International Law Commons^™

The Changing Face Of Terrorism And The Designation Of Foreign Terrorist Organizations, Patrick J. Keenan

Indiana Law Journal

In this Article, I take up one slice of what should be a broad re-examination of

U.S. law and policy. I argue that the new attacks have been undertaken by entities

that can and should be designated as foreign terrorist organizations. Doing this would

permit prosecutors to target those who support these entities with tools that are not

currently available. This Article is both a doctrinal argument that directly addresses

the many legal hurdles that make designating groups, such as foreign hackers and

troll farms, terrorist organizations a complicated endeavor, and a policy argument

about how U.S. law and policy …

Incorporating Free, Prior And Informed Consent (Fpic) Into Investment Approval Processes, Kelly Dudine, Sam Szoke-Burke

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment Staff Publications

Investment approval processes are the gateway through which governments set the agenda for their country’s investment environment. Yet too often these processes fail to incorporate meaningful requirements regarding participation in decision-making by Indigenous and other affected communities, increasing the risk of under-performing and conflict-ridden investments.

Enabling meaningful participation by rights holders and obtaining and maintaining their Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) throughout different investment approval processes can help governments to fulfill their legal obligations, mitigate financial and political risk, and, ultimately, attract more sustainable land-based investments.

Featuring concrete guidance and drawing on case studies from Kenya, Liberia, Mexico, Peru, …

Don’T Throw Caution To The Wind: In The Green Energy Transition, Not All Critical Minerals Will Be Goldmines, Perrine Toledano, Martin Dietrich Brauch, Solina Kennedy, Howard Mann

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment Staff Publications

The green energy transition will be exceedingly mineral intensive. Manufacturing solar panels, wind turbine and batteries to power cleaner energies is set to significantly increase the demand for co-called “critical” minerals. Such a forecast prompts high expectations in mineral-rich countries and suggests promising opportunities for developing countries.

However, the projects to increase the primary extraction of critical minerals rest on bullish forecasts and uncertain terrain due to a number of factors explored in the paper that threaten to leave these investments obsolete and economically stranded.

Governments, international actors, and mining advocates seeking to optimize the value of green energy mineral …

Investment Promotion And Facilitation For Sustainable Development, Brooke Guven

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment Staff Publications

Investment is a critical component of sustainable development. In particular, under the right conditions, foreign direct investment (FDI) can improve economic growth and living standards, create jobs, transfer technology and know-how and result in supply chain upgrading. However, its benefits are not automatic, and, if not carefully governed, investment can result in harm to the environment, labour standards and lead to tax evasion or other undesirable outcomes. Investment promotion and investment facilitation, in turn, can help states attract, expand and retain FDI.

Submission To Bonsucro Re Production Standard V5 (2019-21), Nami Patel, Sam Szoke-Burke

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment Staff Publications

In July 2020, CCSI made a formal submission to Bonsucro, an international multi-stakeholder initiative and certification scheme concerned with promoting sustainable sugar cane production. The submission formed part of consultations for Bonsucro’s draft Production Standard version 5. CCSI’s submission focused on challenges associated with implementing, and auditing for compliance with, three aspects of Bonsucro’s draft standard, namely:

• Obtaining the free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) of Indigenous and traditional communities when establishing or expanding sugar production operations
• Implementing transparent and participatory processes to assess, monitor, and evaluate the environmental and social impacts of new and existing projects; and
• Establishing accessible …

Complicity In The Perversion Of Justice: The Role Of Lawyers In Eroding The Rule Of Law In The Third Reich, Cynthia Fountaine

St. Mary's Journal on Legal Malpractice & Ethics

A fundamental tenet of the legal profession is that lawyers and judges are uniquely responsible—individually and collectively—for protecting the Rule of Law. This Article considers the failings of the legal profession in living up to that responsibility during Germany’s Third Reich. The incremental steps used by the Nazis to gain control of the German legal system—beginning as early as 1920 when the Nazi Party adopted a party platform that included a plan for a new legal system—turned the legal system on its head and destroyed the Rule of Law. By failing to uphold the integrity and independence of the profession, …

