International Law Commons^™

Alternate Judges As Sine Qua Nons For International Criminal Trials, Megan A. Fairlie

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

When one of the three judges hearing the case against Vojislav Seselj at the International Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) was disqualified during the deliberations phase of the prosecution, many observers assumed that the multi-year trial would have to be re-heard. Instead, the ICTY opted to begin deliberations anew once a judge--who had not spent a single day participating in the proceeding--had familiarized himself with the trial record. This Article demonstrates why the plan to proceed with a new judge in Seselj's case was both procedurally illegitimate and markedly at odds with the ICTY's statutory guarantee of a fair …

Recommendations On Abolishing Detention Education System For Sex Workers And Their Clients In Mainland China., Jia Ping Renzong, Liuwei Renzong, Qui Renzong

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

Abstract Forthcoming.

Particularized Social Groups And Categorical Imperatives In Refugee Law: State Failures To Recognize Gender And The Legal Reception Of Gender Persecution Claims In Canada, The United Kingdom, And The United States, Melanie Randall

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

No abstract provided.

Property And Political Community: Democracy, Oligarchy, And The Case Of Ukraine, Monica E. Eppinger

All Faculty Scholarship

Widening wealth gaps in Western democracies have brought new scrutiny to relationships between property and political community. For the prior quarter century, Western legal scholars have urged privatization around the globe as the key to a virtuous circle of "market democracy." This Article traces origins of the market democracy consensus to ideas that identify positive features of political community -- liberty, wealth, or democracy -- with private property ownership. Fieldwork in Ukraine, where Western privatization advice was followed at a time of founding a new polity, provides data to compare predictions with outcomes. Two unexpected figures -- the Oligarch and …

International Organizations And Customary International Law, Sir Michael Wood

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

My subject today is "International Organizations and Customary International Law"--that is, the role of international organizations in relation to the formation and determination of rules of customary international law. Charney devoted a good part of his well-known article on "Universal International Law" to what he termed "contemporary international law-making." By that, he meant chiefly law-making within "international forums"--that is, within organs of international organizations and at international conferences. He starts the discussion from the somewhat heretical position that

"[w]hile customary law is still created in the traditional way, that process has increasingly given way in recent years to a more …

Illegally Evading Attribution? Russia's Use Of Unmarked Troops In Crimea And International Humanitarian Law, Ines Gillich

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The Crimean Crisis of February and March 2014 poses several questions to International Law. This Article explores one of them: Does the use of unmarked troops, soldiers in uniforms but without nationality insignia, in Crimea violate principles of International Humanitarian Law (IHL)?

This Article first provides a brief summary of Crimea's history and the facts of the 2014 Crimean Crisis. It will be argued that IHL is applicable to the events in Crimea in February and March 2014 since the unmarked soldiers are attributable to Russia--either as Russian nationals or through Russia's exercise of control over them--and that there was …

Reducing The Price Of Peace: The Human Rights Responsibilities Of Third-Party Facilitators, Michal Saliternik

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Peace agreements can bring about serious injustices. For example, they may establish oppressive regimes, provide for the transfer of populations, or allocate natural resources in an inequitable manner. This Article argues that third-party facilitators--states and international organizations that act as mediators, donors, or peacekeepers--should have a responsibility to prevent such injustices. While the primary duty to ensure the justice of peace agreements resides with the governments that negotiate and sign them, directing regulation efforts only at those governments may prove insufficient in protecting human rights under the politically constrained circumstances of peacemaking. It is therefore necessary to complement the primary …

The Faults In "Fair" Trials: An Evaluation Of Regulation 55 At The International Criminal Court, Margaux Dastugue

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Despite its reputation as a "provision of an exceptional nature," Regulation 55 has become one of the most contested procedural devices employed by the judges at the International Criminal Court (ICC). Hailing from civil law tradition, Regulation 55 permits the ICC to modify the charges against an accused at any time--either during or after the trial--if the judiciary decides it cannot convict the accused on the original charges. This use of Regulation 55 in three of the ICC's seven trials has demonstrated that the ICC cannot effectively safeguard a defendant's fundamental trial rights: the right to be informed of charges, …

What Do You Do When They Don't Say "I Do"? Cross-Border Regulation For Alternative Spousal Relationships, Sharon Shakargy

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Marriage is a local arrangement with international effects. Throughout the Western world, a marriage recognized as valid by the parties' home country is usually considered valid and binding in any other country. This recognition carries substantial benefits. In sharp contrast, unwed couples and some married couples, namely same-sex couples, are denied these benefits due to lack of (sufficient) inter-state and international recognition of their relationships, making their relationships unstable at best. This Article discusses the cross-border recognition of such relationships--or lack thereof--and its effects, and it suggests a way to better the situation using private law tools, thus avoiding much …

Understanding The Judicial Conference Committee On International Judicial Relations, Sam F. Halabi, Nanette K. Laughrey

