United Nations Special Research Articles

Chemical Weapons in the Iran-Iraq War (1980–1988). 4. The Destruction of Iraqi Chemical Weapons

After the defeat of Iraqi army in Kuwait in February 1991, on April 3, the UN Security Council (UN Security Council) adopted Resolution 687, that «decides that Iraq shall unconditionally accept the destruction, removal, or rendering harmless, under international supervision, of: (a) All chemical and biological weapons and all stocks of agents and all related subsystems and components and all research, development, support and manufacturing facilities». This UN operation was not the first forced disarmament of vanquished by victors, but it gave great impetus to the completion of the work on the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on Their Destruction, i.e. the destruction of an entire class of weapons of mass destruction. The aim of this article was to show the process of Iraqi`s chemical weapons destruction. The destruction of Iraqi chemical weapons included the formation of legal basis (United Nations Security Council Resolution 687); the establishment of the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) to inspect and oversee the destruction or elimination of Iraq’s chemical weapons directly on Iraqi territory; certain measures of political, economic (UN sanctions) and military coercion (the US and the UK military operation «Desert Fox»). In summer 1991, UNSCOM formed a Destruction Advisory Panel to develop technologies for the destruction of chemical weapons, toxic substances and their precursors. Their destruction was carried out in the period October 1992 to May 1994 on the territory of the Muthanna State Establishment. Sarin, cyclosarin, tabun and their precursors were destroyed by hydrolysis in aqueous alkaline solution using a repurposed production facility. Thus 76 tons of sarin and sarin/cyclosarin mixture, as well as 40 tons of tabun were destroyed. For the sulfur mustard, the high-temperature direct burning method was used at the special factory, established under the project of the Destruction Advisory Panel. Thus were destroyed around 400 tons of liquid sulfur mustard. Chemical munitions and containers, after the extraction of poisonous agents, were destroyed using a specially developed technique of explosive ventilation and burning. 30 chemical warheads for Al-Hussein ballistic missiles, 12,8 thousand 155-mm mustard shells, 40,5 thousand 122 mm rockets for MLRS, filled with sarin/cyclosarin, were destroyed. In general, UNSCOM managed to solve the problem of chemical disarmament of Iraq. The article describes in details the Iraq’s chemical weapons destruction technologies.

Ideological Aggression and International Law: Soviet and Russian Malign Influence within Legal Domains (MILDs)

This article offers a trans-disciplinary legal analysis of the evolution of aggression under international law. It asserts Soviet leadership in the establishment of the definition, but notes that some proposed conceptions of the Soviet theory were not officially adopted. This research also analyzes the 2019 work of Doctor Chernichenko of the Russian Federation and his assertion that the Soviet notion of ideological aggression should be resurrected given the unique and propagandistic tendencies of 21st century interstate conflict. Ideological aggression was originally a Soviet proposal first introduced to the United Nations Special Committee on the Question of Defining Aggression in 1953. This study asserts that any attempt to implement such a concept will be dangerous and particularly damaging to the rule of law, both domestically and internationally. Such a concept will offer practitioners a method to avoid responsibility for international transgression by claiming, inter alia, primacy in the employment of ideological aggression. This concept will also offer justification in the dismantling of coveted principles such as freedom of the press and freedom of speech. Those who employ such tactics do so duplicitously; simultaneously cherishing and subverting the international norms and principles that the greater international community holds dear. Finally, it will offer the practitioners of Malign Legal Operations, also known colloquially as lawfare, yet another instrument with which they may contain and exploit competitors under the auspices of international law. This amounts to Malign Influence within Legal Domains (MILDs), which is the ultimate form of asymmetry. The motives behind such a proposal to resurrect ideological aggression must be dually understood before any discourse surrounding ideological aggression may proceed in a serious manner.Manuscript received 03.06.2020

Sustainability of United Nations Recruitment: An Empirical Analysis of Recent Vacancy Advertisements of United Nations Specialized Agencies

