galani (Univ. of Bristol - Law) have published Maritime Security and the Law of the Sea: Help or Hindrance? (Edward Elgar Publishing 2020). Contents include:

• Sofia Galani & Malcolm D. Evans, The interplay between maritime security and the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea: help or hindrance?
• Christian Bueger & Timothy Edmunds, Beyond seablindness: a new agenda for maritime security studies
• Richard Barnes & Mercedes Rosello, Fisheries and maritime security: understanding and enhancing the connection
• Volker Roeben, High-end maritime security as legal argumentation
• Anna Petrig, The commission of maritime crimes with unmanned systems: an interpretive challenge for the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea
• Kara Chadwick, Unmanned maritime systems will shape the future of naval operations: is international law ready?
• Andrew Murdoch, Ships without nationality: interdiction on the high seas
• Sophia Kopela, Tackling maritime security threats from a port state’s perspective
• Keyuan Zou, Towards the Code of Conduct for the South China Sea: maritime security dimensions

Pavoni: International Legal Protection of Cultural Heritage in Armed Conflict: Achievements and Developments

Riccardo Pavoni (Univ. of Siena - Law) has posted International Legal Protection of Cultural Heritage in Armed Conflict: Achievements and Developments. Here's the abstract:

The recent statement by President Donald Trump, according to which he was ready to strike at 52 sites in Iran – some of them of primary cultural importance – in response to possible attacks against United States targets in the aftermath of the killing of General Soleimani, has been met with outrage by many international observers, while the Pentagon hastened to distance itself from ‘its’ President. These reactions shed light on the fundamental importance that the international community presently attaches to the safeguarding of cultural property in times of armed conflict, in particular that property of outstanding universal value that should be considered part of the world cultural heritage, such as the many Iranian sites that provide testimony of some of the most ancient civilizations. This paper will first summarize the existing legal framework for the protection of cultural property in times of war and the main problems associated with it. That framework will then be revisited in light of the various developments arising from the normative and judicial practice which has emerged, to an unprecedented extent, in the context of recent cultural crises and tragedies caused by armed conflict. Developments relating to customary law, individual criminal responsibility and the activities of the UN Security Council in this area are especially analyzed. The paper concludes that, ultimately, all conditions are in place for the protection of cultural heritage in armed conflict to take further steps forward, for example by strengthening the ban on the use of cultural property for military purposes, or by increasing the legal and political synergies between UNESCO’s work, chiefly in safeguarding the world heritage, and that of the institutions most involved in the military and humanitarian field.