Regional Treaties Research Articles

Combating International Terrorism: Modern Challenges and Threats.

Modern counter-terrorist international universal and regional treaties are aimed directly at criminalization and penalization of terrorism, not international terrorism. Their main objective is unification of the term “terrorism” in domestic law. At least it refers to the most common specific types of acts of terrorism and terrorist offences. However this seems to be palliative as terrorism is constantly progressing, keeps modifying in its forms and includes not only acts of terrorism, but also terrorist doctrines and terrorist organizations, new ways of the committing (for example, cyber terrorism), and new ways of finding new recruits (recently – attracting foreign terrorist fighters). International terrorism has become a threat of planetary dimensions. Nowadays there is a constantly evolving system of international counterterrorism cooperation - regulated by norms of international and domestic law joint activities of subjects of international relations and domestic legal relations aimed at securing legal protection of individual, society, state and international community from terrorist crimes.

The problem of the absorption of national legal cultures by the emerging national legal anti-culture

The purpose of the research is to show the organizational and legal mechanism of new United States’ not powerful approach to the implementation and simultaneous convergence of its legal culture at the global level. General, general scientific and special methods were used in the research. Theoretical basis of the research are the basic laws of states, international universal and regional treaties, doctrinal works revealing the concept of legal culture, scientific articles of Russian and foreign scholars dealing with the content, preservation and transformation of legal cultures. The result of the research was a comparative presentation of the basic values of national legal cultures and global legal anti-culture; ways of “de-substantiation” of national legal cultures; ways of absorption of national legal cultures by global legal anti-culture. The novelty of the research lies in the fact that the article for the first time shows the organizational and legal mechanism of the not powerful way of replacing the global legal anti-culture with national legal cultures. For this purpose, traditional national legal cultures, as well as the global legal anti-culture, are considered in terms of their basic value content; shows ways to absorb global legal anti-culture through “de-substantiation” collective (public) and individual (personal) identities; highlights the organizational mechanism of global legal anti-culture takeover. This research contributes to the comprehension of the content, processes, and ways of forming a global legal anti-culture, as well as to the convergence of states in the vision of this problem and the search for answers to emerging challenges.

The Right to a Healthy Environment and Climate Litigation: A Mutually Supportive Relation?

The right to a healthy environment is recognised in the law of several states and in some regional treaties. Litigants all over the world have increasingly relied on this right to demand the protection of a host of environmental interests. This trend is expanding and as of late has started to affect also climate litigation. This article scrutinises the extent to which the right to a healthy environment has been invoked in the growing body of human rights-based climate litigation. It then provides an in-depth analysis of rights-based litigation that has occurred to date, with the aim to establish the extent to which the right to a healthy environment has furthered the prospects of applicants and, conversely, the extent to which climate litigation has bolstered the recognition of the right to a healthy environment.

Human Rights of Older Persons

The creation of what has become known as the international human rights system began with the activities of the United Nations (“UN”) when it was first established in the aftermath of World War II and it has since grown to include a comprehensive library of treaties (there are nine core international human rights treaties and several important regional treaties) and domestic laws defining human rights, a global community of international, regional, and national bodies to monitor and interpret human rights and an expanding array of tools to enforce human rights and respond to violations of those rights by States and other actors. Human rights now include civil and political “freedoms”, equality and socio-economic rights and collective rights to a healthy environment, self-determination and development. Since 1948 there has been almost 20 declarations, principles, resolutions, plans of action and proclamations issued by the UN and its instrumentalities relating to aging, and UN has identified aging as being among the most important global issues of the 21st Century; however, progress has been slow on drafting and adopting a comprehensive universal legal instrument relating specifically to the human rights of older persons. This book discusses how issues relating to older persons have been integrated into the generic international human rights framework and emerging regional human rights legal systems and the steps that need to be taken in order to gather support for a new international convention.

PAKISTAN-TURKEY RELATIONS DURING COLD WAR DECADES: BEYOND RELIGION AND CULTURAL DIMENSIONS

This study explores the bilateral relationship between Pakistan and Turkey during the Cold War, in which the bilateral relationship had developed gradually. To understand why it had developed? We must transcend cultural and religious factors. The study argues that the development of bilateral relations was mainly due to the interest of the Western Allies and the strategic consensus between Islamabad and Ankara. Although the Cold War was dominated by bipolarity, in which two superpowers pursued their power and influence globally including the Middle East, it is by no means that other regional powers acted nothing role. Turkey had played a central role in getting Pakistan to join the regional pact, which was in West's strategic interest. Besides, Pakistan and Turkey stood out prominently in terms of the strategic consensus since 1965. Strategic consensus between them has helped to forge cooperation on key issues such as Kashmir and Cyprus. Our analysis shows that relationship between the two countries was caused by these two factors, in which cultural and religious factors are either ineffective or have little impact.