This paper examines the sustainability of recruitment in the United Nations (UN), the largest global inter-governmental organization working on sustainable development. It investigates the sustainability of UN recruitment on three main dimensions: remuneration and job stability; meritocracy and fairness; cost and efficiency, with the data from recent vacancy advertisements of two UN specialized agencies. The analytical results suggest that being different from the existing knowledge of UN recruitment, the job stability in UN as shown by the data is higher due to the large proportion of staff vacancies and long-term job contracts. The remunerations to UN job incumbents are high, not only because of the widely-known attractive packages which are provided referring to the highest remuneration levels of national civil service, but also due to the subsidies of working in hardship places. Also, it is found that UN specialized agencies have developed detailed competency frameworks for recruitment to ensure the meritocracy. However, due to the essential monitoring procedures, UN recruitment is often lengthy and costly. Therefore, in the dilemma of meritocracy, fairness, and efficiency in recruitment, efficiency is not highly emphasized in UN recruitment practice, in comparison with meritocracy and fairness. Practical recommendations for improving sustainability of UN recruitment are provided, but more evidence and implications are to be provided by future research.
 Key Words: United Nations; Recruitment; Sustainability; Meritocracy; Efficiency

Influence and transparency at the IMO: the name of the game

The International Maritime Organization (IMO) is a specialized United Nations agency responsible for regulating maritime transport. The purpose of this paper is to shed some light into the following issues: what are the main parameters of influence at the IMO? Who among Member States, industry or other players, are the main influencers? And is the process transparent enough? To address this issue, a perspective mainly but not exclusively based on the authors’ own experience from the activities of IMO’s Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) and specifically its recent focus on how to decarbonize shipping is taken. To that effect, the paper examines several issues that may be relevant, including delegation size, delegation composition, number of submissions and other factors that may affect representation and influence in IMO decision making. The paper also addresses the issue that was recently put forward by several Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), that the shipping industry deliberately promotes strategies and tactics that slow down the drive for decarbonization and that transparency at the IMO leaves a lot to be desired. A conjecture of the paper is that better transparency and stricter representation rules at the IMO could surely lead to some improvements. In particular it is found that the current rules (or lack thereof) may unduly favor some stakeholders. However, even though the drive to decarbonize shipping goes at a slow pace, the paper finds no evidence of a coordinated attempt to slow down the process. A related conjecture concerns the fragmentation of influence at the IMO, which can perhaps explain why things are not moving very fast.

Assessment of Heavy Metal Contamination in the Soil of Al-Muthanna Storage Site using Geospatial techniques

During the early 90s, military operations and United Nations Special Commission “UNSCOM” teams have destroyed the Iraqi past chemical program. Both operations led to a large number of scattered remnants of contaminated areas. The quantities of hazardous materials, incompletely destructed materials and toxic chemicals were sealed in two bunkers. Lack of appropriate destruction technology led to the spread of contamination around the storage area. This paper aims to introduce the environmental assessment of the hazard contamination in the storage site area using Geomatics analysis technique. The environmental assessment for contamination level of eight main chemical compounds (Chromium Cr, Phosphate PO4, Nitrate NO3, Cadmium Cd, Copper Cu, Nickel Ni, Zinc Zn and Lead Pb) have been assessed and analyzed. Soil samples taken from the grid on the site and its surrounding areas have been investigated and analyzed compared to the reference points. The storage area grid was divided into 30 major sectors. 10 samples from each sector were acquired and evaluated. The assessment results indicated that Cr level exceeded the permitted level by (180) times, PO4 level exceeded the permitted level by (35) times, Cu by (1050) times over the permitted level and Ni level exceeds the permitted level over by (50) times. Activity level of Zn in the soil samples of the study area also exhibits large variability with (16000) times over the permitted level on the surrounding isolation protection on the north-west Wall. Very high Contamination spot activity of Pb was found in Destruction zone, about (1350) times over the background level. There is no activity detected for the Cadmium and Nitrate in the storage area site.

Interview with Mark Carney: climate change, business and finance

Mark Carney was Governor of the Bank of England from 2013 to 2020. He is currently United Nations Special Envoy on Climate Action and Finance, and finance advisor for the UK presidency of the COP26...

