Saturday, December 17, 2022

New Issue: Revue Générale de Droit International Public

The latest issue of the Revue Générale de Droit International Public (Vol. 126, no. 3, 2022) is out. Contents include:
  • In memoriam
    • Philippe Couvreur, Antônio Augusto CANÇADO TRINDADE (1947-2022)
  • Dossier : La pratique des organisations internationales
    • Nicola Bonucci & Mariana Karttunen, Le partenariat pour l'efficacité des instruments internationaux: efforts collectifs pour l'amélioration des processus normatifs internationaux
    • Gérard Cahin, Codification ou boîte à outils?: ecrire la pratique des organisations internationales
    • Baptiste Tranchant, L'application contentieuse des normes techniques des organisations internationales
    • Clémentine Emery & Michael Ostrove, Organisations internationales et personnes privées: quels recours, pour quels différends?

New Issue: International Human Rights Law Review

The latest issue of the International Human Rights Law Review (Vol. 11, no. 2, 2022) is out. Contents include:
  • Padraig McAuliffe, Two Logics of Non-Recurrence after Civil Conflict
  • Niaz A Shah, Re-colonisation of Jammu and Kashmir and the Right to Self-determination
  • Clarence Itumeleng Tshoose & Mashele Rapatsa, Who Will Watch the Watchers? A Critical Perspective on Police Brutality in Post-Apartheid South Africa
  • Amanda Spies, A Culture of Exclusion: Re-Configuring Inclusive Education in South Africa

Atadjanov: Domestic Implementation of Crimes against Humanity in Central Asia

Rustam Atadjanov (KIMEP Univ. - Law) has published Domestic Implementation of Crimes against Humanity in Central Asia (Asian Journal of Comparative Law, Vol. 17, no. 2, pp. 268-285, December 2022). Here's the abstract:
Crimes against humanity constitute mass crimes against civilian populations and represent the so-called ‘core crimes’ of international criminal law. Central Asian states have so far abstained from incorporating the corpus delicti of crimes against humanity in their criminal legislation. After a short overview of the current status of crimes against humanity under international law, this article analyses the domestic legislation of five Central Asian countries: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. It looks at current Criminal Codes to suggest how those could be strengthened by the inclusion of properly formulated crimes against humanity dispositions, taking into account the peculiarities of these national legal systems. The article also offers a brief review of possible factors which might have precluded the states in question from proper implementation. It argues in favour of such implementation, delineating its legal benefits and potential advantages for both State Parties and non-State Parties to the Rome Statute in Central Asia.

Friday, December 16, 2022

New Issue: International Organizations Law Review

The latest issue of the International Organizations Law Review (Vol. 19, no. 3, 2022) is out. Contents include:
  • Samantha Besson, Democratic Representation within International Organizations: From International Good Governance to International Good Government
  • Negar Mansouri, International Organizations and World Making Practices: Some Notes on Method
  • Hans Peter Kunz-Hallstein, The New German Host State Act: Its Applicability to Earlier Established International Organizations and Their Organizational Units

Thursday, December 15, 2022

Most Interesting 2022: De Lucia, Oude Elferink, & Nguyen: International Law and Marine Areas beyond National Jurisdiction: Reflections on Justice, Space, Knowledge and Power

The fourth in our series "Most Interesting 2022":

Vito De Lucia, Alex Oude Elferink & Lan Ngoc Nguyen, International Law and Marine Areas beyond National Jurisdiction: Reflections on Justice, Space, Knowledge and Power (Brill | Nijhoff 2022)

The edited volume revisits important issues linked to areas beyond national jurisdiction (ABNJ) from the novel perspective of justice, space, knowledge and power, giving a voice to alternative approaches in understanding the legal framework that regulates these areas. The book, bringing together leading scholars in the field, creates a bridge between the law of the sea, environmental law, human rights, dispute settlement, legal philosophy and critical legal theory. The edited volume is highly recommended for anyone who wishes to explore new layers of the regulation and management of ABNJ.

