International Law Research Articles

Outlining three arguments for Rights of Antarctica

ABSTRACT In this article, we investigate three arguments for Rights of Antarctica (RoA), understood as recognising the whole continent as a rights-holder with legal standing. For this, we draw inspiration from the Antarctica Declaration, a text developed by an interdisciplinary and international group of scholars and activists. We scrutinise three justifications that could potentially be used in support of RoA. First, we investigate whether arguments for Rights of Nature (RoN) elsewhere can support RoA. RoN has been accepted in several domestic legislations. Unfortunately, we discover important disanalogies between RoA and RoN, defeating the purpose of justifying RoA with reference to RoN. Second, we scrutinise potential arguments that focus on giving rights to specific Antarctic ecoregions or places. However, such arguments would only cover parts of the continent, thus going against the holistic approach of RoA, and they would require using a broader understanding of ‘attachments’ as grounds for justifying rights for parts of Antarctica. In contrast, we construct an argument for accepting RoA based on four components: (1) Antarctica’s intrinsic value, (2) wider forms of human attachments, (3) Antarctica’s substantial role as a global systemic resource, and (4) the fact that Antarctica is under recurrent and substantial threats. While none of these are individually sufficient for recognising RoA, they can jointly make RoA appropriate. We conclude that it remains an open question whether international law or, more specifically, the Antarctic Treaty, would be open to such conceptual and normative innovation, adopting a new paradigm in our treatment of the nonhuman natural world. At the same time, we hope to kickstart a discussion of what RoA would require and how it should relate more generally to RoN discourses.

Pandemic Pass? Treaty Derogations and Human Rights Practices During COVID-19

This research note asks whether states issuing pandemic-era human rights treaty derogations implemented emergency provisions as intended or used them to abuse human rights during a time of crisis. In an effort to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, many countries declared states of emergency and derogated (temporarily suspended) from their international human rights treaty obligations. Using data from the Varieties of Democracy PanDem dataset and the Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker, we find that states that derogated from their international human rights obligations imposed emergency measures that were temporary and did not violate non-derogable rights. On the other hand, states that did not derogate were more likely impose discriminatory measures, enact emergency measures without time limits and violate non-derogable rights. Our results support the role that flexibility mechanisms such as derogations play in international law and show that states are being sincere about their intentions and not, generally, using these mechanisms to cover abusive behavior.

Introduction to Nuclear Forensics Analysis Techniques

Abstract Nuclear forensics is the interdisciplinary branch of forensic science that deals with the analysis and examination of nuclear or other radioactive materials, or of evidence that is contaminated with radionuclides in the context of legal proceedings under international or national law related to nuclear security. To control and avoid the threat of terrorism posed by illicit trafficking and mismanagement, nuclear and other radioactive materials must be strictly regulated. Thus, the goal of nuclear forensic analysis is to discover what radioactive materials were confiscated, how, when, and where they were manufactured, and what their intended applications were. Nuclear forensic scientist has a wide array of analytical tools to use for detecting signatures in radioactive materials. These individual techniques can be sorted into three broad categories: bulk analysis tools, imaging tools, and microanalysis tools. Particular interest in nuclear forensics is particle morphology, isotopic composition of a material, presence of impurities, and microstructure. These properties can vary between materials of different origins due to varying processing or geological conditions, thus, allowing for discrimination of material history and prediction of provenance. This review article presents many key analytical techniques and discusses the main application and challenges of the most common techniques currently used in nuclear forensics analysis.

A constitutional perspective on EU arms controls: mediating trade, security, and humanitarian responsibility

Abstract This article examines how European Union (EU) arms control measures are tailored to its constitutional foundations. EU Member States subject shipments of arms and components to controls so as to screen them for risks and potentially block them. In this context different Member States may make different geopolitical and humanitarian risk assessments. Existing EU measures have achieved only limited security screening harmonisation, and have left room for Member States to shirk their obligations under international humanitarian law. But in case of joint arms production, which the EU subsidises to become more autonomous, one Member State’s arms controls may block another State’s exports and thereby jeopardise cooperation. This article posits that any reform of EU arms controls should start by re-evaluating their present legal basis. A constitutional competence analysis shows that controls on arms shipments to non-EU states should be regulated in part through the Common Commercial Policy (CCP), and not just through the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP). This would be consistent with other EU regulatory regimes for trade security. While a joint CFSP-CCP approach cannot fully prevent conflict, since this would require further foreign policy harmonisation, it could help foster security convergence and strengthen humanitarian due diligence mechanisms.

