International Law Commons^™

Is The Law Of War Changing In The Twenty-First Century?, Waseem Ahmad Qureshi

San Diego International Law Journal

The main purpose of drafting the law of war was to maintain peace and security around the world. That is why the current legal framework prohibits the use of force, except in accordance with the right to self-defence or with United Nations Security Council (UNSC) authorization. Yet, this century has been in a perpetual state of war. In the past, there have been certain deviations from this proscription on the use of force through the introduction of notions like ‘pre-emptive self-defence’ and the ‘responsibility to protect’ (R2P), according to which states could use unilateral force against other states without UNSC …

The Regulatory Trajectory Of Synthetic Securitization: A Breakdown Of International Regulatory Environments, Nicolas M. Dillavou

San Diego International Law Journal

The harmful effects on global financial stability that accompanied the 2007-2008 financial crisis (the “crisis”) were largely intensified by loose regulatory practices in the United States’ (U.S.) secondary mortgage market. Accordingly, the harm suffered on a global level warrants a comparative perspective on international securities regulation. This Article will examine several securitization methods in Europe and the U.S. and derive prospective solutions from these existing approaches that have the potential to address undue risks associated with asset-backed securities today.

This Article will initially discuss the history and causes of the subprime mortgage crisis and then discuss the particular difficulties with …

Aligning Investment Treaties With Sustainable Development Goals, Lise Johnson, Lisa E. Sachs, Nathan Lobel

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment Staff Publications

Policy makers and other stakeholders are currently asking fundamental questions about whether and to what extent international investment agreements (IIAs) are consistent with and are helping to advance sustainable development objectives at home and abroad.

A 2019 paper from CCSI examines the alignment of IIAs with the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, arguing that while FDI will play an important role in advancing development outcomes, existing treaties must be reformed and future IIAs reimagined in order to achieve deep alignment with the sustainable development goals.

The paper proposes that IIAs should be designed and evaluated with respect to their ability to …

International Arbitration And Attorney-Client Privilege — A Conflict Of Laws Approach, Susan Franck

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

Privilege determinations in international arbitration are currently the equivalent of the “wild west,” with minimal predictability and massive pockets of tribunal discretion. Yet protecting privilege in international arbitration — when the same document or communications with lawyers that is protected by United States law may receive no protection under another law — is fundamental to safeguarding attorney-client relationships within a global environment, incentivizing procedural integrity of dispute resolution, and ensuring that justice is done. As it is not clear what law applies to privilege and client confidentiality (let alone how the law is determine), this Essay begins to bridge the …

The G5 Sahel: An Insufficient Organization For A Failed Region?, Beder Dine El Khou

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

In the wake of mass kidnapping and terrorist attacks launched by Boko Haram and other extremist groups in the Sahel of West Africa, along with the rise of the Islamic State in Libya that started to have immediate impact on the Sahel’s already problematic situation, five states from the region of Sahel decided to create a coalition in 2014 not only to fight insurgencies rampaging in the area but also to work on the development of the region. With a very small capacity in terms of man power and equipment, the G5 Sahel coalition attempts to achieve what other intervening …

Reverse Contributors? African State Parties, Icsid, And The Development Of International Investment Law, Olabisi D. Akinkugbe

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

International investment disputes involving African states before the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) have generated significant critical inquiry. Yet, accounts of their contribution to the development of international investment law as a result of these dispute are limited. This article addresses this gap. It examines the contribution of some of the high-profile ICSID disputes involving African states to the development of international investment law. Notwithstanding the charges against African States in ICSID, I contend that the involvement of African States in ICSID Disputes has contributed to the development of international investment law. In particular, the jurisprudence that …

The Chinese (Taiwan) Yearbook Of International Law And Affairs: Contributing To The Grotian Moment In Asia, Ying-Jeou Ma, Chun-I Chen, Pasha L. Hsieh

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The contribution examines critical developments of the Chinese (Taiwan) Yearbook of International Law and Affairs and its contribution to the ‘Grotian moment’ in Asia. The Yearbook is the first publication specialized in international law in Greater China, a Chinese-speaking region that includes Mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau. The founding of the Yearbook in 1981 was a response to the unique status of the Republic of China (ROC) rendered after its loss of representation in the United Nations under General Assembly Resolution 2758 of 1971. Over the past 40 years, the Yearbook has become an intellectual depository of research …

Asia’S Response To The Us Indo-Pacific Strategy: Building The Rcep: Legal And Political Implications, Pasha L. Hsieh

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The Trump administration declared the “Free and Open Indo-Pacific” (FOIP) strategy as the new U.S. policy on Asia in 2017. This new strategy will have far-reaching implications for U.S.-Asia relations and global governance. The FOIP is conventionally perceived to focus on security dimensions. By “free,” the United States expects all countries “to exercise their sovereignty free from coercion by other countries.”1 The qualifier, “open,” is meant to refer to regional connectivity, in particular including freedom of navigation.2 Notably, the economic dimensions of this component also envision “fair and reciprocal trade” and “transparent agreements.”