Catherine Blanchard
Assistant Professor of Public International Law
Utrecht University

New Issue: Melbourne Journal of International Law

The latest issue of the Melbourne Journal of International Law (Vol. 23, no. 1, July 2022) is out. Contents include:
  • Lucas Lixinski, Jane McAdam, & Patricia Tupou, Ocean Cultures, the Anthropocene and International Law: Cultural Heritage and Mobility Law as Imaginative Gateways
  • Ayşe Didem Sezgin & Ashleigh Best, Re-Imagining International Law's Environment: An Ecological Critique of International Food Law and International Disaster Law
  • Tania Voon & Dean Merriman, Is Australia's Foreign Investment Screening Policy Consistent with International Investment Law?
  • Yucong Wang, The Protection of Public Morals as an Exception to Indirect Expropriation: Opening the Floodgates to New, Eclectic Moral Crusades?
  • Asad G Kiyani, Prosecutor v Abd-Al-Rahman: Human Rights, Customary International Law and the ICC's Non-Retroactivity Problem
  • Emily Crawford & Aaron Fellmeth, The Brereton Report and the Fissures in the Law of Command Responsibility
  • Josh T Taylor, The Ascendency of Diplomatic Expertise and Decline of Heritage Knowledge in World Heritage Decision-Making: The Curious Case of the Roşia Montană Mining Landscape's Dual World Heritage Inscription

New Issue: Human Rights Review

The latest issue of the Human Rights Review (Vol. 23, no. 4, December 2022) is out. Contents include:
  • Andreas von Staden, The Conditional Effectiveness of Soft Law: Compliance with the Decisions of the Committee against Torture
  • Johan Vorland Wibye, Beyond Acts and Omissions — Distinguishing Positive and Negative Duties at the European Court of Human Rights
  • Morgan Barney, Amanda Murdie, Baekkwan Park, Jacqueline Hart, & Margo Mullinax, From Age to Agency: Frame Adoption and Diffusion Concerning the International Human Rights Norm Against Child, Early, and Forced Marriage
  • Michał Sobczak, Innovation Despite Backsliding—the Importance of the Events of 7th August 2020 for Polish LGBTQIA Youth
  • Tracy Smith-Carrier & Kathleen Manion, Bringing It All Together: Leveraging Social Movements and the Courts to Advance Substantive Human Rights and Climate Justice

New Issue: Journal of Conflict & Security Law

The latest issue of the Journal of Conflict & Security Law (Vol. 27, no. 3, Winter 2022) is out. Contents include:
  • Rob McLaughlin, Tamsin Phillipa Paige, & Douglas Guilfoyle, Submarine Communication Cables and the Law of Armed Conflict: Some Enduring Uncertainties, and Some Proposals, as to Characterization
  • Yurika Ishii, Doctrines of the Self-Defence on the High Seas under Law of the Sea
  • Saeed Bagheri & Alison Bisset, International Legal Issues Arising from Repatriation of the Children of Islamic State
  • Tim McFarland, Minimum Levels of Human Intervention in Autonomous Attacks
  • Abdulmalik M Altamimi, The European Peace Facility and the UN Arms Trade Treaty: Fragmentation of the International Arms Control law?
  • Niklas S Reetz, Same Same but Different? Why War-Sustaining Objects Can Be Destroyed but Not Targeted
  • Wubeshet Tiruneh, The Obligation to Release and Repatriate Prisoners of Wars: Revisiting the Arbitral Award of Eritrea–Ethiopia Claims Commission

Lai & Mak: Belokon v. Kyrgyzstan: Practical Implications of Award Set-Asides Arising from Corruption Allegations

Roslyn Lai & Charles Ho Wang Mak have posted an ASIL Insight on Belokon v. Kyrgyzstan: Practical Implications of Award Set-Asides Arising from Corruption Allegations.

Villiger: Handbook on the European Convention on Human Rights

Mark E. Villiger
(formerly, Judge, European Court of Human Rights) has published Handbook on the European Convention on Human Rights (Brill | Nijhoff 2023). Here's the abstract:
In clear and concise words, this Handbook offers a comprehensive and up-to-date overview of the European Convention and the European Court of Human Rights and its case-law. Numerous cross-references guide the reader through the various topics. Various summaries condense the different principles of the Court’s case-law.

Klabbers: A Moral Holiday – Withdrawal from the Energy Charter Treaty

Jan Klabbers (Univ. of Helsinki - Law) has posted an ESIL Reflection on A Moral Holiday – Withdrawal from the Energy Charter Treaty.