Torture: An Expert's Confrontation with an Everyday Evil by Manfred Nowak

Reviewed by: Torture: An Expert's Confrontation with an Everyday Evil by Manfred Nowak Jamie Mayerfeld (bio) Manfred Nowak, Torture: An Expert's Confrontation with an Everyday Evil ( Roger Kaminker trans., Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2018), ISBN 9780812249910, 208 pages. Manfred Nowak is one of the world's leading experts on human rights, a wellpublished scholar frequently appointed to high-level advisory and investigative positions. As the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment from 2004 to 2010,1 he led factfinding missions to eighteen countries spread across the world's major regions. These visits, alongside observations of his own country of Austria, become the case studies for a book—excellently translated by Roger Kaminker—devoted to answering the questions of why torture persists and how we can end it. Afforded access unavailable to other scholars and practitioners, Nowak provides a gripping and insightful discussion, one that gains authority from his long practical experience, extensive research, keen observation, fine moral sensibility, awareness of context, and collaboration with diverse experts. He addresses the major controversies (including "war on terror" rationalizations of torture)2 with wisdom and authority. This is a magisterial work—a godsend for human rights and required reading for those who work in criminal justice or share responsibility for individuals deprived of their liberty. On each country visit, the UN rapporteur on torture insists on the right to tour any prison or detention center without prior notification, interview detainees in the absence of state officials, and use photographs and video to document evidence of torture or ill-treatment. He or she typically meets with cabinet ministers, senior judges, and police chiefs, and often with heads of government. Nowak encountered cooperation in some states (Denmark, Georgia, Greece, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Togo, and Uruguay), obstruction in others (China, Equatorial Guinea, and Jordan), and artful manipulation in others (Sri Lanka and Kazakhstan). Some states (United States and Russia) demanded unacceptable terms that scuttled previously scheduled visits, while others (Cuba and Zimbabwe) offered what Nowak calls "fictitious invitations,"3 never intending to follow through.4 After each visit, the rapporteur briefs government officials on his or her conclusions and issues a public report. The United Nations Human Rights Council can take action in response to negative findings. Overcoming official resistance can require dogged persistence, nerves of steel, and the ability to think on one's feet. On several occasions, Nowak's team was obliged to stare down, or outwit, local officials. By means of "cat and mouse" [End Page 254] games,5 the authorities sometimes succeeded in impeding his investigations. Lying was standard practice: Nowak heard "many lies, rarely from detainees but routinely from the police, prison staff, the military, and politicians."6 Whenever possible, Nowak rescued individuals from torture or inhuman conditions of detention. After learning that a Togolese man, tortured into confessing the theft of a chicken, had been detained beyond the maximum forty-eight-hour period,7 Nowak ended up visiting the home of the public prosecutor, who then ordered the man's release. Similar interventions led to the release of some twenty other people and, as word spread, the authorities began freeing other detainees who had been held longer than forty-eight hours in police custody. In several countries, Nowak's recommendations were promptly adopted, sometimes bringing quick relief to thousands of people. The Uruguayan president ordered the closure of two prison blocs that were shockingly unfit for habitation.8 In Nigeria, after Nowak learned that between 20,000 and 25,000 people had been kept in pre-trial detention longer than the maximum sentence for the crimes of which they had been accused, the president promised their immediate release, and it appears that many were freed shortly thereafter.9 Governments in Georgia, Paraguay, and elsewhere adopted his recommendations to strengthen the criminal prohibition of torture, establish domestic inspections, overhaul police departments, and bolster public defenders. Torture rooms exposed in Nowak's inspections were sometimes closed down. It is likely that the country visits have had an inhibiting effect, in the shortand long-term, in ways unnoticed by Nowak. Varying socio-political contexts create alternate pathways to torture and...

