Law Commons^™

The Pivotal Role Of International Human Rights Law In Defeating Cybercrime: Amid A (Un-Backed) Global Treaty On Cybercrime, Professor Fatemah Albader

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

On May 26, 2021, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted a resolution approving the drafting of a new global treaty on cybercrime, which commenced in February 2022. The proposed UN agreement on cybercrime regulation has garnered significant criticism among the international community, namely by state delegates, human rights advocates, and nongovernmental organizations. Fears stem from the belief that such a treaty would be used to legitimize abusive practices and undermine fundamental human rights. National cybercrime laws already unduly restrict human rights. However, at a time where the global community has moved toward a digital world, it becomes even …

The Law And Politics Of Ransomware, Asaf Lubin

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

What do Lady Gaga, the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, the city of Valdez in Alaska, and the court system of the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul all have in common? They have all been victims of ransomware attacks, which are growing both in number and severity. In 2016, hackers perpetrated roughly four thousand ransomware attacks a day worldwide, a figure which was already alarming. By 2020, however, ransomware attacks reached a staggering number, between twenty thousand and thirty thousand per day in the United States alone. That is a ransomware attack every eleven seconds, each of which …

Information Operations Under International Law, Tsvetelina Van Benthem, Talita Dias, Duncan B. Hollis

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

An information operation or activity (IO) can be defined as the deployment of digital resources for cognitive purposes to change or reinforce attitudes or behaviors of the targeted audience in ways that align with the authors' interests. While not a new phenomenon, these operations have become increasingly prominent and pervasive in today's digital age, a trend that the ongoing war in Ukraine and the use of the internet for terrorist purposes tragically demonstrate. Against this backdrop, this Article critically assesses the existing international legal framework applicable to IOs. It makes three overarching claims. First, IOs can cause real and tangible …

Regulating Global Stablecoins: A Model-Law Strategy, Steven L. Schwarcz

Vanderbilt Law Review

Digital currencies have the potential to improve the speed and efficiency of the payment system. The principal challenge is retail: to facilitate day-to-day payments among consumers as an alternative to cash, both domestically and across national borders. Two models of digital currencies are becoming viable: central bank digital currencies and nongovernment-issued currencies that are backed by assets having intrinsic value (stablecoins or, when widely used internationally, global stablecoins). Because they are not government issued, global stablecoins present complex and novel cross-border regulatory challenges, including managing the costs of complying with a multitude of national laws and ensuring international legal enforceability. …

Deepfake Fight: Ai-Powered Disinformation And Perfidy Under The Geneva Conventions, David Nicholas Allen

Notre Dame Journal on Emerging Technologies

Deception and disinformation are as much a part of the battlefield as bullets and bombs. However, just like with bullets and bombs, if the law does not properly regulate a capability’s use the capability could degrade faith in the law. In this respect, this paper examines deepfake technology, a modern artificial intelligence-based capability that can generate superficially-perfect yet wholly invented media content. The paper looks ahead to its potential future applications in armed conflict, processes the ways in which current law contemplates such deception, and distills recommendations for improving governance where needed.

Security Council Resolutions And The Double Function Of Explanation Of Votes, Mark Klamberg

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

UN Security Council resolutions are not always clear: they sometimes need to be interpreted. Members of the Security Council may make statements in connection with their votes, termed explanation of votes. Explanation of votes may have at least two functions. First, they may contribute to the formation of customary international law. Secondly, they can be used as a means for interpreting Security Council resolutions in relation to a specific situation or dispute. The present Article examines different trajectories of conversations to show how Security Council resolutions and explanation of votes may protect the status quo in some instances and act …

Putin V. Zelensky: Reflections On Leadership, Global Order, And The Rule Of Law, Charles H. Brower Ii

University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review

No abstract provided.

International Law Considerations For 21st Century Engagements At Sea, Vice Admiral Darse E. “Del” Crandall Jr.

International Law Studies

Keynote address by the Judge Advocate General of the U.S. Navy at the Alexander C. Cushing International Law Conference at the U.S. Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island, May 16, 2022.