Wednesday, December 14, 2022

Most Interesting 2022: Csernus: Is There Life After Death?: The Persuasive Value of Annulled Investment Awards

The third in our series "Most Interesting 2022":

Máté Csernus, Is There Life After Death?: The Persuasive Value of Annulled Investment Awards, Journal of International Dispute Settlement, Vol. 13, no. 3, pp. 393-412, 2022

International courts and tribunals spend a lot of time referencing, citing and discussing prior judgments and awards, even though there is no formal system of precedent in international dispute settlement. Máté Csernus adds to the burgeoning literature on this topic, discussing whether investment arbitration tribunals continue to refer to awards that have meanwhile been annulled or set aside. On the basis of a review of all citations of publicly available annulled awards, Csernus identifies three main reasons why tribunals continue to cite such awards even though they no longer legally 'exist'. Csernus demonstrates that an annulment or set aside does not necessarily deprive an award of its relevance, as it can continue to influence, accidentally or deliberately, the development of the law and the resolution of future disputes. Csernus' article is of great theoretical and practical value, as it forces us to rethink when and why we consider decisions as authoritative.

Johannes Hendrik Fahner
Associate, Allen & Overly LLP
Lecturer, University of Amsterdam

AJIL Unbound Symposium: Pauwelyn & Pelc's “Who Guards the ‘Guardians of the System’? The Role of the Secretariat in WTO Dispute Settlement”

AJIL Unbound has posted a symposium on Joost Pauwelyn and Krzysztof Pelc's “Who Guards the ‘Guardians of the System’? The Role of the Secretariat in WTO Dispute Settlement.” The symposium includes an introduction by Chantal Thomas and contributions by Tommaso Soave, Guy Fiti Sinclair, Olabisi D. Akinkugbe & Morris K. Odeh, Pablo González Domínguez, Gabrielle Marceau & Akshaya Venkataraman, and Kathleen Claussen.

Tuesday, December 13, 2022

New Issue: Journal of International Economic Law

The latest issue of the Journal of International Economic Law (Vol. 25, no. 4, December 2022) is out. Contents include:
  • Mona Pinchis-Paulsen, Let’s Agree to Disagree: A Strategy for Trade-Security
  • Lee Ann Jackson, Federica Maggi, Roberta Piermartini, & Stela Rubínová, Monitoring Agriculture Policy at the WTO: Insights from a New Quantitative Database
  • Steven R Ratner, Fair and Equitable Treatment and Human Rights: A Moral and Legal Reconciliation
  • Wolfgang Alschner, Manfred Elsig, & Simon Wüthrich, Main Act or Side Show? Model Agreements by International Institutions and Their Reuse in Investment Treaty Texts
  • Manjiao Chi, Investment Facilitation and Sustainable Development: Insufficiencies and Improvements of ASEAN Investment Treaties
  • Marc Bungenberg & Bianca Böhme, Under the Radar—The Return of Member States in EU Investment Policy
  • Bin Gu & Tong Liu, Shareholding Formulas in International Financial Institutions: Learning From the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank
  • Dirk A Zetzsche, Marco Bodellini, & Roberta Consiglio, The EU Sustainable Finance Framework in Light of International Standards
  • Federico Lupo-Pasini, Sustainable Finance and Sovereign Debt: The Illusion to Govern by Contract

New Issue: International Journal of Human Rights

The latest issue of the International Journal of Human Rights (Vol. 26, no. 10, 2022) is out. Contents include:
  • Special Issue: Academic Freedom and Internationalisation
    • Katarzyna Kaczmarska & Yeşim Yaprak Yıldız, Introduction to the special issue on academic freedom and internationalisation
    • Tena Prelec, Saipira Furstenberg, John Heathershaw & Catarina Thomson, Is academic freedom at risk from internationalisation? Results from a 2020 survey of UK social scientists
    • Katrin Kinzelbach, Ilyas Saliba & Janika Spannagel, Global data on the freedom indispensable for scientific research: towards a reconciliation of academic reputation and academic freedom
    • Jennifer Wright, Ann Avouris, Matthew Frost & Sally Hoffmann, Supporting academic freedom as a human right: challenges and solutions in academic publishing
    • Matthieu Burnay & Eva Pils, Authoritarianism and marketisation in higher education:implications of China’s rise for cosmopolitan academic citizenship
    • Tim Pringle & Sophia Woodman, Between a rock and a hard place: academic freedom in globalising Chinese universities
    • Andreas Fulda & David Missal, Mitigating threats to academic freedom in Germany: the role of the state, universities, learned societies and China
    • Mwenza Blell, Shan-Jan Sarah Liu & Audrey Verma, ‘A one-sided view of the world’: women of colour at the intersections of academic freedom
    • Asli Telli, Internationalisation nexus in European higher education: forced or intended?
    • Model code of conduct: protection of academic freedom and the academic community in the context of the internationalisation of the UK HE sector