China, Africa, and the Private Surveillance Industry

China, Africa, and the Private Surveillance Industry Samuel Woodhams (bio) Internet freedoms around the world have steadily declined over the last decade as governments have acquired increasingly sophisticated tools to monitor, manipulate, and censor their citizens online. Abetted by a lack of meaningful international regulation, authoritarian regimes have been free to establish ever-expanding arsenals of potentially repressive technologies. Digital authoritarianism, or "the use of digital information technology by authoritarian regimes to surveil, repress, and manipulate domestic and foreign populations," has flourished, undermining democratic processes and eroding human rights standards in the process.1 Surveillance technologies—such as facial recognition cameras, spyware software, and social media monitoring solutions—are central to this dynamic. Developed and marketed as essential products for modern policing and counterterrorism efforts by private companies, they provide governments with the ability to track a target's physical location, monitor their digital activity, and potentially even discern their emotions.2 These powerful tools traverse the divide between cyberspace and the material world, often in deeply troubling ways. Nowhere is this more evident than in the province of Xinjiang in northwest China, where the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) have constructed a complex web of sophisticated surveillance technologies to aid the continuous monitoring and forced detention of an estimated one million Turkic Muslims.3 Growing evidence that these tools have been used in ways that violate human rights has led David Kaye, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression, to call for a global moratorium on the sale and use of surveillance tools.4 However, due to a lack of regulation and sustained demand from governments around the world, the private surveillance industry looks set to continue growing. Surveillance technologies manufactured and sold by private companies are now increasingly being deployed by African governments and security forces. From invasive spyware software to track political opponents in Uganda to the deployment of facial recognition cameras in Zimbabwe, the proliferation of these technologies is occurring at a rate that has left many struggling to keep pace.5 This growth is exacerbated by the opaque ways in which these technologies are developed, sold, and deployed. In response, there has emerged a growing effort by a diverse group of think tanks, journalists, and academics to uncover those responsible. For many, China and its companies—above all others—are to blame. This article will add to this debate, demonstrating the significance of China and [End Page 158] its companies in the diffusion of surveillance technologies and the associated rise of digital authoritarianism in Africa. It will be made evident, however, that companies and governments in the West are also heavily implicated in this process, and, unless this is adequately acknowledged, efforts to rein in the private surveillance industry will continue to fall short. China's "Techno-Dystopian Expansionism" In November 2018, Freedom House, an independent think tank based in Washington, DC, published their annual "Freedom on the Net" report. In it, they accused the PRC of pursuing a policy of "technodystopian expansionism," which seeks to spread their "model of extensive censorship and automated surveillance systems around the world."6 Often accompanying this popular view is the assertion that, unlike companies or governments in the West, China and its companies are integrating themselves into international digital ecosystems as a means of pursuing broader geopolitical objectives.7 According to US Congressional Representative Adam Schiff, the sale of surveillance technologies has "not only enabled China's quest to gain market share, they're also shaping the world in a way that also encourages support for their brand of governance and restrictions on personal liberty."8 Within this global dynamic, African citizens are often deemed to be particularly at risk as authoritarian-learning regimes look to adopt China's domestic model of surveillance to stifle dissent and maintain power. It is a pervasive and, to some extent, persuasive argument. At the same time, it has also attracted a significant amount of criticism. Firstly, it overlooks the nuances of China's domestic digital landscape and misunderstands the PRC's broader geopolitical objectives.9 Further, it has been accused of failing to recognize the inconsistent and often pragmatic ways that Chinese...

Right wing populism has sprung from the inevitable failure of neo-liberalism

18 | International Union Rights | 27/1-27/2 FOCUS | RIGHT-WING POPULISM, TRADE UNIONS, AND FUNDAMENTAL HUMAN RIGHTS In the run-up to the 10th anniversary of the Mandate for the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and of Associatio, and in preparation for the Rapporteur’s thematic report to the Human Rights Council at its 44th session, a call for inputs was issued, seeking contributions ‘reflecting on the past decade and setting a vision for the mandate’s future agenda’. On behalf of ICTUR, Daniel Blackburn and Ciaran Cross submitted this reflection on the alarming global rise of the populist right and the implications for trade unions and for fundamental human rights. The past decade has been marked by the reverberations of the 2008 global financial crisis. In every corner of the world, the full brunt of the excesses fostered by forty years of neoliberal policies have been deeply felt: across the globe, workers have borne the cost of measures imposed to stabilise the financial system’s inevitable collapse. As early as Sept. 2008, European trade union leaders adopted the London Declaration, stressing that the crisis arose from ‘greed and recklessness in Wall Street, London, and other financial centres’1. Heedless, desperate governments bailed out banks and socialised their vast losses. Spurred on by international financial institutions (IFIs), many states imposed new strictures of neoliberal reform of the name of competition, efficiency and growth: a wave of ‘austerity’ measures accompanied by labour law ‘reforms’ designed to curtail trade union rights, dismantle long-established collective bargaining institutions and decentralise bargaining structures, limit the right to strike and criminalise trade union activities. European institutions weighed in to require economic and labour market reforms in EU member states, to similar effect. Between 2010 and 2015, austerity-driven labour law reforms were implemented in 89 countries and some 130 governments had implemented or planned publicsector job-cuts and wage restraints2. The 2010s have seen unprecedented levels of social unrest. In the absence of meaningful and effective avenues for social dialogue, workers across the world sought – as they always have done – to articulate their grievances through demonstrations and protests. Where legal reform proved insufficient to stifle workers’ voice, governments resorted to often-lethal force, deploying riot police and security forces to suppress popular dissent. These incidents involve a startling increase in the severity of violence reported in many countries, including in Bangladesh and the Philippines, where violence was frequently reported, and shooting incidents in several European countries (in one case, in Italy, a trade union activist was shot dead), continuing severe anti-union violence in Colombia, Mexico, and Guatemala, and cases of the utmost severity in Kazakhstan and South Africa. These cases paint a damning picture of the state of freedom of association and freedom of assembly rights in 2020, which we have condemned in the strongest terms, writing to relevant authorities in support of victims, and demanding they open thorough and independent investigations, calling for the prosecution of perpetrators, and for the provision of remedies to those impacted. In this context, the rise of populist, nationalist governments seeking to co-opt a widespread sense of powerlessness against the tides of economic globalisation is alarming. It is to this forbidding environment that we urge the Special Rapporteur to direct his attention and efforts in this review of the mandate and in planning its future activities. Our global economic and political systems are treading a path comparable to the trajectory of the last century. Indeed, while the 100th anniversary of the International Labour Organisation in 2019 should have been cause for celebration, it also served as a potent reminder of the conditions into which the ILO was born. A watershed moment born of a global desire to rebuild a better world, the ILO was founded around the idea that ‘universal and lasting peace can be established only if it is based upon social justice’ and that ‘the failure of any nation to adopt humane conditions of labour is an obstacle in the way of other nations which desire to improve the conditions in their own countries’3. Less than a decade had passed from the ILO’s founding before...

