Desfragmentando o Direito Internacional Público: A Integração Entre o Direito Internacional dos Investimentos e o Direito Internacional dos Direitos Humanos (Defragmenting Public International Law: The Integration between International Investment Law and International Human Rights Law)

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel M. C. Barbosa
2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 136-155 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fabio Giuseppe Santacroce

Abstract Human rights are becoming increasingly relevant in international investment disputes. A question therefore arises as to whether the application of human rights law to those disputes is justified. This article answers that question in the affirmative. In particular, it suggests that there are at least four legal grounds (which may operate separately or cumulatively) warranting the application of human rights norms in the context of international investment disputes: (i) the fact that international human rights law is part of international law, which in turn governs the merits of investment disputes; (ii) the presence of express references to human rights in the investment treaty; (iii) the presence of implied references to human rights in the investment treaty; and (iv) the principle of systemic integration. Each of these grounds can be the basis for applying international human rights law as an interpretative tool. Some of them, however, can play a more substantive role and justify the direct application of international human rights norms to the merits of the dispute. This may lead to normative conflicts. The article thus also provides a framework to determine, in case of clashes between international investment law and international human rights norms, which norm should apply in concreto.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 25-39
Author(s):  
Vera Rusinova ◽  
Olga Ganina

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.


Author(s):  
Rhys Carvosso

Abstract This article presents a theoretical framework by which to understand how disasters are reconciled with a state’s existing obligations under international law. This ‘reactive’ model of disaster regulation hinges on two regulatory techniques, ‘disapplication’ and ‘exculpation’, both of which involve a deviation from the ordinary application of a norm owing to the occurrence of a disaster or to measures adopted by a state in relation to it. It proceeds to outline the various doctrines and mechanisms across different subfields of international law, including international human rights law, investment law and trade law, which may operationalize these techniques in disaster situations. Finally, it argues that the applicability of certain disapplication and exculpation mechanisms to disasters relies on an anachronistic view of such disasters as rare and episodic occurrences beyond human control. This puts these mechanisms at odds with the central objectives of international disaster law and their underlying sociological and scientific premises, which emphasize the need for an ‘adaptive’ model of comprehensive and prevention-oriented disaster regulation. Accordingly, this analysis exposes the conceptual limitations of the reactive model for disaster regulation and explains and validates the inclination toward an adaptive model within international disaster law. It also indicates how mechanisms within the reactive model could be recalibrated to better regulate disasters.


2015 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 113-134 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lorenzo Cotula

AbstractLong at the margins of international law, property is now among the key challenges facing international law- and decision-makers. A ‘shrinking’ planet and a polycentric international law regime provide the backdrop for contestation between different property concepts and claims. While presenting important commonalities in legal concepts and normative content, international investment law and international human rights law protect different and possibly competing rights, reflect different balances of commercial and non-commercial considerations, and embody different standards of legal protection. As the frontiers of natural resource extraction expand, natural resource investments can bring different property concepts and claims directly into tension. In this context, the articulation between investment law and human rights law influences the ways in which international law mediates competition for the world's natural resources, redefining the balance between public and private interests and reshaping spaces for the lawful exercise of state sovereignty.


2018 ◽  
pp. 1-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick Abel

The 2016 ICSID award in Urbaser v. Argentina affirmed for the first time the possibility of a counterclaim in investment arbitration based on an international investor obligation under the human right to water. But to denounce a break-through and fundamental change in both international investment and human rights law would be premature. This article deconstructs the award’s reasoning and sheds light on its doctrinal fallacies, in particular the award’s unclear construction of the integration of a human rights obligation into investment arbitration and its misled argumentation on the existence of an international human rights obligation of private actors under the human right to water. Concluding that the award cannot be sustained under the current state of international law, the article then reflects on the potential of the award’s conception of human rights counterclaims for the future of international investment law and international human rights law.


Author(s):  
Rhona K. M. Smith

This introductory chapter introduces the book, which is on modern international human rights law. It also introduces key concepts in public international law to ensure those not familiar with that discipline understand sufficiently the relevant concepts in order to work successfully with international human rights. This chapter also outlines the structure of the book.


Author(s):  
Frédéric Mégret

This chapter first introduces the relationship of international human rights law to public international law, which is crucial to understanding the ‘special character’ of international human rights obligations. It then introduces the basic idea of what it means for a legal obligation to be described as ‘special’ in nature in international law, and discusses several key consequences that can be said to flow from this character in terms of reservations, implementing human rights obligations, limitations and derogations, enforcement, and withdrawal.


Author(s):  
Steven Wheatley

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.


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