Call for Papers: Corporate Accountability for Gross Human Rights Violations: Actors, Visions, Strategies

A call for papers has been issued for a conference on "Corporate Accountability for Gross Human Rights Violations: Actors, Visions, Strategies," to take place May 25, 2023, at the National University of Political Science and Public Administration, Bucharest. The call is here.

New Issue: International Legal Materials

The latest issue of International Legal Materials (Vol. 61, no. 6, December 2022) is out. Contents include:
  • Resolution 76/120 on Strengthening and Promoting the International Treaty Framework (U.N.G.A.), with introductory note by Nathaniel Yong-Ern Khng
  • Governing Council Decision 277 (U.N. Compensation Comm'n), with introductory note by Ronald J. Bettauer
  • Vavřička v. Czech (Eur. Ct. H.R.), with introductory note by Brigit Toebes
  • Opinion 1/19 on the Conclusion of the Istanbul Convention (C.J.E.U.), with introductory note by Panos Koutrakos
  • Communiqués 1001(2021), 1030(2021), and 1062(2022) Regarding the Re-Emergence of Coups D'état in West Africa (Afr. Union), with introductory note by Eki Yemisi Omorogbe
  • Statnett SF v. Sør-Fosen Sijte (Sup. Ct. Nor.), with introductory note by Tom Syring

Most Interesting 2022: Papaconstantinou & Pedreschi: Alternative Dispute Settlement and the Jurisprudential Legacy of the World Trade Organization's Appellate Body

The second in our series "Most Interesting 2022":

George A. Papaconstantinou & Luigi F. Pedreschi, Alternative Dispute Settlement and the Jurisprudential Legacy of the World Trade Organization's Appellate Body, Journal of World Trade, Vol. 56, no. 2, pp. 261–282, 2022

This article is written in the backdrop of the Crown-Jewel of the WTO - the AB, being defunct and the resultant adoption of alternative dispute resolution mechanism by WTO Members under Multiparty Interim Appeal Arbitration Arrangement (MPIA) and Preferential Trade Agreements (PTAs), for appeals. The impact the decisions so rendered would have on the jurisprudential legacy of the AB is stated to be both good and bad. In the case of PTAs, Authors argue, it would decide cases only if they are related to WTO obligations and agree to be amenable to both PTA and/or WTO adjudication. In the case of the MPIA, the availability of opportunity to adjudicate areas “where there is absence of settled case law” (like under GATS); and to bring in novelty in areas where conflict exists in the present jurisprudence (Article XIX of GATT and the Agreement on Safeguards etc) are considered to be creating good impact. Whereas, the adverse impact stems from possibilities of fragmentation of AB jurisprudence, which again could be in two ways. First, could be the possible departure from the established WTO corpus while interpreting and applying the WTO law to the WTO obligations; and second, loss of precedentiary value by non-adoption of awards by entire WTO Membership. The adverse impacts are diluted by pointing out that most of the contentious issues are already considered by the AB; and the mandatory notification to the DSB of intent to adopt arbitration and also the award, lowers risk. The ADR is welcomed as it re-establishes the opportunity to appeal, thereby contributing to security and predictability of the MTS and suggests it should not be jeopardised, subject to the only risk that their decisions shall not fail to strike the appropriate balance between the WTO obligations and the policy objectives of the Members. This article is worth reading as it identifies the areas of challenge and the opportunities that the adoption of the alternative system brings into international trade jurisprudence. The alternative is definitely recognised as a stopgap arrangement till the revival of the AB and thus this article adds up to the literature on the discourse among international scholarship, which suggest reform of DSU rules and procedures. It is enlivening to reconcile that it's not dooms-day yet and that the efforts of the MTS in establishing stability and predictability in affairs of international trade remains preserved by its Members.

