Law Commons^™

Representation, Inequality, Marginalization, And International Law-Making: The Case Of The International Court Of Justice And The International Law Commission, Dire Tladi

UC Irvine Journal of International, Transnational, and Comparative Law

This Article assesses the extent of inequality and marginalization in the making of international law. It examines whether there is equal contribution, and equal opportunity for contribution, in the making of international law by and for all States. In particular, the Article ponders whether the Global South is marginalized in law-making processes, or, put another way, whether the Global North is privileged. The Article evaluates whether there is equitable representation in international law-making bodies, and it focuses on the two most prominent ones, namely the International Court of Justice and the International Law Commission. The assessment addresses both the formal …

Masthead, Mission Statement, And Table Of Contents

UC Irvine Journal of International, Transnational, and Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Colonialism, Capitalism, And Race In International Law: Introduction To Symposium Issue, Michele Goodwin, Gregory Shaffer

UC Irvine Journal of International, Transnational, and Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

The Case For Reparations For The Color Of Covid, José E. Alvarez

UC Irvine Journal of International, Transnational, and Comparative Law

This Article surveys the data demonstrating that COVID-19, far from being the great equalizer, has generated starkly skewed adverse outcomes, including grossly disproportionate deaths, among persons of color in the U.S., Brazil, and India, and in all likelihood globally. The “color of COVID” results from governmental actions and inactions that, when combined with long-standing socio-economic vulnerabilities, produce deadly results for certain groups.

Global health reformers are not addressing these injustices. Like those who resist reparations for African-Americans, for the global victims of slavery, colonialism and its legacies, or for all of the current pandemic’s victims, those seeking to reform the …

Climate Change, Wto Law, And China, Yiwen Zhang

UC Irvine Journal of International, Transnational, and Comparative Law

Combating climate change is one of the most important areas for international cooperation and negotiation. The urgency of the climate crisis requires countries, especially large carbon emitters such as China, to be more active in taking climate actions. This Note mainly focuses on the two most important trade-related climate policies for reducing carbon emissions: border carbon adjustment and low-carbon subsidies. Both policies have or would likely raise legal challenges under the existing WTO legal framework. This Note introduces the two policies, analyzes why they are disputed among WTO Members, discusses China’s viewpoints, and suggests the possible actions that China can …

Theorizing Intergenerational Justice In International Law: The Case Of The Treaty On The Prohibition Of Nuclear Weapons, Hirokazu Miyazaki, Annelise Riles

UC Irvine Journal of International, Transnational, and Comparative Law

On July 21, 2021, a resolution was introduced in the Chicago City Council calling on the US government to ratify the new United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) and describing the struggle to abolish nuclear weapons as a matter of racial justice. Unlike prior nuclear disarmament treaties, the TPNW bans all nuclear weapons outright and reframes nuclear disarmament as a matter of decolonial struggle. The coming into force of the TPNW treaty raises questions about the relationship between this new treaty regime and the traditional framework of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). …

George Floyd At The Un: Whiteness, International Law, And Police Violence, Thiago Amparo, Andressa Vieira E Silva

UC Irvine Journal of International, Transnational, and Comparative Law

This article applies discursive analysis of the UN Human Rights Council debate after the killing of George Floyd in June 2020. It assesses state members’ speeches delivered during the UN session convened in June 2020, as well as the ensuing landmark report by the UN Human Commissioner for Human Rights on police violence and racism released one year later, in June 2021. Through its analysis of the current global debate on police violence against black people at the United Nations, it shows how racialized violence is and is not considered in international law. The underlying task is to unmask whiteness-coping …

State Immunity As Applied To Colonial Racism And The Japanese Military As Purchaser And Joint Tortfeasor: Case Of Korean “Comfort Women”, Kyung Sin Park

UC Irvine Journal of International, Transnational, and Comparative Law

The redress and reparation efforts for the “comfort women” of the Japanese military during the Pacific War have been hampered in their home countries by the state immunity doctrine. In this article, we first evaluate the current state of jurisprudence on state immunity doctrine, especially as expressed in the seminal 2012 ICJ decision in Ferrini. We find there that the concept of “armed forces” has been commandeered to bolster the strict application of state immunity and evaluate such usage of the categories such as “armed conflicts” and “armed forces.” We note that full legal analysis under the state immunity doctrine, …