Situated Testimony: Forensic Architecture’s Memory Objects

“Forensic Architecture” describes both the research agency, founded in 2011, as well as its investigative method and aesthetic practice. As an emerging discipline, forensic architecture exploits the relation between space, material, and memory. My aim in this article is to consider how the agency’s “memory objects”—aestheticized virtual renderings of their investigations—operate as testimonial objects, evidentiary archives, and simulated sites of conscience. I attend to one “memory object” in particular, a film titled “Drone Strike Investigation Case no. 2: Mir Ali, North Waziristan, 4 October 2010; The Architecture of Memory,” an investigation which the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Counter Terrorism and Human Rights commissioned Forensic Architecture to undertake. This article suggests that this virtual “memory object” troubles the status of both the human witness and the physical landscape to which it refers.

Conflicting issues of legal regulation of surrogacy in private international law

The proposed article is devoted to the issue of Conflicting issues of legal regulation of surrogacy in Private International Law. The complexity and multidimensionality of issues, the emergence of which is due to the birth of children because of agreements on surrogacy, have been investigated. The article draws a number of conclusions. First, compliance with the recommendations of the Special Rapporteur requires the adoption of urgent measures to prevent violations of the rights of all participants in a surrogacy relationship due to their vulnerability. Also, regarding the lack of regulation of these legal relations at the level of law within the jurisdiction of Ukraine, the author expresses his opinion about the certain justification of such a situation until a unified normative act is adopted based on the results of the work of the Hague Conference on Private International Law.

The nature of the action undertaken by the UN Special Rapporteur on migrant rights . Selected issues and problems

Despite the contribution they make to the life of host countries, migrants are often subjected to inappropriate or often cruel treatment because they are third-country nationals or are in an uncertain situation. The growing interest of the international community in the subject matter of human rights means that particular attention is now being devoted to migrant rights. The activity of the UN Special Rapporteur on migrant rights, who operates within the framework of the so-called Special Procedures established by the Human Rights Coun­cil, plays a special role among the mechanisms of protection of migrant rights in international relations.

Surrogacy in international private law and public law aspects

The proposed article is devoted to the issue of surrogacy in its international private law and public law aspects. The complexity and multidimensionality of issues, the emergence of which is due to the birth of children as a result of agreements on surrogacy, have been investigated. Taking into account the three main approaches to the problem of surrogacy existing in the world, namely: the first is a number of states and organizations that categorically deny the very possibility of trade in the context of surrogate motherhood, noting that the child is not talking about any deal; the second approach is that a significant number of stakeholders express concern about the potential merger of surrogate motherhood and child trafficking, which could lead to the criminalization of surrogate mothers and future parents, as well as possible violations of the right to sexual and reproductive health; the last group is a number of states and organizations that have spoken out in favor of a complete prohibition of surrogacy without any restrictions, the consequences of such approaches have been analyzed. Within the framework of this article, the author considers it appropriate to cite the position of the UN Special Rapporteur on the sale of children and the sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and the production of other materials on sexual abuse of children, the Permanent Bureau of the Hague Conference on Private International Law, as well as the European Court of Justice on human rights on the issues considered. The article draws a number of conclusions. First of all, compliance with the recommendations of the Special Rapporteur requires the adoption of urgent measures to prevent violations of the rights of all participants in a surrogacy relationship due to their vulnerability. Also, regarding the lack of regulation of these legal relations at the level of law within the jurisdiction of Ukraine, the author expresses his opinion about the certain justification of such a situation until a unified normative act is adopted based on the results of the work of the Hague Conference on Private International Law. Harmonization of legal norms at the national and international levels will allow in the future to avoid conflicts in relations of cross-border surrogacy, taking into account the issues of child trafficking, non-discrimination and the right to health of children born through surrogacy, citizenship, name and family ties in the framework of respect for the child’s right to preserve his identity, as well as access to information on origins and rights to family life, etc

Unilateral coercive measures, IHL and impartial humanitarian action: An interview with Alena Douhan

Alena Douhan is the United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on the Negative Impact of Unilateral Coercive Measures on the Enjoyment of Human Rights. She was appointed to this position by the UN Human Rights Council in March 2020. As the mandate holder, she works with both States and UN organs and seeks to prevent, minimize and redress the adverse impacts of unilateral coercive measures on human rights. Ms Douhan is also a Professor of International Law at the Belarusian State University, Director of the Peace Research Center, and President of the Belarusian branch of the International Law Association.

