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92. Between the Scylla of Water Security and Charybdis of Benefit Sharing: The Nile Basin Cooperative Framework Agreement – Failed or Just Teetering on the Brink?
- Author:
- Dereje Zeleke Mekonnen
- Publication Date:
- 06-2011
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- The Goettingen Journal of International Law
- Institution:
- The Goettingen Journal of International Law
- Abstract:
- The threat of water-related conflicts is comparatively more real and serious in the Middle East and North Africa hydrographic region where the Nile is found. Ominous predictions about water being the next casus belli in the region abound. There are many conflict determinants in the Nile basin which lend much credence to the predictions and the basin's proneness to conflict is quite evident. The unprecedented positive rapport brought about by the launching of the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI) and the enormous hope and optimism evoked by its lofty Shared Vision explain the unprecedented serenity and cooperative atmosphere the basin has witnessed over the past decade. The decade-long effort to work out and agree on an inclusive legal and institutional framework for the basin has, due to the cunning interpolation of the treacherous, non-legal concept of 'water security', ended up in failure., The subsequent shift to and endorsement of benefit sharing as an alternative, simple and cure-all solution to the Nile waters question has further dimmed the prospect for the realization of the Shared Vision which now sounds more like a pipe dream than a realizable vision. Whether these adverse developments would finally pave the way for the ominous predictions to come to pass is as much unlikely as it is perplexing. It will be argued, in this paper, that the likelihood of violent conflicts over the Nile waters is an unlikely scenario, the more likely turn of events being further continuation of the iniquitous status quo.
- Political Geography:
- Africa, Middle East, and North Africa
93. Information Warfare and Civilian Populations: How the Law of War Addresses a Fear of the Unknown
- Author:
- Lucian Dervan
- Publication Date:
- 06-2011
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- The Goettingen Journal of International Law
- Institution:
- The Goettingen Journal of International Law
- Abstract:
- Imagine a civilian communications system is being temporarily relied upon by an opposing military force for vital operations. If one launches a computer network attack against the communications system, the operation may disable the opposing force's ability to function adequately and, as a result, prompt their surrender. The alternative course of action is to launch a traditional kinetic weapons attack in the hopes of inflicting enough casualties on the troops to induce surrender. Given these options, the law of war would encourage the utilization of the computer network attack because it would result in less unnecessary suffering. But is the same true if we are unsure of the collateral consequences of the computer network attack on a large civilian population that also relies on this communications system? For instance, because civilians use the same communications system to gather critical information, disabling the system might result in rioting, civil disorder, serious injuries, and deaths. Further, civilians may be unable to call for help, seek out medical assistance, or locate emergency response centers. Given these unknown yet potentially severe collateral consequences to civilians, it becomes less clear that a proportionality analysis under the law of war would favor the computer network attack over the traditional kinetic operation. In this article, Professor Lucian E. Dervan examines the application of the law of war to information operations and analyses the role of the Geneva Convention's utilitarian goals in determining the validity of computer network attacks against dual-use civilian objectives.
- Political Geography:
- Geneva
94. Limits of the Impact of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia on the Domestic Legal System of Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Author:
- Eszter Kirs
- Publication Date:
- 06-2011
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- The Goettingen Journal of International Law
- Institution:
- The Goettingen Journal of International Law
- Abstract:
- Information is a fundamental resource in post-conflict societies. However, information-sharing may lead to both advantages and disadvantages. The main focus of the present paper is the flow of information and knowledge from the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) to the domestic judicial system of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Following a brief introduction of the dynamics of the changing relationship of the Tribunal and the Bosnian judiciary, the paper aims to outline the positive achievements and the practical barriers of the international intervention into the management of war crime cases in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The paper introduces the practical problems that came forth with the introduction of the adversarial procedure in the domestic judicial system, by which measure international intervention might have gone too far resulting also in negative consequences with regard to the management of domestic war crime trials.
- Political Geography:
- Bosnia, Herzegovina, and Yugoslavia
95. The Abyei Arbitration: A Model Procedure for Intra-State Dispute Settlement in Resource-Rich Conflict Areas?
- Author:
- Freya Baetens and Rumiana Yotova
- Publication Date:
- 06-2011
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- The Goettingen Journal of International Law
- Institution:
- The Goettingen Journal of International Law
- Abstract:
- In 2009, the Permanent Court of Arbitration administered a unique case: the Abyei Arbitration between the Government of Sudan and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army. This case is unique in several aspects: first, it is an example of intra-state dispute settlement in a conflict zone rich in natural resources, second, it was conducted under a fast-track procedure, and third, it was fully transparent, with all documents and full webcast of the proceedings still available on the PCA website. Currently there is a large number of outstanding intra-state disputes, not limited to Africa, so this paper assesses why the Parties in the Abyei Arbitration chose arbitration in the first place and whether this model could be successfully applied to other similar disputes.