Access to justice for atrocities in the comparison of land-mark cases on state immunity in Brazil and Italy

ABSTRACT This article investigates differences and similarities in the approach of Italian and Brazilian domestic courts to the topic of access to justice for atrocities and the role of state immunity, taking particular note of the limited and select dialogue between the two judiciaries and reflecting on the potential for further developments of the customary international law rule on state immunity. To do so, the article first outlines the rule on state immunity and offers an overview of the articulated Italian case law on why state immunity cannot bar access to justice for atrocities, considering the judicial developments occurred after 2004. The paper moves on to describe the recent 2021 decision of the Brazilian Supremo Tribunal Federal, in which the Brazil judiciary seemingly joined the Italian trend against state immunity when atrocities are committed. The two different judicial trends are then compared and analysed, with a discussion on the limited explicit reference to Italian decisions by the Supremo Tribunal Federal. The article concludes the research by describing the likely impact of these judicial trends on future developments on the relationship between access to justice for atrocities and state immunity.

Stages of teaching law students to draft international legal documents in English based on artificial intelligence tools

Importance. At the present time, the technologies of artificial intelligence are gradually finding their way into a wide variety of different fields of professional activity, including education. Over the past years, there has appeared a great corpus of research in pedagogical and methodical literature dedicated to the didactic and methodological potential of artificial intelligence. This study represents how the use of artificial intelligence technologies can diversify the learning and professional practice of learners, as well as take over some of the routine functions of a teacher. Genie AI, LegalAI, AI Legal Document Generator – these are all new artificial intelligence tools that allow international law students to draft international legal documents according to the characteristics of the legal systems of foreign authorities. At the same time, their linguodidactic potential is insufficiently revealed, which requires the development of a step-by-step methodology for teaching students to draft international legal documents in a foreign language based on these artificial intelligence tools. The aim of the research is to develop a step-by-step methodology for teaching law students to draft international legal documents based on artificial intelligence tools.Materials and Methods. The study is conducted on the basis of an expert approach. The materials are scientific articles considered with pedagogy and teaching foreign language methodology published in Higher Attestation Commission scientific journals and journals indexed in Scopus and Web of Science. Scientific literature analysis, methods of observation, and survey of university professors who deliver profile disciplines to students of the ‘Jurisprudence’ major, are used.Results and Discussion. A step-by-step methodology of teaching law students to draft international legal documents based on Genie AI, LegalAI, AI Legal Document Generator artificial intelligence tools is developed. The methodology consists of the following series of steps: 1) students study the structure of an international legal document taking into account the specificities of the legal systems of the participating countries in a regular class as part of an integrated course;2) students study or repeat an active vocabulary and grammar that are used in the process of drafting an international legal document; 3) explanation of the goals of drafting international legal documents on the basis of Genie AI learning practice, defining it’s stages and period to the students;4) discussion about information security and author ethics and the inadmissibility of unauthorised borrowing of generative AI material; 5) extracurricular independent educational practice on drafting international legal documents by students with the artificial intelligence tool; 6) mutual evaluation and discussion in small groups of students regarding international legal documents drafted with artificial intelligence tools; 7) selective evaluation by the instructor of legal documents drafted by students on the basis of practice with the artificial intelligence tool; 8) students’ reflection on the usefulness of using the artificial intelligence tool for drafting international legal documents.Conclusion. The novelty of the research lies in the development of a step-by-step methodology for teaching law students to draft international legal documents based on Genie AI, LegalAI, AI Legal Document Generator artificial intelligence tools. Prospects for further works are studying the linguodidactic potential of other artificial intelligence tools created for lawyers, and developing methods of teaching language aspects, types of speech activity, and specialised disciplines on their basis.

Global south perspectives on methodology and critique in international law

Global south perspectives on methodology and critique in international law

Under the shadow of legality: A shadow hauntology on the legal construction of the Women, Peace and Security agenda

