International Legal Obligations Research Articles

Political Turmoil in ECOWAS: When Politics Prevails Over Law

Several military regimes have recently come to power within the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). This article on the political crisis in ECOWAS examines the main causes of these developments in the region and the approaches of regional organizations to address them in the African context, taking into account the practices of the OAU and the African Union. In the first phase, ECOWAS imposed a series of sanctions against these states for violating their international legal obligations in the areas of democracy, human rights, the rule of law, and good governance. In addition, the community decided to use military force in the Republic of Niger in order to free M. Bazoum, and, in response to this threat, Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger decided, on September 16, 2023, to create the Alliance of Sahel States (ASS) for self-defense to repel the aggression of the ECOWAS troops. Furthermore, on January 28, 2024, the ASS countries announced their withdrawal from ECOWAS, and, in order to prevent a split in ECOWAS, on February 24, 2024, the community decided to lift the sanctions previously imposed on Niger, Mali, and Guinea on humanitarian grounds. This article examines in detail both the political and legal sides of the decisions taken by ECOWAS. Based on their analysis, the authors conclude that democracy remains an important tool for promoting stability in African multinational societies. According to the authors, attempts by the AU and ECOWAS to address political instability through normative means can be encouraged. However, ECOWAS’ sanction policies against offending countries should be based on existing community norms, humanity, and real facts in order to avoid dividing the community.

Political Turmoil in ECOWAS: When Politics Prevails Over Law

Several military regimes have recently come to power within the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). This article on the political crisis in ECOWAS examines the main causes of these developments in the region and the approaches of regional organizations to address them in the African context, taking into account the practices of the OAU and the African Union. In the first phase, ECOWAS imposed a series of sanctions against these states for violating their international legal obligations in the areas of democracy, human rights, the rule of law, and good governance. In addition, the community decided to use military force in the Republic of Niger in order to free M. Bazoum, and, in response to this threat, Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger decided, on September 16, 2023, to create the Alliance of Sahel States (ASS) for self-defense to repel the aggression of the ECOWAS troops. Furthermore, on January 28, 2024, the ASS countries announced their withdrawal from ECOWAS, and, in order to prevent a split in ECOWAS, on February 24, 2024, the community decided to lift the sanctions previously imposed on Niger, Mali, and Guinea on humanitarian grounds. This article examines in detail both the political and legal sides of the decisions taken by ECOWAS. Based on their analysis, the authors conclude that democracy remains an important tool for promoting stability in African multinational societies. According to the authors, attempts by the AU and ECOWAS to address political instability through normative means can be encouraged. However, ECOWAS’ sanction policies against offending countries should be based on existing community norms, humanity, and real facts in order to avoid dividing the community.

Investor Obligations: Transformative and Regressive Impacts of the Business and Human Rights Framework

Abstract The business and human rights (BHR) framework has regularly been considered the superior legal regime of corporate accountability for business-related human rights abuses, which must be both protected from and incorporated into investment treaties. However, investment treaties have surpassed the BHR framework in an important respect: certain investment treaties impose strict international legal obligations, including human rights-related obligations, directly on investors, thereby going beyond the normatively ambiguous corporate responsibility to respect. Investment treaty reform initiatives, including those seeking to align investment treaties with the BHR agenda, should, therefore, take care to avoid inadvertently undoing this advance towards investors’ legal accountability.

State's Presence in Fulfilling Human Rights for Illegal Immigrants of Rohingya in Aceh

The study delves into the phenomenon of Rohingya illegal boat migration to Indonesia's Aceh Province during the period of 2020–2023, amid allegations of human rights violations by the Myanmar government. It aims to elucidate the factors driving this migration while examining the Indonesian government's response in meeting the basic needs of Rohingya arrivals from a human rights perspective. Employing a qualitative research methodology with a descriptive analysis approach, this study utilizes a framework encompassing national policy, migration, and human rights principles. Findings reveal that most Rohingyas view Aceh as a temporary transit point en route to Malaysia, often resorting to various means, including escape from Indonesian detention facilities. Their undocumented status impedes legal entry into Malaysia, leaving many stranded in Aceh and other parts of Indonesia. International law mandates that the Indonesian government afford protection to these individuals. The study underscores the Indonesian government's adherence to international legal obligations in safeguarding the human rights and welfare of Rohingya immigrants, thereby highlighting implications for policy and humanitarian practice.