Faculty Publications

Since 1993, the Judicial Conference Committee on International Judicial Relations has coordinated outreach and exchange activities of the federal judiciary in support of rule-of-law initiatives. While the Federal Judicial Center has endeavored to publicize the Committee’s work, and members of the Committee have on occasion written and spoken about their work for the Committee, the scholarly treatment of the Committee remains sparse. What discussion does exist in the academic literature tends to depict the Committee in one of two ways. First, the Committee formed in response to the emergence of newly independent states after the 1991 Soviet collapse. Those states …

Effective Exercise Of ‘In-Space Jurisdiction’: The Us Approach And The Problems It Is Facing, Frans G. Von Der Dunk

Space, Cyber, and Telecommunications Law Program: Faculty Publications

As mankind moves closer to the fiftieth anniversary of the conclusion of the Outer Space Treaty, the framework international treaty laying down the baseline regime for space activities, it may be considered a major achievement that the treaty, as well as some of its offspring—notably the Rescue Agreement, Liability Convention, and Registration Convention—seem to be as relevant as ever. This is a major feat in an international era of many fundamental changes in the geopolitical, economic, and social context.

Nevertheless, the increasing involvement of private entities in many fields of space activity beyond the (by now) more “traditional” ones of …

The “Space Side” To “Harmful Interference”—Evaluating Regulatory Instruments In Addressing Interference Issues In The Context Of Satellite Communications, Frans G. Von Der Dunk

Space, Cyber, and Telecommunications Law Program: Faculty Publications

Interference issues in the context of satellite communications can, in principle, be tackled with legal means from a variety of angles, due to the multifaceted character of both interference and satellite communications as a sector. From that perspective, the present contribution addresses the most important regulatory instruments available to address the particular aspects of satellite communications related to their usage of outer space, and represents a first summary effort to evaluate their particular scope, approach, and general effectiveness.

Repatriation Of Korean Cultural Property Looted By Japan-Can A Sincere Apology Resolve The Centuries-Old Korea/Japan Disputes?, Melissa (Youngjae) Koo

Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution

This Note will focus on the disputes between Korea, both North and South Korea, and Japan surrounding Korean cultural property looted by Japan and will explore concrete solutions for resolving such issues through alternative dispute resolution-more specifically, an apology. It will consider two predominant exampies of cultural property looting, which occurred during Japanese invasions of Korea-first, at the end of the sixteenth century and, the second, from 1910 to 1945. Additionally, Japan has frequently been characterized as being a "significant market" for stolen cultural property. It is reported that there are at least 34,157 objects of Korean origin in Japan, …

Breaking The Impasse: A Two-Pronged Approach For Resolving Sovereign Debt Holdout Disputes, Alexander Shapos

Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution

Sovereign debt holdout disputes implicate billions of dollars. For nearly a decade, one such dispute has led to a de facto embargo on Argentina as well as an inability for investment funds to enforce multibillion-dollar judgments. Thus, it is significantly in the interests of both future sovereign bond issuers and future creditors to preemptively avoid unproductive impasses. But with no existing formal bankruptcy regime, sovereigns are left to litigate, arbitrate, or negotiate their debt disputes. This Note proposes that litigation is an inappropriate remedy to resolve such disputes-and instead, it proposes a two-pronged approach for preventing and resolving disputes. The …

Report Of The Special Rapporteur On The Rights Of Indigenous Peoples On The Situation Of Indigenous Peoples In Canada, S. James Anaya

Publications

No abstract provided.

Less Is More In International Private Law, Susan Block-Lieb, Terence C. Halliday

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Cycles Of Global Telecommunication Censorship And Surveillance, Jonathon Penney

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

Internet censorship and surveillance is on the rise globally and cyber-warfare increasing in scope and intensity. To help understand these new threats commentators have grasped at historical analogies often with little regard for historical complexity or international perspective. Unfortunately, helpful new works on telecommunications history have focused primarily on U.S. history with little focus on international developments. There is thus a need for further internationally oriented investigation of telecommunications technologies, and their history. This essay attempts to help fill that void, drawing on case studies wherein global telecommunications technologies have been disrupted or censored — telegram censorship and surveillance, high …

Making Private Copies In The Cloud: Yes, No, Maybe?, Lucie Guibault

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

Presentation at the Private Use in EU Copyright Law Seminar, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Poland.

The Cycles Of Global Telecommunication Censorship And Surveillance, Jonathon Penney

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

Internet censorship and surveillance is on the rise globally and cyber-warfare increasing in scope and intensity. To help understand these new threats commentators have grasped at historical analogies often with little regard for historical complexity or international perspective. Unfortunately, helpful new works on telecommunications history have focused primarily on U.S. history with little focus on international developments. There is thus a need for further internationally oriented investigation of telecommunications technologies, and their history. This essay attempts to help fill that void, drawing on case studies wherein global telecommunications technologies have been disrupted or censored — telegram censorship and surveillance, high …

Foreword | Contested Justice: The Politics And Practice Of Internationcontested Justice, The Politics And Practice Of International Criminal Court Interventionsal Criminal Court Interventions, Ruti G. Teitel

Articles & Chapters

No abstract provided.