Webinar: Towards a new BBNJ Agreement: Negotiating a new treaty for the conservation of marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction

On October 4, 2021, the Centre for Environmental Law at Macquarie University will host a webinar on "Towards a new BBNJ Agreement: Negotiating a new treaty for the conservation of marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction" by Nilüfer Oral (National Univ. of Singapore - Centre for International Law). This is part of the Centre's Biodiversity Law and Governance webinar series: Law & Nature Dialogues. Details are here.

Bock & Conze: Rethinking the Crime of Aggression: International and Interdisciplinary Perspectives

Stefanie Bock (Philipps-Universität Marburg - Law) & Eckart Conze (Philipps-Universität Marburg - History) have published Rethinking the Crime of Aggression: International and Interdisciplinary Perspectives (Asser Press 2021). The table of contents is here. Here's the abstract:

This book presents a selection of revised and updated papers presented in September 2018 at the International Conference ‘Rethinking the Crime of Aggression: International and Interdisciplinary Perspectives’, which was held in Marburg, Germany, and hosted by the International Research and Documentation Centre for War Crimes Trials (ICWC).

In light of the activation of the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court concerning the crime of aggression, international experts from various disciplines such as law, history, the social sciences, psychology and economics came together to enhance the understanding of this complex and challenging matter and thereby opened a cross-disciplinary dialogue regarding aggressive war and the crime of aggression: a dialogue that not only addresses the historical genesis of the current situation, the content of the new aggression provisions, their implementation in practice and their possible regulatory effects, but also instigates perspectives for investigating future developments and issues.

Milanovic: Intelligence Sharing in Multinational Military Operations and Complicity under International Law

Marko Milanovic (Univ. of Nottingham - Law) has posted Intelligence Sharing in Multinational Military Operations and Complicity under International Law (International Law Studies, Vol. 97, p. 1269, 2021). Here's the abstract:

This article examines the international legal framework applicable to intelligence sharing in multinational military operations, with a particular focus on complicity scenarios. It first provides a theoretical overview of the role of fault in complicity, of how intent and knowledge can be conceptualized, and of the attribution of fault to States. It then looks in detail at the rule codified in Article 16 of the International Law Commission’s Articles on State Responsibility, and argues that this rule is best understood as employing multiple modes of fault (direct and indirect intent and wilful blindness). The article also argues that international humanitarian law (IHL) and international human rights law (IHRL) possess their own complicity rules. These regime-specific rules can apply to State assistance to non-state actors and can employ more relaxed modes of fault than Article 16. A State could thus be responsible for facilitating the commission of serious violations of IHL and IHRL through the sharing of intelligence or the provision of other aid if it consciously disregarded a risk that its partner would commit such violations with the aid provided. The article then looks at the role that mitigation measures employed by the assisting State, such as diplomatic assurances, have in assessing its responsibility for complicity, and at whether risks generated by the provision of assistance can lawfully be balanced against the risks generated by suspending assistance. Finally, the article examines two basic scenarios – that of sharing intelligence that facilitates a partner’s wrongful act, and that of receiving unlawfully obtained or shared intelligence.

Provost: Rebel Courts: The Administration of Justice by Armed Insurgents

René Provost (McGill Univ. - Law) has published Rebel Courts: The Administration of Justice by Armed Insurgents (Oxford Univ. Press 2021). Here's the abstract:

Warzones are sometimes described as lawless, but this is rarely the case. Armed insurgents often replace the state as the provider of law and justice in areas under their authority. Based on extensive fieldwork, Rebel Courts offers a compelling and unique insight into the judicial governance of armed groups, a phenomenon never studied comprehensively until now.

Using a series of detailed case studies of non-state armed groups in a diverse range of conflict situations, including the FARC (Colombia), Islamic State (Syria and Iraq), Taliban (Afghanistan), Tamil Tigers (Sri Lanka), PKK (Turkey), PYD (Syria), and KRG (Iraq), Rebel Courts argues that it is possible for non-state armed groups to legally establish and operate a system of courts to administer justice. Rules of public international law that regulate the conduct of war can be interpreted as authorising the establishment of rebel courts by armed groups. When operating in a manner consistent with due process, rebel courts demand a certain degree of recognition by international states, institutions, and even other non-state armed groups.

