New Issue: Arbitration International

The latest issue of Arbitration International (Vol. 39, no. 4, December 2023) is out. Contents include:

• Articles
• Andrea K Bjorklund, The road(s) not taken—the past, present, and future of international investment law reform
• Phillip Landolt, The application of public interest norms in international commercial arbitration
• Georg Scherpf & Simon Hermes, Another ‘Bleak House’—the decision of the German Federal Supreme Court on the inadmissibility of intra-EU ICSID arbitrations
• Gunjan Sharma, Fraud on the tribunal in investor–State arbitration
• Andrés A Mezgravis, The arbitrary deprivation of dual nationality in investment arbitration
• Case Note
• Paschalis Paschalidis, The Heirs of Pausimachus v City of Kalymnos arbitration

Vidmar: Territorial Status in International Law

Jure Vidmar (Maastricht Univ. - Law) has published Territorial Status in International Law (Hart Publishing 2024). Here's the abstract:

This book develops a new theory of territorialism and international legal status of territories. It (i) defines the concept of territory, explaining how territories are created; (ii) redefines the concept of statehood, illustrating that statehood (rather than the statehood criteria) is territorial legal status established in the formal sources of international law; and (iii) grounds non-state territorial entities in the sources of international law to explain their international legal status. This fresh new theoretical perspective has both scholarly and practical importance, providing a tool helping decision-makers and judges in the practical application of international law both internationally and domestically.

Boisson de Chazournes: Water in International Law: Between Singularity and Plurality

Laurence Boisson de Chazournes (Université de Genève - Law) has published Water in International Law: Between Singularity and Plurality: Inaugural lecture delivered at the Collège de France on Thursday 12 January 2023 (Collège de France 2024). Here's the abstract:

Essential to human life and activity, freshwater is increasingly becoming a concern of international law. Its regulation, initially focused on rivers shared by several States, has gradually shifted to other sources of water. Today, its scarcity, the need for sustainable distribution of its uses, its use as a weapon of war, its vulnerability to environmental degradation and the prevention of disputes are all issues that call for the mobilization and reinforcement of international law.

Contesse: International Law Scholarship in Latin America

Jorge Contesse (Rutgers Univ. - Law) has posted International Law Scholarship in Latin America (Virginia Journal of International Law, forthcoming). Here's the abstract:

There are numerous publications on international law in Latin America. Books and yearbooks traditionally published by national international law associations coexist with recently established academic journals, housed in universities which seek to fulfill international accreditation standards. Scholarship in international law is, like other areas of law, strongly linked to the dynamics and practices of legal education. In Latin America, legal education has moved from a highly formalistic model to one that seeks to modernize teaching and research. With respect to international law, it also seeks to participate in global discussions and practices of intellectual production.

In this Essay, I present a map of international law journals in Latin America. To do so, in Part II, I review the features of Latin American legal education in both its traditional and more modern forms. In Part III, I describe the status of journals in six Latin American countries (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru), giving an account of the journals and the perspectives of their editors. To gain a deeper perspective on international law scholarship in Latin America, I consulted law librarians in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, and Mexico, and interviewed editors, former editors, and directors of a dozen international law journals in the region. The resulting map offers insights on the state of scholarship in international law in Latin America, highlighting its implicit purpose of bringing international law and global discussions closer to the region and the attempt to achieve that purpose “from Latin America.”

Le Floch & Seatzu: Afrique et droit international humanitaire

Guillaume Le Floch (Université de Rennes - Law) & Francesco Seatzu (Università degli Studi di Cagliari - Law) have published Afrique et droit international humanitaire : Actes du colloque de Rennes 1er et 2 décembre 2022 (Pedone 2024). The table of contents is here.

New Issue: Leiden Journal of International Law

The latest issue of the Leiden Journal of International Law (Vol. 37, no. 1, March 2024) is out. Contents include:

• Editorial
• Eliana Cusato, Rebecca Mignot-Mahdavi, Sofia Stolk, & Renske Vos, In praise of multiplicity: Suspending the desire to change the world
• International Legal Theory
• Wouter G. Werner, Sisyphus in robes: International law, legal interpretation and the absurd
• Nina Reiners, States as bystanders of legal change: Alternative paths for the human rights to water and sanitation in international law
• Eliana Cusato & Emily Jones, The ‘imbroglio’ of ecocide: A political economic analysis
• International Law and Practice
• Louis Bélanger & Jean-Frédéric Morin, Treaty amendment procedures: A typology from a survey of multilateral environmental agreements
• Christiane Wilke & Helyeh Doutaghi, Legal technologies: Conceptualizing the legacy of the 1923 Hague Rules of Aerial Warfare
• Magdalena Słok-Wódkowska & Joanna Mazur, Between commodification and data protection: Regulatory models governing cross-border information transfers in regional trade agreements
• Katalin Sulyok, Science, epistemology and legitimacy in environmental disputes – The epistemically legitimate judicial argumentative space
• Ashrutha Rai, The 2003 Intangible Cultural Heritage Convention in Armed Conflict: An integrated reading of obligations towards culture in conflict
• International Court of Justice
• Jean d’Aspremont, The chivalric pursuit of coherence in international law
• James Gerard Devaney, Leaning from the steep slope: On coherence in response to Professor Jean d’Aspremont
• Jörg Kammerhofer, Beyond the res judicata doctrine: The nomomechanics of ICJ interpretation judgments
• International Criminal Courts and Tribunals
• Elizabeth White, Closing cases with open-source: Facilitating the use of user-generated open-source evidence in international criminal investigations through the creation of a standing investigative mechanism
• Aneta Peretko, Protection of LGBTQIA+ rights in armed conflict: How (and whether) to ‘queer’ the crime against humanity of persecution in international criminal law?
• Şehmus Kurtuluş, Characterization of the violence between Türkiye and the PKK

Call for Papers: 53rd Annual Conference of the Canadian Council on International Law

The Canadian Council on International Law has issued a call for papers for its 53rd Annual Conference, which will take place November 7-8, 2024, in Ottawa. The theme is "International Law: Enforcement and Entanglements." The call is here.

New Issue: European Journal of International Law

The latest issue of the European Journal of International Law (Vol. 34, no. 4, November 2023) is out. Contents include:

• Editorial
• In This Issue; In This Issue – Reviews; EJIL Roll of Honour; 2023 EJIL Peer Reviewer Prize; 10 Good Reads 2023
• Afterword: Antony Anghie and His Critics
• Ratna Kapur, TWAIL and Alternative Visions: ‘Talking About a Revolution’: Afterword to the Foreword by Antony Anghie
• Arnulf Becker Lorca, After TWAIL’s Success, What Next? Afterword to the Foreword by Antony Anghie
• Andreas von Arnauld, The Third World and the Quest for Reparations: Afterword to the Foreword by Antony Anghie
• Articles
• Joris Larik, Imitation as Flattery: The UK’s Trade Continuity Agreements and the EU’s Normative Foreign Policy border
• Hanna Eklund, Peoples, Inhabitants and Workers: Colonialism in the Treaty of Rome
• Year-Long Symposium: Re-Theorizing International Organizations Law: Reconsiderations, Hidden Gems, and New Perspectives
• Yifeng Chen, International Institutions as Forms and Fora: Rao Geping and the Law of International Organizations in China
• Kristina Daugirdas, Rosalyn Higgins on International Organizations and International Law: The Value and Limits of a Policy-Oriented Approach
• Devika Hovell, Jan Klabbers, & Guy Fiti Sinclair, Re-theorizing International Organizations Law: An Epilogue
• Roaming Charges
• Spot the Difference in Downtown Beirut: A Postscript to ‘Time for Justice?’
• Critical Review of Governance
• Anna Sophia Tiedeke & Martin Fertmann, A Love Triangle? Mapping Interactions between International Human Rights Institutions, Meta and Its Oversight Board border
• André Nollkaemper, International Law and the Agony of Animals in Industrial Meat Production border
• Armin Steinbach, The EU’s Turn to ‘Strategic Autonomy’: Leeway for Policy Action and Points of Conflict
• Legal/Illegal
• Anton Moiseienko, Legal: The Freezing of the Russian Central Bank’s Assets
• Ron van der Horst, Illegal, Unless: Freezing the Assets of Russia’s Central Bank
• Book Reviews
• Sigrid Boysen, reviewing Marie-Catherine Petersmann, When Environmental Protection and Human Rights Collide: The Politics of Conflict Management by Regional Courts
• Prisca Feihle, reviewing Alice Ollino, Due Diligence Obligations in International Law
• Sanna S. Lehtinen, reviewing Emily Jones, Feminist Theory and International Law: Posthuman Perspectives
• Christian J. Tams, reviewing Tommaso Soave, The Everyday Makers of International Law: From Great Halls to Back Rooms
• The Last Page
• Ricardo Reis (Fernando Pessoa), Quanta tristeza e amargura afoga