Megha Mukundaswar
Advocate and Research Scholar

New Issue: Revista Española de Derecho Internacional

The latest issue of the Revista Española de Derecho Internacional (Vol. 74, no. 2, 2022) is out. Contents include:
  • Editorial
    • Nicholas A. Robinson, Laws of nature and nations
  • Estudios
    • Alessandro Demurtas, La dimensión nuclear de la guerra en Ucrania: nueva narrativa, poder y orden internacional
    • Concepción Escobar Hernández, Ucrania y la corte penal internacional: una oportunidad para la corte y para la lucha contra la impunidad
    • Asier Garrido Muñoz, Al filo de su competencia ratione materiae: la providencia de la corte internacional de justicia en el asunto alegaciones de genocidio en virtud de la convención para la prevención y la sanción del crimen de genocidio (ucrania c. Federación rusa)
    • Ana Salinas de Frías, Los efectos jurídicos derivados de la pérdida de la condición de estado miembro del Consejo de Europa por la Federación Rusa
    • Elena Conde Pérez, La política ártica de la Unión Europea en perspectiva geopolítica: de la cooperación pacífica a las rupturas árticas (2017-2022)
    • Gloria Esteban de la Rosa, Identidad personal transfronteriza y derecho internacional privado europeo
    • Asier García Lupiola, La Unión Europea en las negociaciones climáticas: ¿referente o líder en la lucha contra el calentamiento global?
    • Sonia Hernández Pradas, Grupos armados no estatales y protección de las personas civiles en los conflictos armados internos
    • Claudia Jiménez Cortés, La desnaturalización de la zona sar en el mediterráneo central: de pieza clave para salvar vidas a instrumento contra los derechos humanos
    • Francisco Jiménez García, Reparaciones de guerra: la humanización e individualización de la reclamación. Algunas aproximaciones judiciales alternativas
    • Ana Mercedes López Rodríguez, Competencia judicial internacional en controversias relativas a Tokens No Fungibles (NFT)
    • Juan José Martín Arribas, El deterioro de la capa de ozono como asunto global pendiente de resolución
    • M.ª Ángeles Rodríguez Vázquez, Supresión del exequátur y ejecución de resoluciones en materia de responsabilidad parental: la convivencia de dos soluciones en el Reglamento (UE) 2019/1111
    • Juan Antonio Yañez-Barnuevo, La nulidad de los tratados impuestos mediante coacción ilícita, en perspectiva histórica
  • Foro
    • Joaquín Alcaide Fernández & Miguel Gardeñes Santiago, El nuevo derecho europeo y español de inversiones extranjeras Nota introductoria
    • Federico F. Garau Sobrino, Libre movimiento de capitales en la Unión Europea y limitación de las inversiones directas provenientes de terceros estados
    • Luis M. Hinojosa Martínez, Sectores estratégicos y filtrado de las inversiones extranjeras directas en la Unión Europea
    • Joaquín Alcaide Fernández, El Gobierno español y la propuesta de autonomía para el Sáhara Occidental Nota introductoria
    • Javier A. González Vega, ¡Triste España!*: los aspectos formales y contextuales del cambio de posición español
    • José Antonio de Yturriaga Barberán, Giro copernicano de Sánchez en el conflicto sahariano
    • Juan Soroeta Liceras, Por qué la integración en Marruecos (la autonomía) no es la forma de resolver el conflicto (la descolonización) del Sáhara Occidental
    • Mariano J. Aznar Gómez, Consecuencias territoriales marítimas de la (presunta) cesión en el Sáhara

Lando: Secret Custom or the Impact of Judicial Deliberations on the Identification of Customary International Law

Massimo Lando (City Univ. of Hong Kong - Law) has published Secret Custom or the Impact of Judicial Deliberations on the Identification of Customary International Law (Cambridge Law Journal, Vol. 81, no. 3, pp. 550-580, November 2022). Here's the abstract:
The literature on the identification of rules of customary international law is extensive. Commentators have focused on isolating the methodologies by which international courts and tribunals identify customary international law, with most of the debate revolving around the use of induction, or deduction and assertion as methods of custom identification. However, the existing literature has overlooked that the choice among custom identification methodologies takes place behind closed doors, during confidential deliberation processes. When all that scholars see may be deduction or assertion, international courts and tribunals may have ascertained the existence of customary rules by induction, but induction may not have made it into the final text of the decision. This article elaborates on the impact of judicial deliberations at the International Court of Justice on the choice among custom identification methodologies. It argues that individual-driven stages of deliberations favour custom identification by induction, while collegial stages promote custom identification by non-inductive methodologies.