Abstract Considered a landmark in feminist international politics, the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda of the UN Security Council has been the object of many feminist explorations. Feminist legal scholars, however, have grappled with the ‘shadowy’ legality of the agenda, mostly analysing it as an ‘unsuccessful’ legal project: a partial or in progress legal norm, a defective legal form that attests (and furthers) the exile of inclusion of feminists in international law, or yet a formalistic discussion with lesser impact for feminist activists on the ground. Drawing from Avery Gordon’s considerations on taking shadows seriously in our production of knowledge, I propose, however, that reckoning with the shadows of the WPS’s legality enables a more comprehensive analysis of how the agenda has been a successful legal project in its own way. Offering a ‘shadow hauntology’ for the legal status of the WPS, I zoom in on the competing legality perceptions shared by relevant actors, the (gendered and colonially-continuous) shadows that have haunted those perceptions into formation, and how these competing visions have shaped the legality of the WPS as a shadow of its own. This study then offers an alternative way of studying legality both to feminist legal scholarship and studies on international legal sources more broadly. More concretely, it embraces the irresolvability of the legal status of a norm to take stock of the different legal projects and legality perceptions advanced by feminist actors and gender experts, in an effort to understand, in their own terms, the successes achieved.

Technology is never neutral: Robodebt and a human rights analysis of automated decision-making on welfare recipients

ABSTRACT Government agencies have embraced automated decision-making systems, particularly in welfare, despite the risk of mass-replicated erroneous decision-making creating systemic issues. This article uses Robodebt as an Australian case study with global ramifications to argue that government agency use of erroneous automated decision-making systems in welfare raises human rights concerns. First, this article examines the shortcomings of administrative law in a digital welfare context. Second, the article closely analyses the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and identifies several human rights concerns raised by Robodebt. This article then examines ex-ante impact assessment models and concludes by recommending an obligation on government agencies to conduct a human rights impact assessment before deploying an automated decision-making system. By demonstrating the human rights implications on welfare recipients arising from automated decision-making systems, this article justifies the use of international human rights law as a complementary framework.

China and Shanghai Cooperation Organization: Reconsideration and Improvement of Multilateralizing Effect of Most Favored Nation Clause in BIT

Since the Maffezini case, debates upon the application of the Most-Favored-Nation (MFN) clause have never stopped. Research from the perspective of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) can test the way for further advancement of this issue. The analysis on the international investment arbitration cases involving the SCO states may shed some light on the crucial point on dispute. At present, the bilateral investment treaties (BIT) between China and other states of the SCO are in an urgent need of renewal in order to meet the interests of deepening investment cooperation. Problems of fragmentation of the interpretation method and of unpredictability of the interpretation conclusion of the MFN clauses manifested in international investment disputes involving SCO states will provide concrete preventative suggestions on the updating of the wording of MFN clauses. Under SCO framework, the multilateral effect of the MFN clause can play a model role for other regional integration organizations to build an integrated and multilateral investment treatment system in the fragmented and bilateralism-based framework of international investment law, and in fact promote investment facilitation for regional organizations.

Integrating Global Norms for Gender Equity in Kazakhstan: Aligning Workplace and Social Security Legislation with Sustainable Development Goals

Objective: This study investigates the impact of international standards on shaping national approaches to gender equality, focusing on Kazakhstan’s legal and social frameworks. Theoretical Framework: This research is based on theoretical perspectives regarding implementing international law, offering a foundation for understanding how global norms influence national policies. Method: A multidisciplinary methodology is applied, including comparative legal analysis, normative-legal methods, systems analysis, and legal modeling. Forecasting techniques are also used to anticipate future trends in the alignment of national policies with international gender equality standards. Results and Discussion: This study identifies several critical challenges that Kazakhstan faces in reforming its social and labor policies to align with international standards. Significant institutional and legal barriers hinder progress in promoting gender equality and eliminating discrimination. The discussion focuses on these obstacles and examines their implications for policy development and implementation. Research Implications: The findings of this study contribute to academic research and policy development by enriching the scientific discourse on gender equality and offering recommendations for integrating international standards into national legislation. This study not only provides a theoretical basis but also offers practical ideas for improving policies and legal frameworks. Originality/Value: This study sheds new light on the relationship between international legal standards and national legislation. It offers practical recommendations for advancing gender equality and supports the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 5 (SDG 5) by promoting the empowerment of women.

Reconsidering ‘Sook Ching’ victimhood: A microhistory of Singapore’s Nishimura trial

Abstract This article highlights the cross-disciplinary methodological potential of Third World approaches to international law (TWAIL) and microhistory by studying the active and complex exercise of agency by victims in an understudied historical instance of post-war justice, namely, the Singapore ‘Sook Ching’ trial or Nishimura trial. This trial dealt with the arbitrary massacre of Chinese residents by the Japanese military during the Second World War. Using TWAIL and microhistory methods, this article analyses trial transcripts and archival material on the Nishimura trial, with a focus on the trial experiences of witnesses, survivors, and community representatives. By studying the Nishimura trial as mobilization and meaning-making opportunity, this microhistory draws attention to the exercise of social and political agency by the Chinese community under difficult post-war conditions and British colonial rule. Chinese community leaders represented the community as collectively victimized and united in the pursuit of post-war justice. However, a close analysis of trial transcripts reveals tensions within the community and the need for a more complex understanding of victimhood.

