International Law's Objects

Human Rights Law ◽

Head Of State ◽

The Subject ◽

Selection Of

International law’s rich existence in the world can be illuminated by its objects. International law is often developed, conveyed, and authorized through its objects and/or their representation. From the symbolic (the regalia of the head of state and the symbols of sovereignty), to the mundane (a can of dolphin-safe tuna certified as complying with international trade standards), international legal authority can be found in the objects around us. Similarly, the practice of international law often relies on material objects or their image, both as evidence (satellite images, bones of the victims of mass atrocities) and to found authority (for instance, maps and charts). This volume considers these questions: firstly what might the study of international law through objects reveal? What might objects, rather than texts, tell us about sources, recognition of states, construction of territory, law of the sea, or international human rights law? Secondly, what might this scholarly undertaking reveal about the objects - as aims or projects - of international law? How do objects reveal, or perhaps mask, these aims, and what does this tell us about the reasons some (physical or material) objects are foregrounded, and others hidden or ignored. Thirdly what objects, icons, and symbols preoccupy the profession and academy? The personal selection of these objects by leading and emerging scholars worldwide will illuminate the contemporary and historical fascinations of international lawyers. By considering international law in the context of its material culture the authors offer a new and exciting theoretical perspective on the subject.

Zero-Tolerance Comes to International Law

AJIL Unbound ◽

10.1017/s2398772300001707 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 109 ◽

pp. 337-341 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Aya Gruber

Keyword(s):

Human Rights ◽

International Law ◽

Violence Against Women ◽

Zero Tolerance ◽

Theoretical Perspective ◽

Human Rights Law ◽

Marital Rape ◽

It is difficult to engage from a theoretical perspective an advocacy piece that largely reads like a brief in favor of particular claim of law, namely, that a state’s failure to (vigorously) criminalize marital rape violates international human rights law. In a brief, the litigant pulls together various sources to prove the legal claim is correct. Opponents typically respond by cobbling together their own sources to undermine that claim. In their essay, Criminalizing Sexual Violence Against Women in Intimate Relationships, Randall and Venkatesh set out to prove that international human rights law, in fact, requires states to criminalize marital rape. I suspect there are international lawyers who can persuasively argue that international human rights law does not, in fact, require such criminalization.

Progressive Judaism beyond the Shoah

European Judaism ◽

10.3167/ej.2000.330213 ◽

2000 ◽

Vol 33 (2) ◽

pp. 139-144 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Thomas Buergenthal

Keyword(s):

International Law ◽

Academic Discipline ◽

The United States ◽

Human Rights Law ◽

Holocaust Studies ◽

University Professor ◽

The Subject ◽

Thank you very much for inviting me to participate in this conference. Because the subject of your conference is so very important, I feel I need to begin with a caveat: I am not a Holocaust scholar. As a university professor, I have devoted myself to international law and international human rights law rather than Holocaust studies, which has emerged, at least in the United States, as an academic discipline all of its own.

Introduction: The Phenomenon of Foreign Fighters and Foreign Terrorist Fighters

International Community Law Review ◽

10.1163/18719732-12341337 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 18 (5) ◽

pp. 377-387 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Elżbieta Karska ◽

Karol Karski

Keyword(s):

Human Rights ◽

International Law ◽

Legal Analysis ◽

Human Rights Law ◽

Legal Perspective ◽

Narrow Definition ◽

The Subject ◽

Definition Of ◽

Foreign Fighters

Modern international law defines a very narrow definition of mercenarism. It does not include all aspects of this phenomenon as it was known and understood for centuries. At the same time the emergence of new forms of mercenary-related activities is observed. The terms ‘foreign fighters’ and ‘foreign terrorist fighters’ should be analysed in this context inter alia from a legal perspective. A question needs to be answered if those existing regulations relating to mercenaries can apply to these terms. It is also important to note how both mercenaries and their activities are perceived under international law. The international legal analysis of factual and legal measures undertaken by states towards foreign fighters and foreign terrorist fighters is also interesting. Frequently these activities concern not just the fighters alone but apply also to all of us. This requires us to look at them in the context of international human rights law. These issues are the subject of current works undertaken within the scope of international organisations. un Security Council adopted resolution 2170 (2014) and 2178 (2014) regarding foreign terrorist fighters. The un General Assembly and un Human Rights Council also tackle these issues. The activity of foreign fighters and foreign terrorist fighters on one side and the activities of the states in reaction to this activity on the other side are also monitored inter alia by the un Working Group on the use of mercenaries.

