International Legal Institutions Research Articles

System of state measures to fight human rights violations in armed conflict

The article examines the modern challenges of human rights protection during the armed conflict, in particular in the context of the need to introduce the legal regime of martial law, which was introduced due to the armed aggression of the Russian Federation against the sovereign, democratic and legal Ukrainian state. The article focuses on the analysis of critical aspects of the protection of human rights in the context of armed conflict, emphasizing the difficulties arising from an aggressive invasion of a sovereign, democratic, and legal state. Special attention is paid to strategic priorities for the restoration and protection of human rights that have been seriously affected by military actions. The article argues the need for a specific legal framework adapted to the conditions of wartime armed conflict and the key priorities of post-war reconstruction. The article provides a detailed analysis of national legislation and relevant international legal norms and an attempt to identify and recommend effective strategies for strengthening the protection of human rights. Emphasis is placed on the need for legislative changes and reforms that would ensure rights and civil liberties and be consistent with European and international standards, thereby strengthening legal guarantees against potential human rights violations. The article provides a critical review of existing legal gaps that impair the protection of human rights during armed conflicts and discusses the key role of the international community and legal institutions in upholding justice and accountability. In addition, it is proposed to implement innovative legal measures and integrate the norms of international humanitarian law to strengthen the legal infrastructure, which is necessary for the effective restoration and protection of human rights and civil liberties. The article reveals modern scientific and professional discussions, emphasizing the urgent need for active and strategic legal measures that meet European and international standards, ensuring the protection of human rights in the complex conditions of military conflicts.

THE GAZA CONFLICT WITHIN INTERNATIONAL LAW

Israel came under brutal attack on October 7, 2023, culminated in a long festering all out conflict against the Hamas perpetrators in the Gaza Strip. All parties to conflict must act in accordance with international law. This article examines whether Israel’s subsequent use of force to rescue and defend its nationals, abides by the right of self-defense under the UN Charter and is in accordance with the law of armed conflict and international humanitarian law. Keywords: Gaza Conflict, Right of Self-Defense, Law of Armed Conflict, International Humanitarian Law

Some legal aspects of Russian policy towards neighbouring countries

Russia’s policy towards neighbouring countries and nations has always been dictated by imperialist and expansionist goals. To achieve them, Russia used brutal methods, including direct military aggression, incit­ing ethnic conflicts, genocide and ethnic cleansing. There are many examples of this in history in the form of the genocide of the Caucasian nations in the 19th century, the Holodomor against Ukrainian people, Soviet repres­sions, the ethnic cleansing of Georgians in the Abkhazia and Tskhinvali region at the end of the 20th and the beginning of the 21st century, and others. Nevertheless, Russia has not been held accountable for its actions. The war against Ukraine, which started in February 2022, dispelled all illusions of the democratic world towards Russia. Today, the democratic world is united, and the primary basis of this unity is the values, which it must bear responsibility for protecting. For this purpose, all international legal levers and institutions should be used. Russia’s leadership must be brought to justice, and the country must be held financially accountable. The only way for peace between Russia and the world is the democratisation of Russia, which is only possible through international legal coercion, as happened in the case of Nazi Germany. This article is an attempt to present the specific facts of Russia’s aggressive and imperialist policy towards neighbouring countries, especially towards Georgia, the specific legal levers for combating this policy, and future perspectives.

The Private as a Core Part of International Law: The School of Salamanca, Slavery, and Marriage (Sixteenth Century)

In “Gender and the Lost Private Side of International Law,” Karen Knop argued that “recuperating private international law as a lost side of international law can open up counter-disciplinary research on gender in the history of international law.”1 In this essay, I use Knop's argument to revisit our understanding of the sixteen century “School of Salamanca”2 and its importance for international legal history from a gender perspective. I focus on the practice of jurists and theologians associated with the School of Salamanca in assessing the validity of marriages of newly converted Indigenous peoples in Brazil (negros da terra), and later the validity of remarriages of Indigenous people and enslaved Africans (negros da Guiné) who had already been married in places from which they had been forcibly removed.3 To do this, these jurists and theologians engaged in private international law (or conflict of laws) reasoning. A key question involved determining what law governed each marriage—was it ius gentium, natural law, or canon law? Examining their arguments, I argue, offers an instance of Knop's insight that recuperating private international law allows us to redress the invisibility of women in the history of international law. In my case study, not only do we better understand “how power operates through international legal concepts and institutions”4 in the private sphere of the family in the colonies, but also, and crucially, how “private international law make[s] visible the effects of colonial . . . law on gender relations and national identity at home,”5 to borrow Knop's words.

