Convention Committee Research Articles

Social Justice Conference Planning for Writing Studies

In this series of personal reflections, authors from the Social Justice at the Convention Committee and the Local Arrangements Committee discuss their efforts to do social justice conference planning for the Conference on College Composition and Communication from 2018 to 2021. The challenges of doing social justice programming in a shifting convention landscape have been tremendous but, the authors have found, they are not insurmountable. The authors use their experiences to offer a conceptual framework and guiding questions for enacting social justice events at academic con­ventions. The lessons the authors have learned in the process about funding, labor, sustainability, and ethics of incorporating community voices will be important and useful to readers who want to highlight such programming in national, regional, local, and online venues.

Challenges Related to Fight Against Cybercrime. A Need to Strengthen International Cooperation

The objective of this article is to highlight the need for additional tools and frameworks for international cooperation. As the cyber threat landscape has considerably worsened in the last few years, in particular during the COVID-19 pandemic, law enforcement authorities worldwide need to take necessary measures to respond to this situation. As there are also new types of crime and modus operandi emerging, countries need to assess their legislative and organizational frameworks, and improve their capacities to detect and investigate these criminal offences. As most of the cases are of cross-border nature and electronic evidence needed for the investigations is stored in other countries, there is a greater dependence on international cooperation in conducting successful investigations. As traditional Mutual Legal Assistance measures don’t provide the necessary speed and effectiveness needed to adequately address the cybercrime threat, additional tools need to be developed. So far the Convention on Cybercrime or Budapest Convention has been the only international legally binding treaty on cybercrime and electronic evidence. In order to provide additional measures to supplement the ones established in the Convention, officials have opened discussions about creating the Second Additional Protocol. Although the background work and preparations for the Protocol were conducted over the course of several years, the Protocol negotiations started officially in September 2017. In May 2021 the Cybercrime Convention Committee agreed on the conditions of the Protocol. The Protocol would complement the Convention and provide several new tools and measures for law enforcement authorities. These measures include inter alia Mutual Legal Assistance and disclosure of computer data in emergency situations as well as providing avenues for direct cooperation with Multinational Service Providers. The Protocol will be opened for signature in 2022 and hopefully implementing the measures listed in the Protocol will aid in the fight against cybercrime and increase the effectiveness of international cooperation. As the threats and risks related to cybercrime have increased over the years, it is also time for law enforcement to display a stronger response to this pressing issue.

Monitoring implementation of the Tokyo Convention on recognition: a multi-stakeholder approach to the internationalization of higher education in the Asia-Pacific

PurposeThe impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic have transformed the global outlook for international higher education. Given the rapid shift to online learning, the Tokyo Convention in the Asia-Pacific entrusted to UNESCO has become an important policy framework to facilitate regional collaboration, authoritative information sharing and recognition of qualifications across diverse modes of learning. This paper examines the role of the Tokyo Convention to establish an inclusive platform for monitoring and collaborative governance of mobility and internationalization based on fair and transparent recognition policies and practices in the Asia-Pacific.Design/methodology/approachIn August 2019, a standardized survey instrument was sent by the Secretariat of the Tokyo Convention Committee at UNESCO Bangkok to competent recognition authorities in 46 countries in the Asia-Pacific, including the eight State Parties to the Tokyo Convention that ratified the Convention as of the reporting period. In total, qualitative data from n = 27 countries/states was received and analyzed to assess implementation of the Tokyo Convention throughout the region. The research design illustrates how normative instruments such as the Tokyo Convention are monitored and assessed over time.FindingsA multi-stakeholder approach based on collaborative governance is needed to effectively monitor implementation and implications of the Tokyo Convention for diverse higher education stakeholders in the Asia-Pacific region.Research limitations/implicationsImplications include establishing baseline data and methods for monitoring implementation of the Tokyo Convention. Based on collaborative governance theory, the paper explores potential for a multi-stakeholder approach to promote mutual accountability in the Asia-Pacific and to develop mechanisms for inclusive participation in the governance of the forthcoming Global Convention on recognition.Originality/valueAs the first systematic review of its kind, this paper includes a unique dataset and insights into UNESCO's methodology to monitor implementation of standard-setting instruments for qualifications recognition in the Asia-Pacific.