New Issue: Ocean Development & International Law

The latest issue of Ocean Development & International Law (Vol. 54, no. 4, 2023) is out. Contents include:

• H. J. Woker, Challenging the Notion of a “Single Continental Shelf”
• Apostolos Tsiouvalas & Jan Jakub Solski, ‘One Map to Rule Them All’? Revisiting Legalities Through Cartographic Representations of the Northwest Passage
• Gunnar Sander, European Approaches Support an Essential Definition of Ecosystem-Based Management and Demonstrate Its Implementation for the Oceans
• Aron Westholm & Gabriela Argüello, Dynamic Ocean Management in Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction
• Sarah Lothian, The BBNJ Agreement: Through the Prism of Deep-Sea Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems

Allen & Trinidad: The Western Sahara Question and International Law: Recognition Doctrine and Self-determination

Stephen Allen (Queen Mary Univ. of London - Law) & Jamie Trinidad (Cambridge Univ. - Law) have published The Western Sahara Question and International Law: Recognition Doctrine and Self-determination (Routledge 2024). The book is available open access. Here's the abstract:

This book analyses recent developments concerning the application of the international legal doctrines of recognition and self-determination in relation to the Western Sahara Question. It investigates the emergent shift in favour of Morocco’s sovereignty claim to Western Sahara as apparent from the positions adopted by an increasing number of third States in the United Nations and the recent spate of third States establishing consulates in Western Sahara, with Morocco’s encouragement. It reflects on what the functioning of the doctrines of recognition and self-determination in this situation reveals about contemporary international law in practice more generally. The work will be of interest to scholars, researchers, and postgraduate students as well as practitioners of public international law who have a particular interest in decolonisation, self-determination disputes, and/or conflicts about natural resource entitlements. It will also appeal to readers with an interest in the work of International Organisations, including the United Nations, the European Union, and the African Union, and to specialists in international relations and regional politics.

Akinkugbe: The Challenge to the Rule of Law and Democracy in Contemporary West and Central Africa

Olabisi D. Akinkugbe (Dalhousie Univ. - Law) has posted The Challenge to the Rule of Law and Democracy in Contemporary West and Central Africa (in The Rule of Law under Pressure: The Enmeshment of International and National Trends, Gregory Shaffer & Wayne Sandholtz eds., forthcoming). Here's the abstract:

After a moment that was characterized by a flurry of constitutional reforms and elections, coups have returned in some states in Western, Central and Sahel regions in Africa. The rule of law and democratic governance have come under significant stress. A confluence of events – colonial legacies, uprisings, regional conflicts, term elongation, challenges to the dynastic style of leadership, and the rising incidence of coups – challenge the entrenchment of the rule of law in contemporary Africa. Focusing on period between 2020 and 2023, the chapter asks: Against the background of recent coups, how should we analyze the rule of law in contemporary Africa? Is the decline of the rule of law and democratic governance in sub-Saharan Africa as a region overstated, given that the coups are concentrated in Francophone West Africa and the Sahel region? How should we think of the role of geopolitical contestations and colonial linkages in unsettling democratic regimes and eroding the rule of law in Africa?

Mührel: The Authority of the International Committee of the Red Cross: Determining What International Humanitarian Law Is

Linus Mührel (Technische Universität Dresden; Danckert Bärlein & Partner Rechtsanwälte) has published The Authority of the International Committee of the Red Cross: Determining What International Humanitarian Law Is (Brill | Nijhoff 2024). Here's the abstract:

This book conducts the first ever comprehensive study of the ICRC’s interpretations and law-ascertainments. It analyses in detail their impact on the development of international humanitarian law and international law in general as well as the reasons for their impact. This analysis involves the discussion of the ICRC’s authority. Is it legal or just factual authority? The analysis also illuminates the direction that IHL – and international law in general – develops. This insight sheds light on the question of the current type of international law, i.e., what international law is and who makes it.

