scholarly journals Institutional Mechanisms for Preventing and Resolving Cross-Border Water Disputes

AJIL Unbound ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 115 ◽  
pp. 195-200
Author(s):  
Dinara R. Ziganshina

The fundamental role of international law is to provide a framework for the coexistence of and cooperation among states. If international law and institutions work well, their contribution to the management of international affairs remains in the background. This essay seeks to illuminate the largely unnoticed work of river commissions in preventing and resolving cross-border water disputes. Among the oldest of international organizations, river commissions have long been at the forefront of technical and diplomatic interactions between countries. Similar to other international organizations, river commissions were created to better coordinate interstate interactions and more efficiently pursue common goals. They differ from other international organisations in the focus on water, a unique substance that cuts across so many aspects of human existence and requires specific treatment depending on the hydrological, political, social and economic context. Given the diversity of the contexts, river commissions differ from each other in their design and the tasks assigned to them. Therefore, a river commission is an umbrella term that encompasses a diversity of joint arrangements for cooperation between the riparian countries over their shared waters. This essay argues that river commissions helped to prevent, mitigate, and resolve many cross-border water disputes by building communities over water, enhancing technical knowledge and routinizing organisational transformations.

2019 ◽  
Vol 113 ◽  
pp. 1-2
Author(s):  
Rebecca Ingber ◽  
Neha Jain ◽  
Rahim Moloo

Discussions of international law often focus on questions of constraint and prohibition. This year's Annual Meeting considered the role of international law as an instrument. Actors on the international stage use a variety of tools to address their concerns, from climate change to economic development; from humanitarian crises to cross-border disputes; from commercial regulation to global trade. Governments and international organizations employ diplomacy and coercion, corporations use negotiation and persuasion, and non-governmental organizations engage in fact-finding and advocacy. And all of these actors affect and are affected by international law and use the international legal system to effectuate change and solve problems.


Author(s):  
Miriam Bak McKenna

Abstract Situating itself in current debates over the international legal archive, this article delves into the material and conceptual implications of architecture for international law. To do so I trace the architectural developments of international law’s organizational and administrative spaces during the early to mid twentieth century. These architectural endeavours unfolded in three main stages: the years 1922–1926, during which the International Labour Organization (ILO) building, the first building exclusively designed for an international organization was constructed; the years 1927–1937 which saw the great polemic between modernist and classical architects over the building of the Palace of Nations; and the years 1947–1952, with the triumph of modernism, represented by the UN Headquarters in New York. These events provide an illuminating allegorical insight into the physical manifestation, modes of self-expression, and transformation of international law during this era, particularly the relationship between international law and the function and role of international organizations.


1969 ◽  
Vol 8 (I1) ◽  
pp. xi-xii

The contents of ILM for the period from 1962 to 1969 reflect several significant developments: (1) the entry on the international scene of many new countries and their establishment of relations with the developed countries, particularly in the fields of commerce and trade and of investment; (2) the prevalence of armed conflict and the use of military force in the unsettled conditions resulting from the decolonization process and from continued antagonisms between the superpowers; (3) the pervasive role of international organizations, both global and regional, general and specialized; and (4) the continued predominance of national courts in the judicial consideration of questions of international law and the shift from general to specialized tribunals in the resolution of disputes by international arbitration and adjudication.


1999 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth J Keith

The Right Honourable Sir Kenneth Keith was the fourth speaker at the NZ Institute of International Affairs Seminar. In this article he describes and reflects upon the role of courts and judges in relation to the advancement of human rights, an issue covered in K J Keith (ed) Essays on Human Rights (Sweet and Maxwell, Wellington, 1968). The article is divided into two parts. The first part discusses international lawmakers attempting to protect individual groups of people from 1648 to 1948, including religious minorities and foreign traders, slaves, aboriginal natives, victims of armed conflict, and workers. The second part discusses how from 1945 to 1948, there was a shift in international law to universal protection. The author notes that while treaties are not part of domestic law, they may have a constitutional role, be relevant in determining the common law, give content to the words of a statute, help interpret legislation which is in line with a treaty, help interpret legislation which is designed to give general effect to a treaty (but which is silent on the particular matter), and help interpret and affect the operation of legislation to which the international text has no apparent direct relation. 