Framing Big Data in the Council of Europe and the EU Data Protection Law Systems: Adding ‘Should’ to ‘Must’ via Soft Law To Address More Than Only Individual Harms

On 19 November 2019 the Council of Europe hosted an international conference, immediately preceding the annual plenary meeting of its Committee of Convention 108, on “Convention 108+ and the future data protection global standard”. One of the authors made a presentation on “Comparing the EU and Council of Europe approach to Big Data”, and it is its contents and findings that are further elaborated in this paper; Its aim is, in essence, to incorporate the feedback received and to adapt past research on Big Data, that was mostly relevant to the EU, also on the Council of Europe data protection system. After a few preliminary remarks on Big Data terminology and possible regulatory approaches, Big Data regulation is examined against the EU and the Council of Europe data protection systems. Particular emphasis is given to the Council of Europe regulatory approach both in terms of Convention 108+ and with regard to its Guidelines on Big Data and AI. The authors believe that, because both the EU and the Council of Europe have avoided to refer to Big Data in their basic data protection regulatory texts (a most likely intentional omission), guidance is indeed needed, and it may well come in the form of soft law. The Council of Europe has taken the lead in this through its Guidelines; Their timely, comprehensive and balanced approach showcases the Council's will for such processing to indeed take place, but within a well-regulated environment, albeit not under a rigid regulatory construction.

Framing Big Data in the Council of Europe and the EU data protection law systems: Adding ‘should’ to ‘must’ via soft law to address more than only individual harms

On 19 November 2019 the Council of Europe hosted an international conference, immediately preceding the annual plenary meeting of its Committee of Convention 108, on “Convention 108+ and the future data protection global standard”. One of the authors made a presentation on “Comparing the EU and Council of Europe approach to Big Data”, and it is its contents and findings that are further elaborated in this paper; Its aim is, in essence, to incorporate the feedback received and to adapt past research on Big Data, that was mostly relevant to the EU, also on the Council of Europe data protection system. After a few preliminary remarks on Big Data terminology and possible regulatory approaches, Big Data regulation is examined against the EU and the Council of Europe data protection systems. Particular emphasis is given to the Council of Europe regulatory approach both in terms of Convention 108+ and with regard to its Guidelines on Big Data and AI. The authors believe that, because both the EU and the Council of Europe have avoided to refer to Big Data in their basic data protection regulatory texts (a most likely intentional omission), guidance is indeed needed, and it may well come in the form of soft law. The Council of Europe has taken the lead in this through its Guidelines; Their timely, comprehensive and balanced approach showcases the Council's will for such processing to indeed take place, but within a well-regulated environment, albeit not under a rigid regulatory construction.

Implementing Convention 108+: Observers and NGO contributions

The Consultative Committee of data protection Convention 108 has among its accredited Observers five non-government organisations (NGOs) with strong interests in data privacy. This article considers how such NGO Observers can contribute to Convention 108+, the ‘modernised’ and strengthened version of the Convention now undergoing ratification by parties to the existing Convention, and considers whether the roles proposed for 108+ involvement by NGO Observers are satisfactory, or whether they need to be strengthened. It concludes NGOs have good reasons for wanting 108+ to maintain high standards, and to advocate for that. It is easy to say in theory, but will they have the opportunity in practice? Four distinct reasons for NGO Observer interest are identified. The involvement of three NGOs in the Consultative Committee’s deliberations on the accession and periodic follow-up evaluation mechanisms is shown to have resulted in improvements to an already very strong set of evaluation criteria. From an NGO perspective, these Council of Europe processes are significantly more transparent, participatory and responsive, than those adopted by APEC (Privacy Framework and Cross-border Privacy Rules system), the OECD (Privacy Guidelines) and European Union (‘adequacy’ under the GDPR).