Detection of Nutrients and Major Ions at Al Muthanna Storage Site Soil

In the early 90s military operations and United Nations Special Commission “UNSCOM” teams have been destroyed the past Iraqi chemical program. Both operations led an extensive number of scattered remnants of contaminated areas. The quantities of hazardous materials, incomplete destructed materials, and toxic chemicals were sealed in two bunkers. Deficiency of appropriate destruction technology led to spreading the contamination around the storage site. This paper aims to introduce the environmental detection of the contamination in the storage site area using geospatial analysis technique. The environmental contamination level of nutrients and major ions such as sulphate (SO4), potassium (K), sodium (Na), magnesium (Mg), calcium (Ca), chlorine (Cl), phosphate (PO4) and nitrate (NO3) were detected and analyzed. The grid soil samples on the site and surrounding areas have been investigated, analyzed, and compared to the background points. The storage area grid was divided into 30 major sectors and all samples were evaluated from acquires 10 samples from each sector. The detection results have indicated that SO4 level was exceeded the permitted level by 25 times, K level also exceeded the permitted level but by 460, Na ions were 85 times greater the permitted level. Mg level was 180 times higher than that of permitted content. Activity level of Ca in the soil samples of the study area has also exhibited variability with nine times over the permitted level near the bunkers. However, very high contamination spot activity of Cl was found in destruction zone about which 44 times over the background level was found while PO4 level exceeded the permitted level by 35 times over the permitted level and there was no activity detected for the nitrate in the storage area site.

Ethiopia-Eritrea Rapproachment

Abstract On July 9, 2018 Ethiopia and Eritrea signed a Joint Declaration of Peace and Friendship. On July 17, 2018 Ethiopia announced plans for landlocked Ethiopia to use Eritrea’s port of Assab. Ethiopia’s proposed use of Assab has implications for the indigenous Afar people who have lived in the port area for two thousand years. The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of Human Rights in Eritrea and the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in Eritrea found that Eritrea engaged in widespread persecution of the Afar people, including evicting them from the port area of Assab without any compensation. Both UN entities found that this persecution amounted to crimes against humanity. This paper considers the legal consequences for Ethiopia and Ethiopian officials if they use the Assab port area taken from the Afar by criminal means: will they be involving themselves in Eritrea’s crimes? The paper then considers alternative arrangements from the perspective of where the interests of Ethiopia, Eritrea and the Afar are anticipated to converge. It concludes with proposals to resolve the present untenable situation.

At Least Something: The UN Special Committee on the Problem of Hungary, 1957–1958

Abstract In late 1956, the United Nations (UN) faced a remarkable test, as the Soviet Union invaded and crushed a burgeoning rebellion in Hungary, then a Soviet satellite. After the Soviet Union disregarded repeated UN calls to withdraw, the UN General Assembly established, in January 1957, a Commission of Inquiry (COI) to investigate the crisis. This article explores the forgotten story of the Special Committee on Hungary as a case study for the effects of COIs. This commission is of special interest for several reasons. Namely, it was one of the first mandated by a UN body to investigate a specific conflict, not least a Cold War struggle, in which a superpower was directly involved. Furthermore, it was clear from the beginning that the Committee was not likely to compel, in itself, the Soviet Union to change its behaviour. Moreover, 1956 was a time of global political transformation, as the non-aligned movement emerged as a key player in UN politics and, accordingly, became a target in the Cold War battle for influence. Under such circumstances, the effects of COIs are complex and difficult to gauge. While the Committee did not lead to the Soviet Union’s withdrawal from Hungary, it had many unforeseen and conflicting effects. These are grouped into two categories – effects relating mainly to times of ideological conflict and political transformation and effects that relate to parallel multilateral efforts and institutional dynamics. Among other effects, the article demonstrates how, under such political circumstances, COIs can create new points of contention and cause backlash precisely from those that they seek to influence. Having cascading and conflicting effects, the central conclusion is that COIs do not lend themselves easily to clean and linear theories. Recognition of the field’s inherent complexity is therefore needed in any attempt to study this international phenomenon.