Features of Reforming Economic Legislation in the Conditions of Russian Aggression: Theoretical and Legal Aspects

The aim of the article is to justify the inexpediency of the abolition of the Economic Code of Ukraine during martial law on the basis on the analysis of international legislation on management. Thus, the analysis of international codified acts on the economic sphere regulation shows that the abolition of the Economic Code of Ukraine does not correspond to the Concepts for updating civil and economic legislation as one of the ways of approximation of domestic legislation to international standards. Apart from that, based on the analysis of current Ukrainian and international legal acts, an attempt is made to explore the problems associated with the use of mechanisms for protecting rights to private property and bringing war criminals to justice for its destruction. Furthermore, the authors propose to improve the mechanisms for protecting the right to private property that is destroyed or damaged as a result of war crimes committed by Russian invaders on the territory of Ukraine. Finally, the authors highlight the key problems related to the restoration of the violated right to private property, which was destroyed or damaged as a result of hostilities on the part of Russia and emphasize the need to adopt international experience in order to increase the effectiveness of mechanisms for defending the violated right to property with the assistance of international legal institutions.

Hidden figures: how legal experts influence the design of international institutions.

Whose preferences influence the design of international institutions? Scholarship on the legalization of international politics and creation of international legal institutions largely adopts a state-centric perspective. Existing accounts, however, fail to recognize how states often delegate authority over institutional design tasks to independent legal experts whose preferences may diverge from those of states. We develop a principal-agent (PA) framework for theorizing relations between states (collective principals) and legal actors (agents) in the design process, and for explaining how legal actors influence the design of international institutions. The legal dimensions of the PA relationship increase the likelihood of preference divergence between the collective principal and the agent, but also create conditions that enable the agent to opportunistically advance its own design preferences. We argue that the more information on states' preferences the agent has, the more effectively it can exploit its legal expertise to strategically select and justify design choices that maximize its own preferences and the likelihood of states' acceptance. Our analysis of two cases of delegated institutional design concerning international criminal law at the United Nations and the African Union supports our theoretical expectations. Extensive archival and interview data elucidate how agents' variable information on states' preferences affects their ability to effectively advance their design preferences. Our theory reveals how independent legal experts with delegated authority over design tasks influence institutional design processes and outcomes, which has practical and normative implications for the legalization of international politics.

Impartial third and disinterested judgment: Kojève and Arendt’s cosmopolitan phenomenologies of human rights as a response to Schmitt

This article proposes that Hannah Arendt and Alexandre Kojève’s responses to Carl Schmitt’s theory of sovereignty, when combined, provide a historical and normative basis for a cosmopolitan view on human rights. I argue that by systematically merging Kojève’s theory of the “disinterested and impartial third” and Arendt’s theory of “disinterested judgment,” legal institutions, economic redistribution, and intersubjective normativity can be combined to create a robust response to Schmitt’s theory of sovereignty. To demonstrate this, I examine their efforts to resolve the contradiction between universal rights and national sovereignty from a phenomenological standpoint. Arendt’s idea of the “common world” is analyzed, showing how it upholds the idea of a non-sovereign public realm as a normative source of human rights but fails to consider the institutional and economic factors required for their realization. I then explore Kojève’s theory of impartial international legal institutions and his critique of economic colonialism to confront these factors. Additionally, Arendt’s theory of disinterested judgment is shown to address the limitations of Kojève’s phenomenological view of disinterestedness. This convergence between Kojève and Arendt provides a comprehensive response to the practical challenges of Arendt’s theory, while also highlighting the importance of “world opinion” in transforming sovereignty.

