Integration Of International Law Research Articles

Not a Threat, an Opportunity: Regional Approaches and the Future of International Law

The discourse of international law has always been careful to denounce anything that could undermine the universality of international law. Consequently, it has developed new ideas and mechanisms that can help to curb any risk of fragmentation. In parallel with this movement, there are increasingly pressing calls for greater consideration of multiculturalism and pluralism in international law. The present reflection focuses on the articulation of these two movements by asking whether regional approaches to international law (RAIL) pose a real threat to the coherence and integrity of international law. The article concludes that RAIL can—under certain conditions—be a source of enrichment and consolidation of international law.

Regional Approaches to International Law (RAIL): Rise or Decline of International Law?

The fragmentation of international law is both a renewed fear and a driving force in international legal thinking. The discourse of international law has thus always been careful to denounce anything that could undermine the universality and unity of international law, and in so doing, has developed new ideas and mechanisms that can help to curb any risk of fragmentation, supposed or real. In parallel with this movement, there are increasingly pressing calls, both from actors in international society and within international law, for greater consideration of multiculturalism and pluralism in society in the development and application of international legal rules. The present reflection focuses on the articulation of these two movements by asking whether regional approaches to international law (RAIL) pose a real threat to the coherence and integrity of international law. The article concludes that RAIL can be a source of enrichment and consolidation of international law if these approaches are conducted with a view to developing a truly universal international law and not to calling into question its foundations. To reach this conclusion, the paper invites international lawyers to revisit the dogmas of universality and unity in order to question the true meaning of these notions and to think about the future of their discipline.

4. Mexico

This year, we report on the legislative activities in the forestry, climate change, and oil, gas, and energy sectors. The development of human rights protection in the environmental agenda witnessed expansion in the fields of public participation of Indigenous groups, the banning of pesticides, and air pollution. We observe further integration of international law into the national order on matters of living modified organisms, the ozone layer, and regulatory development in the oil and gas industry. The Nagoya–Kuala Lumpur Supplementary Protocol on Liability and Redress (Supplementary Protocol) was adopted by Mexico and published in the Federal Register (Diario Oficial de la Federación (DOF)) on 26 February. The purpose of the Supplementary Protocol is to contribute to the safe transfer, handling, and use of living modified organisms that may have adverse effects on biological diversity. Mexico is committed to issuing and enforcing existing domestic rules for addressing measurable or observable damage to biological diversity and the civil liabilities associated with intentional, unintentional, and/or illegal transboundary movements of living modified organisms.

Domestic Politics, International Crimes: Gross Violations of the Right to Political Participation

This article posits that gross breaches of the human right to political participation – in electoral contexts and more generally – are a central (if so far implicit) preoccupation of international criminal law. In particular, drawing on case law concerning attacks instigated by political organisations against their opponents, the author suggests that infringements of political participation can and do pervade the contextual elements of crimes against humanity. More concretely, depending on the circumstances, the author argues that deprivations of political participation may constitute the underlying offence of persecution. The elucidation of this link serves to refine our understanding of crimes against humanity, enhance the potential for comprehensive transitional justice, promote the systemic integrity of international law and highlight the importance attached to democratic values.

Creating a global law graduate: The need, benefits and practical approaches to internationalise the curriculum

<p class="JLDAbstract">The increasingly integrated world has facilitated important international and trans-border trends, such as a progressively connected global economy, a significant growth in transnational business transactions and an increase in global regulation of global issues. Such globalisation has had a transformational impact on the legal profession in a number of ways. These include the need to provide advice on issues or transactions that have a transnational or international element; the increasing globalisation of large law firms; and the delivery of offshore services by legal service providers. This means that not only do law graduates need to be prepared to practice in an increasingly globalised economy and legal profession, there will also be new career opportunities available to them which require understanding of international law, for example in emerging international institutions and non-government organisations. Accordingly there is a need to ensure that law students develop the knowledge and skills they will require to succeed in a globalised legal profession. That is, there is a need to internationalise the law curriculum. This paper provides an insight into the recent progression of law schools in internationalising the law curriculum and provides practical avenues and strategies for the increased integration of international law, foreign law and a comparative perspective into core subjects which will develop the graduates’ knowledge and skills in international and foreign law, in order to enhance their ability to succeed as legal professionals in a globalised world.</p>

Introduction: family – an international affair

This collection of articles arises from a conference held in Tel Aviv in 2009 at the Concord Research Centre for the Integration of International Law in Israel, School of Law, College of Management Academic Studies. Delegates to the conference came from a variety of professions and areas of expertise and included academics and legal and welfare practitioners. What was common among us, however, was our interest in the international dimensions of both understandings of the family and of the normative systems that define and regulate it. We all believed that understandings of family are situated in and across cultural and economic manifestations of reproduction, dependency and care relations in a global context and that they are regulated in international and regional as much as in domestic law.

