International Law Commons^™

From Maritime Pushbacks To Naval Blockade: How Europe Is Drowning In Legal Pitfalls, Martine Bjørnstad

Cardozo International & Comparative Law Review (CICLR) Blog

As if haunted by the past, the headlines are once again filled with cautionary tales of Europe’s unsecure borders and looming migration crisis. The arrival of 11,000 migrants on the Italian island of Lampedusa in early September, amidst deadlocked negotiations over the European Union’s New Pact on Migration and Asylum, has again sparked debate in Europe about how to tackle illegal immigration from North Africa. The proposed solution that has perhaps drawn the most attention is that of a naval blockade.

This post was originally published on the Cardozo International & Comparative Law Review on October 25, 2023. The original …

International Tax Law: Status Quo, Trends And Perspectives, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah

Book Chapters

This chapter addresses the status quo, trends, and perspectives in international tax law. The international tax regime (ITR) is based on two principles: the benefits principle and the single-tax principle (STP). The benefits principle gives the primary right to tax passive (investment) income to residence jurisdictions, and the primary right to tax active (business) income to source jurisdictions. Meanwhile, the STP states that all cross-border income should be subject to the rate of tax determined by the benefits principle. The chapter then argues that developments in the past decade have significantly bolstered the ITR, so that it does a much …

Law’S Sexual Infections, Kyle Kirkup

Dalhousie Law Journal

In 2019, the House of Commons Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights published its study on the criminalization of HIV non-disclosure in Canada. The report recommended removing HIV non-disclosure from sexual assault laws in Canada. This constituted a welcome development for many HIV advocates. Yet other recommendations proved more controversial. In order to counter the exceptional targeting of HIV, the Committee proposed an offence for the non disclosure of all infectious diseases. This article uses the proposal to develop three arguments. First, the idea of creating an offence for all infectious diseases finds its origins in criminal laws dating …

Mixing Mathematics And Morality: Precarity And Moral Hazard In Employment Insurance And Personal Insolvency Law, Anna J. Lund

Dalhousie Law Journal

This article examines how financially precarious Canadians face particular challenges to accessing the benefits of employment insurance and personal insolvency because these two systems include features designed to guard against moral hazard. However, these design features do not adequately account for how an increasing number of Canadians are precariously employed and precariously indebted. This article synthesizes the research on precarious employment in Canada, and uses it to suggest how one might conceptualize precarious indebtedness. It then traces how the Canadian employment insurance and personal insolvency systems treat characteristics of financial precarity as evidence of misconduct. As a result, precariously employed …

An Imperial History Of Race-Religion In International Law, Rabiat Akande

Articles & Book Chapters

More than half a century after the UN’s adoption of the International Convention on the Prohibition of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, a debate has emerged over whether to extend the Convention’s protections to religious discrimination. This Article uses history to intervene in the debate. It argues that racial and religious othering were mutually co-constitutive in the colonial encounter and foundational to the making of modern international law. Moreover, the contemporary proposal to address the interplay of racial and religious othering is hardly new; iterations of that demand surfaced in the earlier twentieth century, as well. By illuminating the centrality …

Island States Turn To The Law To Fight Climate Change, Adam Auerbach

Cardozo International & Comparative Law Review (CICLR) Blog

The sea is rising. 2023 has seen the highest annual average sea level in recorded history, with sea level measuring four inches above 1993 levels. To many, this may seem inconsequential. However, for those in developing countries, particularly small island nations, rising sea levels present a very real, very pressing threat. For these island countries, the danger of losing their statehood and sovereignty is all too real “as their land surface may be totally covered by the sea or become fully inhabitable” in the near future.

This post was originally published on the Cardozo International & Comparative Law Review on …

How Does Chinese Law Regulate Franchising, Radwa Elsaman

Ohio Northern University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Updating The Berne Convention For The Internet Age: Un-Blurring The Line Between United States And Foreign Copyrighted Works, Ethan Schow

Brigham Young University Journal of Public Law

John Naughton, notable journalist and academic, has asserted that “[common sense] should also revolt at the idea that doctrines about copyright that were shaped in a pre-Internet age should apply to a post-Internet one.” And yet, in crucial aspects of international law, this is the situation in which the world finds itself today. The Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works (the “Berne Convention” or the “Convention”) is one of the most important multinational agreements concerned with copyright law, but it has not been amended since September 28, 1979. Although the internet technically existed in an early …

The Refugee Burden Of Proof: Legal Gaps And Future Considerations For Climate Migrants, Aedan Raleigh

Pace Law Review

As impacts of climate change become increasingly imminent and devastating, especially for the world’s most vulnerable communities, climate processes and events have forced certain populations to flee their homes. Climate refugees, also called environmental or climate migrants, describes those displaced by environmental disruption; however, international law has yet to delineate how these individuals fit into current refugee law or other areas of immigration assistance. This paper begins by examining current international refugee law, challenges to seeking asylum, and how this applies, or fails to apply, to climate migrants. I will then explore the burden of proof for the principle of …

Table Of Contents, Seattle University Law Review

Seattle University Law Review

Table of Contents

Collaboration, Exclusion, And Refuge: Ftx’S Cross-Border Insolvency Strategies, Ethan Ashley

Cardozo International & Comparative Law Review (CICLR) Blog

The recent collapse of FTX and ensuing insolvency proceedings in the United States has stoked conversation regarding the administration of cross-border cryptocurrency insolvencies. In the case of FTX, insolvency proceedings in the United States, Australia, Turkey, and the Bahamas have demonstrated an unprecedented global footprint for a cryptocurrency exchange. As a result, these proceedings will have long-lasting impacts and may serve as a road map for how regulators and administrators can cooperate and navigate competing regulatory pressures and proceedings in the future.