New Issue: International Journal of Refugee Law

The latest issue of the International Journal of Refugee Law (Vol. 35, no. 3, October 2023) is out. Contents include:

• Maja Janmyr & Charlotte Lysa, Saudi Arabia and the International Refugee Regime
• Berfin Nur Osso, Unpacking the Safe Third Country Concept in the European Union: B/orders, Legal Spaces, and Asylum in the Shadow of Externalization
• Cristina Saenz Perez, The Securitization of Asylum: A Review of UK Asylum Laws Post-Brexit
• Margit Ammer & Monika Mayrhofer, Cross-Border Disaster Displacement and Non-Refoulement under Article 3 of the ECHR: An Analysis of the European Union and Austria

New Issue: African Journal of International and Comparative Law

The latest issue of the African Journal of International and Comparative Law (Vol. 31, no. 4, November 2023) is out. Contents include:

• M. R. Makhari, Post-Colonial Traditional Courts in Botswana, the Kingdom of Eswatini and South Africa
• Sylvester Anya, Ndubuisi Nwafor & Collins Ajibo, Patterns of State Behaviour and Cooperation with the ICC: Whither Nigeria, Ghana and Senegal
• Zia Akhtar, Universal Jurisdiction, Jus Cogens, and Suppression Conventions in the Aftermath of Lockerbie
• Benedict Abrahamson Chigara, Torrens Imperatives for SADC Fast-track Land Reform Programmes
• Albert Quashigah & Yorm A. Abledu, Criminalising and Punishing Non-Compliance with Petroleum Revenue Laws in Africa: Ghana's Experience with Non-Compliance
• Jo-Marí Visser & Deonay Scholtz, Warnings From the West: Identification and Expert Evidence as Causes of Wrongful Convictions and the Implications for South Africa (Part 1)
• Elinam De Souza, The Role of Law in Shaping a Single Currency: The European Experience in a West African Context
• Bounekhel Abdellah & Aouachria Rokaya, The Role of the Practices of the International and Regional Human Rights Treaty Bodies in the Development and Codification of the Rules of International Law – The Reservation to Treaties as a Model
• Roseline Omoye Ehiemua, Advancing Women's Rights to Joint Ownership of Matrimonial Property in Nigeria: Using Kenya as a Model

New Issue: Climate Law

The latest issue of Climate Law (Vol. 14, no. 1, 2024) is out. Contents include:

• Elizabeth Macpherson, Annick Masselot, David Jefferson, & Julia Gunn, A Critical Feminist Evaluation of Climate Adaptation Law and Policy: The Case of Aotearoa New Zealand
• Laely Nurhidayah, Shawkat Alam, Nurrahman Aji Utomo, & Agus Suntoro, Indonesia’s Just Energy Transition: The Societal Implications of Policy and Legislation on Renewable Energy
• Edwin Martin, Nur Arifatul Ulya, Syafrul Yunardy, Karlin Agustina, Dewi Meidalima, & Chuzaimah Chuzaimah, Navigating Mangrove Protection: A Jurisdictional Approach to Climate Action in South Sumatra, Indonesia
• Jenny Hall & Louis Koen, Taking Stock of the Scholarship on the Relationship between International Investment Law and the Need for Raised Climate Ambition

Workshop: Rethinking Human Rights Treaty Withdrawals

On March 14, 2024, the Maastricht Centre for Human Rights will hold a hybrid session as part of its Pick Our Brain Series. Başak Çalı and Larry Helfer will discuss "Rethinking Human Rights Treaty Withdrawals." Details are here.

Symposium: Law of the Sea: Climate Change and Other Recent Developments

On March 6, 2024, the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law will host a symposium on "Law of the Sea: Climate Change and Other Recent Developments." Details are here.

Merkouris, Kulick, Álvarez-Zarate, & Żenkiewicz: Custom and its Interpretation in International Investment Law

Panos Merkouris (Rijksuniversiteit Groningen), Andreas Kulick (Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen), José Manuel Álvarez-Zarate (Universidad Externado de Colombia), & Maciej Żenkiewicz (Nicholas Copernicus University of Toruń) have published Custom and its Interpretation in International Investment Law (Cambridge Univ. Press 2024). The table of contents is here. Here's the abstract:

At first glance, one may think of international investment law as a response to custom (or lack thereof), instead of a field of its application. However, in fact, the opposite is the case. The interpretation and application of customary rules and principles are the bread and butter of international investment law and arbitration. With a diverse range of expert contributors, this collection traces how customary international law is practised in international investment law. It considers how custom should be interpreted and how its rules and principles should be understood and applied by investor-state arbitral tribunals. Raising and addressing vital questions surrounding custom and international law, this collection is a necessary contribution to the scholarship of the theory and history of customary international law and international investment law. This title is available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