Cyberspace and the Responsibility to Protect Populations from Atrocity Crimes

Abstract This article has two principal aims. First, it seeks to frame this special issue examining the intersection of cyberspace, digital platforms, and atrocity prevention frameworks – including the Responsibility to Protect (r2p). It does so by defining and scoping cyberspace, highlighting the limited extant research on cyber and atrocity prevention, and providing a brief overview of each article within this special section. By bringing together distinct perspectives – international law, political science, international relations, and policy – this special section hopes to ignite a timely, rich debate on 21st century technologies and atrocity prevention. Second, after setting the scene for the issue, this article offers its own novel contribution. In countering (continued) accusations of r2p’s irrelevance into the 2020s, this article argues that the norm’s three pillars must be re-examined in light of cyberspace. This is especially vital, as perpetrators of atrocities continue to employ cyber-enabled technologies and as r2p approaches its 20th anniversary.

Commercial Law and its Evaluation in International Law

The ease and prevalence of capital movement across international borders has led to its expansion in trade and the economy in recent years, and this may make resolving legal disputes more challenging. As a result of all these changes, national markets are becoming more and more global marketplaces, and commerce is expanding. Legal processes in this process must first be identified, and their characteristics ascertained in order to resolve legal disputes. While research has been done on qualified merchants in commercial law and related fields, no research has been done on qualified merchant requirements on an international scale. This study has, therefore, evaluated the global nature of the qualified trader under commercial law. Semiotic analysis and content analysis techniques were used in the study to evaluate conceptual studies carried out in academic settings. The research findings indicate that while certain national laws exist in the field of commercial law for eligible merchants, significant shortcomings persist in this domain, even within domestic legal frameworks. Confusion in domestic law stems from a number of factors, including the distinction made between the concepts of tradesman and merchant, the definition of "commercial enterprise," and the use of the term "part of" in reference to the requirement of operating a portion of the commercial company. International legal confusion results from inadequate representation of the qualifications of domestic and foreign traders in the legal system, which in turn affects local and national definitions of qualified traders and international activity areas. As a result, both domestically and globally, a more flexible, inclusive, and problem-solving legal strategy is needed.

Intelligent Borders: Exploring the Suitability of Artificial Intelligence Systems in Refugee Status Determination Under International Law

Abstract This article assesses the potential use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Refugee Status Determination, exploring how AI systems, including biometrics, predictive analytics, and emotion recognition, could support or replace human decision-making in determining refugee status. While AI could speed up and improve the objectivity of Refugee Status Determination procedures, the article raises concerns about its limitations in assessing the subjective fear of persecution, a critical element of refugee claims. The inability of AI systems to fully account for emotional and personal nuances leads to the possibility of discriminatory practices, particularly when AI is used without human oversight. The study highlights how AI could exacerbate power imbalances between asylum-seekers and States, transforming these technologies into tools for anti-immigration policies. It therefore calls for caution in the use of AI in Refugee Status Determination procedures and stresses that human interaction remains essential for the fair assessment of refugee claims. This article concludes that while AI can assist in certain aspects of the Refugee Status Determination procedures, its full implementation without careful legal and human rights considerations poses significant risks.

‘Cyber-rattling: can ‘pre-positioning’ in cyberspace amount to a threat of the use of force under Article 2(4) of the United Nations Charter?

ABSTRACT Pre-positioning is the process by which computer code is installed on the network or system of a rival state, to allow for future hostile cyber activity if required. This process is a critical concern for states given its potential for destabilisation in international security. Consideration of how international law, specifically Article 2(4) of the UN Charter, governs pre-positioning is therefore important. Analysis of threats of force in cyberspace remains under-studied however, and threats of force are undefined in the UN Charter. This article identifies the key criteria for a threat of force, and concludes that although cyber pre-positioning could in some circumstances result in a use of force, it is unlikely that it is communicated in sufficiently precise terms, beyond that of ‘cyber brandishing’, to amount to a threat of force. The article considers what this may mean for states’ ability to respond to cyber pre-positioning.