미국내 중국기업의 법적 쟁점과 전략에 대한 고찰

Since the implementation of China's reform and opening-up policy, Chinese enterprises have made up their strategies to be internationalized. They followed the general trend of economic globalization, and joined the international economic market competition. Due to the relatively complete economic market situation in the United States and its long-term leading position in the world, many Chinese enterprises have formulated international strategies and selected to be listed in the beauty fair and have made certain achievements.
 However, the government of the United States imposed restrictions on the operation of many Chinese enterprises in the United States and even drove them out of the country based on the legal issues, such as financial fraud and threats to national security. Now, Chinese enterprises operating in the United States are facing unprecedented problems. This paper makes a preliminary discussion on the reasons, current situations, problems and solutions of the development of Chinese enterprises in the United States. Our analysis show that Chinese enterprise managers can face up to difficulties, turn crises into opportunities, strive to improve their legal awareness of internationalization, and actively prepare for the establishment of legal teams and attract international talents to cope with the increasingly complex American market. Our analysis also show that China is urgently moves to establish international platforms, think tanks and legal service institutions to provide legal advisory services and lawyer services for the development of Chinese enterprises in the United States. China’s strategies to cope with America’s corporate sanctions provide helpful insights to Korean government and companies in the United States for their methods to cope with restrictive policies.

How Can International Legal Rules and Institutions Improve Aspects of the Global Response to Pandemic Disease and Climate Change?

This paper examines the role of existing and future international laws and international organizations in mitigating climate change and pandemic disease issues. Both of these issues are urgent and significant sustainable development goals. A carbon market is a practical approach reformed by the Paris Agreement that helps climate mitigation, especially in developing countries. Available evidence concludes that adversity in biodiversity and climate change forms a vicious circle that lacks international cooperation, and the paper proposes solutions. Vaccination is at the center of discussion as the Covid-19 pandemic raises global awareness of public health issues. Organizations are expected to be more effective and better provide access to the vaccine for developing countries. Therefore, better international treaties must be established, which are expected to include forming independent affiliates and enhanced financial assistance, technical assistance, and so on.

Navigating the Waters of Cooperation: A Review of 'South Asian Rivers: A Framework for Cooperation' Edited by Imtiaz Ahmed

The book delves into the multifaceted aspects of water governance, encompassing legal, political, environmental, and social dimensions. It begins with Imtiaz Ahmed's insightful introduction, setting the stage for an in-depth examination of river water sharing in the region. The subsequent chapters provide a wealth of information, covering national and international legal aspects, existing agreements and institutions, public engagement, and innovative approaches for transboundary water governance.

The Institutional Foundations of the Uneven Global Spread of Constitutional Courts

Since the third wave of democratization, specialized constitutional courts have spread widely across developed and developing countries and become key to government accountability, rights protection, and cross-institutional conflict resolution. Simultaneously, nearly half of all constitutional court adoptions have occurred in Europe. What explains the global, yet Eurocentric, spread of constitutional courts? Countries’ institutional endowments, particularly domestic and international legal institutions, are key to this crucial choice of constitutional design. Common law countries are less likely to establish specialized constitutional courts than their civil law counterparts due to their domestic legal system’s relatively weaker affinity with the constitutional court model. Furthermore, the Council of Europe’s Venice Commission—the main international organization specifically promoting constitutional courts—has catalyzed their wide and rapid spread especially, but not exclusively, in Europe. Our theory gains robust support from event history analyses of 172 developed and developing countries from 1947 to 2019.