Adverse Cyber Operations: Causality, Attribution, Evidence, And Due Diligence, Hans-Georg Dederer, Tassilo Singer

International Law Studies

Adverse cyber operations against States are on the rise, and so are the legal challenges related to such incidents under public international law. This article will not delve into already intensely debated problems of classification, such as whether adverse cyber operations constitute “armed attacks” or “use of force.” Rather, the article will focus on causality and attribution with special regard to problems of evidence. In particular, the article will elaborate on the applicable standards of proof to be met by the victim State when submitting, or having to submit, evidence to justify self-defense or countermeasures against the State of origin. …

The Cold Vacuum Of Arms Control In Outer Space: Can Existing Law Make Some Anti-Satellite Weapons Illegal?, Jeffrey A. Murphy

Cleveland State Law Review

The current space law paradigm came into existence when two major national powers were vying for supremacy after a catastrophic world war. The nuclear age had dawned. The United Nations drafted and ratified the Outer Space Treaty under these conditions with limited foresight to the specific nature of future space activities. As more nations and private actors enter the space arena, the nature of the weapons used in space has changed, and the number of targets and opportunities for collateral damage has greatly increased.

This Note looks at the weapons aimed at space and the laws that try to govern …

Targeting Civilians, Daniel Ivo Odon

SJD Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Editor’S Note, Padraig O’Malley

New England Journal of Public Policy

The articles in this issue of the New England Journal of Public Policy have their origins in presentations at a Chatham House conference titled “Rethinking Self-Determination,” February 2019, hosted by the International Communities Organization and the journal.

Among the many aspects of self-determination they address: the elasticity of the concept as a human right in the context of “peoples” (Freeman); individual rights versus collective self-determination (Summers); Biafra as an early case of internal self-determination—the territorial integrity of the state and the right of secession when “the right of a people to participate in the decision-making processes of a country is …

Finding Foreign Friends: National Self-Determination And Related Norms As Strategic Resources During The Biafran War For Independence, 1967–1970, Christopher Brucker

New England Journal of Public Policy

The study analyzes how the government of the Republic of Biafra used international norms to win foreign support during its 1967–1970 campaign to secede from Nigeria. Secession conflicts occur at the intersection of international and domestic politics. For independence movements, support from outside is crucial. But, as Bridget Coggins has asked, how can secession movements find “friends in high places”? International support for unilateral secession attempts is strictly prohibited. Domestic and international asymmetry are limiting secessionist foreign policy instruments to intangible means. Legitimacy is a central concept to illuminate the phenomenon. In international politics, legitimacy depends on the external perception …

European Union Integration And National Self-Determination, Mare Ushkovska

New England Journal of Public Policy

Recent demands for secession in several EU member states bring the issue of self-determination to the forefront of the debate about the future of the European Union. This article explores the European Union’s attitudes toward the international right to self-determination in the context of the rising salience of the greater political union between member states. The focus of the European project, in direct contrast to the glorification of nationhood, is on consensual decision-making rather than sovereignty, making self-determination obsolete in a reality of EU integration. This research finds that recognition of, or references to, the right to self-determination of peoples …

Prevention And Protection Interventions For Stateless Non-Refugee And Force Displaced Children, Tanya Herring

New England Journal of Public Policy

This article advances a general theory of law and justice that would expand the Palermo Trafficking and Smuggling Protocols to a wider application in human rights jurisprudence. The aim of the research reported here is to close the gaps in member-state policy and scholarship that addresses prevention measures and protection mechanisms for forcibly displaced children seeking self-determination in states that have not ratified the UN Convention on Refugees and the UN Conventions on Statelessness. The research is based on the premise that a stateless nonrefugee status constructs an extremely vulnerable state for children during forced migration and when they are …

Self-Determination And Psychological Adaptation In Forcibly Displaced People, Numan Turan, Bediha İpekçi, Mehmet Yalçın Yılmaz