The Review of Articles from Korea International Law Review (Vol. 1-49): International Human Rights Law

Korea International Law Review ◽

10.25197/kilr.2018.51.45 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 51 ◽

pp. 45-62

Author(s):

Buhm Suk Baek

Keyword(s):

Human Rights ◽

International Law ◽

Human Rights Law ◽

The Idea of International Human Rights Law

10.1093/oso/9780198749844.001.0001 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Steven Wheatley

Keyword(s):

Human Rights ◽

International Law ◽

Human Rights Law ◽

Fragmentation Of International Law

Moral Concept ◽

Customary International Law ◽

Human Rights Treaties ◽

International Human ◽

International Human Rights Law has emerged as an academic subject in its own right, separate from, but still related to, International Law. This book explains the distinctive nature of the new discipline by examining the influence of the moral concept of human rights on general international law. Rather than make use of moral philosophy or political theory, the work explains the term ‘human rights’ by examining its usage in international law practice, on the understanding that words are given meaning through their use. Relying on complexity theory to make sense of the legal practice in the United Nations, the core human rights treaties, and customary international law, The Idea of International Human Rights Law shows how a moral concept of human rights emerged, and then influenced the international law doctrine and practice on human rights, a fact that explains the fragmentation of international law and the special nature of International Human Rights Law.

In Lieu of a Conclusion

10.1093/oso/9780198753957.003.0008 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

John Linarelli ◽

Margot E Salomon ◽

Muthucumaraswamy Sornarajah

Keyword(s):

Human Rights ◽

International Law ◽

Global Economy ◽

Human Rights Law ◽

Current State ◽

Neoliberal Capitalism ◽

Transformative Potential ◽

International Economic Law ◽

Human Rights Norms

This chapter recaps the main themes of the volume, ie that the international law of the global economy is in a state of disorder. Claims about the justice, fairness, or benefits of the current state of international law as it relates to the global economy are fanciful. A more credible picture emerges when one considers who is protected, against what, and those relations that are valued and those that are not. Moreover, these claims above all require a suspension of a reflective attitude about what international law actually says and does. When it comes to international economic law, power is masked behind a veil of neutrality when it certainly is not neutral in the interests it protects and offends. As for international human rights law, it overlooks the ways in which it props up extreme capitalism foreclosing the possibility of transformative structural change to neoliberal capitalism. In its most radical areas, human rights norms have been blocked from making demands on the design of the global economy precisely because of their transformative potential. Among the central critiques of international law presented in this book is that international law must be justifiable to those who are subject to it.

Sovereignty, Self-Determination, and Natural Resources

10.1093/oso/9780198795667.003.0002 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Jérémie Gilbert

Keyword(s):

Natural Resources ◽

International Law ◽

Indigenous Peoples ◽

Potential Role ◽

Food Sovereignty ◽

Self Determination ◽

Human Rights Law ◽

Ambivalent Relationship ◽

The Right

The issue of sovereignty over natural resources has been a key element in the development of international law, notably leading to the emergence of the principle of States’ permanent sovereignty over their natural resources. However, concomitant to this focus on States’ sovereignty, international human rights law proclaims the right of peoples to self-determination over their natural resources. This has led to a complex and ambivalent relationship between the principle of States’ sovereignty over natural resources and peoples’ rights to natural resources. This chapter analyses this conflicting relationship and examines the emergence of the right of peoples to freely dispose of their natural resources and evaluates its potential role in contemporary advocacy. It notably explores how indigenous peoples have called for the revival of their right to sovereignty over natural resources, and how the global peasants’ movement has pushed for the recognition of the concept of food sovereignty.

