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21. Universal Jurisdiction in Absentia Before Domestic Courts Prosecuting International Crimes: A Suitable Weapon to Fight Impunity?

Author:
Tim Kluwen
Publication Date:
12-2017
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Goettingen Journal of International Law
Institution:
The Goettingen Journal of International Law
Abstract:
This article addresses the legality and desirability of States asserting universal jurisdiction without the suspect being present on their territory when prosecuting international crimes before domestic courts. First the legality under international law of States asserting universal jurisdiction in absentia (or absolute universal jurisdiction) will be discussed. No comprehensive regulation in this regard appears to exist in codified international law. Based on State practice, it would seem that no customary law either fully permits or entirely prohibits States asserting absolute universal jurisdiction. Applying the Lotus paradigm, it could arguably be concluded that the lack of a prohibition under international law results in States being allowed to assert universal jurisdiction in absentia when prosecuting certain international crimes. Having established its legality, this article will consequently approach absolute universal jurisdiction from a normative point of view, i.e. whether States should assert it. Although a tool in ending impunity of perpetrators of international crimes, it will be concluded that it is undesirable for States to assert absolute universal jurisdiction. Its use is likely to compromise fundamental rights of the accused and has a destabilizing effect on international relations while only suboptimally serving the goals of criminal prosecution.
Topic:
International Law, Territorial Disputes, Courts, and Jurisdiction
Political Geography:
Global Focus

22. The International Responsibility of Non-State Armed Groups: In Search of the Applicable Rules

Author:
Ezequiel Heffes and Brian E. Frenkel
Publication Date:
12-2017
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Goettingen Journal of International Law
Institution:
The Goettingen Journal of International Law
Abstract:
In the last few decades, the role of non-state armed groups has become an essential topic of analysis and discussion to better understand international humanitarian law dynamics. While their increasing importance is uncontroversial, their place and regulation in specific areas of international law still remains unclear or insufficiently explored. Chief among these is the possible non-state armed groups’ international responsibility. Although it is undisputed that some of these entities breach their international law obligations, others seemingly engage with certain rules on the topic. This article addresses some legal consequences of such scenarios. Taking into account the principle of equality of belligerents in non- international armed conflicts, two issues are dealt with: i) the existence of “non- state” organs that could trigger the attribution of violations of international rules to non-state armed groups; ii) possible reparations owed by these non-state entities for their breaches during armed conflicts.
Topic:
International Law, Non State Actors, and Armed Conflict
Political Geography:
Global Focus

23. Modification of Renewable Energy Support Schemes Under the Energy Charter Treaty: Eiser and Charanne in the Context of Climate Change

Author:
Tomas Restrepo
Publication Date:
12-2017
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Goettingen Journal of International Law
Institution:
The Goettingen Journal of International Law
Abstract:
Nearly half of the claims brought under the Energy Charter Treaty1 raise issues related to the modification of the Renewable Energy Support Schemes (RESs), but only two decisions have been published: Charanne and Eiser. This paper evaluates these decisions in light of the existing general practice on expropriation and Fair and Equitable Treatment, as well as from a pragmatic perspective in the context of climate change. The article concludes that tribunals should recognize reinforced stability to RESs under the ECT.
Topic:
Climate Change, Energy Policy, Environment, International Cooperation, International Law, and Renewable Energy
Political Geography:
Global Focus