International legal protection of the environment from criminal acts during armed conflicts

The article is dedicated to revealing the state of legal provision for the international legal protection of the environment from criminal acts during armed conflicts. Attention is drawn to the fact that international legal obligations of states regarding environmental protection during armed conflict are only contained in a few environmental treaties, but simultaneously in special agreements that are applicable in the presence of armed conflict and are sources of international humanitarian law. It is noted that from the general principles of the impact of war on international treaties, it follows that the termination of an international treaty at the onset of war is an exception to the rules, not a mandatory act. According to Articles 61 and 62 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties of 1969 regarding impossibility of performance and fundamental change of circumstances, it is established that war is not a basis for the automatic termination of treaty obligations, including environmental ones, by the parties to the conflict who have become parties in peacetime, which is also stated in the Draft Articles on the Impact of Armed Conflicts on Treaties of 2011 prepared by the UN International Law Commission, which includes a reference to a provisional list of treaties whose subject matter implies that they continue to apply during armed conflict, among them – treaties on international environmental protection.
 The standpoint regarding the necessity of developing a codified international instrument, which would consolidate the currently disparate provisions for regulating environmental protection issues in conditions of armed conflict, compensation for damage caused, etc., as a source of international environmental law, is supported. It would also address existing problems in legal application, such as the narrow and imprecise definition of the threshold level criteria required to prove environmental damage during armed conflict.

Social conditioning of criminalization of offenses qualified as collaborative activity

One of the types of social relations that arose during the war in Ukraine is relations with the occupiers, which can be carried out both within the legal field and be an illegal, criminal manifestation in the form of cooperation with the enemy and assistance to him. Such illegal nature of relations with the occupiers is considered a collaborative activity. The legislator was faced with the task of determining the composition of such an offense and establishing the punishment for actions that constitute collaborationism. Despite a fairly large number of studies of individual and complex issues of criminal liability for collaborative activities, a number of questions remain open.
 The purpose of this study was to establish the social conditions and the existence of the necessary grounds for the criminalization of socially dangerous acts that constitute collaborative activity.
 In the theory of criminal law, it is clearly established which factors must be taken into account when deciding on the criminalization of a particular illegal act - they are defined as the grounds for criminalizing illegal acts: the existing (real) social danger of the act; its relative prevalence; the need for a criminal legal guarantee; fulfillment by the state of international legal obligations The above research allows us to assess the social conditionality of the criminalization of collaborative activities. First, taking into account the importance of the protected order of social relations, which is encroached upon by collaborative activity, actions containing signs of such illegal activity are socially dangerous. Secondly, official statistical data on the number of registered cases of collaborative activity and persons prosecuted under Art. 111-1, testify to the sufficient prevalence of collaborative activities on the territory of Ukraine. Thirdly, collaborative activity should be punished most severely, namely by establishing criminal liability for it. And, fourthly, the establishment of criminal liability for collaborative activities correlates with the provisions of international legal acts and ensures Ukraine’s fulfillment of relevant international legal obligations.

Conservative Jurisprudence and Russia’s Response to ECtHR Judgements on Cases of Domestic Violence

Abstract This article examines Russia’s record in complying with the European Convention of Human Rights, the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) and the CoE’s policies in relation to the human rights of women – the protection of women from domestic violence in particular. It seeks to explain why Russia has systematically refused to introduce specialized legislation on protection from domestic violence. It argues that human rights of women, especially cases of domestic violence, became the main point of contention between Russia and the CoE for two main reasons: a fundamentally different approach to the human rights of women and equality, inherited from Soviet-era legislation; and a special type of legal reasoning of international legal obligations – conservative jurisprudence – which undermined the understanding of the legal value of protection of human rights of women and led to invoking various arguments of cultural sovereignty. Non-compliance and quiet avoidance of any gender-sensitive legislation, not least on domestic violence, indicate that Russia has never really committed to the rule of law.

