International Legal Process Research Articles

Civil Society and International Accountability

Abstract The role of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in pursuing accountability for atrocity crimes through international law is more diverse than ever before, and the breadth of CSO activities and the modalities of their engagement with international justice institutions has been overlooked in the scholarship to date. This article explores various CSO approaches to advancing accountability, including at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), International Criminal Court (ICC), investigative mechanisms (for Syria, Myanmar, and Iraq), and selected United Nations treaty bodies and regional human rights courts. Civil society actors take on many roles, including as advocates, documenters, analysts, victims’ representatives, and international law experts. While often described as indispensable to international justice efforts, the relationship between civil society and formal justice mechanisms remains novel and can feel incongruous with traditional and ostensibly independent and impartial legal processes. This is evolving as CSOs enter traditional international justice spaces in diverse ways. This article provides a framework to understand the modalities of CSO engagement with international legal processes, as well as critical challenges.

NATO DEFENSE STANDARDS: LEGAL NATURE AND IMPLEMENTATION IN NATIONAL LEGISLATION

An integration of Ukraine in the Euro-Atlantic defence system and achievement the compatibility of the Armed Forces of Ukraine with the relevant structures of the NATO member states comprise the implementation NATO military (administrative, operational and technical) standards into the national legislation. That is why understanding of legal meaning of NATO standards is so important for the determination of most effective ways of implementation of NATO standards and relevant procedures because it quite a large volume of technical prescriptions and rules that are complex and unusual for legal system of Ukraine. Military standardization and certification of weapons and military equipment in Ukraine according to NATO standards should take into account specific international law processes like adoption, ratification, implementation, change and cancellation of regulatory requirements. The purpose of the military standardization is to achieve, maintain and improve the interoperability of the Armed Forces of Ukraine with the armed forces of NATO and NATO member states on the base of interchangeability and uniformity of harmonized terminology in the field security and defense. In its legal nature the NATO standard is an international agreement that regulates and defines common rules in the field of defense joint procedures and establishes the unification of technical processes, weapons and military techniques. Therefore, the concept of “NATO standard” should consider precisely in the extended meaning, not in y narrow understanding, as it defined be Ukrainian legislation. National legislation provides definition of NATO standard as document that developed, adopted and published Organization of the North Atlantic Treaty. Such definition too narrowly reflects the complex nature of that international legal phenomenon and our country faces the necessity to review normative definition of multilevel system of NATO standardization. Solving the problem of interoperability of the security and defense sector of Ukraine with NATO is required through the creation of common conceptual and categorical conditions of standardization. Application of direct translation of the text of the standards NATO is not always correctly reflects content of the standard through essential difference in interpretation terms adopted in Ukraine from one side, and in NATO states on the other. The purpose of the article is to analyses the legal nature NATO standard and its impact on processes of adoption national military standards and to propose effective ways of implementation of the norms of international law in the sphere of defense and security into national legislation of Ukraine. General scientific and special methods of research were applied, in particular methods of system analysis and synthesis, comparative legal method, etc. Thorough analysis of organizational and legal standardization mechanism of NATO was done; it is determined that the system is military standardization in Ukraine should take into account the substance of international legal processes such as adoption, ratification, implementation, change and cancellation of NATO regulatory documents. It is established that new extended meaning regulatory and legal concept of NATO standard should be included in the national legislation. The need to develop a common Ukraine – NATO glossary was proposed. That glossary should contain an agreed terminological base in the field of security and defense, which would greatly simplify the activities of personnel not only in the sphere of military standardization, but also during the performance of their functional tasks.

Ukraine, Open-Source Investigations, and the Future of International Legal Discourse

AbstractRussia's aggression against Ukraine has brought into focus the growing significance of open-source information for international legal processes. Enabled by novel digital technologies, civil society actors have seized the opportunity provided by the vast amount of publicly available evidence to counter-narrate Russia's pretexts to justify its invasion within the deliberative bodies of the United Nations. This Essay explains the potential of this emerging practice to influence international legal discourse by increasing the costs for actors who base their conduct on false factual claims.

