States Parties Research Articles

A Fairer Governance of High Sea Fishing through a Systemic Interpretation Approach

The regulation of high sea fishing would not be successful without cooperation among the states in the current international society, without a world government. However, the ongoing quest for cooperation in the field of fishery governance focuses too much on the unilateral responsibility of a state to cooperate with a RFMO, overlooking the responsibility of state parties of an RFMO or the state seeking to regulate IUU fishing. This essay reveals that the equitable consideration of fishery governance is sometimes prejudiced in the name of conservation. Fishery governance involves food security, employment, free trade, and the environment. An ideal regime of high sea fishing is expected to balance the conflicting values and bring an end to the fragmentation of international law. The systemic interpretation approach, which is based on Article 31, paragraph 3(c) of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, contributes to a fairer governance of high sea fishing. Such an approach revives the obligation of the state to cooperate in the fishery sector by referring to external legal sources, including human rights laws, WTO laws, and environmental laws.

Nueva era para los derechos de la infancia

The significant increase in the existence and exploitation of self-generated sexual images and videos by boys and girls, is the focus of the new monitoring Report presented by the Council of Europe´s Lanzarote Committee in Rome. In 2017, exploitation of boy and girls self-generated sexual material was already perceived as a potentially serious risk. Later, in 2019-2020, a large increase in the existence of sexual material generated by minors was observed. The pandemic situation derived from Covid-19 exacerbated this reality. The Report examines 43 European States Parties to The Lanzarote Convention, with special mention to the fact of preventing this particular form of sexual exploitation of boys and girls, investigating and prosecuting it, improving the identification and protection of victims and and likewise, an improvement of the framework law in this matter with the consequent guidelines to the respective governments.

Running out of oxygen: the financial condition of Italian political parties

Electoral competition is quite expensive. The prevalent idea in Western countries is that public funding may contribute to and preserve the system’s fairness and pluralism, defending political parties from the influence of big money. However, the Italian reform of political funding approved in 2014 appears to move in an opposite direction, encouraging political players to extract private sources while discarding public support. Such a choice entails hazards associated with several current phenomena, including system transparency, financial appeals from competing players and the rising personalization of politics.
 This article describes the financial status of the major Italian political parties in 2013 and 2018, with an emphasis on the allocation of private funds. Unfortunately, political parties’ responses to the new regulation came late, resulting in significant variations and disparities. Private money needs regulation and restrictions before being established as the primary source of revenue for political competition. At present, Italian political parties are left with few guidelines and appear to be navigating by sight.

Providing Data Samples for Free

We consider the problem of a seller of data who sells information to a buyer regarding an unknown (to both parties) state of the world. Traditionally, the literature explores one-round strategies for selling information because of the seller’s holdup problem: once a portion of the data set is released, the buyer’s estimate improves, and as a result, the value of the remaining data set drops. In this paper, we show that this intuition is true when the buyer’s objective is to improve the precision of the estimate. On the other hand, we establish that when the buyer’s objective is to improve downstream operational decisions (e.g., better pricing decisions in a market with unknown elasticity) and when the buyer’s initial estimate is misspecified, one-round strategies are outperformed by selling strategies that initially provide free samples. In particular, we provide conditions under which such free-sample strategies generate strictly higher revenues than static strategies and illustrate the benefit of providing data samples for free through a series of examples. Furthermore, we characterize the optimal dynamic pricing strategy within the class of strategies that provide samples over time (at a constant rate), charging a flow price until some time when the rest of the data set is released at a lump-sum amount. This paper was accepted by Itai Ashlagi, revenue management and market analytics. Supplemental Material: The online appendix is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2022.4534 .

Partial Implementation of Migrant Rights Protection? Indonesia’s Short-Sighted Approach towards Foreign Migrant Workers

Abstract This article examines the disparity between Indonesia’s efforts to protect its migrant workers abroad with its efforts to ensure the rights of migrant workers within its borders. As a state party to the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families (ICRMW), Indonesia is obliged to uphold the rights of migrant workers regardless of their migratory pattern. Despite its efforts to protect Indonesian migrant workers abroad, it often seems to neglect its obligation to enforce migrant workers’ rights at home. This article will show how the state-sanctioned mechanisms to settle labor disputes between foreign migrant workers and employers are generally designed to benefit the latter. These mechanisms usually focus on the legality of the workers to determine to which rights they are entitled, if any. Furthermore, the absence of support from Indonesia in enforcing other migrant workers’ rights at ASEAN regional platforms reinforces this short-sighted approach of defining migrant workers exclusively as Indonesians overseas, while overlooking its obligations to migrant workers within Indonesia.