Mälksoo: Post-Soviet Eurasia, Uti Possidetis and the Clash between Universal and Russian-Led Regional Understandings of International Law

Lauri Mälksoo (Univ. of Tartu - Law) has published Post-Soviet Eurasia, Uti Possidetis and the Clash between Universal and Russian-Led Regional Understandings of International Law (New York Univ. Journal of International Law and Politics, Vol. 53, no. 3, Summer 2021, p. 787). Here's the abstract:

This article argues that a clash has emerged between the Western universalist and Russian particular concepts of international law, including on the conditions of sovereign statehood in the post-Soviet, or Russia’s former imperial, space. In the post-Soviet space, Moscow has not unconditionally accepted the principle of uti possidetis, i.e., the rule that former boundaries between units of federalism would also constitute borders between new sovereign States. This article interprets Russia’s interventions in the post-Soviet space, as well as recent attempts to create integration law in Eurasia, as Russia’s attempts to create regional international law as the Eurasian concrete order, as opposed to ‘Western’ international law that is based on abstract universal principles.

Rocha: Private Actors as Participants in International Law: A Critical Analysis of Membership under the Law of the Sea

Armando Rocha (Católica Global School of Law; Univ. of Lisbon - Law) has published Private Actors as Participants in International Law: A Critical Analysis of Membership under the Law of the Sea (Hart Publishing 2021). Here's the abstract:

This book examines the status of private actors as subjects of law under the rules of the international law of the sea. Providing a methodology for the notion of a single legal personality, it provides a clear understanding of membership in international law in order to establish to what extent private actors can be rights-holders or duty-bearers. It does this by taking a theoretical perspective which allows the reader to interpret their relevance in international law. This unique and innovative work makes a significant contribution to the current scholarly debates on private actors in international law.

Sadat: New Developments in State Practice on Immunity of State Officials for International Crimes

Leila Sadat (Washington Univ. in St. Louis - Law) has posted an ASIL Insight on New Developments in State Practice on Immunity of State Officials for International Crimes.

Casey-Maslen: The Right to Life under International Law: An Interpretative Manual

Stuart Casey-Maslen (Univ. of Pretoria) has published The Right to Life under International Law: An Interpretative Manual (Cambridge Univ. Press 2021). Here's the abstract:

The Right to Life under International Law offers the first-ever comprehensive treatment under international law of the foundational human right to life. It describes the history, content, and status of the right, considers jurisdictional issues, and discusses the application of the right to a wide range of groups, such as women, children, persons with disabilities, members of minorities, LGBTI persons, refugees, and journalists. It defines the responsibility of not only governments but also the private sector, armed groups, and non-governmental organisations to respect the prohibition on arbitrary deprivation of life. It also explains the nature and substance of the duty to investigate potentially unlawful death as well as the mechanisms at global and regional level to promote respect for the right to life.

Call for Submissions: Tort Law and Climate Change Mitigation

Climate Law has issued a call for submissions for a special issue on "Tort Law and Climate Change Mitigation." The call is here.

Conference: 50th Annual Conference of the Canadian Council on International Law

The Canadian Council on International Law will hold its 50th Annual Conference virtually on October 20-22, 2021. The theme is: "Getting International Law Back on Track?" The program is here. Registration is here.

Dobson: Extraterritoriality and Climate Change Jurisdiction: Exploring EU Climate Protection under International Law

Natalie L Dobson (Utrecht Univ. - Law) has published Extraterritoriality and Climate Change Jurisdiction: Exploring EU Climate Protection under International Law (Hart Publishing 2021). Here's the abstract:

This book builds on the scholarship of the law of state jurisdiction, engaging with fundamental questions about states' legislative competence, to respond to climate change. Considering general theory, the author advocates for a systemic analytical framework for the contested issue of 'extraterritoriality' in international law.

Exploring the crystallisation of 'climate change jurisdiction', the book provides a comprehensive exploration of the jurisdictional bases and limitations for unilateral climate protection measures. In doing so, cross-cutting issues of world trade law, international civil aviation law, the law of the sea, and importantly, the customary international law of state jurisdiction are considered.

Amidst the myriad of developing norms, a novel 'considerate design' tool is introduced to assist policymakers in finding a better balance between regulatory autonomy, development needs and the protection of common concerns.

New Issue: Journal of International Arbitration

The latest issue of the Journal of International Arbitration (Vol. 38, no. 5, 2021) is out. Contents include:

• Kevin Tan & Michael Hwang, The Time Limit to Set Aside an Award Under Article 34(3) of the Model Law: A Comparative Study
• Nathalie Allen, Leonor Díaz Córdova, & Natalie Hall, ‘If Everyone Is Thinking Alike, Then No One Is Thinking’: The Importance of Cognitive Diversity in Arbitral Tribunals to Enhance the Quality of Arbitral Decision Making
• Morten Broberg & Niels Fenger, Preliminary References to the European Court of Justice by Arbitration Tribunals
• Felix Krumbiegel, The Applicability of the Russia-Ukraine Bilateral Investment Treaty to Crimea in the Light of the Duty of Non-recognition in International Law
• Mikhail Batsura, Limits to Party Autonomy in Appointing Counsel in International Commercial Arbitration