Konferans Diplomasisi Perspektifinde Antalya Diplomasi Forumu'nun Uluslararası İlişkilerdeki Rolü

Uluslararası İlişkiler disiplininin ortaya çıkış tarihi hemen hemen I. Dünya Savaşı’nın yaşandığı yıllara dayanmaktadır. Çünkü bu disiplin özelinde üniversitelerde kürsülerin açılması özellikle 1918 sonrası yıllara uzanmaktadır. Dolayısıyla bu disiplinin ülkeler arasındaki münasebetlere sirayet etmesi ve dünya üzerinde gözle görülür hale gelmesi şüphesiz diplomasi çabalarıyla mümkün olmuştur. Bir uluslararası siyaset, ilaveten bir uluslararası hukuk iletişim süreci olarak nitelendirilen diplomasinin özünde ülkelerin birbirleriyle varsa mevcuttaki problemleri hususunda münasebet kurmak ve bu bağlamda kendi ülke menfaatleri doğrultusunda kazanılabilecek maksimum kazancı elde etmek yatar. Dolayısıyla bu kazancın çabaları ise duruma ve ülkeler arası münasebetlerin boyutuna göre değişiklik arz etmektedir. Bugün uluslararası ilişkiler disiplininde sıkça kullanılan diplomasi çabalarını; zirve diplomasisi, ikili diplomasi, çoklu/çok boyutlu diplomasi, kültürel diplomasi, parlamenter diplomasi, konferans diplomasisi yani kamu diplomasisi şeklinde sıralamak mümkündür. Bu bağlamda bu makale bahse konu diplomasi çabalarından biri olan konferans diplomasisinin bir yumuşak güç unsuru olarak kamu diplomasisi boyutunu tartışmaktadır. Bu diplomasi türünü önemli kılan husus iki dünya savaşı arasında sıkça kullanılmasıdır. Dünya savaşları sonrasında her ne kadar bu diplomasi türüne başvurma sıklığı azalsa da günümüzde özellikle problemli coğrafyalarda halen daha etkin bir şekilde kullanıldığı görülmektedir. Öte yandan dünya savaşları sırasında sıkça büyük devletler tarafından başvurulan bir diplomasi türü olan konferans diplomasisinde genellikle büyük devletler çıkarları doğrultusunda kazançlar elde etmiştir.
 Buradan hareketle bu çalışmada ilk olarak kamu diplomasisi çerçevesinde konferans diplomasisinin diplomasideki yeri ve önemine dair bir tartışma yapılmıştır. Daha sonra konferans diplomasisinin uluslararası ilişkiler disiplini çerçevesinde dünyadaki örnekleri irdelenmiştir. Ardından ise Türkiye Cumhuriyeti devletinin bir konferans diplomasisi örneği olarak uluslararası ilişkiler disiplinine kazandırdığı Antalya Diplomasi Forumu’nun bu disiplin özelindeki konumuna dair bir açıklama getirilmiş ve sonuç bölümünde ise bu Forum’un sahip olduğu role dair bir değerlendirme yapılmıştır.

Theoretical foundations of Russian imperialism as a danger to the constitutional order of Ukraine and world order

Purpose. The article analyzes the causes, preconditions, geopolitical and geohistorical goals of Russia's aggression against Ukraine. The reaction of the West to the Russian geostrategy of revenge has been clarified. It has been proven that the hybrid war which has been going on since February 2014 has created a deep crisis in the global security system. The Russian Federation, having violated the norms and principles of international law, bilateral and large-scale agreements, annexed the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol. Methodology.The methodological basis of the article is a set of philosophical and scientific principles, approaches, and special scientific methods of understanding international legal phenomena and geopolitical processes taking place in the world. The use of these methods provided an opportunity to solve the tasks and the main task is to prove that Russia threatens international law. On this basis, a fundamental conclusion was drawn that Putin's Russia must disintegrate as an empire in order to restore world law and order. Results: Russia attacked Ukraine without declaring war and again called into question the international order in Europe on February 24, 2022, when the Russian leader announced the launch of a "special military operation" against Ukraine. He called its goal the "demilitarization" of the country. The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation began shelling the cities of Ukraine and its military and civilian infrastructure. The recognition of the independence of the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics by Russian President Vladimir Putin preceded this madness on February 21, 2022. However, the Russian-Ukrainian confrontation has deep historical roots. The absorption of Ukraine and its human resources is one of the key tasks in the development of the project of Russian imperialism. The current process of formation and development of Putin's Russia has always been accompanied by war with Ukraine. Russia aimed to destroy our young state. The history of relations between the Ukrainian and Russian peoples is a chronicle of wars, the liberation struggles of Ukrainians, and a consistent policy of Russification and assimilation of our people.