New Issue: International Journal of Human Rights

The latest issue of the International Journal of Human Rights (Vol. 28, no. 2, 2024) is out. Contents include:

• Valerie Verdoodt, Yueming Zhang & Eva Lievens, Safeguarding the child’s right to privacy and data protection in the European Union and China: a tale of state duties and business responsibilities
• Andrew Mazibrada, Monika Plozza & Sebastian Porsdam Mann, Innovating in uncharted terrain: on interpretation and normative legitimacy in the CESCR’s General Comment No. 25 on the right to science
• Oktawian Nawrot, Piotr Szudejko & Valeri Vachev, The interior castle of conscience vs. new human rights in the age of neuroscience and neurotechnology
• Mohammed Almahfali, Mark LeVine & Abdulghani Muthanna, Mapping Arabic human rights discourse: a thematic review
• Kari Otteburn, Reaching the limit: access to remedy through nonjudicial mechanisms for victims of business-related human rights abuses
• Bryan H. Jones, Revelation without reparation: evaluating the Oklahoma commission to study the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921
• Pavel Doubek, COVID-19 quarantine in Taiwan: from ‘success story’ to perilous deprivation of liberty

New Issue: Revue Générale de Droit International Public

The latest issue of the Revue Générale de Droit International Public (Vol. 127, no. 4, 2023) is out. Contents include:

• Guillaume Le Floch & Francesco Seatzu, Quelques considérations sur le conflit d'intérêts en droit international public
• Valentina Zambrano, Gel des actifs des banques centrales étrangères pour de graves violations des droits de l'homme : une pratique ultra vires ou ultra innovantes ?
• Robert Kolb, Les articles de la CDI sur la responsabilité des États pour fait internationalement illicite de 2001 dans la jurisprudence de la Cour internationale de Justice

New Issue: Journal of International Wildlife Law & Policy

The latest issue of the Journal of International Wildlife Law & Policy (Vol. 26, no. 4, 2023) is out. Contents include:

• Nikolas Sellheim, The Challenge of the Quorum at the International Whaling Commission
• Marcus Reamer, Hunter Vaughan & Meryl Shriver-Rice, Documenting the Endangered North Atlantic Right Whale: Policies, Conservation Efforts, and Stakeholders Depicted in Entangled and Last of the Right Whales
• Nathanial Gronewold, The International Legacy of the United States Endangered Species Act of 1973

New Issue: International Legal Materials

The latest issue of International Legal Materials (Vol. 63, no. 1, February 2024) is out. Contents include:

• The Agreement Under the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea on the Conservation & Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction, with introductory note by Nathaniel Yong-Ern Khng
• Res. 77/276 on Request for an Advisory Opinion of the I.C.J. on the Obligations of States in Respect of Climate Change (U.N.G.A.): Request for an Advisory Opinion Submitted by the Comm'n of small Island States on Climate Change (COSIS) : Request for an Advisory Opinion on the Climate Emergency & Human Rights (Chile & Colom.), with introductory note by Nathaniel Khng, Kevin Chand, Lucía Solano
• Res. 2664 (U.N.S.C.) and Res. 52/13 (U.N.H.R.C.), with introductory note by Dinah Shelton
• Convention on the Int'l Effects of Judicial Sales of Ships (U.N.), with introductory note by John E. Bradley
• Basu v. Ger. and Muhammad v. Spain (Eur. Ct. H.R.), with introductory note by Stephanie Farrior

Conference: The International Judicial Function under Pressure: Do Courts and Tribunals Go Off the Rails?

On February 8-9, 2024, the Geneva Center for International Dispute Settlement will host a conference on "The International Judicial Function under Pressure: Do Courts and Tribunals Go Off the Rails? Details are here.

Conference: The Presence of International Organizations in the Evolution of the International Law of the Sea: Thirty Years Since the Entry Into Force of UNCLOS

On February 23, 2024, the Faculty of Law of the Universidade da Coruña will host a conference on "The Presence of International Organizations in the Evolution of the International Law of the Sea: Thirty Years Since the Entry Into Force of UNCLOS." Details are here.

New Volume: Annuaire français de droit international

The latest volume of the Annuaire français de droit international (Vol. 68, 2022) is out. The table of contents is here.