ДО ПИТАННЯ ПРО ВИЗНАЧЕННЯ ОБ’ЄКТНОПРЕДМЕТНОГО СКЛАДУ ЕКОЛОГІЧНОГО КОНСТИТУЦІОНАЛІЗМУ

The article examines the theoretical issues and problems of defining the object-subject composition of ecological constitutionalism, as an actual, qualitatively new phenomenon of international legal life and national constitutional-legal reality, systemic and complex phenomenology, which is the result of an integrative and synthetic combination of various factors-tendencies of national constitutional and international legal regulation in conditions of legal globalization. Such an approach is seen as a rather difficult task within the limits of both the modern theory of constitutional law and the modern theory of international law, which operates with a number of new concepts and definitions that indicatively and identifiably reflect the latest trends in state and international development - "human rights in their national and international measurement" , "international legal standards of human rights and freedoms", "global legal trends - trends of state and international development", "soft law", "fundamental principles of international public law and the expansion of their number", "dichotomy of local and global development", finally, "constitutionalization of international law and internationalization of the constitutional legal order of states." It is noted that this is determined, first of all, by powerful horizontal-vertical connections of a managerial nature that arise within the state and its society, functioning in the conditions of global constitutionalism, that is, in the conditions of the presence of general methodological approaches, principles and norms, management paradigms that determine the prospects for the general and further development of the fundamental subjects of general international law, as well as the same functional and methodological approaches to the implementation of domestic and international legal activities of public authorities in relation to the fundamental dominants of the development of statehood - the priority of human rights over the rights of the state, recognition of human rights as fundamental indicators democratic activity of the state and the international community, the principle of the rule of law as the fundamental basis of the connection of the state and its public authority by law, etc. It is proved that solving the question of determining the object-subject composition of ecological constitutionalism is characterized by a number of methodological difficulties. These include, first of all, the issue of clear understanding, interpretation and identification of the categories "object of legal regulation" and "subject of legal regulation". It is also complicated by the innovative and synthetic nature of environmental constitutionalism, which is independently determined by international legal institutions on the basis of relevant identification features. Taking into account the system-complex nature of profile phenomenology, its object is a set of social relations related to the protection and protection of the environment, as well as the rights of a person to the environment, which has an appropriate and safe condition for his life activities. The subject of legal regulation of environmental constitutionalism is social relations that are directly or indirectly related to the environment. Based on the fact that the environment is the fundamental natural space of human life, such relations can be characterized as global, but with the obligatory local, local-regional, regional, state-wide, interstate, macro-regional, global understanding, measured and implemented.

ABDUCTION OF UKRAINIAN CHILDREN DURING FULL-SCALE INVASION

Protecting and ensuring the rights of children is one of the crucial and fundamental tasks of the state, as children represent the future of any nation in the world. In the present circumstances, the attention and measures from Ukrainian authorities and society, demand clear and effective adherence to international standards regarding the rights of children, who have been illegally displaced and taken out of Ukraine. According to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, every child has the right to protection from any form of violence, including protection against illegal removal from their country. The actions taken by the aggressor state against Ukrainian children pose a direct threat to the lives and health of the civilian population, contravene international and domestic laws, and violate the constitutional rights and freedoms of Ukrainian citizens. Our country must ensure the restoration of children’s connections with their parents or other family members who are within the territory of Ukraine. The state authorities should exercise effective control over the exportation of children beyond the country’s borders, establish the reasons and circumstances of illegal removal, and participate in international cooperation with other countries to facilitate the return of illegally removed children to Ukrainian territory. However, in the conditions of war, fully controlling and unquestionably implementing this issue is difficult and problematic. The return of illegally removed children to Ukrainian territory and the protection of those who are in temporarily occupied territories constitutes a lengthy and challenging process that requires adequate efforts and significant legal support and resources. One of the top priorities for our state is the necessity to establish an effective system for safeguarding children’s rights, which would assist in their return to Ukrainian territory and their subsequent effective integration into society. Therefore, the practical implementation of comprehensive measures worldwide necessitates the development of new legal mechanisms for protecting children’s rights that would operate in conditions of war and allow international legal institutions to promptly respond to any violations of children’s rights.

ICJ’s mechanism to improve the regularity and accountability of its jurisdiction practices: a reflection on the case of Nicaragua vs United States in 1986

In face of deviant actions or situation in the international society, the international intervention can take place in various ways, among which legal proceedings of international legal institutions are one resolution that is easily ignored or even treated with contempt as nothing but either the tool leveraged by the great powers or the emotional rhetoric. This essay therefore investigates the mechanism of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to improve the regularity and accountability of its jurisdiction system. These two aspects combine together to form a panorama of the mechanisms of ICJ: while the regularity of ICJ demonstrates objectively the degree to which the jurisdiction of ICJ can be further regulated, the accountability refers to the subjective observation from states in terms of its influence and authority. This essay argues that the Nicaragua case is a ground-breaking effort of ICJ to improve its jurisdiction system by enforcing a series of its fundamental principles and international laws. To argue this, this essay will first shed light on the background of the disputes, and then analyse how ICJ intervened in the issue, before carefully examining how this effort has exhibited ICJ’s mechanism to improve its regularity by clarifying and enforcing pertinent rules.