Paving A New (Hua)Wei: A Comparative Analysis Of International Approaches To Securing Information And Communication Technology Supply Chains, Jordan Villegas

Catholic University Law Review

Recent amendments to Chinese Intelligence Laws codify affirmative obligations upon domestic companies and citizens alike, namely, that they must assist and support the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in its intelligence gathering efforts. Coupling these laws with the international prevalence of Huawei, a Chinese telecommunications company comprising two-thirds of 5G equipment outside China, CCP compromised 5G equipment is an unassailable reality. This article explores five intelligence allied nations and how each has respectively addressed the risk posed by Huawei. It argues each nation’s policies are deducible to three primary approaches, categorically including: (1) promulgation of law explicitly excluding Huawei 5G equipment; …

Book Review: The Development Of The Law Of The Sea Convention: The Role Of International Courts And Tribunals, Kalista Wilson

Natural Resources Journal

No abstract provided.

Epidemics And International Law: The Need For International Regulation, Claudio Grossman

University of Miami International and Comparative Law Review

This article presents comments by the author made to open the Miami Law Review conference on Epidemics1 and International Law.2 Its main purpose is to refer to the impact of COVID-19 on different norms and legal regimes, focusing mainly on the 2005 International Health Regulations (IHR), addressing areas of reform as well as the interactions of those norms with international human rights law. This will include the proposals of change for the 2005 IHR, designed to better protect vulnerable peoples in future global health crises. Some of the ideas presented in this contribution are included in a proposal that I …

Incomplete International Investment Law -- Applying The Incomplete Contract Theory, Tae Jung Park

University of Cincinnati Law Review

There is a puzzle in the field of international investment law: many negotiating countries fail to complete their International Investment Agreements (“IIA”) and postpone the renegotiations for completion as well. The literature on IIAs has neglected to consider the existence, causes, and solutions of this phenomenon. This study employs the incomplete contract theory to explain the causes and solutions surrounding this phenomenon.

Challenging Some Baseline Assumptions About The Evolution Of International Commissions Of Inquiry, Michael A. Becker

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Conventional accounts of the historical development of international commissions of inquiry reflect a progress narrative consisting of three propositions: (1) that recourse to inquiry bodies has increased dramatically in the post-Cold War era, (2) that inquiry bodies have evolved from mechanisms for "pure" fact- finding into quasi-judicial bodies that engage with international law, and (3) that the function of inquiry bodies has shifted from diplomatic dispute settlement to norm enforcement and accountability. Part I explains how this narrative simplifies and distorts the rich history of inquiry bodies in international affairs. Part II shows how the idea of a post-Cold War …

The Right To Food Comes To America, Wendy Heipt

Journal of Food Law & Policy

The people of Maine recently exercised an opportunity no citizen of this country has ever had before: the ability to vote on whether to enshrine a right to food in their state constitution. This Essay provides an overview of Maine’s experience with food rights in order to explain how the state came to occupy this unique position.

Still On Patrol: An Argument For Greater Protections For Sunken American State Vessels In International And Foreign Coastal Waters, Sarah Elizabeth Catterson

St. John's Law Review

(Excerpt)

Quint, the surly captain from Steven Spielberg’s Jaws, is perhaps most famous for his soliloquy recounting the Indianapolis tragedy. The Indy, as she was called, sunk just under fifteen minutes after being hit by Japanese torpedoes in 1945 following her delivery of the components for the Hiroshima atomic bomb to the Pacific island of Tinian. It took the Navy five days to realize she was missing, by which point 600 of the 800 survivors had died from exposure or shark attacks. The Indy remained missing until she was found seventy-two years later by the Petrel, a …

Crossing Borders: The Overlap And Conflict Of International And Domestic Laws Regarding Refugees And Asylum Seekers, Yunha Hwang, Belle De La Rosa, Editor