24. Exercising or Evading International Public Authority? The Many Faces of Environmental Post-Treaty Rules

Author:
Tim Staal
Publication Date:
06-2016
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Goettingen Journal of International Law
Institution:
The Goettingen Journal of International Law
Abstract:
Post-treaty instruments (PTIs) are informal instruments adopted by consensus of the treaty parties as follow-up decision to a particular provision in a treaty. PTIs are potentially significant instruments for advancing environmental global governance, as the treaty parties may use them to transform indeterminate treaty provisions into more specific environmental rules and decisions. While a number of PTIs are rightly characterized as exercises of authority, this article seeks to demonstrate how certain environmental PTIs with rule-setting character (‘PTRs’) amount to evasions of authority by reducing international authority over States’ environmental policies, or alleviate rather than tighten the treaty parties’ obligations, through their content or legal status. First, some PTRs avoid authoritative language, requiring little or no concrete action by the treaty parties. Some treaty-based assignments to adopt PTRs are never even acted upon. Other PTRs simply water down the obligations of the treaty parties compared to the underlying treaty provisions. Second, PTRs possess an ambiguous legal status both in legal doctrine and in the practice of domestic and EU courts. The article further argues that consensual decision-making may well be at the root of this ambivalent practice. As a broader contribution to the debate about International Public Authority (IPA), the proposition is advanced that we need to scrutinize more carefully what kind and degree of authority an instrument exercises exactly – or not. Evasions of authority and alleviations of obligations – which can be conceived as a special type of exercising authority through inaction – have important implications for what future legal frameworks of international public law must deliver in terms of effective and legitimate procedural design.
Topic:
Diplomacy, Environment, International Cooperation, Treaties and Agreements, Governance, and European Union
Political Geography:
Europe

25. Pandemic Declarations of the World Health Organization as an Exercise of International Public Authority: The Possible Legal Answers to Frictions Between Legitimacies

Author:
Pedro A. Villarreal
Publication Date:
06-2016
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Goettingen Journal of International Law
Institution:
The Goettingen Journal of International Law
Abstract:
The institutional decisions regarding the 2009–2010 influenza A(H1N1) pandemic displayed how the World Health Organization’s (WHO) role as the international organization in charge of coordinating the pandemic response amounts to an exercise of authority. Notably, the 11 June, 2009 Pandemic Declaration was grounded in the WHO’s guidelines that do not have a binding nature according to international law. However, this is not an obstacle for considering them as an act of authority, since their effects can constrain the decision-making of States. If these non-binding acts have an authoritative nature, then it is necessary to address various legitimacy issues that may be present. This is where the concept of international public authority (IPA) can prove useful, since it enables to combine the non-binding nature of Pandemic Declarations and the respective guidelines with broad legally-oriented figures such as transparency and accountability. The controversies surrounding the 2009 Pandemic Declaration illustrate how the strictly technical-scientific elements that led to such a decision were not necessarily harmonious with other aspects more related to political decision making in general, such as transparency and accountability. This can be considered as an example of how so-called ‘technocratic legitimacy’ sometimes generates friction with lato sensu ‘political legitimacy’. As the 2009–2010 pandemic period unraveled, it became clear that expertise-based legitimacy is not sufficient in itself to consider the act as generally legitimate. On the contrary, the strongest criticisms directed at the decision-making process of the WHO during this event were leveled against deficits of transparency and accountability. This article purports to discuss the issue of how both types of legitimacies, technical-scientific and political, are necessary components for deeming Pandemic Declarations as legitimate enough, since they amount to an exercise of international public authority.
Topic:
International Law, World Health Organization, Public Health, and H1N1
Political Geography:
Global Focus

26. vSoft Authority against Hard Cases of Racially Discriminating Speech: Why the CERD Committee Needs a Margin of Appreciation Doctrine

Author:
Matthias Goldmann and Mona Sonnen
Publication Date:
06-2016
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Goettingen Journal of International Law
Institution:
The Goettingen Journal of International Law
Abstract:
This article argues that the Committee for the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD Committee), as it exercises quasi-judicial authority, should consider applying standards of reasoning similar to those of international courts. In particular, with respect to racially discriminating speech, the legitimacy of the CERD Committee’s Communications would benefit from a margin of appreciation doctrine that leaves domestic authorities greater leeway in finding their strategy to counter the threat of anti-migrant popular sentiment and gives recognition to alternative approaches beyond criminal persecution. This allows a context sensitive approach that might do justice to both the freedom of expression and the need for a more effective protection against racially discriminating speech.
Topic:
Race, Freedom of Expression, Discrimination, and Hate Speech
Political Geography:
Global Focus

27. The UN Declaration on the Rule of Law and the Application of the Rule of Law to the UN: A Reconstruction From an International Public Authority Perspective

