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47161. The ICTY Legacy: A Defense Counsel's Perspective

Author:
Michael G. Karnavas
Publication Date:
12-2011
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Goettingen Journal of International Law
Institution:
The Goettingen Journal of International Law
Abstract:
The ICTY's achievements are as impressive as they are irrefutable. Less impressive is the uneven quality of procedural and substantive justice that the Tribunal has rendered. The author highlights several shortcomings at the Tribunal, including the appointment of unqualified judges, excessive judicial activism, its disparate application of law, procedure, and prosecutorial resources to different ethnic groups, and its tinkering with the rules of procedure to promote efficiency at the cost of eroding the fundamental rights of the Accused. Drawing on specific examples, from the approach adopted concerning the admissibility of testimonial evidence to specific areas of substantive law where judicial activism has been pronounced – the development of joint criminal enterprise and the requirements for provisional release at a late stage of the proceedings – this article is one defense counsel's perspective of some of the most unfortunate shortcomings of the ICTY, which regrettably form part and parcel of the Tribunal's legacy.
Topic:
Security and Law
Political Geography:
Yugoslavia and United Nations

47162. The Winding Down of the ICTY: The Impact of the Completion Strategy and the Residual Mechanism on Victims

Author:
Giovanna M. Frisso
Publication Date:
12-2011
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Goettingen Journal of International Law
Institution:
The Goettingen Journal of International Law
Abstract:
Even though not clearly spelled out in its constitutive instrument, one characteristic of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) is its temporary character. This characteristic presents the ICTY with a significant challenge, the complexity of which is increased by the fact that the tribunal has a multi-faceted mandate. This article examines the effects of the completion strategy of the ICTY on the victims of the crimes under its jurisdiction. Initially, it considers the impact of the completion strategy on the victims who participated, as witnesses, in the proceedings before the ICTY. It argues that the pressure to comply with the timeframe established by the Security Council has resulted in the reduction of the victims to their forensic usefulness. The victims were considered primarily in light of their instrumental relevance to the proceedings. Then, the article suggests, through the analysis of the referral of cases to domestic courts and the value of the archives of the ICTY, that the completion strategy can or might have a positive effect on the implementation of the rights of the victims who have not had direct contact with the ICTY. In this context, this article argues that the termination of the ICTY does not necessarily mean that the struggle for the implementation of the rights of the victims has finished.
Topic:
Security
Political Geography:
Yugoslavia

47163. Nino – In His Own Words; In this Issue; The Last Page and Roaming Charges

Publication Date:
11-2011
Content Type:
Journal Article
Abstract:
I have no intention of listing all of Antonio Cassese's many distinctions and achievements as one of the great international lawyers of his generation. Readers of EJIL will be familiar with all of that, and Wikipedia (a decent entry) is just one click away. It is the person behind the public figure who is of interest. One has to be personal. I met Nino for the first time in 1978. I was a young(ish) Assistant at the European University Institute. He was a Professor 'down town' in Florence. Relations between the faculty at the University and the EUI on the top of the hill were frosty. At best an entente cordiale. Nino would have none of that. He embraced me and within months of my arrival invited me, first to his home, and then to contribute to a major project he was directing on Parliamentary Control of Foreign Policy. I was asked by him to write the Report on the European Communities. It was a telling moment. The late Christoph Sasse, distinguished professor of EC law from Hamburg, was indignant: 'a role for a Professor, not an Assistant'. Nino had no patience for that stuff either. He really did not know me all that well and was taking a risk. But it was typical of him: reaching out, welcoming, having faith, including the young, foreigners. It galvanized me. It was, too, a lesson for life.
Political Geography:
Europe

47164. General Principles and Comparative Law

Author:
Jaye Ellis
Publication Date:
11-2011
Content Type:
Journal Article
Abstract:
This article explores the source 'general principles of international law' from the point of view of comparative law scholarship. The currently accepted definition of general principles and methodology for identifying such principles are critiqued. The criterion of the representativeness of the major families of legal systems, to which courts and tribunals tend to pay lip service rather than applying rigorously, is meant to anchor general principles in state consent, but is not a sound technique either for identifying principles of relevance to international law or for preventing judges from referring only to the legal systems they know best. Further - more, the emphasis on extracting the essence of rules results in leaving behind most of what is interesting and useful in what judges may have learned by studying municipal legal systems. Comparative scholarship is an obvious, rich, and strangely neglected source of guidance for international judges who wish to draw insights from legal systems outside international law.
Topic:
Human Rights and International Law
Political Geography:
Sri Lanka

47165. Munich Alumni and the Evolution of International Human Rights Law

Author:
Thilo Rensmann
Publication Date:
11-2011
Content Type:
Journal Article
Abstract:
As a tribute to Bruno Simma on the occasion of his 70th birthday this article follows the traces of two of his fellow alumni from Munich University who belonged to the first generation of 'droit-de-l'hommistes'. In the early 1940s they laid the foundations for the entrenchment of human rights in the international legal order. Ernst Rabel and Karl Loewenstein, who taught in Munich during the inter-war period, each played a significant role in breaking the mould of isolationism prevalent in German legal scholarship at the time. Hitler's rise to power, however, put an abrupt end to the internationalization of legal thought in Germany. Rabel and Loewenstein, like many other legal scholars of Jewish descent, were forced into exile. It so happened that in 1942 the two Munich alumni were invited by the American Law Institute to join a committee 'representing the major cultures of the world'. This committee was charged with the momentous task of drafting an international bill of rights for a new post-war global order. Their draft was later to become the single most important blueprint for the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Against this backdrop the article attempts to identify the specific contribution made by Rabel and Loewenstein to the evolution of international human rights law.
Topic:
Human Rights
Political Geography:
Germany

