La "green economy" e la realizzazione dei diritti dell'uomo alla base dello sviluppo sostenibile

This article focuses on the relevance of the ‘green economy' for the promotion of human rights as the base of sustainable development, in light of major trends in international law. In June of this year, at the end of the UN Conference Rio +20 on Sustainable Development, States adopted a document - "The Future We Want" - which refers to the ‘green economy' as an economic model for the future. "The Future We Want" confirms the tendency towards the increasing involvement of private parties in international economic relations. However, complex policy issues concerning the interaction between economic and non-economic interests/concerns have arisen from current trends towards interdependence, liberalization and privatization. Some issues have brought about international disputes which are difficult to be settled, since the applicable principles and rules to the merits are insufficient and fragmented. As disputes owing to conflicts between economic and non-economic interests/concerns constitute a relevant investment and/or trade risk, all States need to promote the rapid settlement and prevention of such disputes. To this end, States and international organisations might increase the level of integration of non-economic concerns into international agreements concerning economic matters and adopt interpretative guidelines and clarifications of the existing rules.

L'azione dell'Unione europea contro le discriminazioni basate sulla religione: l'impatto della giurisprudenza della Corte europea dei diritti umani

Law Although EU law has established a general framework concerning the fight against discriminations on the grounds of religion (namely as far as equal treatment in employment and occupation is concerned), the related ECJ case law is not very rich. This article tracks and evaluates the impact of the ECHR case law devoted to the freedom of religion on the interpretation and application of EU law concerning religion discriminations. It argues that the ECHR case law may contribute to identify the notion of ‘religion' which is relevant for EU law, while several arguments may be put forward against the application of the Strasbourg approach to the balancing between the right to quality based on religion and others human rights into the EU legal order.

Frontex ed il rispetto dei diritti umani nelle operazioni congiunte alle frontiere esterne dell'Unione europea

Frontex, the European Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders of the Member States of the European Union, was set up in 2004 to reinforce cooperation between national border authorities. The present research intends to analyze the role of the Agency after the adoption of the new Regulation 1168/2011, which considerably extends the Frontex mandate (inter alia, providing for the creation of European Border Guards and strengthening the role of the Agency in joint operations) and introduces several references for the full respect of fundamental rights in all Frontex activities . The aim is to investigate if the mechanisms introduced to promote and monitor human rights are consistent with the Agency's obligations to respect human rights, in the light of the recent inquiry promoted by the European Ombudsman. A particular focus will concern the question of the allocation of responsibility among Members States and Frontex in case of violations of human rights during joint operations at sea, and the legal remedies available for individuals.

La condanna di Lubanga Dyilo: la questione della caratterizzazione dei crimini

On 14 March 2012 the International Criminal Court delivered its long awaited first judgment in the case of Thomas Lubanga Dyilo. The accused was convicted of committing, as co-perpetrator, war crimes consisting of enlisting and conscripting of children under the age of 15 years and using them to participate actively in hostilities in the context of an armed conflict not of an international character. The article critically analyzes the Court's reasoning with regard to some crucial issues pertaining the definition of the crimes, such as the nature of the armed conflict where they have been committed and the legal characterization of the relevant conducts. The analysis is conducted with the view to assess the impact of the conclusions reached by the Court on the progressive development of international criminal and humanitarian law.

Can Trade Liberalization Enhance Freedom of Expression? A WTO Perspective on Censorship

Pursuant to their WTO commitments, Member States shall liberalize trade in goods, services and intellectual property rights, without any exceptions apart from those expressly provided by the covered agreements. Among them is the public morals exception. This paper aims to assess whether the implementation of the WTO commitments may have the effect of removing the filters imposed by some States through censorship, and whether the liberalization of international trade may contextually function as a means for enhancing freedom of expression. In so doing the paper examines how the public morals exception should be interpreted when censorship measures, on the one hand, and human rights protection, on the other, are at stake.

Ricorsi individuali alla Corte europea dei diritti umani riguardanti questioni giŕ esaminate o in corso di esame da parte di altri organismi internazionali di controllo

The paper deals with the case law of the European Commission of Human Rights and of the European Court of Human Rights on the admissibility of individual applications on matters already submitted to other international bodies, under Art. 35, para. 2, letter b) ECHR. It examines the relevant procedural aspects and reviews how the Strasbourg bodies have interpreted the criteria set in this clause, which coordinates parallel international proceedings on the same matters, i.e. (i) the identity of parties, grounds and facts; (ii) the concluded or concurrent exam of the claim within other international mechanisms of protection of human rights open to individuals; and (iii) the equivalent character of these other proceedings in relation to the procedure before the European Court of Human Rights. It does so, particularly with respect to two recent decisions concerning cases where parallel proceedings on the same matter were brought, in the one case, by the same person before the Court as well as to the attention of the EU Commission, and, in the other case, by a legal person before the Court and by its shareholders before international investment arbitral tribunals. It highlights that the ‘reformed' Court has normally followed the prior Commission's case law but has also developed a more systematic and qualified approach to each admissibility criterion as well as to the overall objective of such coordination mechanism, in order both to avoid a plurality of international procedures on the same matter, on the one hand, and to afford the individual an international means of enforcement of her/his rights, on the other hand.

La dottrina internazionalistica italiana e la tutela internazionale dei diritti dell'uomo (1945-2005)

This paper is aimed at providing an overview of the general trends of the Italian international law scholarship concerning the international protection of human rights during the period from 1945 to 2005. The idea is advanced that human rights have been considered (with one exception) only in the framework of some general issues of international law between 1945 and 1960 (para. 2), whereas human rights issues have been managed increasingly as autonomous legal issues, starting from 1960 (para. 3). Between 1970 and 1987, Italian scholars have mainly focused on judicial or quasi-judicial aspects of the international protection of human rights; at the same time, a widespread attitude to submit human rights-oriented thesis has arisen (para. 4). Moreover, some different methodological approaches have progressively been elaborated (ibid.). These tendencies increased during the period between 1987 and 2005, due to the establishment of some human rights-journals, as well as to the large attention paid by scholars to criminal international law issues and to the impact of human rights on some traditional legal issues (para. 5). Some critical remarks are made in paragraph 6, aimed at stressing the different features of the above mentioned approaches. Furthermore it is shown that, regardless of these differences, a certain methodological eclecticism has come to prevail. It is also maintained that the Italian international law scholarship cannot be considered as "human rightist" ("Droits-de-l'-hommiste"), in spite of the said attitude to advance human rights-oriented thesis.