Locking in Human Rights: An Exploration of the Barriers to echr Withdrawal

Abstract The possibility of the United Kingdom being able to withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights (echr or Convention) by way of a denunciation under Article 58(1) of the Convention is complicated by a number of domestic constitutional factors and other international legal obligations. This paper explains how, collectively, these constitute a form of ‘lock in’ to the echr. This makes any future UK withdrawal from the echr highly difficult and liable to cause a range of collateral consequences on the international and domestic legal planes.

Features of regulatory support for social security of a modern state

The article aims to elucidate the features of regulatory support for the social security of a modern state, examining these through the criteria for appropriate regulatory support for the social security of modern Ukraine. The author identifies that effective legal and regulatory support for the social security of a modern state relies on a set of standards. The legal regulation of the social security of the state should primarily be conducted by entities vested with the requisite rule-making powers, and these powers must be exercised in accordance with the procedures stipulated by law. Rulemaking activities and the legal framework for the social security of the state must align with the principles of law, ensuring legal certainty in the provisions of regulatory legal acts pertaining to social security. Regulatory and legal support for the social security of the state, as an integral component of the legal framework, should adhere to the provisions outlined in the Constitution of Ukraine, current social standards, and consider the international legal obligations of the state, which also emanate from the European integration objectives of Ukraine. The regulatory support for the social security of a modern state must incorporate norms with direct applicability and establish an institutional foundation for the effective implementation of legislation on social security. The regulatory framework for the social security of the state must be coordinated, consistent, flexible, and adaptive, while also being subject to an assessment of its impact on the field of social security. Moreover, in the context of democratizing the socio-legal regime for ensuring the social security of modern Ukraine, the process of legal regulation of social security involves the active participation of interested entities, including civil society actors. The conclusion of the article succinctly summarizes the results of the study.

Whistleblowing as a security issue in Hungarian organizations from 2023

This study aims to provide an overview of the result of the legislative intention, which also set a mandatory deadline for the application of large companies employing more than 250 people, since they must apply Act XXV of 2023 starting from July 24, 2023, on complaints, public interest reports, and the rules on whistleblowing. The purpose of this article is to point out, based on the review of international scientific literature and secondary research, that whistleblowing and reporting are especially supporting tools for organizations, workplaces, employees, and employers. The aim is to emphasize the advantages of organizational security. Presentation of the law created with regard to Hungary's international legal and European Union legal obligations undertaken in connection with actions against corruption. An exhaustive review of the literature on whistleblowing research papers has been conducted. A second study was conducted on regulatory documents, commentaries, and studies. The added value of the paper reflects the relevant legislation and scientific findings in one paper. This paper addresses leaders, employers, employees, university lecturers, and researchers.

Addressing Japan’s disposal of nuclear-contaminated water from the perspective of international human rights law

The discharge of nuclear-contaminated water containing radionuclides into the ocean by Japan will lead to its integration into the entire ecosystem through processes of circulation and biomagnification, eventually entering the human body via the food chain. This poses a substantial risk of irreversible damage to both the ecosystem and human health, a situation that will worsen with the ongoing discharge of such water. The respect and protection of human rights represent an international consensus, and safeguarding fundamental human rights is a substantial obligation that states must undertake in accordance with both international and domestic law. Since the Fukushima nuclear disaster, Japan has continuously violated its international legal obligations to protect human rights in several areas, including the resettlement of disaster victims, the reduction of nuclear radiation levels, and the handling of contaminated water. Such actions have compromised and will continue to compromise the basic human rights of not only its citizens but also those of people worldwide, including environmental rights, the right to life, development rights, and food rights. In the aftermath of the Fukushima meltdown, the public and workers involved in handling nuclear contaminants have been continually exposed to high radiation levels, endangering their rights to life, development, and health. Japan’s inadequate efforts in victim resettlement and environmental restoration have jeopardized the environmental and food rights of its citizens to live healthily and access food in an environment unaffected by nuclear radiation. The release of nuclear-contaminated water poses a risk of Japan’s nuclear pollution to the people of neighboring countries and the global population at large. The principle of human rights underpins the theory of a community with a shared future for humanity, and human rights are a crucial area of China’s active participation in United Nations affairs and global governance. By voicing concerns over Japan’s potential human rights violations globally, China demonstrates its role as a responsible major country. In response to Japan’s breach of legal obligations and human rights violations, China can adopt a reasoned and beneficial approach, including calling on the international community to hold Japan criminally accountable for crimes against humanity under the Rome Statute and advancing scholarly discussions on ecocide and crimes against the marine environment. Furthermore, China should persist in seeking advisory opinions from the International Court of Justice and strive for substantive accountability, utilizing the mechanisms of international human rights organizations to make its voice heard.

