Amnesty laws are political tools used since ancient times by states wishing to quell dissent, introduce reforms, or achieve peaceful relationships with their enemies. In recent years, they have become contentious due to a perception that they violate international law, particularly the rights of victims, and contribute to further violence. This view is disputed by political negotiators who often argue that amnesty is a necessary price to pay in order to achieve a stable, peaceful, and equitable system of government. This book aims to investigate whether an amnesty necessarily entails a violation of a state's international obligations, or whether an amnesty, accompanied by alternative justice mechanisms, can in fact contribute positively to both peace and justice. This study began by constructing an extensive Amnesty Law Database that contains information on 506 amnesty processes in 130 countries introduced since the Second World War. The database and chapter structure were designed to correspond with the key aspects of an amnesty: why it was introduced, who benefited from its protection, which crimes it covered, and whether it was conditional. In assessing conditional amnesties, related transitional justice processes such as selective prosecutions, truth commissions, community-based justice mechanisms, lustration, and reparations programmes were considered. Subsequently, the jurisprudence relating to amnesty from national courts, international tribunals, and courts in third states was addressed. The information gathered revealed considerable disparity in state practice relating to amnesties, with some aiming to provide victims with a remedy, and others seeking to create complete impunity for perpetrators. To date, few legal trends relating to amnesty laws are emerging, although it appears that amnesties offering blanket, unconditional immunity for state agents have declined. Overall, amnesties have increased in popularity since the 1990s and consequently, rather than trying to dissuade states from using this tool of transitional justice, this book argues that international actors should instead work to limit the more negative forms of amnesty by encouraging states to make them conditional and to introduce complementary programmes to repair the harm and prevent a repetition of the crimes. David Dyzenhaus "This is one of the best accounts in the truth and reconciliation literature I've read and certainly the best piece of work on amnesty I've seen." Diane Orentlicher "Ms Mallinder's ambitious project provides the kind of empirical treatment that those of us who have worked on the issue of amnesties in international law have long awaited. I have no doubt that her book will be a much-valued and widely-cited resource."

Although the European Court of Justice ruled in Bosman (1995) that professional sportsmen and sportswomen are free at the end of their contracts, they are still at the mercy of the clubs that employ them. Such pretexts as the "special nature" of sport publicly urged by such European eminences as Tony Blair and Gerhard Schroder have institutionalized the human trafficking of players, depriving them of basic rights guaranteed under all the laws enjoyed by Europeans. They may be well-paid as long as they are in the limelight, but they have no surety. They can be, and are, bought and sold repeatedly, each time returning profits to those who trade in their athletic prowess. In this searing indictment, Professor Blanpain underscores the demonstrable illegality of the current transfer system imposed by the International Federation of Football Associations (FIFA). He describes in detail the complex ramifications of FIFA's rules in the lives of players, clearly revealing how the fundamental rights of players to free movement and freedom of labour are systematically denied. He calls for the courts, from the European Court of Justice on down, to recognize this illegality and act to enforce the Bosman judgement. Professor Blanpain examines all the crucial legal issues involved. These include the following: the classification of sportsmen and sportswomen as "workers"; the nature of the contract between player and club; the legal capacity of minors to enter into an employment contract; the trade in foreign (frequently African and South American) players with no legal rights in Europe; disciplinary rules; training compensation fees; placement and status of players' agents; dispute resolution; and conflicts with competition law. An extensive array of documents, including the FIFA Transfer Regulations and material leading to the March 2001 agreement between FIFA and the European Commission, is included in a series of annexes.

The classical model of international lawmaking posits governments as exclusively authoritative actors. However, commercially-oriented entities have long been protagonists within the prevailing international legal order, concluding contracts and resolving disputes with governments. Is the international legal personality of corporations undergoing further qualitative transformations ? Corporations influence the State practice constitutive of custom and create, refashion or challenge normative rules. The corporate willingness to fill legal lacunae where governments do not exercise their full regulatory responsibility is also observable through resort to alternative legal mechanisms. Corporations moreover contribute directly to treaty negotiations and occupy crucial roles during subsequent implementation. Indeed, an analysis of the access conditions and participatory modalities for non-State actors could support a right to participate under common international procedural law. Their substantive contributions are also evident when corporations participate in enforcing international law against governments through national courts, diplomatic protection (including the WTO) and arbitration (including NAFTA). However, the practice of intergovernmental organizations reveals several challenges including managing corporate interaction with developing country governments and other non-State actors. Acknowledging corporate contributions also has important implications for national regulatory autonomy, the ability of governments to mediate contested policy issues, the democratic legitimacy of the contemporary lawmaking process and an understanding of consent as the underlying basis for international law.

The decision by the US and UK governments to use military force against Iraq in 2003 and the subsequent occupation and administration of that State, has brought into sharp focus fundamental fault lines in international law. The decision to invade, the conduct of the war and occupation and the mechanisms used to administer the country all challenge the international legal community placing it at a crossroads. When can the use of force be justified? What are the limits of military operations? What strength does international criminal law possess in the face of such interventions? How effective is the international regime of human rights in these circumstances? What role does domestic law have to play? How the law now responds and develops in the light of these matters will be of fundamental global importance for the 21st century and an issue of considerable political and legal concern. This book explores this legal territory by examining a number of issues fundamental to the future direction of international law in the War's aftermath. Consideration is also given to the impact on UK law. Both practical and academic perspectives are taken in order to scrutinise key questions and consider the possible trajectories that international law might now follow.

This book features eleven contributions on the fundamental principles of EEA law: legislative and judicial homogeneity, reciprocity, prosperity, priority, authority, loyalty, proportionality, equality, liability and sovereignty. Written by EFTA Court and national judges, high EFTA officials, private practitioners and scholars, it raises awareness of EEA law and provides insights for EEA and EU law practitioners and researchers. It focuses on the principles at the core of EEA law, some of which are common to EU and EEA law, while others have a specific place in EEA law and some ensure consistency between the EEA Agreement and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. It is the only book to focus on the fundamental principles of EEA law.