This post was originally published on the Cardozo International & Comparative Law Review on October 2, 2023. The …

The Human Rights Remedy Gap In Isds – The Potential Of The Hague Rules On Business And Human Rights Arbitration, Diane A. Desierto, Anne Van Aaken, Steven Ratner, Giorgia Sangiuolo, Martijn Scheltema, Katerina Yiannibas

Faculty Lectures and Presentations

The tensions between the protection of human rights and States’ obligations towards foreign investors has been the subject of extensive debates among States, civil society actors, business, and international organizations. The Hague Rules on Business and Human Rights Arbitration represent a recent effort to provide an avenue for resolving claims concerning human rights violations connected to business activities, including investment. These Rules may be linked to or incorporated in national investment laws, state contracts, or International Investment Agreements (IIAs). The Hague Rules aim to fill a currently existing gap in (access to) remedies for rightsholders and help both investors and …

An Ally Can Connect Tort Theory To International And Comparative Law, Anita Bernstein

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Cocaine And Corruption: The Rise In Drug Trafficking In Ecuador And Why It Isn’T Being Stopped, Ella Sicking

The International Law Review Association Student Forum

A state of emergency in Ecuador continues to be in effect as cocaine trafficking and gang violence become increasingly problematic. What started as cartel rivalries and increased cocaine production in bordering countries, Peru and Colombia, has turned into a full-scale drug war in Ecuador, stirring humanitarian and governmental concerns about the mounting violence in the once peaceful country. Increased regulation and United States intervention might be the only approach to save Ecuador from becoming a country ravaged by violence and run by the cartels, but local governmental corruption is currently acting as a barrier to a timely solution. While quick …

The Consequences Of Gender-Affirming Care: A Survey Of U.S. And U.K. Law, Caroline Hoch

The International Law Review Association Student Forum

The prevalence of youth experiencing “gender dysphoria” over the last decade has exploded. More minors than ever before are identifying as a different gender than their biological sex. Yet, there is a divergence among nations regarding what care is best for minors questioning their gender identity. The United Kingdom has begun to move away from prescribing minors puberty blockers and hormone therapies, as the federal government in the United States seeks to protect and promote gender-affirming care for youth. The response among the states is far more fractured. Some states have imposed bans on gender-affirming care for minors. While there …

Itlos Advisory Opinion On Climate Change: Summary Of Briefs And Statements Submitted To The Tribunal, Maria Antonia Tigre, Korey Silverman-Roati

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law

This report provides a summary of the briefs and statements submitted to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) in response to the Co-Chairs of Commission of Small Island States (COSIS)’ request for an advisory opinion on climate change-related legal questions. The central issue before the ITLOS is whether State Parties to UNCLOS have specific obligations regarding the prevention, reduction, and control of marine environmental pollution stemming from climate change, as well as the protection and preservation of the marine environment concerning climate change impacts. While States and civil society organizations have put forward a variety of …

Exploring The African Regional Human Rights Standards As The Basis For An Enabling Environment For Self-Managed Abortion, Lucia Berro Pizzarossa, Michelle Maziwisa, Ebenezer Durojaye

Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice

Self-managed abortion holds great promise to save lives and promote reproductive autonomy, particularly in Africa. Indeed, the African region records very high numbers of unsafe abortions, and the burden of abortion-related mortality is the highest globally. Abortion remains generally criminalized in violation of numerous internationally and regionally recognized human rights standards. The advent of abortion medicines and the increased grassroots energy geared towards curbing the harms of unsafe abortion evince medical abortion holds great promise for revolutionizing people’s access to high-quality reproductive care. This study discusses regional human rights frameworks, policy, case law, and a few representative domestic legislative frameworks …

The Low-Hanging Fruit: Health, Rights, And The Commission, Bright Nkrumah

Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice

The year 2022 marked the 35th anniversary of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights. As it is a custom in many communities, when one reaches this milestone, it is an opportune time to introspect and reflect on the successes and challenges encountered in one’s journey. It is this template that the paper adopts to measure the prospects and setbacks of the African Commission in the advancement of the right to health. The Article argues that while the body remains the poster child of the continent’s human rights architecture, its inability to clearly articulate how states ought to advance …

Connecting Nuclear Security To International Frameworks On Gender And Security, Kathleen A. Doty, Jessica S. Burniske

International Journal of Nuclear Security

The international community is slowly beginning to recognize the intersections between law and policy as it relates to international security—particularly arms control, nonproliferation, and disarmament—and the body of human rights law that addresses gender equality. Notably absent from this discussion is the field of nuclear security. Despite its historical underpinnings as an inherently domestic activity, nuclear security is thoroughly grounded in international treaty law. However, nuclear security is often overlooked in the international security context and has not been well-situated in international instruments that address gender equality. We argue that gender equality in nuclear security should be understood as an …

Women In Nuclear Power Programs: Case Studies From Africa, Jessica S. Burniske, Chanel Chauvet-Maldonado, Beth Kaboro, Madalina Man, Susan Nalumansi

International Journal of Nuclear Security

Approximately 30 countries are considering, planning, or starting nuclear power programs, and nearly 20 more countries have expressed interest in nuclear power. Most of these countries are nuclear newcomers. According to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), a nuclear power program is a major undertaking requiring careful planning, preparation, and investments in institutions and human resources because of the safety, security, and safeguards requirements associated with the use of nuclear energy. The IAEA Milestones Approach states that states should follow three phases of development to establish the necessary infrastructure for a nuclear power program. Nuclear security is one of the …