Bias in International Law

AbstractThis special issue looks at how cognitive bias matters to international law. We wish to shed light on the legal frames, labels, and cognitive biases that shape our understanding of international rules, the application of these rules, and outcomes of international adjudicatory processes. Adopting the behavioral approach to international law, we focus on actual behavior rather than assumed behavior of actors taking part in the international legal process. The central idea of this approach is that human cognitive capacities are limited—or bounded—by a variety of cognitive, emotional and social, or group-based biases. Our aim is to explore how these biases operate on the individual, group, and state level in various spheres of international law. This Symposium therefore looks beyond the traditional understanding of international law as applying between states, and focuses on how individuals, as actors in the international sphere, use international law language to influence other people, to create communities, and to shape identities.This Introduction first serves to explain the type of shortcuts we make in our decision-making. This description of biases is followed by an overview of behavioral literature in international law that has thus far examined how bias operates in different aspects of international law—in relation to sources, to compliance, and individuals taking part in the international legal process. We then turn to introduce the Symposium and explain its contribution to the existing literature.

The process of reconciliation between Serbia and Kosovo and the international legal strategies of the EU States, the USA, and Russia(with particular emphasis on the activities of the Kosovo Specialist Chambers)

The aim of this article is to analyse the international legal and political process of reconciliation between Serbia and Kosovo in terms of its impact on the scope of development directions and strategies of the European Union countries as well as Russia and the USA. Particular emphasis was placed on the treatment of these issues in the light of the activities of the Kosovo Specialist Chambers and Specialist Prosecutor’s Office. The main theses assumed for the purposes of this article are as follows: firstly, that the policy of reconciliation between Serbia and Kosovo is multidimensional, including the necessity of the process of international criminal liability for the crimes committed by both states, while at the same time influencing the dilemmas of the development directions of individual European countries, but also of the European Union and the United States. In addition, the legal and political stabilization of the Balkan region, especially in the context of relations between Kosovo and Serbia, and the possibility of cooperation with these states as part of intergovernmental international organizations, is strategically extremely important for the EU, the USA, as well as for Russia. The Author critically analyses issues using polemics with the standpoint presented in the doctrine of the subject as well as interpreting selected instruments of international law and Kosovo’s national law. The deliberations resulted in conclusions as to the determinants in terms of the directions of the legal and political development of the EU and Russia resulting from the complicated process of reconciliation and mutual settlement of sins by Serbia and Kosovo.

Paradoxes of Visibility and Preservation: Cultural Heritage Law and the Making of the City as an International Legal Category

The push for cities to be a part of international legal governance processes is tied to the promise of bridging international law’s democratic deficit. However, the exercise of cities’ personality in international law can end up replicating many of the same democratic deficits with which international law is usually charged. Therefore, cities as agents may be an unsatisfactory way of addressing international law’s democratic deficits. Instead, cities as objects can raise the visibility of cities and the local communities that live therein, but without giving agency to a State actor. This visibility can then pave the way for communities themselves to be directly involved in international legal governance processes. This article uses the example of international heritage law, where cities are very significantly represented in international heritage lists and even a specific instrument (the 2011 Recommendation on the Historic Urban Landscape) to showcase the limitations and possibilities of the project of cities in international law. I argue that there is a paradox of visibility and agency that permeates international legal possibilities for cities, and placing the city simultaneously in the registers of object and subject ultimately defers the central question of community involvement in international law on global public goods.

