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71. Anti-Discrimination Exceptionalism: Racist Violence before the ECtHR and the Holocaust Prism

Author:
Ruth Rubio-Marín and Mathias Möschel
Publication Date:
10-2015
Content Type:
Journal Article
Abstract:
Over the past years, the European Court of Human Rights has significantly developed and strengthened its Article 14 non-discrimination jurisprudence, including in a number of ground-breaking international law cases establishing increased state responsibility with regard to ethnic segregation in education and gender violence. However, in the type of cases that constitute a large part of its non-discrimination case load, namely physical violence against racial minorities, the Court has so far failed to adequately address Article 14 discrimination claims raised by the victims. We posit that this could be caused in part by what we call the ‘Holocaust Prism’. Put briefly, the experience of the Holocaust has shaped the manner in which continental European courts understand racism and race discrimination, at least (or especially) when it is combined with violence. Paradoxically, this entails that in the most heinous cases of race discrimination, the discrimination threshold is raised to the level of criminal conduct. Moreover, to the extent that it is, only the ethnic dimension of such discrimination is foregrounded even in cases that present obvious intersectional (for example, ethnicity plus gender) dimensions. We exemplify this phenomenon by discussing recent case law on forced sterilization of Roma women and argue that the Court should become aware of this issue, recognize intersectional discrimination and align its case law on racist violence with the discrimination doctrine emerging in its gender violence and educational race segregation cases, both for the sake of internal consistency and to better capture the structural nature of racial discrimination in Europe.
Topic:
International Law, Ethnicity, Gender Based Violence, Holocaust, Roma, and Discrimination
Political Geography:
Europe and Czech Republic

72. Letting Lotus Bloom

Author:
Ann Hertogen
Publication Date:
10-2015
Content Type:
Journal Article
Abstract:
In an increasingly interdependent world, state sovereignty is inherently limited in order to protect the equal sovereignty of other states. However, identifying the precise constraints on states is a different and far more difficult question. The traditional answer is found in the Lotus principle, which consecrates a freedom to act unless explicitly prohibited by international law. The principle has rightly come under attack because of its incompatibility with the needs of a modern international community. This is usually followed by calls to disregard the precedential value of the Permanent Court of International Justice’s Lotus judgment on which it is based. This article defends the Lotus judgment but argues that the principle is the wrong reading of the majority opinion and that it fails to create the right conditions for interstate co-existence and cooperation, the twin goals of international law identified by the majority. The article then examines the meaning of ‘co-existence’ for contemporary international law and weighs the principle of ‘locality’ as an additional criterion that ought to be considered when resolving conflicting claims of jurisdiction.
Topic:
International Law, Sovereignty, International Affairs, and Courts
Political Geography:
Europe, Turkey, and France

73. The International Legal Status of the Vatican/Holy See Complex

Author:
John R. Morss
Publication Date:
10-2015
Content Type:
Journal Article
Abstract:
This article offers a re-examination of the international legal status of what is here termed the Vatican/Holy See complex (VHS), focusing on claims to statehood. The problematic ‘effect’ of Vatican City, of the Holy See, of the papacy and of associated entities is interrogated at the level of international law, entering as little as possible into administrative or theological distinctions. The various grounds cited as supporting status amounting to statehood are argued to be inadequate. The continuing exchange of representatives with states by the VHS is missionary and hierarchical in character and is reflective neither of the reciprocity of peers nor of customary obligation going to law. Agreements entered into by the papacy with the Kingdom of Italy (the Lateran Pacts) in 1929, relating to the status of the geographical territory known as Vatican City, cannot be determinative of international status. Nor can membership of international agreements and organizations confer a status amounting to statehood. Events and practices since 1929 have not substantially altered international status as of 1870. The Roman Catholic Church is but one of many faith-based international movements, and since the eclipse of the papal state nearly one-and-a-half centuries ago, the status in international law of its temporal headquarters in Rome should not be privileged.
Topic:
International Law, Religion, Sovereignty, and History
Political Geography:
Europe, Italy, and Vatican city

74. Functionalism! Functionalism! Do I Look Like Functionalism?

Author:
Laurence Boisson de Chazournes
Publication Date:
10-2015
Content Type:
Journal Article
Abstract:
In his EJIL Foreword, Jan Klabbers argues that the contemporary application of functionalism, understood as organizations being assigned functions, in order both to realize the common good and to deepen inter-state cooperation, is something of a theoretical straitjacket. However, can functionalism really be described as a ‘one-size-fits-all’ concept? It is the contention of this Comment that there are, in fact, different manifestations of the concept, including neo-functionalism and formal or informal functionalism. New realities in this field also reflect an evolved conception of functionalism, such as the increasing diversity of actors affected by, and influencing, international organizations, as well as the fact that institutions have become authorities in their own right. As a consequence, we may also observe the emergence of principles, often referred to as global administrative law principles, aimed at dealing with these new realities. The article recognizes that a functional orientation in designing the mandates of international organizations has contributed to overlaps and inefficiency. However, it argues that efforts have been made in pursuance of greater efficiency.
Topic:
International Law, International Organization, and World Trade Organization
Political Geography:
Europe and Global Focus