Salini Criteria: A Strict-Deductive Approach Against the Principles of Article 25 ICSID

This research paper is written by the author for the want of strict definition of the term ‘investment(s)’ in the ICID Convention. Article 25 of the Convention nowhere defines investment and therefore, the legislative drafter of the Convention deemed it fit to leave such interpretation on the arbitral jurisprudence of the ad-hoc tribunals so constituted on case to case basis. As investments are not defined in the Convention, however such definitions are clearly worded and expressly found within the BITs and other investment contracts. The parties to the BITs i.e. two sovereign States enter into consultation and negotiation to strictly define the term investment which governs their relations and even the disputes arising thereafter. The law of the BITs is framed by the parties keeping in mind the realms of ‘Public International law’ as well as the ‘Private International law’. It is for this reason that the legislative drafters of the ICID convention knowingly left from defining ‘What are Investment(s).’ One can even argue and has been argued by numerous parties before a tribunal and also through the jurisprudence of the arbitrators that back in the year 1965 when the ICID Convention was formulated, the law makers recommended that defining the term investment under the Convention would restrict and limit the authority of the parties to bring forth their disputes which are concerning Investment per se. The executive working committee report of the ICID Convention also recommended that by intentionally leaving behind from defining the term Investment would justify the role of globalisation within the transnational continents and would lead to better and free movement of investments amongst the contracting parties. Therefore, the author sides with the view of the executive working committee of the ICID Convention from not defining Investments then, however, the author on the other hand also considers it necessary from defining Investments now, within the ICID Convention. Lastly, as there is no rule of stare decisis in international arbitration, the development of jurisprudence of international arbitration is left upon the tribunals formed on case to case basis, this not only leads to lack of uniformity and coherent judgement making by the tribunal, but also creates some serious doubts on the processes legitimacy and credibility. The definition of Investments within Article 25 of the ICID Convention is the need of the hour.

NGO Involvement in the Evaluation and Follow-Up Mechanisms for Data Protection Convention 108+ (Submission to the Consultative Committee of Data Protection Convention 108 by the Australian Privacy Foundation (APF), the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) and Privacy International (PI))

Three NGOs specialising in privacy issues, the Australian Privacy Foundation (APF), the Electronic Privacy Information Centre (EPIC) from the US, and the UK-based Privacy International, have made a joint submission to the Consultative Committee of data protection Convention 108, concerning the proposed Evaluation and Follow-Up Mechanism for the new 'modernised' version of the Convention (usually called 'Convention 108+). The submission give strong support to the comprehensive and valuable recommendations contained in the proposals, and suggests expanded NGO involvement in the proposed evaluation and follow-up mechanisms. In particular, the Submission proposes involvement of NGO nominees in Working Groups of the new Convention Committee, for the additional perspectives they can bring. Among fourteen s suggestions, others concern transparency of processes, the order of evaluation of Convention Parties, the evaluation criteria, and participation in Committee discussions of particular evaluations. The Evaluation and Follow-Up Mechanism will be discussed at the Consultative Committee's next Plenary Meeting in Strasbourg in November 2019.

La adopción de las TIC en restaurantes de Puerto Nuevo, Rosarito, Baja California

El objetivo de la investigación es analizar la adopción de las Tecnologías de la Información y la Comunicación (TIC) en restaurantes de Puerto Nuevo, Rosarito, Baja California. La investigación inicia con la revisión de literatura, seguido de la aplicación de un cuestionario a 23 administradores de restaurantes registrados ante el Comité de Turismo y Convenciones (Cotuco) de Rosarito. Dentro de las consideraciones para aplicar el instrumento, al menos debería utilizar uno de los siguientes tres elementos tecnológicos en la operación del negocio: red social, sitio de Internet o correo electrónico. Los resultados obtenidos muestran un índice de adopción alto de las TIC en la administración del negocio, y un índice de adopción medio en el empleo de e-marketing y en la administración de las relaciones con los clientes; aunado a lo anterior, se encontró una correlación entre las variables analizadas. De esta manera, es necesario incrementar la adopción de las TIC en los restaurantes, con el fin de desarrollar la competitividad del destino ante otras opciones que pueda llegar a tener el visitante, además de buscar la implementación de las nuevas tecnologías en función de satisfacer y facilitar los servicios que requieren los consumidores.