International legal activity of the institute of state and law: theory and practice issues

The article is devoted to the analysis of the formation and development of academic research in the field of international law at the V.M.Koretsky Institute of State and Law. Organizational origins of international law started with the creation of the state and legal sector in the system of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine in 1949. Special attention is paid to the presentation of the role of the outstanding scholar of the international lawyer in the creation of the Institute of State and Law, organization and implementation of legal research, in particular in the field of international law and the formation of the corresponding scientific school.The objective development of international law in the second half of the twentieth century was conditioned by the necessity of ensuring the international legal activity of Ukraine in the international arena, as one of the founding states of the United Nations. At this stage, the efforts of Koretsky and his associates were directed at the theoretical substantiation of the international legal personality of Ukraine, the study of the problems of the codification of international law, its sources, and the relation with the internal law of the states. The results of fundamental research in the field of international law favored the recognition of Ukrainian scholars’ contributions to international legal science. Koretsky was recognized as one of the world's leading figures and attracted by the international community to practical international legal activities in specialized United Nations bodies. He entered history as one of the founders of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.The period of 50 - 60 years of the twentieth century in the development of Ukrainian international law was characterized by the active formation of its scientific school, the bright representatives of which were international scholars M. K. Mikhailovsky, N. M. Ulyanov, V. I. Sapozhnikov and others. Their research has created the foundation of a modern school of international law. The article analyzes their main works and theoretical positions that have become the property of international legal science.The 70-80s of the 20th century in the development of international legal science in Ukraine were characterized by the growth of its scientific potential, personnel growth of the school, expansion of the range of research. Since 1984, the head of the department of international law and comparative law of the Institute is V. N. Denisov, who organizationally and methodologically ensured the development of the study of actual problems of international law.With the proclamation of Ukraine's independence, the main tasks of the national science of international law are aimed at studying the problems of the implementation of the sovereignty of Ukraine. Over the past three decades, the results of research by scientists of international lawyers of the Institute have become dozens of individual and collective monographs that identified the main trends in the development of science of international law at the present stage.Today, the scientific school of international law is represented by the doctors of jurisprudence V. N. Denisov, V. I. Akulenko, O. V. Kresin and candidates of jurisprudence O. I. Didkivska, O. S. Pereverzeva, I. M. Protsenko, K. O. Savchuk, A. V. Smoliy, M. I. Surzhinsky, L. G. Falaleyev. A special role in the article is devoted to the analysis of organizational and scientific activities of the directors of the Institute after V. M. Koretsky, academicians B. M. Babiy and Yu. S. Shemshuchenko

Migration-related torture: One of the greatest tragedies of our time

Without any doubt, the torture and abuse suffered by millions of migrants in all parts of the world is one of the greatest tragedies of our time. The undeniable links between irregular migration and torture are manifold and deeply troubling. Not only is the risk of torture and violence one of the most important “push-factors” causing countless people to flee their country of origin, it is also a frightening and pervasive reality of most irregular migration routes and, most shockingly, even of the treatment they receive by the very countries to which they turn for protection. My mandate as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture is to seek, receive, examine and act upon information regarding torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. My sources of information are governments, international and civil society organizations, but also journalists, individual victims and their lawyers, doctors, relatives, and friends.

Grabbing land legally: A Marxist analysis

AbstractThis article lays the groundwork for a Marxist theory of the international law of land-grabbing. It argues that any comprehensive politico-economic analysis of land-grabbing must also be a politico-economic analysis of the law of land-grabbing. It argues further that Marx’s account of ‘primitive accumulation’ in Capital – an account it presents as an historical explanation of the transition to capitalism as well as a general theory of ‘extra-economic’ force deployed through state power, including, crucially, the power of law – is helpful for developing an analytical framework for understanding the legal facets of land-grabbing. Political economists, rural sociologists, and social and political theorists have argued for and against the applicability of Marx’s theory of ‘primitive accumulation’ to the contemporary wave of global land grabbing. Intriguingly, though, no international lawyers have grappled with the question of whether a specifically Marxist approach to the phenomenon can or should be developed. This article does so, contending that contemporary land-grabbing is unintelligible absent a theory of capitalism, and that the processes whereby capitalism transforms land and labour are unintelligible absent a theory of the periodic waves of legally mediated ‘primitive accumulation’ that propel it forward. The article pays particular attention to the work produced by Olivier De Schutter during his tenure as United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food.