Possible directions of development of international legal institutions in the field of global cybersecurity

The author discusses possible directions for the formation of a global international legal system for countering cybercrime and its further development. The results of the activities of international organizations in the development of international legal mechanisms for countering cybercrime are briefly analyzed. An attempt is being made to search for other international legal problems, the experience of solving which can act as a conceptual basis for the formation of a global international legal system for ensuring cybersecurity. The main characteristics of modern digital information and communication systems, especially Internet technologies, are investigated. An attempt is made to create a theoretical model of international legal regulation of countering modern digital threats based on the global nature of modern cyber threats. The special role of international organizations in the development of international law is stated. The opinion is given about the current global digital information system covering the entire international community. A parallel is drawn between the conceptual foundations of the problem of money laundering and terrorist financing (ML/FT) and cybercrime. The conceptual similarity of these two problems with the justification of such a conclusion is stated. In this regard, it is proposed to use the organizational structure of the international legal framework for countering ML/FT as a conceptual basis for a similar counteraction to cybercrime. In particular, the article proposes to create a specialized international organization within the framework of the UN, whose activities will be devoted to ensuring global cybersecurity. It is proposed to use organizational bases similar to those used within the framework of the Intergovernmental Commission on Financial Monitoring as the basis of activity. In particular, the organization's activities are proposed to be carried out on the basis of a list of recommendations on improving national organizational and legal measures to counter threats in the field of digital technologies, as well as mechanisms for mutual assessment of member states.

An Operational Perspective on the Ethics of the Use of Autonomous Weapons

AbstractRapid technological change is resulting in the development of ever increasingly capable autonomous weapon systems. As they become more sophisticated, the calls for developing restrictions on their use, up to and including their complete prohibition, are growing. Not unlike the call for restrictions on the sale and use of drones, most proposed restrictions are well-intentioned but are often ill-informed, with a high likelihood of degrading national security and putting additional lives at risk. Employed by experienced operators well-versed in the laws of armed conflict, autonomous weapons can advance the objectives of those who would prohibit their use. This essay takes an operational perspective to examine the role that autonomous weapon systems can play while complying with the laws of armed conflict. With responsible design and incorporation of applicable control measures, autonomous weapons will be able not just to comply but also to enhance the ethical use of force. This essay contends that efforts by the international community to use international legal means and/or institutions to over-regulate or even ban lethal autonomous weapons are counterproductive. It considers and describes the end-game results of the use of autonomous weapons in enhancing the application of both international law and human ethical values.

The Principle of Racta Sunt Servanda in the Mechanism for Ensuring the Fulfillment of Obligations Under International Agreements