Author:
Clemens A. Feinaugle
Publication Date:
06-2016
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Goettingen Journal of International Law
Institution:
The Goettingen Journal of International Law
Abstract:
The UN Declaration on the rule of law at the national and international levels seems to open new possibilities for listed terrorist suspects claiming legal protection or those seeking damages for harm caused by UN peacekeepers because the Declaration provides that the rule of law applies to the United Nations itself. However, the Declaration raises questions regarding the elements of the rule of law, its legal basis, and binding nature. This paper attempts a reconstruction of the UN Declaration and relevant UN practice under an international public authority perspective to explain and develop elements of the rule of law applicable to the UN, to determine its legal basis, and to investigate its binding nature. It argues, that since measures under Chapter VII must be effective if the UN wants to fulfil its purpose (Article 1 (1) UN Charter), the UN is bound by the rule of law insofar as “effective” measures require that related legitimacy concerns are addressed by rule of law safeguards.
Topic:
International Law, Terrorism, United Nations, Peacekeeping, and Legitimacy
Political Geography:
Global Focus

28. Towards a New International Law of the Atmosphere?

Author:
Peter H. Sand and Jonathan B. Wiener
Publication Date:
11-2016
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Goettingen Journal of International Law
Institution:
The Goettingen Journal of International Law
Abstract:
Inclusion of the topic ‘protection of the atmosphere’ in the current work programme of the UN International Law Commission (ILC) reflects the long overdue recognition of the fact that the scope of contemporary international law for the Earth’s atmosphere extends far beyond the traditional discipline of ‘air law’ as a synonym for airspace and air navigation law. Instead, the atmospheric commons are regulated by a ‘regime complex’ comprising a multitude of economic uses including global communications, pollutant emissions and diffusion, in different geographical sectors and vertical zones, in the face of different categories of risks, and addressed by a wide range of different transnational institutions. Following several earlier attempts at identifying cross- cutting legal rules and principles in this field (by, inter alia, the International Law Association, the UN Environment Programme, and the Institut de Droit International), the ILC has now embarked on a new codification/restatement project led by Special Rapporteur Shinya Murase – albeit hamstrung by a highly restrictive ‘understanding’ imposed by the Commission in 2013. This article assesses the prospects and limitations of the initial ILC reports and debates in 2014 and 2015, and potential avenues for progress in the years to come.
Topic:
Climate Change, Environment, International Law, United Nations, and Space
Political Geography:
Global Focus

29. The EU Commission and the Fragmentation of International Law: Speaking European in a Foreign Land

Author:
Avidan Kent
Publication Date:
11-2016
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Goettingen Journal of International Law
Abstract:
The debate on the fragmentation of International Law has been relatively dormant in recent years. However, recent events demonstrate not only that this debate should be re-awoken, but also that some key elements of this debate must be reconsidered. Notably, while the fragmentation of International Law has often been discussed from the perspective of courts and judges, this article examines the view and the impact of a different institutional actor – the Commission of the European Union. This contribution analyzes a series of amicus briefs that were submitted in a number of investment treaties-based cases. These briefs, which were recently disclosed to the author, reflect a certain radicalization of the European Court of Justice’s view concerning the place and the role of the EU’s legal system within the international legal order. This article discusses the problematic implications that the Commission’s approach may have on the international legal order, as well as possible future pathways.
Topic:
Environment, Human Rights, International Cooperation, International Law, European Union, and Trade
Political Geography:
Europe

30. The Use of Scholarship by the WTO Appellate Body

Author:
Sondre Torp Helmersen
Publication Date:
11-2016
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Goettingen Journal of International Law
Institution:
The Goettingen Journal of International Law
Abstract:
This article examines the use of scholarship by the WTO Appellate Body. While it is not possible to say definitively how the Appellate Body views the legal status of scholarship in WTO dispute settlement, its use of scholarship will in practice determine its status. The article identifies three overall trends: the Appellate Body’s use of scholarship has declined, the Appellate Body uses scholarship mostly for matters of general international law (as opposed to WTO law), and the Appellate body has generally been careful in its use of scholarship. Possible explanations for these trends may include an increase in available precedents, the Appellate Body’s specialized role, criticism of the Appellate Body, and its members’ backgrounds.
Topic:
International Cooperation, International Law, International Trade and Finance, and World Trade Organization
Political Geography:
Global Focus