New Issue: Global Trade and Customs Journal

The latest issue of Global Trade and Customs Journal (Vol. 16, no. 10, 2021) is out. Contents include:

• The Advisory Centre on WTO Law
• Patricia Holmes, Introduction
• Claudia Orozco, The Story Behind the ACWL
• Otto Genee, Funding a Global Public Good
• Niall Meagher & Frieder Roessler, Delivering International Legal Aid in the Twenty-First Century: Twenty Years of Experience at the ACWL
• Christian Vidal-León, Assisting Developing and Least Developed Countries in Legal Aspects of WTO Negotiations: A Case Study of the Fisheries Subsidies Negotiations
• Cherise Valles, The ACWL’s Mandate to Provide Training on WTO Law: The ACWL’s Annual Training Course
• Cherise Valles & Fernando Piérola, EC-Chicken Cuts: How Developing Countries Obtained Increased Market Access Through Successful Recourse to WTO Dispute Settlement
• Marco Tulio Molina Tejeda, & Tatiana Yanguas, Litigating WTO Disputes in Spanish or French
• Jan Bohanes, Developing WTO Members as Users and Targets of Anti-dumping Policy
• Kholofelo Kugler, Facilitating African Countries’ Participation in the Global Trading System
• Thi Nhung Nguyen, Shailja Singh, & Angela Tamanda Kaunda, The ACWL’s Secondment Programme: Reflections by Three Former Seconded Lawyers
• Karl P. Sauvant & Federico Ortino, Extending International Legal Aid from Trade to Investment: An Advisory Centre on International Investment Law

Fox: Old and New Peace Agreements

Gregory H. Fox (Wayne State Univ. - Law) has posted Old and New Peace Agreements (Seton Hall Law Review, forthcoming). Here's the abstract:

What should international law make of peace agreements? In the Nineteenth Century, when treaties regularly ended inter-state armed conflicts (IACs), the answer was easy. Peace agreements were binding treaties whose terms could be freely dictated by the winning side. Peace agreements also signaled that a series of rules specific to wartime were no longer operable. Contemporary peace agreements share neither of these characteristics. This is because they largely end non-international armed conflicts (NIACs). Agreements between governments and rebels do not meet the definition of a binding treaty. And IAC agreements’ signaling function has long passed into obsolescence. How then, if at all, do new NIAC peace agreements engage with international law?

This article argues that international law has become critical to their genesis in two respects. First, the agreements parallel international law’s concern with governance issues by restructuring domestic institutions. Their governance focus is the logical consequence of international law’s refusal to “resolve” NIACs through large-scale and violent changes to national borders or demographic profiles. Former combatants must live with each other and NIAC agreements seek to structure their peaceful co-existence.

Second, all stages of NIAC agreements have become heavily multilateralized. International actors wield incentives and sanctions from the onset of conflict through the agreements’ implementation. In so doing, they radically expand the factors militating toward a peace settlement. These added factors, especially those providing a “credible commitment” of enforcing the agreement, reconfigure the parties’ incentives as to whether or not a negotiated end to conflict will serve their interests.

New Additions to the UN Audiovisual Library of International Law

The Codification Division of the UN Office of Legal Affairs recently added new materials to the UN Audiovisual Library of International Law website. They include a lecture given by Inga Winkler on “The Human Rights to Water and Sanitation” and an introductory note by Daniel Bodansky on the Paris Agreement, 2015.

The Audiovisual Library of International Law is also available as a podcast on SoundCloud and can also be accessed through the relevant preinstalled applications on Apple or Google devices, or through the podcast application of your preference by searching “Audiovisual Library of International Law.”

New Issue: GlobaLex

The latest issue of GlobaLex (September/October 2021) includes the following:

• Francisco A. Avalos, Discovering the United States-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement (USMCA)
• Anne Mostad-Jensen & Cyril Emery, International Commercial Contracts
• Arundhati Ashok Satkalmi, Researching International Marine Environmental Law

Lissowsky: Das Menschenrecht auf Reparationen: Theoretische Grundlagen und praktische Umsetzung am Internationalen Strafgerichtshof

Michaela Lissowsky has published Das Menschenrecht auf Reparationen: Theoretische Grundlagen und praktische Umsetzung am Internationalen Strafgerichtshof (Duncker & Humblot 2021). Here's the abstract:

Die Opfer internationaler Straftaten haben schwerstes physisches und psychisches Leid erfahren. Mit Recht fordern sie auch noch nach Jahrzehnten Reparationen für die erlittenen Schäden und schweren Menschenrechtsverletzungen. Die Autorin weist in ihrer interdisziplinären Studie, welche Erkenntnisse der Philosophie, Rechtswissenschaft und Politikwissenschaft einbezieht, nach, dass der Anspruch der Opfer auf Reparationen menschenrechtlich fundiert ist. Insoweit erweist sich die Anerkennung von Opferwerdung und Opfersein als Voraussetzung des Menschenrechts auf Reparationen und sein gerechtigkeitsschaffendes Prinzip. Zugleich verklammert die Autorin diese Grundsatzreflexionen mit einer konkreten institutionellen Problembeschreibung der Reparationspraxis am Trust Fund for Victims des Internationalen Strafgerichtshofs. Dabei legt sie die Defizite der Operationalisierung des Menschenrechts auf Reparationen am IStGH schonungslos offen.

Call for Venues: 8th Biennial SIEL Global Conference 2023

The Society of International Economic Law has issued a call for venues for the Eighth Biennial SIEL Conference, to be held in July 2023. The call is open to all institutions (including consortia or collaborations of institutions) active in the field of international economic law. Proposals must be submitted by November 30, 2021. The call is here.

Cusato: The Ecology of War and Peace: Marginalising Slow and Structural Violence in International Law

Eliana Cusato (Univ. of Amsterdam) has published The Ecology of War and Peace: Marginalising Slow and Structural Violence in International Law (Cambridge Univ. Press 2021). Here's the abstract:

The connection between ecology and conflict has been the object of extensive study by political scientists and economists. From the contribution of natural resource 'scarcity' to violent unrest and armed conflict; to resource 'abundance' as an incentive for initiating and prolonging armed struggles; to dysfunctional resource management and environmental degradation as obstacles to peacebuilding, this literature has exerted a huge influence upon academic discussions and policy developments. While international law is often invoked as the solution to the socio-environmental challenges faced by conflict-affected countries, its relationship with the ecology of war and peace remains undertheorised. Drawing upon environmental justice perspectives and other theoretical traditions, the book unpacks and problematizes some of the assumptions that underlie the legal field. Through an analysis of the practice of international courts, the UN Security Council, and Truth Commissions, it shows how international law silences and even normalizes forms of structural and slow environmental violence.

Verdebout: Rewriting Histories of the Use of Force: The Narrative of 'Indifference'

Agatha Verdebout (Université Catholique de Lille) has published Rewriting Histories of the Use of Force: The Narrative of 'Indifference' (Cambridge Univ. Press 2021). Here's the abstract:

It is commonly taught that the prohibition of the use of force is an achievement of the twentieth century and that beforehand States were free to resort to the arms as they pleased. International law, the story goes, was 'indifferent' to the use of force. 'Reality' as it stems from historical sources, however, appears much more complex. Using tools of history, sociology, anthropology and social psychology, this monograph offers new insights into the history of the prohibition of the use of force in international law. Conducting in-depth analysis of nineteenth century doctrine and State practice, it paves the way for an alternative narrative on the prohibition of force, and seeks to understand the origins of international law's traditional account. In so doing, it also provides a more general reflection on how the discipline writes, rewrites and chooses to remember its own history.

New Issue: Journal of World Investment & Trade

The latest issue of the Journal of World Investment & Trade (Vol. 22, no. 4, 2021) is out. Contents include:

• Special Issue: National Security, Private Actors, and Political Risk: Judicial and Non-Judicial Responses
• Stephan W Schill & Geraldo Vidigal, National Security, Private Actors, and Political Risk: Judicial and Non-Judicial Responses: An Introduction
• Momchil Milanov, A Lauterpachtian Affair: Security Exceptions as ‘Self-Judging Obligations’ in the Case Law of the International Court of Justice and Beyond
• Cheng Bian, Foreign Direct Investment Screening and National Security: Reducing Regulatory Hurdles to Investors Through Induced Reciprocity
• Teoman M. Hagemeyer & Jens Hillebrand Pohl, Managing the Risk of Self-Judging Security Exceptions Through Insurance: How Recent Mergers and Acquisitions Practice Copes with Investment Screening

Call for Submissions: Intergovernmental Organisations In-House Counsel Journal

The Intergovernmental Organisations In-House Counsel Journal has issued a call for submissions for its next volume. The call is here.