Problem setting. The mechanism for ensuring the fulfillment of obligations under international treaties is a complex legal phenomenon that includes a number of international legal institutions (the institution of obligation, institutions related to good faith, means of ensuring the fulfillment of obligations, institutions of international judicial bodies, institution of responsibility). The main premise that contributed to the formation of the mentioned institutional mechanism is the principle «pacta sunt servanda» «agreements must be fulfilled», which concentrated in itself the idea of the binding nature of international agreements, and later the conscientiousness of their implementation. Denoting the binding nature of any legal agreement, the principle «pacta sunt servanda» is one of the main principles of contract law. However, its implementation is accompanied by a number of problems, the solution of which requires the development of an appropriate scientific basis. Analysis of recent researches and publications. The analysis of recent researches and publications shows that the issue of the principle of contractual law “pacta sunt servanda” has repeatedly attracted the attention of the scientific community. Some of its aspects were considered by both Ukrainian and foreign scientists, including: S. I. Afanasenko, D. P. Bogatchuk, O. V. Butkevich, S. V. Gonzalez Sinisterra, Z. M. Yudin and others. However, most of the research and publications available today are rather superficial in nature. Target of the research is to analyze the legal meaning and essence of the principle «pacta sunt servanda». Article’s main body. The purpose of the article is to analyze the legal meaning and essence of the principle «pacta sunt servanda». The article highlights the legal meaning and essence of the «pacta sunt servanda» principle. The author takes the position that the binding nature of international agreements is based not only on the consensual nature of contractual norms, but also on the mutual interest of the parties in the agreement. The article explains the nature of the principle «pacta sunt servanda» from the standpoint of «jus cogens», which theoretically substantiates the meaning of the principle as a prerequisite for the formation of a mechanism for ensuring the fulfillment of obligations under international treaties. Based on a number of philosophical and legal theories, the most common of which are the theory of promise, the will theory, as well as the theory of efficiency, «pacta sunt servanda», as one of the principles of contract law, is generally recognized in legal science. The study of these theories justifications allows us to ascertain the absence of historical continuity between the initial and subsequent meanings of the principle, and even the absence of a consensus view in the doctrine. Conclusions and prospects for the development. Realizing the need to observe laws, as well as observing international treaties, at the individual level, the state must realize the necessity and inevitability of multi-level interaction in the international sphere. Only the understanding that in the implementation of the common will and cooperation it is possible to achieve a solution to the international problems that are currently faced by the international community, accepting the possibility of interaction to achieve the common interest, and not to meet the current economic needs of each state separately, will allow solving many global problems of our time and leaving to a new level of understanding of law as a tool for building a new reality within the framework of the interaction of states. In this regard, the principle of «pacta sunt servanda» is gaining more and more global scope.

Appraisal of domestic and international legal institutions for promoting wildlife conservation in Bangladesh

Appraisal of domestic and international legal institutions for promoting wildlife conservation in Bangladesh

Globalization and the Environment in International Relations: Towards Effective Growth with International Agreements

In the last decade, international commitments between the countries have seen existence of more complex debate and disagreement over the cause of compliances. The growth and development of international legal institutions, and judicial bodies since the end of the Cold War, on the other hand, has provided the empirical foundation and a policy need for increased focus on the function of international law. The application of law to organise global politics appears to be expanding across a wide range of issue domains. The fundamental problem is how laws and legalisation affect state conduct, which is frequently explained in terms of compliance. The proponents of globalisation believe that these two factors—economic growth and rising per capita incomes—are crucial for creating the resources and political will needed to manage the environment globally. Other environmental advantages of globalisation are also seen by optimists. It involves fostering international collaboration and integration as well as shared environmental norms and standards, which improves a system of sovereign nations' ability to handle issues like ozone depletion and climate change. This study presents the ways of international agreements, compliance of international affairs, effect of globalization, and the benefits of environment to cope with challenges and finding new opportunities of growth for a nation.

The constitutional and legal mechanism of implementation and protection of human rights and freedoms in war conditions: world experience and Ukraine

The article examines the national and international constitutional and legal mechanisms for the implementation and protection of human rights and freedoms in the conditions of war, which contain regulatory and institutional components. The national mechanism includes an ordered system of constitutional and legal forms of means and measures. The international legal mechanism forms a whole complex of international legal means and institutions to ensure the implementation of international legal norms in the fi eld of human rights. The latter is formed by two interrelated and mutually conditioned components – international normative and legal (conventional) and international organizational and legal (institutional). National and international mechanisms for the implementation and protection of human rights and freedoms are endowed with the ability to change and acquire diff erent dimensions and features depending on the conditions of their implementation (in peace or war). During war, the use of mechanisms depends on determining the nature of the confl ict. The article analyzes national and international legislation aimed at the realization of human rights and freedoms in the conditions of Russia’s large-scale aggression against Ukraine. Emphasis is placed on the specifi cs and features of the regulatory framework of the national mechanism; the list of rights from which the state withdraws in the conditions of the declaration of martial law and the list of human rights that are not subject to restrictions in the conditions of war are investigated.