Examining Singapore’s State Responsibility in International Law Perspective for the Death of David Hartanto: A Case Study of an Indonesian Citizen in Singapore's Territorial Territory

This paper delves into the complex legal and ethical dimensions surrounding the death of David Hartanto, an Indonesian citizen, within the territorial boundaries of Singapore. Hartanto's tragic demise sparked significant attention and debate, raising questions about Singapore's obligations under international law regarding the protection of foreign nationals within its jurisdiction. Drawing upon legal principles, case law, and relevant international agreements, this study scrutinizes Singapore's state responsibility concerning the death of Hartanto. It analyzes the circumstances leading to his demise, investigates potential breaches of legal obligations by Singaporean authorities, and evaluates the adequacy of the legal frameworks governing the protection of foreign nationals. Moreover, the paper explores the broader implications of this case for diplomatic relations, human rights protections, and the rule of law in the context of transnational incidents involving state responsibility. By critically examining the Hartanto case, this paper contributes to the ongoing discourse on the intersection of state sovereignty, human rights, and international legal obligations, offering insights into avenues for enhancing accountability and ensuring the protection of individuals irrespective of their nationality within a state’s territorial jurisdiction.

Rights at Sea: State Interference with Activists’ Search and Rescue Operations

Abstract After reducing their humanitarian presence at sea, States have begun to interfere with Search and Rescue (SAR) operations led by NGOs aimed to render assistance to migrants in distress. In Italy, the recent Law-Decree 1/2023 on NGOs’ SAR activities constitutes an important development grounding States’ efforts to interfere with activists’ operations. In this article, I first describe the practices of delay and/or denial of disembarkation that Italy has implemented. Second, I consider whether these strategies stemming from national legislation are compliant with the State’s international obligations under the law of the sea. I show how the law of the sea provides some regulation but also leaves crucial gaps which amplify the State’s discretion in interpreting legal duties. Third, I assess how the new Law interferes with the rights of rescuers. I conclude that Italy’s interference with the human rights of rescuers operating at sea is not fully compliant with international legal obligations.

Implementation of the Paris Climate Agreement in the Legal Systems of the EAEU Member States

The Paris Climate Agreement provides for the acceptance by the participating States of obligations, which this treaty enshrines as «nationally determined contributions» (NDC). The goal of these commitments is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and keep global temperature increases well below 2°C compared to preindustrial levels. This mechanism has a number of legal features: first, each state establishes NDC independently, reports them to the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), acting as the meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement, and registers them with the Secretariat. From this moment, a new international legal obligation of the state to implement the NDC arises. Secondly, it can be changed only in the direction of greater «ambition», that is, by increasing targets for limiting greenhouse gas emissions. Thirdly, the Paris Agreement does not require the coordination of national measures with the rest of the parties to the treaty. Each participant in the Paris Agreement represents an NDC, which determines the scope of its own obligations without the participation of other states, unlike the mechanism provided for in the GATT and GATS, where WTO member states are required to coordinate their national measures with the rest of the participants (Goods schedule / Services schedule). Fourthly, the monitoring mechanism provides for the first stage of summing up in 2023, when an assessment of the progress towards achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement will be given.A comparative analysis of the NDC of the EAEU member states, all of which are parties to the Paris Agreement, allows us to generalize. The Republic of Kazakhstan and the Russian Federation announced the achievement of carbon neutrality by 2060, the rest of the states — by 2050. Some states (the Republic of Belarus, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Republic of Kazakhstan) have set two targets for the implementation of NDC: conditional (achievement of the indicator with international financial support and access to modern technologies) and unconditional (achievement of the indicator at own expense). The level of development of the legal framework for the implementation of the NDC of the Republic of Armenia, the Republic of Belarus and the Kyrgyz Republic is inferior to the level of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Kazakhstan in terms of limiting greenhouse gas emissions, turnover of carbon units and taxation of carbon emissions (introduction of a carbon tax). At the EAEU level, the member states have adopted a roadmap on the climate agenda, and much work remains to be done to develop a regulatory framework.