New England Journal of Public Policy

According to the UN Refugee Agency, as of 2018 approximately 70 million people were forcibly displaced because of intrastate and interstate conflicts. A majority of those people endured significant hardships, and a consensus is growing among researchers that forcibly displaced people have gone through potentially traumatic experiences that challenge their well-being and health. Consequently, a large amount of research focuses on their mental health concerns, whereas research focusing on their will to normalize their lives and grow after a traumatic migration is scarce. In this article, we highlight the efforts by forcibly displaced people to normalize their lives, pointing out …

Communicative Justice And Reconciliation In Canada, Alice Neeson

New England Journal of Public Policy

Communicative justice co-exists with other dimensions of justice and emphasizes the importance of fair communicative practices, particularly after periods of direct or structural violence. While intercultural dialogue is often assumed to be a positive, or even necessary, part of reconciliation processes, there are questions to be asked about the ethicality of dialogue when one voice has been silenced, misrepresented, and ignored for decades. This article draws on twelve months of ethnographic research with reconciliation activists and organizations in Canada and considers the potential for communicative flows to help compensate for structural inequalities during processes of reconciliation.

Raising Indigenous Women’S Voices For Equal Rights And Self-Determination, Grazia Redolfi, Nikoletta Pikramenou, Rosario Grimà Algora

New England Journal of Public Policy

The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples states that the right to self-determination for Indigenous peoples involves their having the right to freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social, and cultural development. The implementation of this right is linked to the ability and freedom to participate in any decision making that relates to their development. Current laws and practices are considered “unfair to women,” because they sustain traditional and customary patriarchal attitudes that marginalize Indigenous women and exclude them from decision-making tables and leadership roles. Despite the many challenges Indigenous women face in …

Climate Change And Human Rights: Shaping The Narrative For Reflexive Responses From Civilization’S Leadership To Counter And Abate Climate Change And Enhance The Role Of Human Rights In The Rule Of Law, Michael Donlan

New England Journal of Public Policy

This article offers a bold new legal process for enhancing and upgrading the rule of law to enable civilization to cope with and counter the mounting damage and injustice caused by climate change. Climate change, once an unimaginable threat, is now a brutal, ubiquitous game changer that is leading inexorably to the demise of all humanity. Only by enhancing the rule of law and melding international law with domestic law can civilization fashion a coherent, global action plan for survival.

For almost three centuries greenhouse gases have been emitted around the world by the burning of fossil fuel, and—most alarming—these …

Foreword, James Holmes

New England Journal of Public Policy

The International Communities Organisation (ICO) is a self-determination research and innovation center and a not-for-profit organization based in London. Guided by its vision of self-determination and the values of development and human rights, ICO aims to empower communities. It strives to foster an environment where organizations within these communities can overcome the barriers they face, allowing them to fulfill their potential and develop and create positive change for their local communities through local action, collaboration, and decision making.

To enhance our vision and our credibility as an international organization that works for peoples, we organized the February 2019 London conference …

The Right To Self-Determination: Philosophical And Legal Perspectives, Michael Freeman

New England Journal of Public Policy

Why do we need to rethink self-determination? In this article I argue that self-determination is a necessary feature of the human condition and a human right but that it is in part illusory and is potentially dangerous. We need to rethink self-determination because our collective thinking has been very confused, and bad thinking about self-determination costs many lives.

The Right Of Peoples To Self-Determination In Article 1 Of The Human Rights Covenants As A Claimable Right, James Summers

New England Journal of Public Policy

This article looks at the potential for individual communications under common article 1 of the Human Rights Covenants, in particular, under the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. It first outlines the problems posed by the drafting of common article 1, in particular, the identity of peoples. It then considers how individuals might be able to claim peoples’ rights through representation and the collectivization of individual rights.

Language, Indigenous Peoples, And The Right To Self-Determination, Noelle Higgins, Gerard Maguire

New England Journal of Public Policy

Language has always played a significant role in the colonization of peoples as an instrument of subjugation and homogenization. It has been used to control nondominant groups, including Indigenous peoples, often leading to their exclusion or assimilation. Many Indigenous groups, however, use language as a tool to connect the members of their community, to assert their group identity, and to preserve their culture. Thus, language has been used both as a means of oppression and as a mobilizer of Indigenous groups in their struggles for national recognition. Recognizing the significance of language in the identity and culture of Indigenous peoples, …

The Peacetime Right Of Approach And Visit And Effective Security Council Sanctions Enforcement At Sea, Craig H. Allen