The principle of no significant harm in the Central Asian context

This paper focuses on the no significant harm principle as applied to shared waters in Central Asia (CA): the Aral Sea basin shared by Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan; the Irtysh basin shared by China, Kazakhstan and Russia; and the Chu-Talas basin shared by Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. These transboundary basins are under increased pressure from growing population and economies, unsustainable development and the impact of climate change, making it essential to cooperate and enhance legal regulation. The paper seeks to contribute to a better understating of the nature of legal principles applied to transboundary waters in CA by analyzing whether and how transboundary harm is addressed in relevant treaties in the selected river basins. The paper finds that in most regional treaties the no-harm principle is phrased as a due diligence obligation, without defining a transboundary harm and specifying its threshold and potential activities that might cause it. In addition to improving the quality of regional agreements and enhancing procedural cooperation, the participation of countries in MEAs can offer a supportive legal framework to specify no-harm related obligations.

State Responsibility and Investment Protection in the Time of Pandemic

To contain the spread of the global pandemic and to prevent the overburdening of their health systems, States worldwide have taken a host of previously unimaginable measures. While these measures ostensibly serve to mitigate the effects of the global pandemic, they also have an immediate impact on the commercial interests not only of domestic actors but of foreign investors. Some of these investors may feel disproportionately, or too undifferentiatedly, impacted by these policies, and therefore be drawn to the possibility of claiming on the more than 3,000 bilateral investment treaties (BITs) and regional treaties in force around the world. Affected investors may argue, in this potential ‘new frontier’ of investment treaty claims, that there can be no reason in principle why they, through no fault of their own, should be required to bear the expense of such measures for the benefit of wider society. In answer to such claims, States may seek to rely on general doctrines of customary international law such as ‘police powers’ or ‘state of necessity’. However, a closer look at these doctrines might reveal that they are not entirely free from contradictions, and that the risk allocations on which they are premised may be in need of some refinement. While the police powers doctrine (also referred to as the ‘right to regulate’) empowers governments to implement measures for the protection of health, often in spite of the potential adverse consequences to certain parties, it is important to ask where the boundaries of the doctrine are to be set. Is the authorization that it offers unlimited? Or does it require—perhaps in order to more clearly differentiate (non-compensable) police powers from (compensable) indirect expropriation—a proportional relationship between the public purpose fostered by the measure and the interference with the investors’ property rights? How would this apply in a global health emergency? Regarding the customary international law defence of necessity, it is well known that its 'only way' condition is interpreted comparatively strictly as an ‘only one single means’ requirement. One might wonder whether, in view of contemporary necessity situations, this interpretation is still realistic, and whether a broader approach might not prove much more appropriate? For one thing is certain: the next great risk, such as a global pandemic of similar proportions, is already on the horizon.

The Impact of Myths, Superstition and Harmful Cultural Beliefs against Albinism in Tanzania: A Human Rights Perspective

It cannot be denied that myths and superstitions have endured through history and that people have been affected by them since the beginning of time. Superstitious beliefs and myths that result in the victimization of persons with albinism (PWA) are centuries old, are present in cultural attitudes and practised around the world. In Africa and in Tanzania in particular, PWAs have also been targeted because of harmful speculation and unfounded myths which place their lives at risk. As members of society PWA have human rights that need to be protected against any kind of violation, particularly against being killed, tortured and discriminated against. This article analyses various legal provisions that protect the rights of PWA as articulated in various UN covenants and conventions as well as regional treaties and national laws.
 Secondary data are consulted to examine the extent of the erroneous beliefs which heavily fuel the persecution and killing of PWA. It is found that there are deep-seated myths, superstitions and harmful cultural beliefs the existence of which seems to pose a serious obstacle to the implementation of the law and the protection of the rights of PWA in Tanzania. The article recommends awareness-raising and education in general for Tanzanian society as an approach towards the protection of PWA.