Indigenous Peoples in Eritrea, 2019

Eritrea borders the southern Red Sea in the Horn of Africa. It emerged as an Italian colonial construct in the nineteenth century, which was superimposed over indigenous populations. Eritrea’s current population is between 4.4 and 5.9 million inhabitants. There are at least four indigenous peoples: the Afar (between 4 and 12% of the total population), Kunama (2%), Saho (4%) and Nara (>1%). These groups have inhabited their traditional territories for approximately two thousand years. They are distinct from the two dominant ethnic groups by language (four different languages), religion (Islam), economy (agro and nomadic pastoral), law (customary), culture and way of life. All four indigenous groups are marginalized and persecuted. Following a United Nations Resolution of 1950 calling for the federation of Ethiopia with the Eritrean colony that Britain had captured from the Italians, a federation was established in 1952. Tensions rose immediately when Ethiopia interfered with the Eritrean courts and executive. An armed national liberation struggle broke out in the 1960s when Ethiopia abolished Eritrea’s official languages, imposed Ethiopia’s national language, Amharic, dissolved the federation and annexed Eritrea. The ensuing thirty years struggle succeeded in 1991 when the current regime marched into the capital and took power. Following a referendum in 1993 Eritrea seceded from Ethiopia to form a new state. Eritrean nationalism emanates from the two large ethnic groups (80% of total population combined) that control power and resources. This nationalism is based on suppressing sub-state identities, which the elites see as threatening to the nation building process. In particular, the indigenous peoples have been pressured by the government’s policy of eradicating identification along regional and religious lines. The regime expropriates indigenous lands without compensation and has partially cleansed indigenous peoples from their traditional territories by violence. The existence of indigenous peoples as intact communities is under threat by government policies aimed at destroying indigenous cultures, economies, landholdings and, for some, their nomadic and pastoral lifestyles. Eritrea is a party to the CERD, CEDAW and CRC but not to ILO Convention 169 or the UNDRIP. It is the subject of complaints to the UNHRC, the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in Eritrea, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Eritrea (all of which sustained the allegations) and the Special Rapporteur on Indigenous Peoples. The complaints allege mass murder, ethnic cleansing, displacement of indigenous peoples from their traditional territories and intentional destruction of the indigenous economy.

Evidence for Hope? Assessing the Role of the UN Human Rights Council Special Rapporteurs on the Course of the Palestinian Question

The Palestinian Question has been at the heart of the United Nations (UN) since its establishment. Yet, the “intergovernmental” mechanisms of the world organization have proven to be largely ineffective in finding a just and sustainable solution to one of the most important and intractable issues of the UN-era. In between political and diplomatic struggles, the UN Human Rights Council Special Rapporteurs on Palestine are increasingly regarded as the only truly independent and expert voices as well as valuable sources of information regarding the issue. However, the special rapporteurs are one of the least studied aspects of the UN regarding the Palestinian question. Drawing highly on the social constructivist premise on the role of ideas and norms in constructing/deconstructing the legitimacy discourse in international politics, this study attempts to theoretically question and empirically analyse how the “actorness” of the special rapporteurs have the potential to affect the course of the Palestinian question. The article concludes that the mobilization of normative arguments on the Palestinian Question at the transnational level and framing the issue for collective debate supported by technical and knowledge-based legal expertise of UN Special Rapporteurs may confer a renewed legitimizing role for the United Nations.