Disability, Human Rights Violations, and Crimes Against Humanity

AbstractPersons with disabilities have historically been subjected to egregious human rights violations. Yet despite well-documented and widespread harms, one billion persons with disabilities remain largely neglected by the international laws, legal processes, and institutions that seek to redress those violations, including crimes against humanity (CAH). This Article argues for the propriety of prosecuting egregious and systemic human rights violations against persons with disabilities as a CAH, and, in addition, asserts the necessity of ensuring the accessibility of international criminal processes to those individuals. The UN Security Council's recent acknowledgement of the enhanced risk that persons with disabilities experience during armed conflict, the growing evidence of widespread human rights violations against them, and an ongoing effort to forge a UN convention on the prevention and punishment of CAH make these arguments especially timely.

Eurocentrism within the Framework of International Legal Research: a Review and Critique of the Main Methodological Positions

The article examines various aspects of the Eurocentric nature of international legal research. The author concludes that the Eurocentric framework of international law inevitably leads to increased regional and global tensions, as neo-colonial discourse is the main projection of Eurocentrism. According to the author, the criteria of objectivity are incompatible with the methodology of extreme Eurocentrism. The optimal variant of a counter-revocentric strategy is only possible within the framework of the pluralism of constitutive international legal processes.

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The article is devoted to the peculiarities of the formation of the international legal order in the process of evolution of international law. The development of international law is directly determined by the specifics of civilizational development and changes that occur in the international environment under the influence of globalization and regionalization. Globalization and regionalization are manifested respectively in the processes of unification and fragmentation of international law, becoming the content of the specifics of the processes in international legal relations at the current stage. The analysis of modern international legal relations, formed as a result of the principles and norms of international law in the context of globalization and regionalization, gives grounds to identify the manifestations of localization in international legal relations as a model of fragmentation of international law. The concept of fragmentation enters the science of international law at the beginning of the XXI century. Thanks to the discourse initiated by the UN Commission on International Law and is gradually gaining paradigmatic significance. Paradigmatic transformations of the science of international law are inevitable in the conditions of intensive development of international legal relations and provide further progress of science. The starting point of this process was the rejection of the unequivocally negativism interpretation of fragmentation as the opposite of integration and unification, which contradicts globalization. Therefore, today, in addition to the widely developed general international treaty and legal unification of domestic law, its regional unification is becoming more and more developed. Regional unification is also international, but it has a regional aspect, primarily related to the level of regional interstate integration. Integration practices are reflected in the relevant international treaties, especially those governing the establishment and operation of regional international associations. These associations are the organizational and legal shell for the development of regional international legal unification processes. Regionalization of international law, as well as its fragmentation in treatyformed international regions, is associated with the level and depth of relevant regional integration, which is a priority for states, and international law provides integration processes as a necessary tool for their regulation. Fragmentation is a natural process in the evolution of international law and is seen as a factor in the creation of modern international law. The international legal order has a contractual nature and a complex multicomponent structure. The process of forming the structure of the international legal order on the basis of a complex intertwining of uneven processes of regionalization and fragmentation is not yet complete. In the doctrine of international law, the complexity of the international legal order is determined from the standpoint of the number of elements and components, as well as their number and the relationship between them and the environment in which the legal order exists. It is obvious that the current stage of civilizational development is characterized by complexity and multidimensionality, which are reflected in the practices of creating a new international legal order based on the changes taking place in international legal relations. Therefore, fragmentation as a factor in the development of international legal relations becomes a factor in the formation of modern international legal order and determines its features.

Современная отечественная историография Нюрнбергского трибунала

The modern Russian historiography about the Nuremberg Tribunal has a large number. But, its generalization and analysis was not carried out. The purpose of this article is to systematize the publications of the last decade on the Nuremberg Trials. The author has identified nine groups of publications on this topic. Among them: works carried out in the framework of the study of international law, historical and legal processes, the history of international relations, philological research (on the activities of translators); work related to the so-called the ‘big’ Nuremberg trials, dedicated to the study of the legal regulation of biomedical research; works of a political and legal nature, calling to prevent the revision of the results of the Nuremberg process; studies reflecting the role of individuals in the organization of the tribunal, works devoted to the use of historical documents in fiction. The author came to the conclusion that the bulk of the publications are published in the anniversary years for the Nuremberg trials. This clearly indicates that there is not enough systemic research. The article also notes that most of the works were written using the same type of source base. This raises the question of a broader involvement of sources and literature in foreign languages.