75. Saving the Scarecrow

Author:
André Nollkaemper
Publication Date:
10-2015
Content Type:
Journal Article
Abstract:
This brief Comment responds to Jan Klabbers’ recent article, ‘The Transformation of International Organizations Law’. It focuses on three points: the polemical style and disengagement with substance in the article; the question of whether we can do without some form of functionalism; and the further question of what it means to speak of ‘responsibility beyond functionalism’.
Topic:
International Law, International Organization, Law, and Critique
Political Geography:
Europe and Global Focus

76. The Original Sin (and Salvation) of Functionalism

Author:
Guy Fiti Sinclair
Publication Date:
10-2015
Content Type:
Journal Article
Abstract:
This Comment interrogates the central and determining role accorded to functionalism in Jan Klabbers’ account of international organizations (IOs) law in his recent article, ‘The EJIL Foreword: The Transformation of International Organizations Law’. Specifically, it expresses doubts regarding Klabbers’ designation of functionalism as the dominant, paradigmatic theory of IOs law; questions whether the article’s account of functionalism’s historical origins is persuasive; and argues that the ‘rise and fall’ narrative set forth in the article presents an overly sanitized picture of IOs law, largely free from political struggle. The development of IOs law has been more contested than Klabbers’ narrative suggests; minimizing that contestation carries the danger of closing off possibilities for reimagining IOs law today.
Topic:
International Relations, International Law, International Organization, and Critique
Political Geography:
Europe and Global Focus

77. The Transformation of International Organizations Law: A Rejoinder

Author:
Jan Klabbers
Publication Date:
10-2015
Content Type:
Journal Article
Abstract:
Jan Klabbers responds to critiques by Laurence Boisson de Chazournes, André Nollkaemper and Guy Fiti Sinclair of his EJIL Foreword.
Topic:
International Relations, International Law, International Organization, and Critique
Political Geography:
Europe and Global Focus

78. The Modern Practice of Intervention by Invitation in Africa and Its Implications for the Prohibition of the Use of Force

Author:
Erika de Wet
Publication Date:
10-2015
Content Type:
Journal Article
Abstract:
This article examines how two prominent criteria for permissible military intervention by invitation as developed in doctrine are currently implemented by states as well as how this impacts the prohibition of the use of force. Controversies concern, in particular, the determination of the authority entitled to extend the invitation, as recently illustrated by the Russian claim that its military intervention in the Crimea was based on the invitation of (former) President Yanukovych. Does the inviting authority need to enjoy democratic legitimacy and/or be in de facto control of a state’s territory? Furthermore, it remains highly contentious whether an invitation for forcible intervention may be extended during a civil war. By analysing modern state practice in Africa – where most of the contemporary invitations for military assistance occur – and comparing it with recent developments in other regions, the author concludes that effective control rather than democratic legitimacy is (still) the point of departure for determining the legitimate government of a state. Once recognized, incumbent governments enjoy a large discretion when inviting military assistance from foreign governments. They seem to retain the right to military assistance even in situations of civil war and while exercising limited control over the territory.
Topic:
International Law, Sovereignty, United Nations, and Military Intervention
Political Geography:
Africa, Russia, Europe, and Crimea

79. Interrogations of Consent: A Reply to Erika de Wet

Author:
Dino Kritsiotis
Publication Date:
10-2015
Content Type:
Journal Article
Abstract:
This article presents a critical engagement with the issue of force and intervention undertaken with the consent of the state in whose territory it ultimately occurs and offers a critical assessment of Erika de Wet’s article ‘The Modern Practice of Intervention by Invitation in Africa and Its Implication for the Prohibition of the Use of Force’. It considers the different interpretative approaches suggested for consent and the Charter of the United Nations’ prohibition of force as well as the principle or principles that have come to govern the issuing of valid consent in international law. The contribution turns to some of the methodological positions taken in exploring the continuing validity of the so-called ‘effective control principle’ in modern African practice, and, as it does so, it probes the utility of questions for the jus ad bellum of ‘other’ international law (such as developments within the jus in bello and the law on self-determination).
Topic:
International Law, Sovereignty, United Nations, and Military Intervention
Political Geography:
Africa and Europe

80. Domestic Violence as a Human Rights Issue: Rumor v. Italy

Author:
Ronagh J.A. McQuigg
Publication Date:
10-2015
Content Type:
Journal Article
Abstract:
This article focuses on the recent developments concerning domestic violence within the context of the Council of Europe. Since 2007, the European Court of Human Rights has issued a series of important judgments in cases involving domestic violence. The most recent of these is Rumor v. Italy, in which the Court issued its judgment on 27 May 2014. The article analyses this case in the context of the Court’s previous jurisprudence on domestic violence. In addition, on 1 August 2014, the Council of Europe’s Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence entered into force, and the article will include a number of reflections on the potential held by this Convention. No violation of the European Convention on Human Rights was found in Rumor; however, the question of whether Italy would have been in breach of the provisions of the new Convention, to which it is a party, had this Convention been in force at the time of the relevant events, will be examined.
Topic:
Human Rights, International Law, Women, Gender Based Violence, and Courts
Political Geography:
Europe and Italy