Brigham Young University Prelaw Review

The policies of the United States regarding refugees and asylum seekers within the past decade have consistently conflicted with international standards, in regards to the 1951 Refugee Convention and the following 1967 Protocol. Especially in recent years, the United States has been producing a line of increasingly exclusive policies and caps that hinder the resettlement process and as a result, has been causing increased violations against the principles listed in Article 14 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948). The paper analyzes the discrepancy and overlap between international laws and domestic laws in the United States. Especially at a …

Canadian Corporations Bound By The Phoenix: Setting The Path For The United States, Kelly Brickman

Global Business Law Review

This Note argues that the United States courts have jurisdiction to consider corporate liability for international law violations of human rights under the reasoning of the Supreme Court of Canada, in Nevsun Resources Ltd. v. Araya. The United States Supreme Court has escaped holding such liability exists, but Canada has outlined how countries, such as the United States, no longer can avoid holding corporations liable under customary international law. Corporate liability for human rights violations committed abroad is a cutting-edge issue. The United States Supreme Court has considered the issue before, but the Court used different analyses and was …

Splitting Canada’S Northern Strategy: Is It Polar Mania?, C. Mark Macneill

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

On July 15, 2019, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s legislation splitting Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC) into two new departments and dissolving INAC came into effect. The same legislation also formally established the mandates of the two new departments, Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs (CIRNAC) and Indigenous Services Canada (ISC). The Government of Canada passed the legislation to develop deeper relations and higher levels of collaboration with Canada’s Indigenous people to build stronger and healthier northern communities. Dovetailing with the splitting of INC, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announce the Arctic Policy Framework (APF). The APF was co-developed with indigenous, territorial, …

Recognition And Enforcement Of Foreign Interim Measures (Scientific And Theoretical Aspect), Mansurov Artem

ProAcademy

It is known that in the past few years, the Uzbek offense has been actively reforming the economic procedural and arbitration procedural criminal prosecution in search of new effective economic and judicial remedies. In the applied aspect of civil and economic/economic procedural law, interest in the difficulties and suppression of local offenses. At the same time, from the study of the recognition and enforcement of foreign interim measures as a means of protection and its study in the countries of the Romano-Germanic distribution system in Uzbekistan, it has a large number of problems of a practical, one might say, and …

Romanian Government Will Implement Measures To Prevent Further Violations Of Rightsof People With Mental Health Conditions Or Disabilities In Accord With The Decision Of The European Court Of Human Rights, Tesa Hargis

Human Rights Brief

On June 21 and 22, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) and Romania discussed reform measures based on various judgements delivered during the nine-year period between 2012 and 2021. At issue before the ECtHR’s Department for Execution of Judgments was insufficient legal protection, lack of medical and social care, deficiencies in the legal framework governing involuntary placement, inadequate management of psychiatric conditions of detainees, and overcrowding and poor conditions in Romanian mental health facilities.

Data Transfers After Schrems Ii: The Eu-Us Disagreements Over Data Privacy And National Security, Monika Zalnieriute

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

In the long-awaited Schrems II decision, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) took a radical, although not an unexpected, step in invalidating the Privacy Shield Agreement, which facilitated data transfers between the European Union and the United States. Schrems II illuminates long-lasting international disagreements between the EU and the United States over data protection, national security, and the fundamental differences between the public and private approaches to the protection of human rights in the data-driven economy and modern state. This Article approaches the decision via an interdisciplinary lens of international law and international relations and situates it …

Artificial Waterways In International Water Law: An American Perspective, Tamar Meshel

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Freshwater is a fleeting natural resource that can never be fully harnessed or appropriated by humans. Nonetheless, under both domestic and international law, freshwater is a regulated resource and legal principles have developed to govern its allocation and use. But what of freshwater that, rather than flowing naturally, has been made to so flow by human intervention? Should artificial waterways be subject to the same legal principles that govern the ownership and use of waterways that are naturally occurring?