Interview with Fionnuala D. Ní Aoláin

Fionnuala D. Ní Aoláin is the United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms while Countering Terrorism. She was initially appointed to this position by the UN Human Rights Council in 2017 and was re-elected by member States for a further three-year term in 2020. In this capacity she works closely with States and UN entities to advance human rights protections in some of the most difficult contexts globally. She is also a University Regents Professor at the University of Minnesota Law School, and a Professor of Law at the Queen's University of Belfast, Northern Ireland. In this interview, Ms Ní Aoláin discusses her duties as Special Rapporteur and illustrates the current challenges to the humanitarian space in the context of counterterrorism (CT) regulation.

Whose Governance, Which Legitimacy? Myanmar’s Collective Agency In A Domineering Framework On The Rohingya Crisis

July of 2017 is the last time the United Nations special rapporteur was allowed into Myanmar to report on the Rohingya crisis. By contrast, the Foreign Minister of Indonesia was well-received to talk about the same problem in 2017. This article sees the problem as a legitimacy crisis: Myanmar did not see the United Nations intervention framework to report on the Rohingya crisis as legitimate due to the perceived lack of the former’s agency in that framework. This article uses the concept of collective agency to further understand Myanmar’s reception of the United Nations regarding the Rohingya crisis. Myanmar’s rationality – way of seeing things – is seen to be marginalised and even deleted by the United Nations’ internationalist/cosmopolitan rationality through labels such as ‘draconian’ and ‘stagnant’ Indonesia’s approach is more sensitive to Myanmar’s agency. This article concludes that the exclusionist practice by the United Nations makes the framework lose its support-worthiness.

4 Recent Work of the International Law Commission

This chapter examines the International Law Commission's (ILC) recent consideration of the topic of jus cogens. It was not until 2015 that the ILC decided to include the topic in its program of work and appointed South African member Dire Tladi as special rapporteur for the topic. The initial report of Tladi addressed conceptual matters such as the nature and definition of jus cogens norms. At its 69th Session in 2017, the ILC had before it the second report submitted by the Special Rapporteur which aimed to set forth the criteria for the identification of peremptory norms, using the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (VCLT) as a starting point. Meanwhile, the third report of the Special Rapporteur considered the consequences and legal effects of peremptory norms of general international law. Finally, the fourth report, presented in 2019, dealt with the question of the existence of regional jus cogens and the contentious issue of whether or not to include an illustrative list of jus cogens norms in the conclusions to the study.

3 The Law of Treaties

This chapter discusses how peremptory norms/jus cogens entered positive law with the Vienna treaties on treaties. Jus cogens was first included in the work of the International Law Commission (ILC) with the Third Report of G.G. Fitzmaurice, Special Rapporteur on the Law of Treaties, under the heading ‘legality of the object’. The first two special rapporteurs on the law of treaties supported the notion of peremptory norms in international law. During ILC work on the law of treaties, however, most of the members joined the ILC’s fourth special rapporteur on treaty law, Sir Humphrey Waldock, who sought to reconcile jus cogens with the doctrine of positivism. They spent little time speculating on the origin of jus cogens. The final ILC draft on the law of treaties was produced by Waldock. The work of the ILC on the law of treaties was based essentially on the notion of barring illegal agreements as a general principle of law. The chapter then provides a definition of jus cogens norms.