A Critical Evaluation Of Moon Treaty And It’s Adequacy In Governing Outer Space In The Face Of Space Militarization And Terrorism

In the last 20 years, outer space has experienced tremendous growth, with the launch of Sputnik 1 by the Russians, the world has seen more countries either launch or show interest in exploring outer space and, there are currently 110 signatories to the outer space treaty.
 National security has led to main countries considering establishing their military presence in space, fear of some countries or individuals it using to attack each other has shifted how concerned people perceive space in its entirety, the questions as to who owns certain areas of space still loom across because states with presence in space claim pieces of land in space, this is exacerbating the increase in military activities in space, countries have started establishing space force.Currently Outer Space is governed through Space Treaty (1967) and other five protocols by the United Nations Office of Outer Space (UNOOSA). The said treaty was signed during the cold war between USSR and the USA, the space treaty came into law almost sixty years ago and it has become absolute, private businesses and modern technological advancements witnessed in recent passed are not addressed in the outer space treaty. its intended purpose was demilitarize Outer space because of fears that space could be for military purposes during the Cold war, The intention of outer space treaty was to ensure that outer space is used for peaceful purposes only,
 UNOOSA performs its mandate solely on information received from states with presence in outer space, it does not have a space station but depends on the goodwill of space agencies, and there are main questions with regards to the authenticity of information provided by the state parties because they are interested parties.
 The paper aims to provide solutions to the issues raised herein, this will be achieved by getting an insight into the administration of Outer space by COPUOS, the militarization of outer space and terrorism in space. Lastly, the research will explore the effectiveness of the Outer Space treaty of 1967 in the 21st century putting into consideration sovereignty and concluding by providing solutions to the same.

The Controversial Involvement of Non-State Actors in the Commission of Enforced Disappearances: An Introduction

AbstractEnforced disappearance is one of the most horrific crimes of our time. This is a crime that causes excruciating suffering to its victims: the disappeared and their families and relatives. Thousands of people have suffered, and are still suffering, all over the world from enforced disappearances. To combat this scourge, a United Nations Convention was adopted in 2006 and entered into force in 2010. It adopted a definition of enforced disappearance that includes an important element: the direct or indirect involvement of the State Party in the commission of the enforced disappearance. Yet, private entities (commonly referred to as non-State actors) can also commit acts similar to enforced disappearances. However, in the absence of the element of the State Party’s involvement, can we go so far as to qualify the acts perpetrated by non-State actors as enforced disappearances? This question has generated and continues to generate an interesting debate.

Cyber-attacks on Space Activities: Revisiting the Responsibility Regime of Article VI of the Outer Space Treaty

Both international society and individual states are placing considerable emphasis on the imminent threats of cyber-attacks on space activities. States play a major role in combatting against cyber-attacks in the space; thus, their international responsibility regime requires re-examination within this unique context. This study analyzes the responsibility regime established by Article VI of the Outer Space Treaty (OST) aiming to adapt the time-honored provisions to the current challenges posed by space cyber-attacks. Simultaneously, it aims to focus on three aspects: attribution rules, the scope of obligations of States Parties and the specific measures that states should undertake. This study concludes that in situations of space cyber-attacks, a case-tailored method should be adopted to identify the responsible state. This may likely involve the broadening of states' obligations, invocation of Article 2(4) of the United Nations Charter, the due diligence obligations, and other lex specialis obligations, such as conducting space activities for peaceful purposes, due regard obligations and non-interference obligations. Furthermore, the conclusion suggests that states should act nationally as well as internationally to successfully combat against cyber-attacks on space activities.