Migration with Dignity

Migration involves moving from a country of origin to another country in pursuit of a better life, and is a growing global phenomenon. The UN International Organization for Migration estimates that nearly a quarter of a billion people migrated in 2018 alone, nearly three-quarters of whom are workers, one-half of whom are women, and nearly one in nine of whom are children. Migration comes with a host of dangers, challenges and risks, beginning with systemic corruption of government authorities and officials; trusting third parties facilitators, and modes of transport; guarding oneself, friends and loved ones from abuse and criminal behavior along the journey; and, avoiding mistreatment at the point of entry and exploitation afterward. Reflecting human dignity’s role in the rule of law can help. Human dignity recognizes the equal worth of each person without regard to gender, race, wealth, political status or any other societal signifier. Dignity is inherent, immutable, inalienable and universal. Human dignity encapsulates the notion that every person has equal worth. Dignity is recognized in myriad international and regional treaties, thus garmenting international human rights law with common dignity rights thread. It is also guaranteed by the constitutions of 160 nations. This report examines how human dignity under law affects various aspects of migration, including the right to equality and non-discrimination, freedom of movement, the right to personal safety and security, the right to live with dignity and well-being, access to services, and civil and political rights. As we shall see, migration with dignity is an idea whose time has come.

The Influence of France and Italy's (Central)European projects on Yugoslavia's Re-evaluation of regional pacts (1927–1933)

This paper analyzes the impacts of the French and Italian plans for the political, military, and economic reorganization of European affairs on the Yugoslav reconsideration of regional pacts in national security policy and foreign policy, and the consequences of that reassessment on the Yugoslav standpoint toward the reorganizations of the Little Entente and its role in European affairs.

Constructing the Human Right to a Healthy Environment

Despite the absence of a right to a healthy environment in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights or any global human rights treaty, environmental human rights law has rapidly developed over the past 25 years along three paths: ( a) the widespread adoption of environmental rights in regional treaties and national constitutions; ( b) the greening of other human rights, such as the rights to life and health, through their application to environmental issues; and ( c) the inclusion in multilateral environmental instruments of rights of access to information, public participation, and access to justice. After describing these developments, this review assesses the possible effects of UN recognition of the human right to a healthy environment, both on the environment and on human rights law itself.

FROM FRIENDSHIP TO ENMITY SOVIET-IRANIAN RELATIONS (1945-1965)

FROM FRIENDSHIP TO ENMITY SOVIET-IRANIAN RELATIONS (1945-1965)

THE LITTLE ENTENTE – EXPECTATIONS AND OUTCOMES

This article presents information concerning a European regional pact, formed during the interwar period – the Little Entente. The aim of the study is to highlight the advantages and disadvantages of an alliance between the countries of Central and Eastern Europe and the history of its creation. The influence that the Little Entente made on the history of Europe is very often overlooked. Though the alliance ultimately did not survive the strong pressure of the European powers, effective organisational structures and the successes of common foreign policy were a guideline for the integration of the Central and Eastern European countries in the future. The deliberate way in which foreign policy was conducted improved significantly alliance members position on the international area. The first part of the article relates to the historical background and describes both the historical and political environment of interwar Europe as well as indicates the most important moments during the process of the creation of an alliance. The next part describes links between the Little Entente and the French government. The main part of the study refers to the successes this alliance achieved as well as to the events that contributed to the collapse of this pact. This paper contains also a part connected with the heritage of the Little Entente. The last part of an article summarises the considerations of the content.

Informing the regulatory framework on water and sanitation in Southern Africa: The emerging governance framework accompanying SDG 6

At least 40% of the people in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region do not have access to safe water and sanitation, rendering them vulnerable to prolonged conflicts and catastrophes, including exposure to water-borne diseases, other pandemics, poverty and human suffering. Although several international and African regional treaties support the human rights to water and sanitation, the ability of the SADC regulatory framework to give effect to these rights is concerning. In fact, available literature on the SADC’s ability to meaningfully realise these rights is fragmented and scant. This article examines theoretically a novel governance approach to the implementation of Sustainable Goal 6 of the United Nations 2030 Agenda. The article argues that the coercion through regional ‘goal setting’ may provide a conclusive, regional response to the continuing development of water and sanitation rights in the SADC region.