This Article takes a first step toward clarifying when and how international water law principles applicable to natural transboundary waterways should …

Discussant Remarks, Hannah L. Buxbaum

American University International Law Review

Through the lens of current crises—including the climate crisis, the crisis of democracy, and of course the COVID-19 pandemic— Professor Daudet examines the role that international law plays in mediating the principle of national sovereignty and the interests of the global community.1 He goes on to inquire whether these crises might in some way create an opportunity to advance the international legal and political order.

Plural Belonging: The Samaritans' Negotiation Of Space In The Occupied Palestinian Territory, Zeina Jallad

American University International Law Review

Created in 1993 in accordance with the Israeli-Palestinian Peace Accords, the Palestinian Authority (PA) has grappled with the administration and maintenance of a vortex of highly fragmented legal and judicial systems. These fractured frameworks are the result of centuries-old colonial and military administrations that have exercised jurisdiction over the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt). A self-governing entity whose sovereignty has been undermined since its inception, the PA idealizes a democratic modus-operandi for the nation’s future, while actively participating in and benefiting from an overarching network of laws, court systems, and regulatory frameworks designed to discriminate against and abuse their subjects. Palestinian …

Reducing The Negative Effects Of Counterterrorism Frameworks And Other Restrictive Measures On Humanitarian Action And Enforcing The Obligations Of States In Relation To The Covid-19 Vaccine, Claudio Cerqueira Bastos Netto

American University International Law Review

Countering terrorism has been a priority agenda point for the international community, especially after the September 11th attacks. As the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) points out, “States have had to confront a threat emanating from individuals and non-State armed groups [(NSAGs)] that resort to acts of terrorism. In response, States and international organizations have developed increasingly robust counterterrorism measures.”

El Control Estatal De La (Des)Informacion En Internet En El Contexto De La Pandemia: Un Analisis De Las Tendencias Regionales Bajo Una Perspectiva De Libertad De Expresion, Paula Roko

American University International Law Review

El 3 de mayo de 2020, en el marco del Día Mundial de la Libertad de Prensa, el secretario general de la Organización de las Naciones Unidas (ONU) afirmó que la desinformación se ha convertido en la “segunda pandemia”. Unos meses antes, el Director General de la Organización Mundial de la Salud (OMS) ya había señalado que “las noticias falsas se difunden más rápido y con más facilidad que el virus, y que son igual de peligrosas”. Estos fueron comentarios recurrentes durante el 2020, un año que será recordado por el estallido de una pandemia mundial sin precedentes. Teorías conspirativas …

Piercing The Veil Of State Laicity In “La Belle Province”: How Quebec’S Religious Symbols Ban Violates Article 18 Of The International Covenant On Civil And Political Rights, Daniel Patrick Atchue

American University International Law Review

No abstract provided.

Out Of This World: 3d Printing And Space Law Regulation, Caitlyn Fischer

Catholic University Journal of Law and Technology

3D printing will be a valuable asset in the exploration and human expansion into space. This comment examines the current international treaties and U.S. domestic laws that may affect and impose requirements on 3D printing manufacturers seeking to print in space. These treaties are self-executing and therefore leave it up to Congress to take action to keep the U.S. in compliance with international space law. Congress can do this by granting agencies like the FCC and FAA authority to regulate. In order to utilize 3D printing technology in space and reap the benefits it has to offer, the U.S. should …

Prologue, Claudio Grossman, Robert K. Goldman

American University International Law Review

We are pleased to write this prologue for the special issue of the American University International Law Review featuring the winning papers from the 2021 Human Rights Essay Award, sponsored by the Academy on Human Rights and Humanitarian Law of American University Washington College of Law.

Introduction Human Rights And States Of Emergency: Unexpected Crisis And New Challenges, Claudia Martin, Diego Rodriguez-Pinzon

American University International Law Review

We are delighted to present this year’s special issue of the American University International Law Review and the Academy on Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, which includes two of the best essays in English and in Spanish recognized in the 2021 Human Rights Essay Award competition. It is satisfying to think that this competition allowed a number of participants an opportunity to expound their thoughts on so many important topics, regarding so many areas of the world. We hope these participants are able to use their articles as mechanisms for change.