Law Commons^™

Privatizing International Governance, Melissa J. Durkee

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The theme of this panel is “Privatizing International Governance.” As the opening vignettes should make clear, public-private partnerships of all kinds are increasingly common in the international system. Since United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan's launch of the Global Compact in 2000, the United Nations has increasingly opened up to business entities. Now, the Sustainable Development Goals, the Global Compact, and the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights all encourage engaging with business entities as partners in developing and executing global governance agendas. These partnerships are seen by some as indispensable to sustainable development, international business regulation, climate change mitigation, …

International Tax Reform: Who Gets A Seat At The Table?, Assaf Harpaz

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The international tax framework relies on early-twentieth-century principles and favors the interests of the Global North, which created it. It bases taxing rights on a corporation’s physical presence and mostly allocates profits to the country of residence. Moreover, it has been slow to adapt to modern business practices. In the digital economy, companies shift profits with relative ease and often do not require a physical presence in the location of their consumers. International taxation needs reform, but leading proposals do not reflect meaningful input from the Global South and are unlikely to serve the needs of developing countries.

In 2021, …

International Child Law And The Settlement Of Ukraine-Russia And Other Conflicts, Diane Marie Amann

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The Ukraine-Russia conflict has wreaked disproportionate harms upon children. Hundreds reportedly were killed or wounded within the opening months of the conflict, thousands lost loved ones, and millions left their homes, their schools, and their communities. Yet public discussions of how to settle the conflict contain very little at all about children. This article seeks to change that dynamic. It builds on a relatively recent trend, one that situates human rights within the structure of peace negotiations, to push for particularized treatment of children’s experiences, needs, rights, and capacities in eventual negotiations. The article draws upon twenty-first century projects that …

Why Conflict Between Economic Development And International Social Rights Governance Is Inevitable, Desiree Leclercq

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International organizations mandated to govern social rights are colliding with international organizations mandated to govern economic development. While disagreeing with the nature of fragmentation and conflict across international organizations, legal and social science scholars offer various proposals to unify global governance. Those proposals assume that unification will come naturally. That assumption is wrong.

The distinct legal instruments that govern and control international organizations render conflict inevitable and unification improbable. By closely examining the pandemic-related activities carried out by the International Labor Organization, the World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund in the same 41 countries, the implications of that conflict …

Industry Lobbying And "Interest Blind" Access Norms At International Organizations, Melissa J. Durkee

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The standard approach of many international organizations (IOs) to non-governmental associations makes no formal distinctions between nonprofit private sector groups, known as trade or industry associations, and public interest groups. Thus, most IOs offer accreditation and access to both kinds of group on equal terms, without differentiating between them. I call this approach “interest blind” and use this short essay to examine its origins and consequences. Specifically, the approach has resulted in robust participation in international governance by industry and trade lobbying groups, which can affect the quality of deliberation at IOs and of the information that international officials and …

Astroturf Activism, Melissa J. Durkee

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Corporate influence in government is more than a national issue; it is an international phenomenon. For years, businesses have been infiltrating international legal processes. They secretly lobby lawmakers through front groups: “astroturf” imitations of grassroots organizations. But because this business lobbying is covert, it has been underappreciated in both the literature and the law. This Article unearths the “astroturf activism” phenomenon. It offers an original descriptive account that classifies modes of business access to international officials and identifies harms, then develops a critical analysis of the laws that regulate this access. I show that the perplexing set of access rules …

Securing Child Rights In Time Of Conflict, Diane Marie Amann

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Each term in the title of this essay seems simple, yet provides much food for analytical thought. The essay thus explores: what is “conflict,” and whether there is a “time” when it is not present; who is a “child”; whether and to what extent children enjoy “rights”; and, finally, how local, national, and international regimes go about “securing” those rights. The essay – based on a talk given at the 2015 International Law Weekend in New York – concludes with a glance at a new potential avenue for child security: the Sustainable Development Goals which the U.N. General Assembly adopted …

Children, Diane Marie Amann

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This chapter, which appears in The Cambridge Companion to International Criminal Law (William A. Schabas ed. 2016), discusses how international criminal law instruments and institutions address crimes against and affecting children. It contrasts the absence of express attention in the post-World War II era with the multiple provisions pertaining to children in the 1998 Statute of the International Criminal Court. The chapter examines key judgments in that court and in the Special Court for Sierra Leone, as well as the ICC’s current, comprehensive approach to the effects that crimes within its jurisdiction have on children. The chapter concludes with a …

The Post-Postcolonial Woman Or Child, Diane Marie Amann

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This essay is based on remarks given as Distinguished Discussant for the 16th annual Grotius Lecture at the 2014 Annual Meeting of the American Society of International Law/Biennial Conference of the International Law Association. The essay examines the international law status of women, on the one hand, and children, on the other, through the contemporary lens of the post-postcolonial world and the historical lens of Hugo Grotius and the colonialist era. In so doing, the essay responds to the principal Grotius Lecture, "Women and Children: The Cutting Edge of International Law," which was delivered by Radhika Coomarswamy, NYU Global Professor …

International Law And The Future Of Peace, Diane Marie Amann

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These remarks, delivered at the April 4, 2013, luncheon of the American Society of International Law Women in International Law Interest Group, reflects on contributions of Jane Addams and other members of the early 20th C. peace movement as a means to explore law and practice related to the contemporary use of force and armed conflict.

From Contract To Legislation: The Logic Of Modern International Lawmaking, Timothy L. Meyer

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The future of international lawmaking is in peril. Both trade and climate negotiations have failed to produce a multilateral agreement since the mid-1990s, while the U.N. Security Council has been unable to comprehensively respond to the humanitarian crisis in Syria. In response to multilateralism’s retreat, many prominent commentators have called for international institutions to be given the power to bind holdout states — often rising or reluctant powers such as China and the United States — without their consent. In short, these proposals envision international law traveling the road taken by federal systems such as the United States and the …

Book Review, International Organizations: Politics, Law, Practice (2010), Timothy L. Meyer

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This essay reviews Ian Hurd’s International Organizations: Politics, Law, Practice. International law and international relations scholars are increasingly interested in the variation in the structures and powers of international organizations, as well as how that variation affects state decisions to comply with international law. Hurd’s book offers a nuanced overview of the relationship between the legal powers of international organizations and the political contexts in which they operate. The book uses eight case studies, including the United Nations, the World Trade Organization, the International Court of Justice, and the International Labor Organization, to assess how different political environments and institutional …

Unipolar Disorder: A European Perspective On U.S. Security Strategy, Diane Marie Amann

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Much has been said about the National Security Strategy that U.S. President George W. Bush released one year after the terrorist assaults of September 11, 2001. The Strategy's declaration that the United States would strike first to prevent attack even before an enemy possessed the capability to attack-a point in time much earlier than when tradition would have condoned an act of anticipatory self-defense-provoked considerable comment. Debate within America encompassed multiple points of view; nonetheless, and perhaps not surprisingly, much of the debate reflected an American perspective. This essay, in contrast, considers the Strategy from a European perspective, one that …

Calling Children To Account: The Proposal For A Juvenile Chamber In The Special Court For Sierra Leone, Diane Marie Amann

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In a unique proposal to the United Nations Security Council, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan recommended that a Juvenile Chamber of the Special Court have authority to try defendants as young as fifteen. The plan sparked immediate controversy. Sierra Leoneans wanted the worst perpetrators punished regardless of age, while human rights organizations argued that juvenile prosecutions would weaken rehabilitative efforts. The Security Council subsequently diluted the proposal; nevertheless, it merits examination, given the increasing use, in Africa and around the world, of children in combat.