The Blockade Imposed on Qatar from the Perspective of International Treaties and Resulting Responsibilities

 لا شك أن صدور القرار المفاجئ لمجموعة الدول الأربع، السعودية والإمارات والبحرين ومصر، بمقاطعة دولة قطر وفرض نوعٍ من الحصار البري والبحري والجوي والدبلوماسي عليها، أثار قضايا عدّة تتعلّق بالعلاقات الدَّوليَّة وعلاقات الجوار والأعراف والتقاليد، وترتب عليه انتهاك الكثير من حقوق دولة قطر، الاقتصَاديَّة والاِجتمَاعيَّة والأمنية والسياسية وغيرها، أقرتها المواثيق الدولية والإقليمية. أوضحت الدراسة أن حالة دولة قطر تُعد حصارًا وليس مقاطعة طبقًا لدلالات الحصار في اللغة والفقه الدولي، وأن دول الحصار افتقرت إلى المرجعيات الدولية خاصة فيما تضمنه الفصل السابع من ميثاق منظمة الأمم المتحدة الذي أعطى مجلس الأمن وحده دون غيره سلطة إصدار أي قرار من هذا النوع بموجب المادة 41؛ يأمر فيه باتخاذ التدابير المناسبة ضدّ الدولة أو الدول المعتدية أو المهدّدة للسلم والأمن الدوليين، وبـوقف الصلات الاقتصَاديَّة والمواصلات الحديدية والبحرية والجوية والبريدية والبرقية واللاسلكية وغيرها من وسائل المواصلات وقفًا جزئيًّا أو كليًّا، وبقطع العلاقات الدبلوماسية. من ثم فإن حصار الدول الأربع لدولة قطر ينتهك ويخالف تمامًا قواعد القانون الدولي وكافة المواثيق الدولية وخاصة مواثيق الشرعة الدولية لحقوق الإنسان والمواثيق الدولية المعنية بمكافحة الإرهاب، كذلك المواثيق الإقليمية ومنها ميثاقا جامعة الدول العربية ومجلس التعاون لدول الخليج العربية الذي يضم في عضويته أربع دول خليجية منها ثلاث دول تقوم بالحصار؛ هي السعودية والإمارات والبحرين، والرابعة هي دولة قطر التي يقع عليها الحصار. على هذا الأساس توافرت شروط المسؤولية الدولية تجاه دول الحصار نتيجة ما أحدثه سلوكها غير المشروع من وقوع أضرار كبيرة على دولة قطر، وهو الأمر الذي يجيز للأخيرة تحريك المسؤولية الدولية تجاه دول الحصار، والحصول على التعويض المناسب لما وقع على الدولة ومؤسساتها ومواطنيها والمقيمين عليها من أضرار جسام.

Regional diffusion, EU conditionality and Council of Europe treaty ratification 1949–2016

ABSTRACT This paper investigates states’ commitment to human rights, democracy and rule of law through ratifying Council of Europe treaties. We present a first comprehensive analysis of ratifications of all 221 Council of Europe treaties that opened for ratification since 1949 among the 47 current member states. Applying a multilevel Cox regression, we observe a strong influence of external sources for states’ commitment and find evidence for both coercion and emulation mechanisms. First, upcoming EU membership is strongly and positively associated with treaty ratification, corroborating the relevance of accession conditionality in making countries to commit to human rights and democracy. Second, states are much more likely to ratify if a neighbouring country has ratified at the same time, which confirms a strong pattern of regional diffusion of rights acceptance in Europe. However, we find that this pattern of regional diffusion is stronger among states with lower levels of democracy, suggesting that emulation proceeds through mimicry. Finally, our analysis shows that Council of Europe treaty ratification is especially strong during the first years after treaty opening, suggesting that ratification reflects concerted efforts by states involved in the negotiation of regional treaties.

Islamic Model of Political Leadership as a Potential Way to Start Negotiations Aimed at Resolving the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

The paper reviews the issue of the creation of a fundamentally new innovative model of negotiation process focused on settling the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In the author’s opinion, political leadership factor that is typical for the Arab-Israeli world is instrumental in providing a conceptual framework for peace talks between Israel and Palestine in the context of globalization. The article focuses on the peculiarities of the Islamic model of political or, to be more precise, religious and political leadership and how it can be implemented to give a new impetus to the currently bogged down Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. The author argues that is impossible to achieve any tangible regional treaty because not all the arrangements concerning Palestine have a legitimate character from the point of view of both the Palestinians and the people of other Muslim countries in the world. Therefore, in the author’s opinion, without using such an innovative model of the negotiation process it will be principally impossible to achieve a final settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Global large herbivore conservation and international law

