Search: crossing lines
04 Jun So What Is the Legacy of Tiananmen, Twenty Years On?
...to say, as a pro bono gift of Sullivan & Cromwell. Tiananmen took place while all of us were there; it was discussed at length, but the conference declined to make a joint statement, if I recall correctly. I think that was the right decision – no one at the meeting was authorized to speak on behalf of their organizations, to start with. Somewhat more disturbing was that not everyone at the conference appeared to think that the Chinese protestors had a defensible cause. The fault lines of the human...
08 Aug Ecocide and Article 2(4): Envisioning Environmental Aggression as “Use of Force”
...“use of force” under Article 2(4) of the UN Charter and the need to interpret it in tandem with recent ecological violations. Although, there is a dearth of scholarship arguing on similar lines, the imminency of the issue cannot be over-emphasised. The need for a robust framework including state liability in cases of ecocide is imperative, otherwise the biggest perpetrators of ecological destruction i.e. nation states will go unpunished. As the climate crisis deepens and states continue to deploy environmental destruction as a weapon of war, the existing legal architecture,...05 Mar Lozano v. Montoya Alvarez: The Latest Supreme Court Treaty Interpretation Case
...Korean Air Lines Co., 516 U. S. 217, 226 (1996). Lozano has not identified a background principle of equitable tolling that is shared by the signatories to the Hague Convention. To the contrary, Lozano concedes that in the context of the Convention, “foreign courts have failed to adopt equitable tolling . . . because they lac[k] the presumption that we [have].” Tr. of Oral Arg. 19–20. While no signatory state’s court of last resort has resolved the question, intermediate courts of appeals in several states have rejected equitable tolling…. I...
19 Apr Symposium on International Conflict and Security Law: A Research Handbook – Human Rights: Between Universalism and Relativism
...questioning of the liberal pursuit/aim of human rights would be central to the development of this new universalism. Engeland’s contribution is noteworthy since it displays the comprehension of the intractability of the issue and thus resists the urge to offer any magical solution to the same. Rather through an open proposal to reframe the debate on universality, it attempts to initiate a new understanding of principles of liberal peace and security, thus provoking new lines of inquiry. It is hoped that the same shall stimulate development of new thought in...
24 Feb Harmonizing Global Health Law and Human Rights Law to Develop Rights-Based Approaches to Global Health Emergencies
...disease. While ostensibly adopted to protect public health, such interventions have rarely been accompanied by social relief programmes, such as income support and debt suspension, that are necessary to avoid collateral damage to economic and social rights, including the rights to health, social security, work, and housing. Instead, responses to the pandemic have largely magnified the fault lines of racial, socioeconomic, disability, gender and age inequalities, intensifying the suffering of those already at greatest risk and falling short of State obligations to ensure that responses to public health emergencies do...
15 Sep The Illusion of Reciprocity in the History of International Law: Conquest and Civilisation in Johnson’s Lessee v. M’Intosh
...It is evident, from these lines, that Marshall (and the rest of the Court) were caught in the middle of an extremely delicate situation. A situation in which they justify the legal title acquired with conquest and, at the same time, recognise conquest as an inevitable fact which (even if they wanted) they would have had no competence to declare illegitimate. Taking into account the role of the Supreme Court in shaping US history, a different ruling could have had the potential to undermine the legal validity not only of...02 Jul Chevron Update/Profile in Washington Post
...but it is also about the business of financing lawsuits: When Patton Boggs signed onto the Ecuador case in early 2010 at the suggestion of a hedge fund looking into financing the litigation, it wrote a memorandum titled “Invictus” — borrowing the title of a 19th-century poem that culminates with the famous lines “I am the master of my fate/I am the captain of my soul.” In it, Patton Boggs outlined a strategy to pursue international Chevron assets to enforce the $18.2 billion judgment, “with the ultimate goal of effecting...19 Jul Trail Smelter Redux (a.k.a. “Superfund Returns”)
...last year in Spector v. Norwegian Cruise Lines, in deciding to avoid the presumption against extraterritoriality issue by focusing on a statute’s regulation of conduct within the United States while downplaying any attendant extraterritorial impacts. In Spector, the Supreme Court held that the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) generally applied to foreign-flag cruise ships in U.S. waters notwithstanding complaints that such an application would control cruise-ship operations and facilities outside of U.S. territory and conflict with foreign laws. Similarly, here, CERCLA may be applied only within U.S. territory in the...05 Jul Weekday News Wrap: July 5, 2012
...the European Parliament voted on the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, and, as expected, rejected it by a large majority. A WTO Subcommittee on Least Developed Countries has developed draft guidelines on lower accession criteria for the poorest nations. South Korea has submitted a proposal to the International Whaling Commission to resume scientific whaling in its waters. Many countries and environmental groups have denounced this proposal. The ICC’s Trial Chamber I will deliver its decisions regarding reparations to victims and sentencing in the Lubanga case next week (July 10). Reuters offers an...