OPCAT: How an international treaty regarding torture is relevant to the Australian mental health system.

The United Nations Subcommittee on the Prevention of Torture visits signatory nations to the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (OPCAT). Its role is to monitor and support signatory nations in implementing and complying with the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT). In October 2022, the United Nations Subcommittee on the Prevention of Torture visited Australia but was barred from visiting mental health wards in Queensland and all detention facilities in New South Wales leading to the termination of its visit. This breach of Australia's obligations under the OPCAT presents a significant setback for the rights of people with mental illness and other involuntarily detained populations. This piece sets out to demonstrate the relevance of OPCAT to the mental health system in Australia. Individuals who are detained for compulsory treatment in locked facilities such as acute psychiatric inpatient wards and forensic mental health facilities are deprived of their liberty, often out of public view. Thus, it highlights the ethical and professional obligations of all mental health professionals, especially psychiatrists, to safeguard the human rights of individuals being detained in mental health facilities as enshrined in Australia's international legal obligations under the OPCAT. Adhering to these obligations diminishes the risk of future human rights violations of people with mental illness.

Integrating Culture, Heritage, and Identity in Deep Seabed Mining Regulation

Ongoing deep seabed mining negotiations evoke two competing visions of the ocean: as a vast (social) emptiness rich in wealth for the taking; or as a place where deep human connections exist despite arbitrary lines drawn to distribute states’ legal authority over it. The first tends to be the prevailing view, and the second is a challenger grounded on culture and identity. In this essay, I wish to unpack the roles of traditional knowledge and cultural heritage in deep seabed mining negotiations. I argue that attention to states’ broader international legal obligations requires the deep seabed mining regime to take heritage and identity more seriously than it does at present, and thus to provide better pathways for communities with cultural links to the ocean to be involved in deep seabed mining negotiations. In particular, I show that intangible cultural heritage, a form of cultural heritage largely absent from deep seabed mining negotiations thus far, provides more solid doctrinal and practical ground for the regime's engagement with culture and identity.

Current trends in international organised crime combating cooperation

Organised crime is one of the most serious problems of our time, causing damage to the environment, and economy and hindering the sustainable development of modern society. The study aims to analyse the regional, historical, socio-political and other factors that affect the quality and effectiveness of international cooperation in the fight against organised crime. The study is based on an analysis of several critical factors that determine effective international cooperation in the fight against organised crime. The methodological basis of the study consists of such methods as comparative and structural-functional analysis, and formal legal methods, which were used to study the current state of organised crime, international mechanisms for combating it and their regulatory framework. The analysis was based on the experience of international cooperation in such countries as the United States, Ukraine, Japan, Australia and Cameroon. The study identified trends in the correlation between the level of organised crime and the level of corruption, regional factors, and the level of civil society development. The findings of the study confirm the view that the international legal obligations assumed by national governments only slightly affect the level of involvement of national authorities in the fight against international organised crime. The study establishes that high-quality international cooperation most often occurs between democracies, but cases of such cooperation between authoritarian and democratic governments are not an exception. The results of the study provide important conclusions for further analysis of organised crime and the possibilities of international cooperation between state authorities and other actors of international relations involved in the fight against organised crime

Classification of international legal obligations on the rights and freedoms of convicts

