In association with the International Commission of Jurists

May 2020

20 May

[Danilo Ruggero Di Bella is a lawyer at Bottega Di Bella.] Tracing back the origins of Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs) may have a bearing on contemporary arbitral practice. Contrary to common belief, BITs may not originate directly from Friendship, Commerce and Navigation Treaties (FCN treaties). Arguably, the so-called bilateral Conventions of Establishments (BCEs) – at times referred to as Treaties of Establishment – might instead...

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20 May

[Nicola Palmer is a Senior Lecturer in criminal law at King’s and the author of Courts in Conflict: Interpreting the Layers of Justice in Post-Genocide Rwanda.] On Saturday, 16 May 2020 Félicien Kabuga, a former businessman accused of being a major financial backer of Hutu extremism in the build-up to, and during, the Rwandan genocide was arrested in a flat in Asnieres-sur-Seine...

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20 May

[Martin Jarrett is a Senior Research Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law.] In a recently published arbitral award coming from an investor-state arbitration, the arbitral tribunal made a rare confession: it was uncomfortable with its decision finding that the state was not internationally responsible for its conduct. The case was Krederi v. Ukraine. Although the statement...

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19 May

Maha Abdallah is an International Advocacy Officer at the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies; Vito Todeschini is an Associate Legal Adviser at the International Commission of Jurists] States must respect, protect and fulfil the right to health at all times, without discrimination based on race, colour, sex, gender identity and sexual orientation, disability, age, nationality, marital and family status, language, religion, political...

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19 May

[Nicole De Silva is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Concordia University and Misha Plagis is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the T.M.C. Asser Instituut.] The African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights—the African Union’s continental human rights court—received severe blows in late April, as two states, Benin and Côte d'Ivoire, withdrew their declarations allowing individuals and NGOs to submit cases...

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18 May

[Jennifer Trahan is Clinical Professor, NYU Center for Global Affairs and Megan Fairlie is Professor of Law, Florida International University College of Law.] This past week, certain members of the US House and Senate released two letters (here and (here) that demonstrate, at best, a woeful lack of comprehension of the International Criminal Court.  The letters suggest that the ICC’s preliminary...

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17 May

Announcement: Women in International Law Interest Group Scholarship Prize

  • The Women in International Law Scholarship Interest Group at the American Society of International Law (WILIG) Scholarship Prize Committee (Lori Damrosch, Adrien Wing, Viviana Krsticevic, Nienke Grossman and Milena Sterio) is excited to create the Inaugural WILIG Scholarship Prize.
  • The WILIG Scholarship Prize aims to highlight and promote excellence in international law scholarship involving women and girls, gender, and feminist approaches. Although scholars have utilized gender and feminist analyses in international law for at least a quarter of a century, such approaches frequently fail to permeate the mainstream of international legal scholarship and practice. This prize, awarded every two years, recognizes innovative contributions to international law scholarship that theorize or utilize a feminist lens or lenses, highlight and seek to address topics disproportionately affecting women and girls, or consider the impact of international law or policy on gender more broadly.

  • WILIG’s Scholarship Prize Committee invites all ASIL members to submit a single article, chapter, or book published in the last three years, for consideration. Self-nomination is welcome, as is nomination of others. The Committee will consider the following criteria in granting the award, and encourages nominators to include a brief cover letter describing how the submitted work meets these criteria:

     
    1. Appropriate Substance. The work utilizes a feminist lens or lenses, addresses a topic that disproportionately affects women and girls, or considers the impact of international law or policy on gender more broadly.
    2. Innovative. The work addresses topics not covered by previous scholars, highlights diverse perspectives on law and policy, uses new theoretical or methodological approaches, or applies theoretical or methodological approaches to topics in new ways.
    3. Learned. The work demonstrates in-depth knowledge and expertise concerning a topic.
    4. Impactful. The work has affected or has the potential to affect the way scholars and policy-makers view or address a particular topic or issue going forward.
  • Please email your cover letter and scholarly work to lschnitzer[at]ubalt[dot]edu with subject line “WILIG Scholarship Prize Submission” by 15 June 2020. Questions about the prize can be emailed to wilig[at]asil[dot]org.
  • The WILIG Scholarship Prize will be awarded at the WILIG Luncheon at the 2021 ASIL Annual Meeting.

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15 May

Last week, The Huffington Post published an article with the provocative title, Epidemiologist Slams U.S. Coronavirus Response: ‘Close To Genocide By Default’. The epidemiologist in question was Prof. Dr. Gregg Gonsalves, PhD (Public Health, Yale University), who, according to his online curriculum vitae, is an Assistant Professor in Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases at the Yale School of Public Health, as well as an Associate...

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15 May

[Jan Lhotský is the head of the Czech Centre for Human Rights and Democracy. He also works as a lawyer at the Office of the Public Defender of Rights (Ombudsperson) and as a senior researcher at the Centre for International Law of the Institute of International Relations in Prague.] The universal system of monitoring human rights obligations – the UN treaty bodies based in Geneva – has...

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13 May

[Nora Salem is Assistant Professor and Head of the Public International Law Department at the German University in Cairo. She has recently published an entry for the MPEPIL on Sharia Reservations to Human Rights Treaties, as well as a book on The Impact of the UN Women’s Rights Convention on Egypt’s Domestic Legislation (Brill).] Most States have been taking far-reaching emergency health measures to control the...

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12 May

On May 3rd, a group of 60 Venezuelan expatriates and two American former Green Berets launched an operation to topple the dictatorship of Nicolás Maduro, in Venezuela. The operation looked more like something out of a bad streaming series than an actual military mission. Their plan was to arrive by boat at a fishing town north of the Capital, Caracas, somehow storm the heavily fortified...

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12 May

[Dhevy Sivaprakasam is an International Associate Legal Adviser for International Commission of Jurists, Asia and Pacific Programme. Twitter: @Dhevy_Siva. Dilfuza Kurolova is a Legal Consultant for International Commission of Jurists, Europe and Central Asia Programme. Twitter: @kurolova_d.] As the initial shock of disorientation caused by COVID-19 wanes, across the world we will struggle to resettle into a nebulous new reality. Unsettling questions loom....

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