47166. General/Particular International Law and Primary/Secondary Rules: Unitary Terminology of a Fragmented System

Author:
Anastasios Gourgourinis
Publication Date:
11-2011
Content Type:
Journal Article
Abstract:
This article takes issue with certain fundamental aspects of the fragmentation analysis by addressing the normative underpinnings of the proposition that international law is structured as a legal system. To this end, focus is had on the unitary character of the general/particular international law and primary/secondary rules terminology, as normative differentiations to the international legal system (the 'whole'), by virtue of the residual (default) applicability of the sets of norms they denote. Ergo, on the one hand, the doubts expressed by the ILC Study Group on Fragmentation concerning the allegedly obscure meaning and scope of the term 'general international law' are dispelled by demonstrating that the term indeed signifies the set of international legal norms binding erga omnes; on the other, the article elaborates on the crucial role of the distinction between primary and secondary norms for the proper operation of lex specialis, focal to the fragmentation analysis. Overall, the pertinence of the general/particular international law and primary/ secondary norms termini technici in international adjudication supports the view that the international legal system is indeed equipped with the proper normative tools to cope with the challenges set by fragmentation.
Topic:
International Law

47167. Regulating War: A Taxonomy in Global Administrative Law

Author:
Daphné Richemond-Barak
Publication Date:
11-2011
Content Type:
Journal Article
Abstract:
This article examines the intersection between the private security and military industry and the emerging framework of global administrative law ('GAL'). I explore in this article one aspect of this intersection, namely the use of GAL to create a taxonomy of the industry's regulatory schemes. The industry is characterized by a fragmented and decentralized regulatory framework, which has yet to be presented in a complete and orderly fashion. This article fills the gap by applying GAL's methodology to the private security and military industry. Using the industry as a case study in GAL, I identify (1) international formal administration (the United Nations Working Group on Mercenaries); (2) distributed domestic administration (contract and domestic legislation); (3) hybrid modes of administration (multi-stakeholder initiatives); and (4) private modes of administration (industry associations and codes of conduct). By emphasizing – but not limiting itself to – hybrid and private modes of administration, this article describes what is an increasingly complex manifestation of global governance. Its purpose is to highlight GAL's potential in understanding and contending with the growth of the private security and military industry.
Topic:
War and Law
Political Geography:
Africa and United Nations

47168. The Convergence of the European Legal System in the Treatment of Third Country Nationals in Europe: The ECJ and ECtHR Jurisprudence

Author:
Sonia Morano-Foadi and Stelios Andreadakis
Publication Date:
11-2011
Content Type:
Journal Article
Abstract:
This article, based on a broader project, focuses on the interaction between the two European Courts (the Court of Justice of the European Union – ECJ and the European Court of Human Rights – ECtHR) and uses the specific area of expulsion/deportation of third country nationals (non-EU nationals) from European territory as a case study. The work examines the ECJ's and ECtHR's divergent approaches in this area of law, and it then provides some preliminary reflections on the potential of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights and the EU's accession to the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR) to achieve a more harmonious and convergent human rights system in Europe. It finally argues that the post-Lisbon era has the potential to enhance the protection of fundamental rights within the continent.
Topic:
Human Rights
Political Geography:
Europe

47169. Horizontal Review between International Organizations: Why, How, and Who Cares about Corporate Regulatory Capture

Author:
Abigail C. Deshman
Publication Date:
11-2011
Content Type:
Journal Article
Abstract:
A diverse set of national and international bodies is increasingly commenting upon other organizations' compliance with 'global administrative law' norms, creating a complex network of inter action and review. Although many forms of interaction can be identified and observed, horizontal review between international organizations appears to be relatively rare. This article examines one instance in which review did emerge: the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe's criticisms of the transparency and accountability of the World Health Organization (WHO) during the H1N1 pandemic. Two key questions arise from the case study. First, what structural or institutional features allowed inter institutional review to take place? And, secondly, why would two institutions have such divergent views of an international organization's accountability and transparency? The analysis suggests that a key factor in allowing horizontal review to occur is diversity in institutional composition – in terms either of membership, distribution of power between members, or interests represented by members. In this case study, the Parliamentary Assembly represented the interests of states' legislative branches, whereas the WHO representatives reflect the interests of states' executive branches. Variations in baseline assumptions regarding the WHO's function in regulating infectious disease response and to whom it should be accountable may partially explain the substantive divergence of opinion.
Political Geography:
Europe

47170. India's Growth in the 2000s: Four Facts

Author:
Arvind Subramanian and Utsav Kumar
Publication Date:
11-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Peterson Institute for International Economics
Abstract:
This paper marks the first attempt at examining the growth performance across Indian states for the 2000s, a period also marked by the global financial crisis. Four key findings are reported. First, consistent with the fact that the 2000s was the best ever decade for Indian macroeconomic performance, growth increased across almost all major states in 2001–09 compared to 1993–2001. Second, nevertheless, there is a continued phenomenon of divergence or rising inequality across states: On average the richer states in 2001 grew faster in 2001–09. Third, during the crisis years of 2008 and 2009, states with the highest growth in 2001–07 suffered the largest deceleration. Since states with the highest growth were also the most open, it seems that openness creates dynamism and vulnerability. Finally, although the demographic dividend—a young population boosting economic dynamism—was evident before 2000, there is little evidence that there was any dividend in the 2000s. Demography alone cannot be counted on for future economic growth.
Topic:
Demographics, Development, Economics, Industrial Policy, International Trade and Finance, and Social Stratification
Political Geography:
South Asia and India