Message from Convener - Convention Committee NCC 2019

Message from Convener - Convention Committee NCC 2019

L'engraissement spontané du foie ches les palmipèdes : état des lieux et perspectives de recherche

La production de foie gras, telle que pratiquée aujourd’hui, est remise en question par les associations de protection animale, mais aussi par le Conseil de l’Europe. Le Comité Permanent de la Convention Européenne pour la protection des animaux dans les élevages a ainsi recommandé que des études portant sur des méthodes alternatives à la prise forcée d’aliment chez les palmipèdes soient mises en place dans les pays européens producteurs de foie gras. Cette synthèse a pour objectif de présenter l’état d’avancement des recherches sur ces méthodes alternatives. Les voies de synthèse et de stockage de lipides chez les oiseaux seront abordées ainsi que le comportement alimentaire et le métabolisme hépatique des oiseaux migrateurs, ayant permis de définir les bases biologiques des recherches menées sur la stéatose spontanée chez les palmipèdes domestiques. Les résultats des recherches conduites sur l’engraissement hépatique spontané des palmipèdes, les effecteurs de celui-ci et l’impact en terme de durabilité du système seront discutés. Enfin, plusieurs perspectives de recherche sur des leviers possibles tels que l’alimentation, la conduite d’élevage, la sélection génétique et l’étude du microbiote intestinal, seront proposées.

The Cybercrime Convention Committee's 2017 Guidance Note on Production Orders: Unilateralist transborder access to electronic evidence promoted via soft law

This article provides a critical analysis of the Council of Europe Cybercrime Convention Committee's Guidance Note of Production Orders, published on 1 March 2017. The article looks at the legal controversies surrounding production orders with a cross-border element. It explains the Guidance Note's background and origins, the basic provisions in the Cybercrime Convention allowing the law enforcement authorities to order and obtain certain information and discusses the requirements that follow from the relevant provisions of the Convention. This analysis is complemented by four critical remarks on the way the Guidance Note pushes the boundaries of acceptable treaty interpretation on the necessity of the Guidance Note, its position in regard to extraterritorial enforcement jurisdiction and sovereignty, its reticence towards fundamental rights and its refusal to define or clarify the important notion of “subscriber information”. The article argues that unilateralism is not a solution. Instead of soft law plumbing, what is needed is an agreement between sovereign states checked by their constituencies.

Testing Equality: Insanity, Treatment Refusal and the CRPD

The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is considered to be a radical international treaty that affords persons with disability recognition and protection of equal rights in socio-cultural, political, medical and legal arenas. Drawing from the Convention's core principles of equality and non-discrimination, the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Convention's Committee have called for a replacement of the insanity defence with a disability-neutral doctrine. The rationale is that retaining this special defence is, in itself, discriminatory, given its function is necessarily based on the presence of mental disability and the assumption that such disabilities impair capacity and reasoning. This article interrogates the rationale behind ‘abolitionist’ views, and asks whether equality necessarily means treating all persons identically regardless of capacity to reason about conduct.

A Clash of Conventions? Participation, Power and the Rights of Disabled Children

This article considers the neglected topic of the relationship between the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, with regard to the participation rights of disabled children. It analyses key articles in both conventions and considers relevant general comments from both convention committees (the Committee on the Rights of the Child and the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities), and their interpretation by academic contributors. The article argues that much work on this topic fails to develop an adequate understanding of power relations, and that the ‘social model of disability’ which underpins the disabilities convention, when applied to ‘childhood’ (as opposed to ‘children’) suggests that the implications of that convention for the participation rights of all children, not only disabled children, are profound. This is because the disabilities convention rejects the relevance of tests of capacity and ‘best interests’ for disabled adults, for reasons which are equally germane to disabled children, and children in general. The article concludes with discussion of the difficulties in implementing the insights derived from the analysis of the disabilities convention in substantive law in the absence of a right to freedom from age discrimination for children, and suggests other, less far-reaching, reforms that could be made this notwithstanding.