Governmental human rights focal points in federal contexts: The implementation of the Istanbul convention in Switzerland as a case study

Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights ◽

10.1177/09240519211016947 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 092405192110169

Author(s):

Matthieu Niederhauser

Keyword(s):

Domestic Violence ◽

Human Rights ◽

International Law ◽

Focal Points ◽

Human Rights Law ◽

Federal States ◽

The implementation of international human rights law in federal States is an underexplored process. Subnational entities regularly enjoy a degree of sovereignty, which raises questions such as whether they implement obligations of international law and how the federal level may ensure that implementation takes place at the subnational level. This article aims to answer these questions, using the implementation of the Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (Convention) in Switzerland as a case study. To implement the Convention at the cantonal level, federal actors decided to use networks of civil servants in charge of domestic violence issues, who act as governmental human rights focal points (GHRFPs). This article is based on original empirical data, on 25 interviews with State officials who participate in this implementation. The findings show how complex GHRFPs networks work in practice to implement the Convention and highlight the role played by numerous non-legal State actors in this process. As a result, the article argues that international human rights law implementation becomes more diversified both within and across federal States.

SECURING HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE FACE OF INTERNATIONAL INTEGRATION

International and Comparative Law Quarterly ◽

10.1017/s0020589310000692 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 60 (1) ◽

pp. 125-165 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Israel de Jesús Butler

Keyword(s):

Human Rights ◽

International Law ◽

Regional Level ◽

Human Rights Law ◽

Governmental Organizations ◽

The Face ◽

International Obligations ◽

Increasing Risk

AbstractThe continuous transfer of authority from the national sphere to inter-governmental organizations gives rise to an increasing risk that States may be mandated by their obligations under these organizations to take measures that are inconsistent with their obligations under International Human Rights Law. Drawing on the approaches of various international, regional and national jurisdictions, this article explores two possible models for restructuring International Law that could ensure that human rights obligations remain effective. The ‘international constitutional’ approach would ensure that human rights are enshrined within the ‘constitutional’ instruments of IGOs, preventing incompatible rules from emerging. The ‘parochial’ approach would ensure that human rights as protected at the national or regional level would take precedence over conflicting international obligations.

Judgment of the Supreme Court of Canada of February 28, 2020, on Nevsun v. Araya: a “quiet revolution” in the assessment of the status of corporations under public international law?

Meždunarodnoe pravosudie ◽

10.21128/2226-2059-2021-2-25-39 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (2) ◽

pp. 25-39

Author(s):

Vera Rusinova ◽

Olga Ganina

Keyword(s):

Human Rights ◽

Supreme Court ◽

International Law ◽

Supreme Court Of Canada ◽

Human Rights Law ◽

Public International Law ◽

The Supreme Court ◽

The article analyses the Judgment of the Supreme Court of Canada on the Nevsun v. Araya case, which deals with the severe violations of human rights, including slavery and forced labor with respect of the workers of Eritrean mines owned by a Canadian company “Nevsun”. By a 5 to 4 majority, the court concluded that litigants can seek compensation for the violations of international customs committed by a company. This decision is underpinned by the tenets that international customs form a part of Canadian common law, companies can bear responsibility for violations of International Human Rights Law, and under ubi jus ibi remedium principle plaintiffs have a right to receive compensation under national law. Being a commentary to this judgment the article focuses its analysis on an issue that is of a key character for Public International Law, namely on the tenet that international customs impose obligations to respect human rights on companies and they can be called for responsibility for these violations. This conclusion is revolutionary in the part in which it shifts the perception of the companies’ legal status under International Law. The court’s approach is critically assessed against its well-groundness and correspondence to the current stage of International law. In particular, the authors discuss, whether the legal stance on the Supreme Court of Canada, under which companies can bear responsibility for violations of International Human Rights Law is a justified necessity or a head start.