Large wild herbivore species are important to ecosystems and human societies, but many of them are threatened and in decline. International wildlife treaties have a role to play in arresting and reversing these declines. This paper provides a global overview and analysis of relevant legal instruments and their roles regarding the conservation of the 73 largest terrestrial herbivores, i.e., those with a body mass of ≥ 100 kg. Outcomes reveal both significant positive contributions and shortcomings of the Ramsar Wetlands Convention, the World Heritage Convention, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, the Convention on Migratory Species and its subsidiary instruments, the Convention on Biological Diversity, and a range of regional and bilateral treaties. Maximizing the potential of these treaties, and attaining their objectives regarding the conservation and restoration of large herbivores, requires substantial increases in funding and political will. Even before such game-changing increases occur, however, it remains worthwhile to seek and use the many opportunities that exist within the current international legal framework for enhancing the conservation of the world’s largest herbivores.

PROSPECTS AND CHALLENGES FOR THE UKRAINIAN AGRICULTURAL MARKET UNDER THE ASSOCIATION AGREEMENT WITH THE EUROPEAN UNION: LEGAL ANALYSIS

The agrarian sector in global trade, as well as processes related to the liberalization of international agricultural trade, is still a subject of long-standing discussions at the international level. The Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU, on the one hand, opens up good prospects for increasing the competitiveness of Ukrainian agricultural producers, on the other hand, it causes a lot of difficulties related to the general state of the Ukrainian society. Purpose of the paper is to analyze the international standards for trade of agricultural products, codified in international agreements and specified in the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU, as well as in identification on its basis the prospects and challenges (risks) for the Ukrainian agricultural market in the course of this Agreement provisions implementation. In the paper historical-sociological and system-structural analysis have been used, which helped to reveal the fluctuations of eurointegration sentiments in Ukraine and establish their connection with the inertia of unsolved social contradictions inherited since the existence of the Union of Soviet Socialistic Republics, which are particularly visible in a modern Ukrainian village. Comparative-legal, formal-logical and hermeneutical methods have been used in the study of international universal and regional treaties in order to understand the contents of international standards related to international trade and the processes of its liberalization and the specifics of their applying in the agricultural sector during the acting of the General Trade Tariffs-47 and under the auspices of the World Trade Organization. Statistical method has been used to study the data of the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine, which made it possible to assume a social status of rural communities, and others. The result of the research revealed the fluctuations of eurointegration sentiments in Ukraine. The attention has been paid to the duration of the inertia of the unresolved social contradictions caused by those fluctuations. It has been proved that the prospects of cooperation between Ukraine and the EU and ways of their implementation should be understood in the context of historical circumstances that have developed over the previous century and have a powerful inertia of counteracting innovations, reinforced by mistrust between the new elite and the bulk of the impoverished population. The position has been supported that a key to success of reforms in Ukraine is to exclude caste privileges and build a civil society, taking into account the experience of the Western legal tradition. Implementing its European choice, Ukraine should focus not on superficial indicators of well-being that do not have a real basis, but also to master the philosophical-legal context of the acquis of European law in its broadest interpretation.

Investigating, prosecuting and punishing corruption in Commonwealth East and Southern African countries

Corruption remains a challenge in all East and Southern African (Southern African Development Community) countries. In order to combat it, these countries have put in place different measures. These have included the ratification of international, regional and sub-regional anti-corruption treaties. These treaties include the United Nations Convention against Corruption, the African Union Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption, and the SADC Protocol against Corruption (for the SADC countries). Many of these countries have also enacted anti-corruption legislation to give effect to their international obligations. In this article, the author evaluates these pieces of legislation to determine how these countries have dealt with the investigation, prosecution and punishment of corruption. In particular, the author focuses on the following issues: the agencies responsible for prosecuting and/or investigating of corruption and their powers and challenges faced; persons who may be prosecuted and punished for corruption; sentencing and punishing those convicted of corruption; punishing juristic/legal persons for corruption; purposes of prosecution and punishment in cases of corruption; and the use of previous convictions in sentencing. These areas have been focused on because they show how legislation is being implemented in practice. Where challenges are identified in implementing these pieces of legislation, the author suggests ways in which those challenges could be overcome.