Peter H. Sand, Atoll Diego Garcia: Naturschutz zwischen Menschenrecht und Machtpolitik

There are many ways of looking at the international system, but two dichotomies stand out: there are those who believe international behaviour is primarily motivated by systemic forces and those who believe that the internal composition of the individual units dramatically affects how they act internationally, and especially that democratic polities are more peaceful and law-abiding than others. Like many essentially untestable hypotheses, the debate between these two positions has resisted a clear resolution. One of the reasons the debate has been so vicious and largely unproductive lies in its implicit reliance on the other, even less testable dichotomy in international affairs, viz. the disputed nature of man as primarily good or primarily evil,1 which is closely linked to the legal debate about the sources of obedience to law.2 International law as a discipline usually does not engage in speculation about the nature of the international system. It does, nevertheless, rest on the strong, if implicit, assumption that law has a system-defining existence and that states will obey it. To be sure, this belief is not necessarily utopian but can be empirically verified as fairly accurate,3 for, as Henkin famously observed, �almost all nations observe almost all principles of international law and almost all of their obligations almost all of the time�.4 But what when they don�t? More damaging still, what if the law-breaker is doing so persistently, with alacrity and great intellectual, if not criminal, creativity and energy, all the while maintaining a professed reverence for legality?5 Such persistent violation under the legalistic cover of �plausible deniability� will negatively affect the integrity of international law, and the present book is the somewhat disillusioning account of that negative impact. For those not familiar with the events, the sorry story is quickly told:6 worried about �

Between a Rock and a Hard Place

The present recurrence of mass atrocity crimes, though shocking, is nothing new. With conflict raging in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Myanmar, Sudan, and elsewhere, why have actors or coalitions outside the authority of the United Nations not emerged to exercise a credible deterrent and halt the bloodshed? Much of the answer lies within the framework of international law. This article seeks to understand whether the law serves as constrainer or enabler of unauthorised humanitarian interventions. I argue that the integrity of international law is best preserved by maintaining the illegality of unauthorised, militarily-coercive interventions. Simultaneously I posit that states should take the coercive actions necessary to end large-scale killing and that their actions should be considered and authorised, ex post facto, by the Security Council based on contextual “exceptionality.”

The Relationship Between Public International Law and Domestic Law in Switzerland - Das Verhältnis von Völkerrecht und Landesrecht in der Schweiz (in German)

The question as to the relation between domestic law and public international law can not be answered in the abstract and general. State practice differs, and various academic perspectives compete. The paper first clarifies some basic notions (part A). It explains the Swiss doctrine and case-law relating to three classical issues, namely the integration of international law into the domestic legal order (B), the collision between international law and domestic law (C), and the direct applicability of international legal provisions (D).

Humanitarian intervention after Kosovo: Iraq, Darfur and the record of global civil society

Acknowledgements Introduction International Law, Sovereignty and Humanitarian Intervention The Normative Thesis and Operation Allied Force Humanitarian Intervention after Kosovo The Dangers of Unregulated Humanitarian Intervention Regulating Humanitarian Intervention: The Need for Redirection Conclusion: Sovereignty, Human Rights and the Integrity of International Law

International Treaties in Germany: The Legislative Competence of Parliament and the Interpretative Competence of the Courts

This article analyses certain issues concerning the implementation of international-treaty obligations in the German domestic legal order. Traditionally the German legislator has been understood as possessing competence to pass legislation inconsistent with international treaty obligations it had previously con-sented to. In addition, the degree to which decisions of the ECtHR are binding on the German judiciary is still unclear. The article aims to develop new answers to both problems, linking both levels of imple-mentation and finding the right balance between the integrity of international law and of the domestic legal order.

Unity, Diversity and the Fragmentation of International Law: How Much Does the Multiplication of International Organizations Really Matter?

It seems to be presumed by many that the simple multiplication of international organizations (IOs) weakens the unity and integrity of international law. There is, in reality, nothing obvious in this assumption. First, there needs to be evidence of duplication or overlaps in the various competences of IOs. Second, it needs to be proven that, in the instances in which the activities of IOs do overlap, such overlap translates into competition, divergence or conflict. Last, and most impor- tantly, rival or competing activities must be of normative significance. This essay pro- poses to address the preliminary question which, in fact, precedes and underpins all the others as regards the multiplication of IOs and international legal unity: how do IOs matter in the making of international law? IOs, we argue, are more shapers than makers of international law and their multiplication is therefore not a source of increased chaos in the international normative puzzle.

The ICJ, the ECJ, and the Integrity of International Law

The European Court of Justice and the International Court of Justice are both courts born of war, established by interstate treaties and having their seats in European cities. The relationship between Luxembourg and Strasbourg has been well explored, and has developed over the years. The major issue today seems to be one of the coherence of human rights protection in Europe—an issue addressed with knowledge, depth, and insight by Kruger and Polakiewicz in the OctoberHuman Rights Law Journal.2