THE DEFICIENCIES OF INTERNATIONAL PROTECTION FOR CLIMATE REFUGEES AND THEIR IMPACT ON THE GLOBAL HUMAN SECURITY

The phenomenon of climate asylum has been a global concern in recent years due to the acceleration and exacerbation of its spread and the shortcoming of the international legal process, this will lead to a real threat to the stability of global human security, as the emergence of this phenomenon has produced the so-called climate refugee as one of the most vulnerable groups among the victims of natural disasters who are forced to leave and abandon their place of residence this is because they live under the pressure of many climate changes. Therefor, the importance of the topic is reflected in the fact that it is a new and important topic of contemporary international public law, which is researched in trying to frame the phenomenon of climate asylum especially in light of the difficulty of controlling the necessity of the factors created for it time and place, and the purpose of dealing with this topic remain an attempt to remove some am issue in the form of a jurisprudential root and as a special international practice from a legal point of view in line with the above, the subject of the articole will focus the scientific effort. To look into the problem: the shortcomings build international legal foundations to seek the integration of climate refuges into the Geneva convention 1951 to benefit from international protection , it will inevitably load to imbalance in ensuring the stability of global human security and the threat to the entire human existence.

Introduction: International Law’s Invisible Frames - Introductory Insights

Human beings acquire and form their knowledge through cognitive processes (e.g., perception, interpretation, language). At the same time, that knowledge is processed and used via different mental channels to form a representation of reality. Understanding how psychological and socio-cultural factors (including cultural bias) can affect decision-making in an international legal process; identifying the groups of people and institutions that may shape and alter the prevailing discourse in international law at any given time; and unearthing the hidden meaning of the various mythologies that populate and influence our normative world, are all key factors to providing a better understanding of the invisible frames within which international law moves and performs. Social cognition and knowledge production constitute a somewhat circular mechanism, some kind of ‘cycle of knowledge’, where they constantly feed input into each other. By apprehending and processing sensory ‘input’ through mental processes (categorization, interpretation, memorization, and – most prominently – scheming), one acquires information, which is then fed into the dynamics of social processes where it is moulded and turned into an ‘output’ that we qualify as ‘knowledge’ of a given field or discipline. Such knowledge, in turn, becomes a lens through which we experience, process and organize reality. Ultimately, the collection of essays gathered in this book aims at providing some illustrations of how social cognition and knowledge production affect our understanding and representation of international law. The overarching idea is that there is no unmediated access to knowledge and that knowledge is mentally and socially constructed. The other noticeable feature that social cognition and knowledge production share is that they are often invisible processes that take place without us being fully aware that they are at play.

Long Live Monetary Gold *Terms and Conditions Apply

Zachary Mollengarden and Noam Zamir want to take back to basics the principle associated with the Monetary Gold Removed from Rome in 1943 (Monetary Gold) judgment of the International Court of Justice (ICJ). Their “categorical” and mostly doctrinal claim, underpinned by policy concern about “the tensions between the bilateral presuppositions of the Statute and the increasingly multilateral nature of international affairs and international disputes” is “that the Monetary Gold principle is irreconcilable with the ICJ Statute's jurisdictional architecture.” The tension between bilateralism and community interests often provides an attractive analytical perspective, and points raised by the authors might be relevant in calibrating certain aspects of the principle. But its wholesale critique, while skillfully put, is ultimately unpersuasive. Careful consideration of basic instruments and issues is commendable but an exclusive focus that does not engage with the broader international legal process will miss its unmistakable and widespread endorsement of the Monetary Gold principle. Even the concern about the multilateral context ultimately counts against rather than in favor of their argument. Multilateral sensitivities can already be articulated within the four corners of Monetary Gold, and Mauritius/Maldives, delivered just as the ink was drying on the first draft of this essay, is a perfectly timed example for that.