Author(s):  
Svetlana Valentinovna Maslova

Modern international and cross-border relations in the sphere of public-private partnership (PPP) undergo transformations caused by globalization processes, which leads to the amendments in their legal regulation. The impact of non-state actors increases. Although the toolset for influencing cross-border relations in the sphere of PPP retains its legal core, it is being extended by the rules established by non-state actors outside the international and national legal systems, and carry no legal weight. For PPP as a form of interaction between the state and private investment and business structures, such transformations are particularly noticeable and require precise legal qualification. The scientific novelty of this research consists in providing definition in the international legal doctrine to Lex PPPs as the regulator of cross-border relations in the sphere of public-private partnership. Based on the dialectical, logical, and formal-legal methods, assessment is given to the role of international organizations in the formation of Lex PPPs. In conclusion, the author clarifies the role of Lex PPPs within the system of regulators of public-private partnership, namely that it should not expel the legal regulation of cross-border relations in the sphere of public-private partnership; as well as offers to seek for the new forms of correlation between international law and Lex PPPs and their consolidation through the international legal regulation of public-private partnership.


Author(s):  
Kristina Daugirdas

There are two reasons to consider member states’ obligations to supervise international organisations as a distinct category of due diligence obligations. First, due diligence obligations typically require states to regulate third parties in some way. But it is harder for states to regulate international organisations than other private actors because international law protects the autonomy of international organisations. Second, such due diligence obligations merit attention because they may compensate for the dearth of mechanisms to hold international organisations accountable when they cause harm. This chapter canvasses member states’ existing obligations vis-à-vis international organisations, and argues in particular that the International Law Commission (ILC) missed an opportunity to frame broader obligations when drafting the Articles on the Responsibility of International Organizations (the ARIO). The chapter closes by making the normative case for establishing a due diligence obligation on member states to ensure that international organisations do not abuse their immunities.


2020 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 543-564
Author(s):  
Evelyne Lagrange

Abstract The true designer of the High Authority of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) might have been a French professor of international law, Paul Reuter (1911–1990). Then working in the shadow of Jean Monnet, he became one of the leading experts in public international law in France from the late 1950s on and also served on the International Law Commission. It was not his style to develop a fully-fledged theory of functionalism, but he paid the utmost attention to the ‘functions’ of international organizations. While demonstrating a certain reluctance towards some consequences associated with functionalism, he expressed no disdain for a lite version of ‘constitutionalism’. Discretely, Reuter outlined a balancing between ‘functionalism’ and ‘constitutionalism’. He more insistently elaborated on the respective role of experts and policy-makers.


Author(s):  
Fox Hazel

This chapter addresses the State as the prime actor in the conduct of diplomacy and examines the State’s status as a legal person as defined by international law. To understand the role of the State in international affairs, it is essential to appreciate that it is both a maker and a subject of international law. It has been and continues to be instrumental in the formation of public international law. The chapter thus presents four topics to explain the nature and scope of the powers and activities of the State in international affairs. These are: the qualifications for statehood, recognition of the State as a member of the international community, the State compared to an international organization as a legal person and other entities having lesser rights in international law, and sovereignty as an attribute of the State.


Author(s):  
Sarah Williams ◽  
Hannah Woolaver

Abstract An unprecedented number of states have sought to act as amici curiae in the proceedings before the Pre-Trial Chamber of International Criminal Court (ICC) considering the Court’s jurisdiction over alleged crimes committed in Palestine. Given the centrality of the issue of Palestinian statehood to this jurisdictional question, these proceedings raise complex and novel questions of international law — and politics. The high number of states seeking to participate as amici either individually or through international organizations reflects the controversial nature of the questions at hand. Conversely, Israel has refused to participate in the proceedings, despite an invitation from the Chamber. In this submission, we consider the challenges raised by state participation as amici curiae, including the role(s) played by state amici, and the impact — if any — such extensive participation has on the legitimacy of the proceedings and its outcome(s) and for the ICC as an institution.


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