Sidra International Dispute Resolution Survey: 2020 Final Report, Nadja Alexander, Vakhtangi Giorgadze, Allison Goh

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The International Dispute Resolution Survey: 2020 Final Report presents the findings of the Singapore International Dispute Resolution Academy’s inaugural examination into the preferences, experiences, practices and perspectives of international dispute resolution users around the globe. The survey examined three major international dispute resolution mechanisms: international commercial arbitration, international commercial mediation, international commercial litigation, as well as hybrid dispute resolution mechanisms such as mediation-arbitration and arbitration-mediation. The survey also inquired into the use of technology in international dispute resolution, such as predictive analytical tools and negotiation support systems, and asked the users to express whether they were satisfied with the use …

Book Review: The Uncitral Model Law And Asian Arbitration Laws: Implementation And Comparison, Darius Chan

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The project embodied by this book - a comparative survey of how every clause in the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration is implemented across 12 Asian jurisdictions - is as ambitious as it is breathtaking. Yet, if anyone can deliver on this scale, it would be Professor Gary Bell, an expert in arbitration law and practice based at the National University of Singapore (NUS) since 1996. Professor Bell is currently Director of the Asian Law Institute and Director of two NUS LLM programmes: Arbitration and Asian Legal Studies. He enjoys the …

Toolkit Or Tinderbox? When Legal Systems Interface Conflict, Christie S. Warren

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Beyond Human Shielding: Civilian Risk Exploitation And Indirect Civilian Targeting, Geoffrey S. Corn

International Law Studies

Few violations of the law of armed conflict (LOAC) are as pernicious as using civilians to shield military objectives from attack. This unlawful tactic unfortunately seems to be an all too common practice of organized armed groups, especially in conflicts against tactically superior conventional state armed forces. The very term "human shielding" presupposes, however, the ultimate objective is to prevent an opponent from attacking the shielded military objective or, in the alternative, substantially complicate that attack decision. But is a shielding effect always the ultimate objective of such civilian exploitation? This article argues that the answer is no; that there …

New Concern For Transnational Corporations: Potential Liability For Tortious Acts Committed By Foreign Partners

San Diego Law Review

This Comment addresses these broad issues in three parts. First, it discusses past initiatives by various governing bodies and private groups to handle the problem of TNCs investing in countries that commit grave human rights violations. 14 More specifically, the efforts discussed are those of the United Nations, the U.S. Congress and the President, state and city governments, and private groups. 5 Because of the U.S. government's desire to promote free trade, none of these efforts has proved effective in regulating investment activity overseas.

Sanctuary, Safe Harbor And Aylum, But Is It Available For Domestic Violence Victims? The Analysis Of Domestic Violence Asylum Seekers In The United States And Internationally, Lauren Lee

San Diego International Law Journal

This Comment aims to interpret the United States’ asylum laws that impact domestic violence victims and analyze the effect they have both domestically and globally on those victims. Additionally, this Comment will analyze and compare Sweden, Germany, and Canada’s asylum laws and policies with United States’ asylum laws and policies in order to provide a comprehensive analysis of the effects these countries’ asylum laws have on their societies. Finally, this Comment will provide judicial and legislative recommendations to replace the current United States asylum policy with one that incorporates a domestic violence victim’s right to be granted asylum or receive …

Bettering The Best Interest Test: End-Of-Life Treatment Decisions For Young Children, Cassandra Dougherty

San Diego International Law Journal

The Comment will compare the laws governing end-of-life care for minors in the United Kingdom, Israel, Australia, and the United States; it will explore cases like Tinslee’s that have illustrated the disagreements between guardians and physicians over end-of-life treatment decisions for critically ill children, and it will focus on two prominent British cases. The Comment will examine the historical influences and motivations of the diverse legal schemes and how different legal systems address the relevant issues. It will conclude by proposing a model standard.