Do Party Rules Matter? An Examination of State Party Bylaws and Congressional Nominations

This paper considers whether the rules governing state political parties help to explain primary election outcomes. I theorize political parties will see lower levels of competition during primary elections when they have bylaws that centralize power within the state central committee. To test this expectation, I created a dataset of state-level party rules by collecting and coding provisions within the bylaws of all 100 state-level Republican and Democratic parties. I operationalize party centralization of power as whether or not elected officials are represented within each party’s formal membership, their state central committee, and whether or not each party has an endorsement or neutrality policy when it comes to contested primaries. I find the centralization of party power does correlate with lower levels of competition in primary elections for the House of Representatives in 2018 and 2020. Specifically, parties are more likely to see uncontested primaries when they guarantee ex-officio state committee membership to their co-partisan elected officials and are more likely to see fewer candidates in general when they guarantee ex-officio state committee membership to their co-partisan elected officials and when they do not have rules that require the state central committee to remain neutral during contested primary elections. While evaluating the causes of this trend is beyond the scope of this paper, these findings appear to be driven by Republican primaries.

WHAT DOES THE DMK’S 2021 ELECTION CAMPAIGN SONG FOCUS ON? : A MULTIMODAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS

Methods to convince voters are continuously evolving since the inception of elections. Contesting political parties have used every possible media from posters to short videos to approach and impress voters. With creativity paving ways to innovative campaign strategy and methods, studies focusing on them are gaining momentum. Campaign songs play an engaging role in this campaign communication strategy in the state of Tamil Nadu. Initially, campaign songs were written to create awareness of parties’ name, symbol, and ideology among the illiterate population. With time, the focus of the songs has shifted to party leaders. The 2021 Tamil Nadu election witnessed the release of campaign songs by state and national political parties. Thanks to social media, these songs had massive reach on social networking sites among people of all age groups. In this context, this paper aims to analyze the official campaign song released by the state political party DMK for the 2021 Tamil Nadu election based on the multimodal discourse analysis informed by Visual grammar.

Preventing bribery in the private sector through legal reform based on Pancasila

As a participating country in the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) 2003, Indonesia is one of the state parties that has signed and ratified the UNCAC 2003 conference. Indonesia has the right not to comply with the arrangements in UNCAC 2003 fully. Still, looking at the current conditions, the losses caused by bribery in the private sector are about material loss, creating inefficiency, increasing crime, slowing down economic growth, worsening the image or reputation of Indonesia in the national/international investment climate so that it becomes an urgent thing to pay attention to. The research method used is the normative legal method in the form of library research carried out by collecting secondary, and tertiary legal materials. The technique of collecting materials used in this research is a literature study. The collected materials were analyzed qualitatively, and the authors used content analysis to classify legal materials. The results of this study indicate that bribery in the private sector must be immediately regulated in the rules regarding corruption in Indonesia, especially in the face of the industrial revolution era 4.0 and society 5.0 so that there is no legal vacuum that can be used by criminals to commit corruption. However, to make rules regarding the prevention and control of bribery in the private sector, it is mandatory to follow Pancasila (Indonesian ideology) and not leave the values of Pancasila as a source of importance in the life of the Indonesian nation.

Does signing auditors’ communist party membership shape audit quality? Evidence from China

In this article, we investigate the effect of signing auditors’ communist party membership on audit quality. Relying on a sample of Chinese listed firms from the period 2001 to 2019, we find that firms with signing auditors who have communist party membership conduct less earnings management, indicating that signing auditors with party membership provide high level of audit quality. Moreover, the above relationship is more pronounced in small audit firms. We also find that firms who are audited by signing auditors with party status have lower likelihood of financial statements and loss avoidance. Further analyses suggest that signing auditors with party status can earn audit fee premium. The positive relationship between signing auditors with party membership and audit quality is more pronounced in non-specialists auditors and high client importance.