Covid-19 Claims and the Law of International Responsibility

Abstract This paper considers the role that the law of international responsibility, both State responsibility and responsibility of international organizations, plays in claims and disputes about covid-19. It proceeds by examining in turn the rubrics of the internationally wrongful act, content of responsibility, and implementation of responsibility. On most points, blackletter law is perfectly capable of answering the questions raised by claims related to covid-19. But evolutionary potential inherent in the normal international legal process should also be recognised, whether it manifests itself by further strengthening current rules, elaborating vague rules by application, filling gaps in current law by generating new practice or even, exceptionally, revisiting rules currently in force.

Blurred lines

The neutrality of medicine and health care professionals in different conflict settings in the Middle East have come under scrutiny in recent human rights reports, and should be seen as part of the broader fallout of the US-led ‘global war on terror.’ The last two decades of US military attacks on health infrastructures in Iraq and the use of polio-vaccination campaigns to track down ‘terrorists’ are acts of war that have further blurred the lines between health care and warfare. The failure of international legal processes and institutions to prevent such assaults or to prosecute those responsible raises questions about the Eurocentric system of checks and balances that shape international humanitarian law and its invocation as a ‘legal’ and ‘moral’ framework.

The ‘Rights’ Way to Democratize the Science–Policy Interface in International Environmental Law? A Reply to Anna-Maria Hubert

Abstract Science is widely regarded as being necessary for effective international environmental decision-making and risk assessment processes. However, it is equally well recognized that uncertainties or the complexity of phenomena under study mean that science may only offer partial knowledge for environmental problems in many circumstances. ‘Democratization’ of science is often proposed as a solution to this dilemma. This may involve incorporating a wider spectrum of expert views and public inputs in risk assessments of new technologies, public participation in science through so-called ‘citizen science’ initiatives or the application of the precautionary principle. This reply reviews these approaches and contrasts them with another tantalizing possibility offered by Anna-Maria Hubert’s article; a human rights-based approach drawing on the ‘oft-neglected’ right to science. It assesses the extent to which a rights-based approach, utilizing the right to science, offers a way to bridge the gap between science and democracy in contested international environmental legal decision-making processes. While it concludes that there are important potential benefits to the application of the right to science in international environmental law, it is far from clear that it provides a panacea given the limitations on the right expressed in the international human rights instruments in which it is found, such as the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Instead, the right to science can be seen as placing another thumb on the scales – alongside the precautionary and participatory approaches – in favour of enabling broader, more democratically accountable decision-making in cases of uncertain science and contested environmental risks.

A Case Against Crippling Compensation in International Law of State Responsibility

AbstractThe obligation of States to provide full reparation for internationally wrongful acts, including by full compensation, is one of the bedrock principles of international law. The article challenges this principle for cases where compensation is crippling for the responsible State or its peoples, which can occur when State responsibility is implemented before international courts and tribunals. The International Law Commission's decision not to qualify full reparation for instances of crippling compensation in its influential Articles on State responsibility was an unpersuasive legal position to adopt in 2001, and its rationale has aged badly. However, the failure by States and other actors to challenge it in the following two decades signified its endorsement by the international legal process. Nevertheless, the case against the permissibility of crippling compensation in modern international law can still be made, both on a case‐by‐case basis and at the level of customary secondary rules of State responsibility.

General Sentencing Principles as a Guarantee of Respect for the Perpetrators’ Rights

The paper deals with the sentencing principles having not only theoretical but also practical significance because only in case of compliance with the general principles, the sentence applied to a perpetrator will not only be formally legal but also just and precisely substantiated. The objective of the research is to define the effect of the sentencing principles for the protection of the perpetrators’ rights in the law enforcement practice, i.e. whether these principles guarantee the respect for the rights of this category of people. The topicality of this problematics is defined as theoretically and practically significant both at the national and at the international level because sentencing principles, as it was already mentioned above, allow avoiding fatal mistakes in sentencing, which will result in a higher effectiveness of the national criminal law and will contribute to the creation of a more substantiated and harmonized international criminal law. The analysis of the essence of these principles will allow defining the rationale and necessity of the use of sentencing principles in the law enforcement practice, as well as the influence of the principles on the respect for the perpetrators' rights, freedoms, and legal interests in the national and international legal processes.