New Issue: International Affairs

The latest issue of International Affairs (Vol. 97, no. 5, September 2021) is out. Contents include:

• Leah De Haan, Editorial 50:50 in 2020: International Affairs gender balance report 2021
• Special Issue: Deglobalization? The Future of the Liberal International Order
• Markus Kornprobst & T V Paul, Globalization, deglobalization and the liberal international order
• Norrin M Ripsman, Globalization, deglobalization and Great Power politics
• Steve Chan, Challenging the liberal order: the US hegemon as a revisionist power
• Benjamin Miller, How ‘making the world in its own liberal image’ made the West less liberal
• Umut Aydin, Emerging middle powers and the liberal international order
• Dorit Geva & Felipe G Santos, Europe's far-right educational projects and their vision for the international order
• John M Owen, Two emerging international orders? China and the United States
• Jozef Bátora, States, interstitial organizations and the prospects for liberal international order
• Katharina P Coleman & Brian L Job, How Africa and China may shape UN peacekeeping beyond the liberal international order
• Jarrod Hayes & Katja Weber, Globalization, deglobalization and human security: the case of Myanmar
• Steven E Lobell & Jordan Ernstsen, The liberal international trading order (LITO) in an era of shifting capabilities
• Mark R Brawley, Globalization/deglobalization: lessons from liberal monetary orders
• Aseema Sinha, Understanding the ‘crisis of the institution’ in the liberal trade order at the WTO
• Markus Kornprobst & Stephanie Strobl, Global health: an order struggling to keep up with globalization
• Jeannette Money, Globalization, international mobility and the liberal international order
• Navnita Chadha Behera, Globalization, deglobalization and knowledge production
• T V Paul, Globalization, deglobalization and reglobalization: adapting liberal international order

New Issue: International Studies Review

The latest issue of International Studies Review (Vol. 23, no. 3, September 2021) is out. Contents include:

• Katharina P Coleman, Magnus Lundgren, & Kseniya Oksamytna, Slow Progress on UN Rapid Deployment: The Pitfalls of Policy Paradigms in International Organizations
• Johanna Söderström, Malin Åkebo, & Anna K Jarstad, Friends, Fellows, and Foes: A New Framework for Studying Relational Peace
• Tyler Evans, Daniel J Milton, & Joseph K Young, Choosing to Fight, Choosing to Die: Examining How ISIS Foreign Fighters Select Their Operational Roles
• Elise Rousseau & Stephane J Baele, “Filthy Lapdogs,” “Jerks,” and “Hitler”: Making Sense of Insults in International Relations
• Janine Natalya Clark, Beyond “Bouncing”: Resilience as an Expansion–Contraction Dynamic within a Holonic Frame
• Sara McLaughlin Mitchell & Elise Pizzi, Natural Disasters, Forced Migration, and Conflict: The Importance of Government Policy Responses
• Courtenay R Conrad & Nathan W Monroe, Legislative Process in International Organizations
• Gerasimos Tsourapas, Global Autocracies: Strategies of Transnational Repression, Legitimation, and Co-Optation in World Politics
• Mathis Lohaus & Wiebke Wemheuer-Vogelaar, Who Publishes Where? Exploring the Geographic Diversity of Global IR Journals
• Allard Duursma, Pinioning the Peacekeepers: Sovereignty, Host-State Resistance against Peacekeeping Missions, and Violence against Civilians
• Cesare M Scartozzi, Reframing Climate-Induced Socio-Environmental Conflicts: A Systematic Review
• Yuna Han & Sophie T Rosenberg, Claiming Equality: The African Union's Contestation of the Anti-Impunity Norm
• Shpend Kursani, Reconsidering the Contested State in Post-1945 International Relations: An Ontological Approach
• Julia Kreienkamp & Tom Pegram, Governing Complexity: Design Principles for the Governance of Complex Global Catastrophic Risks
• Matthew D Stephen, China's New Multilateral Institutions: A Framework and Research Agenda
• Michiel van Ingen, Sublating the Naturalism/Anti-Naturalism Problematic: Critical Realism, Critical Naturalism, and the Question of Methodology
• Tore Fougner, Engaging the “Animal Question” in International Relations
• Juan Masullo, Refusing to Cooperate with Armed Groups Civilian Agency and Civilian Noncooperation in Armed Conflicts
• Jørgen Møller, Medieval Origins of the European State System: The Catholic Church as Midwife
• Eric Helleiner, The Return of National Self-Sufficiency? Excavating Autarkic Thought in a De-Globalizing Era
• Marcel Kaba, NGO Accountability: A Conceptual Review across the Engaged Disciplines

Call for Submissions: Journal of Territorial and Maritime Studies

The Journal of Territorial and Maritime Studies has issued a call for submissions for its Winter/Spring 2022 issue. The call is here.