International Health Regulations core capacities monitoring in 2020-2021 at Italian Points of Entry

Abstract Under the International Health Regulations (IHR) 2005 States Parties (SP) are required to develop and maintain core public health capacities and report related progress to World Health Organization (WHO) annually,including those related to Points of Entry (PoEs).Using an appropriate tool,provided by WHO, Italian PoEs assessments in 2020 and 2021 were conducted to have the status quo,describe any differences among years and promote corrective actions if required. The tool was designed in 2009 to support SP in ascertaining prior capacities in PoEs and monitoring their progress in order to designate PoEs under IHR.The tool was translated in Italian.Coordination and communication among authorities involved in each PoE (C1),core capacity at all times (C2) and at PHEIC (Public Health Emergency of International Concern) (C3) were assessed by cross border health Authorities for 2020 and 2021.For each of these sections the maximum score is 100%. For each year,a descriptive analysis was conducted and any differences in scores between the two years were noted.The presence of a contingency and vectors’ control plans was also investigated.The assessment was completed respectively for 2020 and 2021 by 24 and 25 airports, 53 and 52 ports. C1 in 2020 resulted on average 89% for airports and 95% for ports, in 2021 respectively 90% and 95%; C2 in 2020 resulted on average 64% for airports and 63% for ports, in 2021 respectively 63% and 64%; C3 in 2020 resulted on average 68% for airports and 61% for ports,in 2021 respectively 63% and 58%.Few differences in scores between 2020 and 2021 were noted in some PoEs. 4 PoEs declared the presence of a contingency plan only in 2021.Few PoEs stated to not have a vectors’ control plan in both years.The assessment pointed out a good level of coordination and communication among all the stakeholders involved, including the Italian Red Cross,but it revealed lower scores for the other IHR core capacities. Improvement actions have to be pursued surely. Key messages • The specified tool helps cross border and national Authorities to understand strengths and weaknesses in each PoE and leads to develop a specific plan of action to overcome potential gaps. • Maintaining a good level of core capacities at points of entry is fundamental to protect national public health.

Strengths and weaknesses in the implementation of the IHR (2005) in low GNI countries

Abstract Background The International Health Regulations (IHR) 2005 are an international legal instrument adopted by World Health Organization General Assembly to strengthen global health security and empower the countries to prevent and respond to public health threats. Methods This study was done within the Joint Action on Strengthened International Health Regulations and Preparedness in the EU (SHARP JA) with the aim to assess the strengths and weaknesses in preparedness and IHR implementation in order to develop and improve countries’ IHR capacities. Desk-based review and analysis of available data from the States Parties Annual Report tool (SPAR) from 2019 were done. Data (for 13 IHR capacities with 24 indicators) were analyzed for 15 countries participating in SHARP JA with gross national income (GNI) less than 90% of the EU average. Results The overall capacity for IHR implementation in low GNI countries is 69%, ranging from 33% in Bosnia and Herzegovina to 84% in Spain. The highest capacities are recognized in the area of Legislation and financing - 78%, IHR Coordination & NFP Functions - 77%, Food Safety - 76%, and Health service provision - 76%. The weak areas with the need for further improvement are recorded in the Points of entry (PoE) - 51%, Risk Communication - 52%, Chemical events - 60%, National health emergency framework - 65%, Surveillance - 66%, and Human Resources - 67%. The overall IHR capacity of low GNI countries is lower compared to the SHARP JA countries and the European average (76% and 73% respectively). Conclusions The results have shown the strongest and the weakest points of the IHR implementation in low GNI countries. This indicates the need for capacity building and further development in identified areas (Points of entry, Risk Communication, Chemical events, National health emergency framework, Surveillance, and Human Resources). Key messages • The assessment of the strengths and weaknesses in preparedness and IHR implementation is the key prerequisite for identifying countries’ needs for their capacity enhancement. • Special attention should be given to the strengthening low GNI countries’ capacities.

Subsidiarity does not win cases: A mixed methods study of the relationship between margin of appreciation language and deference at the European Court of Human Rights

AbstractIn August 2021, Protocol 15 inserted the doctrine of the margin of appreciation into the preamble of the European Convention of Human Rights, presumably cementing what President Spano has referred to as the ‘Age of Subsidiarity’, in which the European Court of Human Rights applies the margin of appreciation more often and increases deference to state parties. This insertion was done on the behest of the High Contracting Parties as part of the Interlaken reform process, and there is already a strong narrative in certain member states and parts of the scholarly literature that this focus has prompted the Court to increase the usage of the margin of appreciation and therefore the deference to states, judging more frequently in their favour. This article hypothesizes, however, that the increased usage of the margin of appreciation language which has been taken as proof for this narrative, might not, in fact, indicate higher levels of deference. Rather, the language of the margin of appreciation could be the result of usage by other actors or a marker of complexity for so-called ‘hard cases’. To investigate this relationship, the article applies a mixed legal-doctrinal and quantitative methodology to analyse who in the case law invokes the doctrine, what their purpose is for doing so, and what adjudicative consequences follow. It finds that usage of the margin-language topped well before the Interlaken process began, that governments are not the most frequent invokers and that, statistically speaking, states are no more likely to win margin-cases than other cases.