International Law Studies

Naval forces deployed across the world’s seas to enforce counterproliferation sanctions imposed by the U.N. Security Council must surmount any number of operational and legal challenges. High seas boardings by any State other than the vessel’s flag State remain controversial. The 1982 Law of the Sea Convention’s high seas articles carefully balance the principles of freedom of navigation and exclusive flag-State jurisdiction with the shared interest in ensuring effective enforcement of laws against certain serious offenses. The peacetime right of visit is a limited but invaluable compromise between those competing interests. Some commentators have suggested expanding the right to address …

Observations Of Professor Gabor Rona On The Pre-Trial Chamber's Conclusion That Events Beyond The Territory Of Afghanistan Lack Sufficient Nexus To The Armed Conflict There For Pruposes Of Application Of Rome Statute War Crimes, Gabor Rona

Amicus Briefs

Prof. Gabor Rona, Director of CLIHHR's Law and Armed Conflict Project, submitted an amicus brief to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in connection with the Prosecutor's request to commence an investigation into international crimes arising out of the situation in Afghanistan. A Pre-Trial Chamber (PTC) had rejected the Prosecutor's request to investigate CIA war crimes arising from secret detention and torture of detainees at "black sites" in Poland, a State Party to the ICC Treaty. The PTC held that those events lacked sufficient nexus to the armed conflict in Afghanistan. Rona argues to the Appellate Chamber that both the Geneva …

Law As Strategy: Thinking Below The State In Afghanistan, Charles H. Norchi

International Law Studies

In Doha, Qatar the government of the United States has conducted successive rounds of negotiations with a non-State, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (the Taliban) over the future of a State that was not present—the Government of Afghanistan. Regardless of the outcome, the United States will retain a national security interest in Afghanistan and the region. Contextually nuanced strategic choices will be critical and law could be a key strategy. This article identifies relevant Afghan history—a collective longue durée—appraises the severable sovereignty of the Afghan State, and underscores the imperative of working below the State. Drawing on a 1952 …

Legal Frameworks & Foreign Investment: A Primer On Governments’ Obligations, Kaitlin Y. Cordes, Lise Johnson, Sam Szoke-Burke, Rumbidzaii Mawen

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment Staff Publications

Legal frameworks, and how they interact, are often invisible in the day to day. Yet they are powerful forces that influence government actions and that help to shape who benefits and who loses from foreign investment. Understanding these legal frameworks, and how they interact, is critical for anyone concerned with how foreign investment can be better harnessed to support, rather than weaken, sustainable development and human rights.

This primer provides a brief overview of host government obligations under international investment law, international human rights law, domestic law, and relevant investor-state contracts. It also highlights some of the ways in which …

Inconsistency's Many Forms In Investor-State Dispute Settlement And Implications For Reform, Lise Johnson, Lisa E. Sachs

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment Staff Publications

Attracting investment in agriculture has been a key policy goal of governments in the global south. Development partners have supported these policies. But what do governments hope to achieve by attracting investment in the agricultural sector? Why are companies interested in investing? What is in it for local communities? And what is the role of lawyers? This primer provides an introduction to some of the key issues that arise in the negotiation of contracts linked to investments in agriculture, and practical guidance for how to approach common issues. Section 1 of this primer outlines the typical goals of three important …

The Governance Of Human (Germline) Genome Modification At The International And Transnational Levels, Cesare P. R. Romano, Andrea Boggio, Jessica Almqvist

History and Social Sciences Faculty Book Publications

In this chapter, we review the key elements of the larger international and transnational framework within which the national legal regimes regulating human germline genome modification exist. Part I is a quick primer to international law and international human rights for the benefit of those who are not familiar with them. Part II presents the relevant norms of international bioethics law, including three main declarations adopted by UNESCO touching on human genome modification. It discusses also the relevant governance activities of the World Health Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and civil society, nationally and transnationally. Part III discusses …

It’S All About The Drd, What’S Wrong With Foreign Branches, And A Few Other Things You Should Know About The New International Tax Provisions, Rebecca Rosenberg

Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review

This Article highlights and analyzes some important points about the new international tax rules. For example, such provisions do not create an entirely territorial system. The partial movement towards territorial objectives is accomplished largely through the new 100% dividends received deduction (DRD) for certain foreign dividends from foreign corporations. However, this new DRD is much more limited in its application than most taxpayers may realize (for example, due to a very long holding period requirement). Even when the DRD potentially applies, taxpayers may attempt to claim foreign tax credits instead.

In addition, some of the new tax provisions show a …