In the modern science of international law and European law, insufficient attention is paid to the problem of protecting the rights and freedoms of convicts, their typology. Especially in the conditions of modern threats and challenges, there are numerous violations of various categories of the population, including the vulnerable, who are in the temporarily occupied territories. This causes the attention of scientists, as well as representatives of authorized authorities, to be drawn to certain theoretical and practical problems of protecting the rights and freedoms of convicts, their varieties, effective mechanisms of protection, restoration of violated rights.
 Therefore, the purpose of the article is to analyze the existing doctrinal sources and relevant approaches, criteria for the classification of international legal obligations on the rights and freedoms of convicts, to highlight their special varieties, effective mechanisms for the protection of the rights and freedoms of convicts.
 There are many types of international legal obligations on the rights and freedoms of convicts, as well as criteria and approaches to their classification. Along with international legal obligations, other related categories are used in the science and practice of international law – international legal mechanisms, international legal standards. Undoubtedly, they also concern the rights and freedoms of convicts, they are interacting but not identical concepts. The analyzed classification groups of international legal mechanisms, standards and obligations to ensure the rights and freedoms of convicts are based on established approaches to the typology of human rights and freedoms, existing international legal norms and principles in this field. At the same time, the penitentiary systems of specific states, including Ukraine, are characterized by specificities, features of national legislation, national penitentiary policy, institutional and other mechanisms.
 Reports of international experts and monitoring measures demonstrate certain problems in the way of fulfilling international legal obligations regarding the rights and freedoms of convicts in Ukraine. Therefore, further systematic studies of the European penitentiary concept, the best foreign practices of compliance with such obligations, decisions of the ECtHR, the strengthening of a human-centered approach in the activities of penitentiary authorities, the functioning of an effective legal system that would protect human rights and freedoms regardless of the conditions in which she stays without being discriminated against, without additional restrictions caused by the fact of isolation.

Separate Issues of the Criminal Legal Characteristics of Human Sterilization

The article examines the provisions of the current regulatory legislation. It is noted that currently the issue of sexual sterilization of a person is regulated by Part 5 of Art. 281 of the Civil Code of Ukraine, Art. 49 of the Fundamentals of the Legislation of Ukraine on Health Care and the Unified Clinical Protocol of Primary, Secondary (Specialized), Tertiary (Highly Specialized) Medical Care "Family Planning", approved by the Order of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine No. 59 of 21.01.2014.
 The criminal legislation was analyzed from the point of view of compliance with the international legal obligations that Ukraine undertook by ratifying the Council of Europe Convention on the prevention of violence against women and domestic violence and the fight against these phenomena, in terms of the protection of human reproductive rights, and the quality of the implemented it implementation was analyzed. The author concludes that the current edition of Part 4 of Art. 134 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine cannot be recognized as a successful manifestation of the implementation of Ukraine's international legal obligations.
 It was determined that signs of illegal sterilization should be recognized as such surgical intervention, which is the absence of informed consent of the patient (s), the absence of voluntary consent of the patient (s), the use of illegal methods, surgical intervention in the presence of contraindications or the improper place or improper subject.
 It was established that the Criminal Code of Ukraine, even before the adoption of the Law of Ukraine "On Amendments to the Criminal and Criminal Procedure Codes of Ukraine for Implementation of the Provisions Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence" (December 6, 2017 No. 2227-VIII) established criminal liability for illegal sterilization, and the introduction of the amendments created several problematic questions for the qualification of the actions of guilty persons who act in complicity, because it did not properly take into account either the provisions of the Istanbul Convention itself, or the norms of Ukrainian regulatory and criminal legislation.
 Key words: reproductive rights, Istanbul Convention, human sterilization, illegal sterilization, forced sterilization, criminal liability.

Frontier issues in international ocean governance: Japan's discharge of nuclear contaminated water into the sea

This paper aimed at explore international ocean governance issues through the perspective of Japan's nuclear contaminated water discharge to the sea. This paper analyzes the core issue of Japan's plan to discharge nuclear contaminated water into the ocean from the perspectives of Japan's international legal obligation, law enforcement issues, and judicial issues after integrated analyzing academic research paper and cases. Japan has obligations such as timely notification, information disclosure, environmental impact assessment, and avoidance of transboundary harm. Intergovernmental and non-governmental international organizations, such as IAEA, IMO and WHO should play a role in setting up an international group of experts to carry out monitoring and assessment, and whose positions and attitudes are important references for judging Japan's behavior. Cases heard before ICJ, ITLOS, and advisory opinion proceeding could provide reference from the judicial perspective on the issue of transboundary harm and proof of damages. Furthermore, this paper discusses the response strategies that the international community especially the opponents may adopt, including promoting the adoption of relevant treaties, take a combination of requesting advisory opinion and file arbitration, establish effective international monitoring mechanism, and engage in close communication with stakeholders.