The two faces of Franco-Sudanian Treaties: The peripheral practice of ratification as evidence of transregional international law in the nineteenth century

Abstract Legal scholars continue to revisit historical treaties between Western and non-Western nations to challenge long-standing accounts of non-Western peoples’ engagement with international law. Following this trend, new scholarship has stressed African agency in Euro-African treaty-making. However, legal scholars have generally overlooked African perspectives, pointing to a lack of sources. Focusing on nineteenth-century treaty-making between France and the polities of the Western Sudan in West Africa, this article excavates African perspectives through a novel reading of Euro-African treaties in an African context. This reading analyses treaties within the Western Sudan’s broader diplomatic corpus in both French and Arabic. By focusing on markers of translation, transcription, and negotiation left on different copies of treaties, this method brings to light arguments and practices that have been obscured in published European-language versions. Reading Franco-Sudanian treaties in a Sudanian context reveals that different norms governed the ratification of treaties in the Western Sudan and Europe. Treaties that scholars have long considered unratified were in fact ratified according to Western Sudanian norms, which designated the governor of French Senegal rather than the French president as the official competent to ratify treaties for France. However, when French officials sought to use treaties to claim sovereign rights in West Africa against Great Britain, they pressed the president to ratify them again. Presidential ratification thus served to transpose Franco-Sudanian treaties from an African to a Western normative order. Uncovering the African origins of Euro-African treaties thus reveals their differential operation across autonomous inter-polity orders.

Storm in an Ice Cream Cone: Was Ben & Jerry's Decision to End Ice Cream Sales in Israeli Settlements a Responsible Corporate Exit from Occupied Territories?

Abstract Ben & Jerry's – the famous ice cream brand known for its quirky flavours and social justice ethos – announced in 2021 that it would withdraw its products from Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT). This announcement sparked controversy, with an impact on the company and its parent, Unilever. While the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (2011) (UNGP) have established themselves as the leading international governance framework for the social responsibilities of businesses, their application to conflict-affected areas lacks clarity. Questions remain, including when is a company legally complicit in violations of international humanitarian law (IHL), and when is a corporate exit from an area under military occupation the appropriate and responsible thing to do. This article uses Ben & Jerry's withdrawal from the OPT as the basis for investigating these questions. It finds that while it is unlikely that Ben & Jerry's would be exposed to any legal liability for violating IHL through its product sales in Israeli settlements in the OPT, its withdrawal aligns with its responsibilities under the UNGP as a reasonable and prudent corporate action in response to its activities being linked to enduring and severe IHL violations.

Amnesties as a means of encouraging transition and strengthening the application of IHL in Colombia: The case of the Special Jurisdiction for Peace

Abstract Bearing in mind that the peace process between the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – People's Army (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia – Ejército del Pueblo, FARC-EP) has been an important milestone for transitional justice, this article aims to share some of the good practices and achievements of this process, as well as the setbacks and challenges that could be avoided in future peace processes. The article will highlight relevant contributions from the Chamber for Amnesty or Pardon (CAP) such as impacting the resocialization of former FARC-EP members and developing international humanitarian law discussions in relation to war crimes and less serious crimes. Additionally, it will describe some of the main challenges faced by the CAP, such as the high number of applications for transitional benefits that it receives, the high number of proceedings that it supervises, and the security concerns arising from implementing a peace agreement in a country still in conflict.

The Impacts of the Legal Framework Governing Ship Registration in Tanzania

The ship registration system in the United Republic of Tanzania is a vital component of the nation's maritime infrastructure, playing a key role in ensuring compliance with national and international maritime laws. This research provides A Case Study of The Effectiveness of the Ship Registration System: Examining the Legal Framework and Administrative Procedures of The United Republic of Tanzania. The mixed-methods approach combined qualitative and quantitative data collection. The findings were to assess the impacts of the legal framework governing ship registration in Tanzania. The study observed that, the maritime sector of the United Republic of Tanzania (URT) operates under a complex legal framework that is divided between two distinct legal systems, each with its own governing authority. This duality is primarily reflected in the Merchant Shipping Act of 2003 and the Merchant Transport Act of 2006, which cater to the maritime needs of Tanzania Mainland and Zanzibar, respectively. The Merchant Shipping Act of 2003 is designed to be applicable across the entire URT, encompassing both Tanzania Mainland and Zanzibar. This is explicitly stated in Section 3 (1) of the Act, which asserts that the provisions apply to all Tanzanian ships, irrespective of their geographical location.