Becoming Better Muslims: Religious Authority and Ethical Improvement in Aceh, Indonesia by David Kloos

Reviewed by: Becoming Better Muslims: Religious Authority and Ethical Improvement in Aceh, Indonesia by David Kloos Kristina Großmann (bio) David Kloos. Becoming Better Muslims: Religious Authority and Ethical Improvement in Aceh, Indonesia. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2018. 240 pp. David Kloos’s book Becoming Better Muslims offers a refreshing new perspective to a topic and region that has already received a great deal of scholarly attention: Islam, politics, and agency in Aceh, the western-most province of Indonesia. Whereas most authors in recent years have tended to focus on classical topics of political Islam, such as Islam and nation building or Islamic law,1 Kloos instead chooses to stress “religious agency,” which includes religious practices as well as ethical improvement and its entanglement with Islamic authorities and the state. He therefore aims to shed light on the intertwinement between the personal space for action—thereby referring to an individual’s pious practices and agency—and norms established by state and religious institutions. Specifically, Kloos asks how “ordinary” Acehnese Muslims experience their daily lives and what religious routines they practice in their attempt to become good or better Muslims. The theoretical approaches that inform Kloos’s study are concepts of agency and practice in combination with ethics and morality. Aceh is a region of multidimensional transformation. Massive reconstruction has been ongoing since the catastrophic tsunami on December 26, 2004. In August 2005, Indonesian government officials and representatives of the Free Aceh Movement signed a Memorandum of Understanding that ended twenty-nine years of armed conflict. Thus, reconstructing the province both physically and ideologically since 2005 has been the overall paradigm. The slogan “Build Aceh Back Better,” used by former US President Bill Clinton after he made his first speech as the United Nations Special Envoy for Tsunami Recovery, was not just a reference for physical post-tsunami, post-conflict reconstruction. It also encompasses the ideological reconstruction taking place as the provincial government, religious authorities, and ordinary Muslims explore and negotiate new possibilities and incorporate Islam as a political tool as well as a personal belief. Aceh, known as the Veranda of Mecca, is described as the abode of Islam in Indonesia because the first Islamic kingdom in the archipelago was founded in this region. Additionally, Aceh experienced an Islamization of its legal, political, and social spheres after the 2004 Tsunami when Islamic criminal law was rigidly enforced—and thus leading to violence and discrimination against minorities by state officials and individuals. However, Kloos doesn’t want to perpetuate the stereotype of Acehnese [End Page 107] being exceptionally pious and fanatic and aims to deconstruct the picture that Islam in Aceh is predominantly linked to violence. He rather wants to show how people negotiate and react to the increasing range of moral admonitions and pressure instigated by religious authorities legitimized by the state and other public actors. Kloos is looking at how Muslims play out their individual agency in response to normative forces that formulate what is good and bad. He describes religious agency not as a coherent and straightforward process, but rather as an ambivalent and unpredictable path. He thereby reveals that a revitalized Islamic identity and increased attention to religious practices are not the only ways that Muslims respond, since people’s perceptions and reactions are contradictory and guided by feelings of weakness and uncertainty. Thus, as Kloos argues, for many people in Aceh, notions of moral failure are inherently intertwined with ethical improvement and the process of becoming a better Muslim. He illustrates this argument best in the fifth chapter, where he points out the complexity and ambivalence in people’s dedication to Islam. Kloos combines historical analyses with rich ethnographic data. In his book, he first introduces the main political, economic, and religious aspects that have shaped Acehnese history. In chapter two, he describes how, especially during the New Order era, religious and political authority more and more became intertwined. This chapter is based on archival sources as well as on the articles and field notes of Chandra Jayawardena, who lived in the district of Aceh Besar from the 1960s to the 1980s. In chapters three, four, and five, Kloos comes to the present situation in Aceh...

Submission to the OHCHR Thematic Report to the United Nations General Assembly on Digital Technology, Social Protection and Human Rights

This submission seeks to respond to the questions raised in the call for submissions by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights into his thematic report to the United Nations General Assembly on digital technology, social protection and human rights. We focus on the Australian Government’s controversial program of automatically calculating and recovering debts owed because of welfare over payments, known as ‘robo-debt’. We aim to sketch lessons to be learned from its originally flawed design and implementation in relation to government decision-making generally. We focus in particular on the Rule of Law, which is a core constitutional value in most established legal orders, including Australia. Our focus in doing so is on three core rule of law concepts that, we suggest, have the widest acceptance across political and national systems: transparency and accountability; predictability and consistency; and equality before the law. We suggest that the lessons to be learned from robo-debt for other areas of public policy and government decision-making focus on the alignment of automated systems with rule of law values, which ultimately hinges on the appropriateness of design choices.

Submission for the Thematic Report to the UN General Assembly on Digital Technology, Social Protection and Human Rights

We are grateful to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights for the opportunity to make a submission on this important topic. We are legal academics with specialisations in law and development, international law, and the use of digital technologies in development and humanitarian contexts. We are presently working on an Australian government funded research project, “Data Science in Humanitarianism: Confronting Novel Law and Policy Challenges”.