Call for Papers: 15th Annual the Political Economy of International Organization Conference

A call for papers has been issued for the 15th annual The Political Economy of International Organization conference, to take place May 4-6, 2023, in San Diego. The call is here.

New Issue: Nordic Journal of International Law

The latest issue of the Nordic Journal of International Law (Vol. 91, no. 4, 2022) is out. Contents include:
  • Situated and Universal: Special Issue in Honor of Geir Ulfstein
    • Andreas Føllesdal, Morten Ruud, & Astrid Kjeldgaard-Pedersen, Introduction to Special Issue in Honor of Geir Ulfstein
    • Robin Churchill, The Disputed Scope of the Svalbard Treaty Offshore: a New Approach to Resolving the Issue
    • Ivar Alvik, Concessions in International Law
    • Freya Baetens, Transparency Across International Courts and Tribunals: Enhancing Legitimacy or Disrupting the Adjudicative Process?
    • Jeffrey Dunoff, Following Geir, or Another Little-Noticed Phenomenon in International Law

Monday, December 12, 2022

Most Interesting 2022: Yao, The Ideal River: How Control of Nature Shaped the International Order

Many thanks to all those who submitted their choices for most "interesting, important, or influential" article or book published in 2022. As a reminder, the call was open exclusively to junior scholars. Beginning today, I will post the submissions. Each post will include the article and/or book and a statement from the recommender explaining the reason why they believe the article/book is interesting, important, or influential. The full series will be available at the label "Most Interesting 2022." Here's the first post:

Joanne Yao, The Ideal River: How Control of Nature Shaped the International Order (Manchester Univ. Press 2022)

This book explores the geographical imaginaries of three rivers (the Rhine, Danube, and Congo) and how these very imaginaries shaped the constitutions, structure, and life of three early international organizations. It is a marvellous tale of how (and why) experts sought to tame nature and also says much about law’s relationship to the physical geography. I always really recommend and admire it because of how well written and engaging it is.

Gail Lythgoe
Lecturer in International Law
University of Manchester

Sunday, December 11, 2022

Celebration for Sir Malcolm Evans

On December 15, 2022, the Centre for International Law will hold an event, online and in-person, to celebrate Sir Malcolm Evans's time and career at the University of Bristol. Program and registration are here.

Call for Papers: Workshop on "Accountability for Externalisation of Migration Policy"

A call for papers has been issued for a workshop on "Accountability for Externalisation of Migration Policy," to be held May 26, 2023, at Utrecht University. The call is here.

Zrilic: Armed Conflicts and the Law of Treaties: Recent Developments and Reappraisal of the Doctrine in Light of the Wars in Syria and Ukraine

Jure Zrilic (City, Univ. of London – Law) has posted Armed Conflicts and the Law of Treaties: Recent Developments and Reappraisal of the Doctrine in Light of the Wars in Syria and Ukraine (Japanese Yearbook of Internaitonal Law). Here’s the abstract:
For a long time, the effect of armed conflicts on treaties has been one of the most controversial areas of international law. The International Law Commission’s (ILC) attempt to strike a balance between treaty stability, on the one hand, and realities of armed conflict which may necessitate termination or suspension of some treaties in whole or in part, on the other hand, resulted in the 2011 Draft Articles on the Effects of Armed Conflicts on Treaties. This paper is the first to examine the recent practice of actual and possible invocations of the doctrine on the effects of armed conflicts on treaties in the context of wars in Syria and Ukraine. While one of the objectives of the ILC Draft Articles was to bring more clarity to this difficult topic, it is questionable whether this has been achieved. The paper argues that many provisions of the Draft Articles, reflecting the ILC’s desire to progressively develop international law, are still heavily contested and ambiguous, and that this has started to reflect in the case law of international tribunals and state practice. Consequently, this may deter states from engaging with the doctrine on the effects of armed conflict on treaties and the Draft Articles in the future.