Parts I and II will explore the two pivotal concerns in determining who should make the …

V. 21-2, 2020 Masthead

San Diego International Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Performing "Legality" In The Theatre Of Hostilities: Asymmetric Conflict, Lawfare And The Rise Of Vicarious Litigation, Prof. Dr. Nikolas M. Rajkovic

San Diego International Law Journal

This Article explores the extent of the change by looking at the ways in which asymmetric conflict and legalization have reshaped the theatre of hostilities and the implications for the institution of war itself. The shift from one literal battlefield to multiple and disaggregated battlespaces has led to a reconfigured theatre of hostilities, which now involves a complex mix of local and global spaces as well as kinetic and narrative forms of combat. This re-making of armed hostilities in geographical, material, and social terms has increased access to the drama, stage, and audience of military theatres. Further, the more globalized …

Restricting Your Right To Boycott: Free Speech Implications Regarding Legislation Targeting The Boycott, Divestment, And Sanctions (Bds) Movement In The United States And The European Union, Jad Essayli

San Diego International Law Journal

On December 11, 2019, President Trump signed Executive Order 13899, which directs government agencies charged with enforcing Title VI of the Civil Rights Act to adopt a distorted definition of antisemitism intended to censor advocacy for Palestinian rights. The order conflates political criticism of the state of Israel with antisemitism—the primary reason why past attempts to pass similar legislation in Congress have consistently failed. Nonetheless, this uniliteral action taken by the President to redefine antisemitism as a means to censure criticism of Israeli polices raises genuine legal concern. Particularly considering that the same year, on February 4, 2019, the United …

Hearing On The Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, Coronavirus, And Addressing China’S Culpability Before The Senate Committee On The Judiciary, Russell A. Miller

Scholarly Articles

There are a number of theories about the Chinese government’s acts or omissions concerning the emergence and world-wide spread of the coronavirus that may be the proximate cause of actionable transboundary harm. All of these theories start with the incontestable fact that the coronavirus outbreak originated in China. One theory is concerned with the conduct of the Chinese government after the health crisis emerged. This “ex post” theory alleges a broad range of acts and omissions that helped transform a local outbreak into a global pandemic. There is room for this theory under the Transboundary Harm Principle. But the “ex …

Recklessness, Intent, And War Crimes: Refining The Legal Standard And Clarifying The Role Of International Criminal Tribunals As A Source Of Customary International Law, Brian L. Cox

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

This Article explores the substantive and procedural aspects of the assertion that recklessness is included on the spectrum of mens rea for war crimes as a matter of customary international law. The substantive aspect of the inquiry, in Part I, engages in a critical assessment of the assertion that the jurisprudence of international criminal tribunals indicates that recklessness is sufficient to support a war crimes prosecution in general. The procedural aspect, in Part II, contests the prevailing “principal-agent” construct of describing the relationship between states and international criminal tribunals and the resulting role of tribunals in establishing customary international law. …

Strategic Proportionality: Limitations On The Use Of Force In Modern Armed Conflicts, Noam Lubell, Amichai Cohen

International Law Studies

The nature of modern armed conflicts, combined with traditional interpretations of proportionality, poses serious challenges to the jus ad bellum goal of limiting and controlling wars. In between the jus ad bellum focus on decisions to use force, and the international humanitarian law (IHL) regulation of specific attacks, there is a far-reaching space in which the regulatory role of international law is bereft of much needed clarity. Perhaps the most striking example is in relation to overall casualties of war. If the jus ad bellum is understood as applying to the opening moments of the conflict, then it cannot provide …

A Different Kind Of Prisoner's Dilemma: The Right To The Free Exercise Of Religion For Incarcerated Persons, Daniel T. Judge

Notre Dame Law Review

Part I will lay the foundation for the constitutional right to freedom of religion in the United States. It will explain how the Framers understood the right in the lead up to, and at the time of, the ratification of the Free Exercise Clause as part of the Bill of Rights. Part I will also address more modern advances in religious liberty protections for prisoners before discussing two recent milestones: the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act and the Supreme Court’s decision in Holt v. Hobbs. Part II addresses the right to freedom of religion internationally. It begins …