Didactic Dimensions to Ensure Refugee Minors’ Protection against Sexual Abuse within European Refugee Crisis

The current importance of the present research is rooted in the fact that despite a solid legislative background and increasing number of scholarly studies, didactic dimensions to ensure efficient refugee minors’ protection against sexual abuse and exploitation have not been subject to comprehensive study thought the contemporary civilization faces a systemic refugee crises that affects minors as most vulnerable population. The research aimed to explore the above-mentioned dimensions, identify their stakeholders and tools, reveal the critical factors for their operation. The research methodology stood on the comparative approach, combined desk and field studies, included theoretical analysis of international white papers and academia contribution regarding refugee minors’ protection against sexual violence. Special emphasis was laid to empirical analysis of the current state of affairs and promising practices of 40 countries that are member states to the Lanzarote Convention Committee of the Parties. The research results made it possible to outline major didactic dimensions for refugee minors’ protection, identify key players and instruments for the above dimensions development, and to highlight promising practices in the area across various countries. The research significance is due to the confirmed efficiency of the developed methodology that allowed authors to explore current state of affairs and further trends to foster and enhance didactic dimensions of refugee minors’ protection against sexual violence at the age of refugee crisis.

A ‘Big Picture’ Learning Experience

A ‘Big Picture’ Learning Experience

Regulating big data. The guidelines of the Council of Europe in the context of the European data protection framework

In January 2017 the Consultative Committee of Convention 108 adopted its Guidelines on the Protection of Individuals with Regard to the Processing of Personal Data in a World of Big Data. These are the first guidelines on data protection provided by an international body which specifically address the issues surrounding big data applications.This article examines the main provisions of these Guidelines and highlights the approach adopted by the Consultative Committee, which contextualises the traditional principles of data protection in the big data scenario and also takes into account the challenges of the big data paradigm. The analysis of the different provisions adopted focuses primarily on the core of the Guidelines namely the risk assessment procedure. Moreover, the article discusses the novel solutions provided by the Guidelines with regard to the data subject's informed consent, the by-design approach, anonymization, and the role of the human factor in big data-supported decisions.This critical analysis of the Guidelines introduces a broader reflection on the divergent approaches of the Council of Europe and the European Union to regulating data processing. Where the principle-based model of the Council of Europe differs from the approach adopted by the EU legislator in the detailed Regulation (EU) 2016/679. In the light of this, the provisions of the Guidelines and their attempt to address the major challenges of the new big data paradigm set the stage for concluding remarks about the most suitable regulatory model to deal with the different issues posed by the development of technology.

Society for Clinical Neuropsychology (American Psychological Association, Division 40) annual convention program, abstracts, and committee members

APA Annual ConventionDivision 40 (Society for Clinical Neuropsychology)Program Summary – 4–7 August 2016; Denver, ColoradoDay/Time, Facility/Room Event, Title, and People 8/04 ThursdayExecutive Co...

A Study on the Conflict Management and Resolution through Public Involvement: Focus on the Convention Committee in Jeju Province of South Korea

A Study on the Conflict Management and Resolution through Public Involvement: Focus on the Convention Committee in Jeju Province of South Korea

‘Modernising’ data protection Convention 108: A safe basis for a global privacy treaty?

Proposals for the reform or ‘modernisation’ of Council of Europe Data Protection Convention 108 have now been forwarded from the Convention's Consultative Committee for consideration by the Council of Ministers. This article assesses the changes proposed, which strengthen the obligations of Parties to implement the Convention as a matter of effective practice, not just as a law on paper. It tightens most of the existing data protection principles, and adds new ones which better align the Convention with the EU Directive (and proposed Regulation). The Convention Committee will have explicit new functions including assessing candidates for accession, and periodically reviewing implementation by existing parties. However, the proposals concerning the required standard for data export limitations are in some respects ill-defined and dangerous for data subjects. The existing standard that personal data can only be exported if the recipient provides ‘adequate’ protection has been abandoned for an undefined requirement of ‘appropriate’ protection. The article situates the risk of abandoning meaningful data export restrictions in the context of the USA's push for ‘interoperability’ of very different data protection standards.