New Issue: European Journal of International Law

The latest issue of the European Journal of International Law (Vol. 33, no. 3, August 2022) is out. Contents include:
  • Editorial
    • On My Way In III: It’s Not All About Me: Writing a Cover Letter for an Academic Position; In This Issue; In This Issue – Reviews
  • Articles
    • Michelle Staggs Kelsall, Disordering International Law
    • Nikolaos Voulgaris, The International Law Commission and Politics: Taking the Science Out of International Law’s Progressive Development
    • Jan Martin Lemnitzer, Back to the Roots: The Laws of Neutrality and the Future of Due Diligence in Cyberspace
    • Odile Ammann, Language Bias in International Legal Scholarship: Symptoms, Explanations, Implications and Remedies
    • Ziv Bohrer & Benedikt Pirker, World War I: A Phoenix Moment in the History of International Criminal Tribunals
  • EJIL: Debate!
    • Yishai Beer, When Should a Lawful War of Self-Defence End?
    • Tom Ruys, In Defence of the ‘Halt and Repel’ Formula? A Reply to Yishai Beer
  • EJIL: Debate!
    • Corina Heri, Climate Change before the European Court of Human Rights: Capturing Risk, Ill-Treatment and Vulnerability
    • Alexander Zahar, The Limits of Human Rights Law: A Reply to Corina Heri
  • Roaming Charges: Post-Covid Travel
  • Critical Review of Governance
    • Sarah Nimigan, Electoral Success at the ICC: A State-Level Analysis
    • Henok Asmelash, The Regulation of Environmentally Harmful Fossil Fuel Subsidies: From Obscurity to Prominence in the Multilateral Trading System
  • Book Reviews
    • Lauri Mälksoo, reviewing Michael Riepl, Russian Contributions to International Humanitarian Law: A Contrastive Analysis of Russia’s Historical Role and Its Current Practice
    • Said Mahmoudi, reviewing Emilia Justyna Powell, Islamic Law and International Law: Peaceful Resolution of Disputes
    • Christian Henderson, reviewing Erika de Wet, Military Assistance on Request and the Use of Force
  • The Last Page
    • Taras Shevchenko, Заповіт (Testament, transl. John Weir)

New Issue: Swiss Review of International and European Law

The latest issue of the Swiss Review of International and European Law (Vol. 32, no. 4, 2022) is out. Contents include:
  • Thomas Cottier, Der Ukraine Krieg: Wendepunkt in den Beziehungen der Schweiz zur Europäischen Union und zur NATO?
  • Andreas Th. Müller, Ex solidaritate lux? Vom Aufstieg eines Grundsatzes und seiner Tauglichkeit für die Aussenbeziehungen der EU
  • Nula Frei, La mise en oeuvre de la Convention relative aux droits de l’enfant par les villes et les communes suisses

New Issue: Review of International Studies

The latest issue of the Review of International Studies (Vol. 49, no. 1, January 2023) is out. Contents include:
  • Special Section: Disruption by Design
    • Nicole Sunday Grove, Nisha Shah, & Martin Coward, Introduction to the Special Section: Disruption by design
    • Nicole Sunday Grove, Receding resilience: On the planetary moods of disruption
    • Louise Amoore, Machine learning political orders
    • Charmaine Chua, Disruption from above, the middle and below: Three terrains of governance
  • Articles
    • Lucas de Oliveira Paes, Networked territoriality: A processual–relational view on the making (and makings) of regions in world politics
    • Anna Danielsson & Kristin Ljungkvist, A choking(?) engine of war: Human agency in military targeting reconsidered
    • Jonathan Luke Austin, The plasma of violence: Towards a preventive medicine for political evil
    • Georgios Glouftsios & Matthias Leese, Epistemic fusion: Passenger Information Units and the making of international security
    • Peter Finkenbusch, Resilience as the policing of critique: A pragmatist way forward
    • Tasniem Anwar & Beste İşleyen, Guilty knowledge: A postcolonial inquiry into knowledge, suspicion, and responsibility in the fight against terrorism financing