- Topic:
- Government
- Political Geography:
- Africa and Sudan
96. Adjudicating Conflicts Over Resources: The ICJ's Treatment of Technical Evidence in the Pulp Mills Case
- Author:
- Juan Guillermo Sandoval Coustasse and Emily Sweeney-Samuelson
- Publication Date:
- 06-2011
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- The Goettingen Journal of International Law
- Institution:
- The Goettingen Journal of International Law
- Abstract:
- Conflicts over resources and the consequences of utilizing those resources can ignite social and political demonstrations, especially when the conflict is over a shared resource. Solving those conflicts requires both an institution and a procedure that are not just binding but also legitimate in the eyes of the constituencies An important aspect of a legitimate procedure is that it correctly establishes the facts.
97. From Riches to Rags – the Paradox of Plenty and its Linkage to Violent Conflict
- Author:
- Pelin Ekmen
- Publication Date:
- 06-2011
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- The Goettingen Journal of International Law
- Institution:
- The Goettingen Journal of International Law
- Abstract:
- The article addresses the economic phenomenon of the so called Dutch Disease, also known as the Paradox of Plenty, as faced by countries rich in natural resources. Rendering a rough definition of this occurrence, the article continues to dwell on the link age between violent conflict and illicit resource trade in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
- Political Geography:
- Democratic Republic of the Congo
98. Resources of Conflict - Conflicts over Resources
- Author:
- Marie-Claire Cordonier Segger
- Publication Date:
- 06-2011
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- The Goettingen Journal of International Law
- Institution:
- The Goettingen Journal of International Law
- Abstract:
- I am honored, esteemed colleagues and scholars, to assist you in opening this conference. We are gathered here to consider a crucial and timely problem, the linkages between two impossible challenges facing over a billion people in our world today. Conflicts over resources have been responsible for disputes and even wars both among, and within, many countries. They cause suffering for millions today, and continue to hold back important progress for many, many more. This conference doesn't just accept these terrible facts. It actively considers how the law can help to break the vicious cycle, bringing resolution and sustainable development to those who most need it. I congratulate the organizers, and also all of you as speakers and participants, for your foresight and your intellectual courage.
99. The Politics of Deformalization in International Law
- Author:
- Jean d'Aspremont
- Publication Date:
- 09-2011
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- The Goettingen Journal of International Law
- Institution:
- The Goettingen Journal of International Law
- Abstract:
- Confronted with the pluralization of the exercise of public authority at the international level and the retreat of international law as a regulatory instrument, international legal scholars have engaged in two survival strategies. On the one hand, there are international legal scholars who have tried to constitutionalize traditional international law with a view to enhancing its appeal and promoting its use by global actors. On the other hand, there are scholars who, considering any charm offensive to induce global actors to cast their norms under the aegis of classical international a lost battle, have embarked on a deformalization of international law that has led them to loosen the meshed fabric through which they make sense of reality. This deformalization of international law has sometimes materialized in a radical abandonment of theories of sources. The constitutionalist strategy has already been extensively discussed in the literature. The second approach has thrived almost unnoticed. It is this second scholarly strategy to the pluralization of the exercise of public authority that this article seeks to critically evaluate. After describing the most prominent manifestations of deformalization in the theory of international law and examining its agenda, the paper considers some of the hazards of deformalization. This paper simultaneously demonstrates that formalism has not entirely vanished, as it has continued to enjoy some support, albeit in different forms. These variations between deformalization and the persistence of formalism, this paper concludes, are the result of political choices which international legal scholars are not always fully aware of.
- Topic:
- International Law
100. The Myth of 'International Crimes': Dialectics and International Criminal Law
- Author:
- Mayeul Hiéramente
- Publication Date:
- 09-2011
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- The Goettingen Journal of International Law
- Institution:
- The Goettingen Journal of International Law
- Abstract:
- The label of 'international crime' for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes appears to be universally or at least widely accepted and casting doubt regarding this determination is considered a near transgression for an international (criminal) lawyer. The way international (criminal) lawyers label a crime influences the way they present it, their readers perceive it and the academic community reproduces it. Ultimately, repeated references to the presupposed 'international nature' influence the evolution of international (customary) law, blur the line between the 'international' and the 'national' and create an amalgam of wishful thinking, political aspirations, prosecutorial necessities and the evolution of substantive (criminal) law. This article scrutinizes why the current doctrine singles out a certain category of criminalized human rights abuses as 'international' and questions if genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes should really be viewed as 'international crimes', while murder, theft or sexual abuse are largely being considered as 'national crimes' or 'ordinary crimes'. It concludes that there is no substantive reason for classifying these crimes as 'international': they are per se no threat to peace; they don't share a contextual element; war crimes and genocide are not per se determined by the scale of the abuses; implication of the state or state-like entities is typical for human rights abuses in general and not only the so-called 'international crimes'. However, common to all three crimes is the (perceived) need and wish for an international response to the commission of the crimes in question. If the state is implicated in the commission and the cover-up of some of atrocities, the 'international community' has reason to fear that accountability for and punishment of these crimes cannot be achieved on the national level. 'International prosecutions' of 'national crimes' can therefore be considered legal and legitimate under limited circumstances.
- Topic:
- Human Rights