Capacity Building and Advocacy to Promote the Digital Accessibility Rights of Persons with Disabilities

Despite the progress that has taken place in the sector of technology, efforts of ensuring the inclusion of persons with disabilities remain limited. This is due to the limited opportunities of capacity building, weak awareness among engineers and industrialists, and the hindering of persons with disabilities’ voices in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) policy development and decision-making. Inspired by the disposition of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with disabilities regarding accessibility, the Global Initiative for Information and Communication Technologies have been playing a pivotal role in promoting the persons with disabilities’ right to inclusive ICTs. Benefiting from the results of its Digital Accessibility Right Evaluation Index, G3ICT has realized the increasing commitment of CRPD States Parties to issues of ICT Accessibility. Nevertheless, The DARE index data show the remaining challenges encountered by governments’ procurement capacity for offering actual support to inclusive ICT programs, products, and services. ICT accessibility continues to be absent from higher education and vocational training programs. Furthermore, advocacy efforts of persons with disabilities and their organizations remain limited within the realm of digital accessibility. This paper discusses G3ICT’s Digital Accessibility Right Education (DARE) Academy, and its role in tackling issues of digital divide through offering a platform of educational development and advocacy capacity enhancement for persons with disabilities around issues of ICT accessibility.

Legal Status of Political Parties in Modern Russia

Modern researches of political parties are attempts to answer the question of their place and role in the political process. The authors analyze the legal framework for functioning and single out the legislative basis for the legal status of parties. This status is determined based on their institutional features. The paper describes the need for established legislative requirements for parties from a political point of view and systematizes their institutional features as public associations. Today, not only political science but also practical politics lacks an objective theoretical view of the nature and essence of domestic parties and their place and role in the political system, as well as their contribution to maintaining stability in the country. The start of the formation of such an objective theoretical view of political parties in Russia may be the disclosure of their legal status.

Between cultural trade and cultural development: examining the first decade of UNESCO's International Fund for Cultural Diversity

ABSTRACT This article examines the first decade (2010–2019) of the International Fund for Cultural Diversity (IFCD or the Fund). It first reviews how the IFCD works to promote cultural development and international cooperation within UNESCO’s 2005 Convention. It then explores how the Fund is financed and how its expected results are defined. The article argues that despite the broad visibility and normative influence of the Convention, the IFCD has not received the levels of financial support by both state Parties and the private sector as the Secretariat envisaged. Moreover, the shift to creativity has neither delivered better fundraising results for the IFCD nor fitted squarely into UNESCO’s broader cultural development frameworks. This opens further questions on the conceptualisation of structural changes as a key objective of projects supported by the IFCD, and the possibility of them addressing structural inequalities that characterise the political economy of the globalised cultural industries.

State Capture, Party Patronage and Unfair Electoral Processes: The Typical Case of Election Conduct in Albania

State Capture, Party Patronage and Unfair Electoral Processes: The Typical Case of Election Conduct in Albania

Unrealised promises and hollow claims: Australia’s failure to enact its international obligations under the CRPD for the education of students with disability

The adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) in 2006 and, in particular, Article 24 was a landmark in the struggle of people with disability for recognition of their fundamental human rights, including their right to education. As a legally binding treaty under international law, imposing obligations on States Parties that signed and ratified it (including Australia), it required those States Parties to bring their domestic legislation into conformity with their CRPD obligations. The Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (DDA), and the Disability Standards for Education 2005 (Standards) made under it, remain the principal Australian statutory protection of the rights of students with disability to access education on the basis of equality and non-discrimination even though the DDA and the Standards preceded the CRPD. This article explores the proposition that the DDA and the Standards do not adequately implement Australia’s international legal obligations in relation to the education of students with disability. Note: This article makes use of agreed or legally defined terms. These terms are presented in italics throughout.