New Issue: Europa Ethnica

The latest issue of Europa Ethnica (Vol. 79, nos. 3/4, 2022). Contents include:
  • Maria Stefania Cataleta, The crime of aggression in the Ukrainian war
  • Nikos Lavranos, Some preliminary observations on the investment treaty arbitration implications of the Ukraine conflict
  • Juliane Besters-Dilger, Die Ukraine als Prüfstein der europäischen Sprachpolitik – unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Entwicklungen von 2013 bis 2022
  • Yana Lysenko, Die Ostukraine als Schlachtfeld im Identitätskonflikt
  • Vadzim Samaryn, Belarus und Ukraine: tiefe historische Bindungen zwischen den beiden Völkern
  • Georg Kremnitz, Veränderungen der Ziele von Renaissance- Bewegungen vom 19. zum 21. Jahrhundert und mögliche Konsequenzen für die Ziele und Praxen ihrer Sprachpolitik
  • Christian Lagarde, Quelques réflexions sur la loi et la justice, sur fond de « procés » catalan
  • Oskar Peterlini, Südtirols Autonomie im Spannungsfeld zwischen VfGH und neuen Zuständigkeiten, Fort- oder Rückschritte?

Brody: To Catch a Dictator: The Pursuit and Trial of Hissène Habré

Reed Brody
has published To Catch a Dictator: The Pursuit and Trial of Hissène Habré (Columbia Univ. Press 2022). Here's the abstract:

What does it take to make a dictator answer for his crimes? Hissène Habré, the former despot of Chad, had terrorized, tortured, and killed on a horrific scale over eight bloody years in power—all while enjoying full American and Western support. After Habré’s overthrow, his victims and their supporters were determined to see him held responsible for his atrocities. Their quest for justice would be long, tense, and unnerving, but they would not back down.

To Catch a Dictator is a dramatic insider’s account of the hunt for Habré and his momentous trial. The human rights lawyer Reed Brody recounts how he and an international team of investigators, legal experts, and victims worked across three continents to unearth evidence and witnesses, petition courts and skeptical governments, and rally public opinion. They faced many obstacles and constant threats. One of Brody’s Chadian colleagues was gravely injured in a bomb attack, and another had to seek asylum in the United States. Habré fought back bitterly, drawing on secret bank accounts and extensive political connections to preserve his life of luxurious exile. Yet Brody and his allies ultimately triumphed: Habré became the first former head of state to be convicted of crimes against humanity in the courts of another country. This fast-paced, suspenseful book shows that there is nothing inevitable about the impunity that too often protects the powerful and that even the worst tyrants can be brought to justice.

New Issue: European Convention on Human Rights Law Review

The latest issue of the European Convention on Human Rights Law Review (Vol. 3, no. 4, 2022) is out. Contents include:
  • Kanstantsin Dzehtsiarou & Vassilis P Tzevelekos, A Thorny Road to Democracy, Human Rights and the Rule of Law: Ukraine and the European Court of Human Rights
  • Ganna Yudkivska, Ex Aequo et Bono – Some Post-Mandate Reflections
  • Mykola Gnatovskyy, The Strasbourg Court and Ukraine: De Jure Pacis Ad Jus Belli
  • Janneke Gerards, Article 53 echr and Minimum Protection by the European Court of Human Rights
  • Paolo Cavaliere, The Truth in Fake News: How Disinformation Laws Are Reframing the Concepts of Truth and Accuracy on Digital Platforms
  • Koen Lemmens, Freedom of Expression on the Internet after Sanchez v France: How the European Court of Human Rights Accepts Third-Party ‘Censorship’

Pils: Autocratic Challenges to International Human Rights Law: A Chinese Case Study

Eva Pils (King's College London - Law) has published Autocratic Challenges to International Human Rights Law: A Chinese Case Study (Current Legal Problems, Vol. 75, pp. 189–236, 2022). Here's the abstract:
Drawing on a case study of the implications of China’s atrocities in Xinjiang in the context of China’s historical engagement with UN and its human rights mechanisms, this article examines autocracies’ impact on the institutions and practices of international human rights law. It argues that that rather than creating new law that turns international law as a whole (more) authoritarian, the Chinese party-state is primarily—and even more dangerously—corroding its institutions and practices, while expanding neo-totalitarian governance discourses and practices to the global level. The autocratic corrosion of international human rights law institutions is exacerbated by attempts to weaken accountability under international human rights law from within liberal democracies, amounting to synergic corrosive effects. Yet, the corrosion of practices norms and institutions must not be equated with the elimination of human rights as powerful ideas underpinning responses to the institutional challenges identified here.