This book focuses on the interaction and mutual influences between the East and the West in terms of their legal systems and practices. In this regard, it highlights Professor Herbert H.P. Ma's achievements and his efforts to bring Eastern and Western legal concepts and systems closer together. The book shows that, while there have been convergences between different legal regimes in many fields of law, diverse legal practices and approaches rooted in differing cultural, social, political and philosophical backgrounds do remain, and that these differences are not necessarily negative elements in the contemporary legal order. By examining different levels of the legal order, including domestic, regional and multilateral, it goes on to argue that identifying these diversities and addressing the interactions and mutual influences between different regimes is a worthwhile undertaking, not only in terms of mutual enrichment, but also with regard to intensifying the degree of desirable coordination between different legal systems. All chapters were written by leading experts, practitioners and scholars from different jurisdictions with expertise in various fields of law and different levels of the legal order, and discuss a number of issues with particular focus on either "one-way" or mutual influences between the Eastern and the Western legal systems, practices and philosophies.

This book takes a completely new and innovative approach to analysing the development of EU law. Within the framework of different important areas of EU law, such as the internal market, consumer protection law, social law, investment law, environment law, migration law, legal translation and terminology, it examines the Union's approach to the regulation and management of legal risks. Over the years, the Union has come to a point where it is becoming increasingly difficult to justify its authority to regulate in various areas of law. In managing legal risks deriving from the diversity of Member States' laws, which create barriers to trade and hinder the Union's economy, the Union itself has actually produced new legal risks that now have to be addressed. This failure on the part of EU institutions to manage legal risks has contributed to legal uncertainty for actors operating on the internal market. This book intends to contribute to the Union's smoother functioning and continuing development by proposing effective concrete solutions for managing the legal risks distorting the development of various areas of EU law. It pursues an innovative and effective approach to identify legal risks, their causes at the EU level and their impacts on the functioning of the Union and its Member States. By presenting new approaches in this context, the first book on legal risk management in the EU will actively promote the improvement of the EU lawmaking process and the application of EU law in practice.

The Yearbook on Space Policy, edited by the European Space Policy Institute (ESPI), is the reference publication analysing space policy developments. Each year it presents issues and trends in space policy and the space sector as a whole. Its scope is global and its perspective is European. The Yearbook also links space policy with other policy areas. It highlights specific events and issues, and provides useful insights, data and information on space activities. The first part of the Yearbook sets out a comprehensive overview of the economic, political, technological and institutional trends that have affected space activities. The second part of the Yearbook offers a more analytical perspective on the yearly ESPI theme and consists of external contributions written by professionals with diverse backgrounds and areas of expertise. The third part of the Yearbook carries forward the character of the Yearbook as an archive of space activities. The Yearbook is designed for government decision-makers and agencies, industry professionals, as well as the service sectors, researchers and scientists and the interested public.

In Supranational Citizenship and the Challenge of Diversity Francesca Strumia explores the potential of European citizenship as a legal construct, and as a marker of group boundaries, for filtering internal and external diversities in the European Union. Adopting comparative federalism methodology, and drawing on insights from the international relations literature on the diffusion of norms, the author questions the impact of European citizenship on insider/outsider divides in the EU, as experienced by immigrants, set by member states and perceived by "native" citizens. The book proposes a novel argument about supranational citizenship as mutual recognition of belonging. This argument has important implications for the constitution of insider/outsider divides and for the reconciliation of multiple levels of diversity in the EU.

The Impact of International Organizations on International Law addresses how international organizations, particularly those within the UN system, have changed the forms, contents, and effects of international law. Professor Jose Alvarez considers the impact on sovereigns and actions taken by the contemporary Security Council, the UN General Assembly, and UN Specialized Agencies such as the World Health Organization. He considers the diverse functions performed by adjudicators - from judges of the International Criminal Court to arbitrators within the international investment regime. This text raises fundamental questions concerning the future of international law given the challenges international organizations pose to legal positivism, to traditional conceptions of sovereignty, and to the rule of law itself.

The Alien Tort Statute (also referred to as the Alien Tort Claims Act) is a US statute that provides a cause of action for violations of international law. While originally used against former dictators and military officials who fled to the U.S. after the respective governments in their home countries have been removed, human rights activists are now targeting transnational corporations or multinational enterprises for human rights violations in connection with their investments made outside the United States. This book examines and analyzes corporate liability under the Alien Tort Statute.

Since unification, the Federal Republic of Germany has made vaunted efforts to make amends for the crimes of the Third Reich. Yet it remains the case that the demands for restitution by many countries that were occupied during the Second World War are unresolved, and recent demands from Greece and Poland have only reignited old debates. This book reconstructs the German occupation of Poland and Greece and gives a thorough accounting of these debates. Working from the perspective of international law, it deepens the scholarly discourse around the issue, clarifying the 'never-ending story' of German reparations policy and making a principled call for further action. A compilation of primary sources comprising 125 annotated key texts (512 pages) on the complexity of reparations discussions covering the period between 1941 and the end of 2017 is available for free on the Berghahn Books website, doi: 10.3167/9781800732575.dd.

Since 2011, democratic transitions in the Middle East and North Africa have mostly failed to consolidate and have been hindered by the difficult economic heritage of previous authoritarian governments. Yet newly established democratic governments must deliver on the expectations of their people, especially the poorer strata, otherwise disillusionment may open the door to restoration of authoritarian rule. Can democracy succeed? Various ideas for economic policies that may help consolidate the early democratisation process are proposed in this volume, while major obstacles on the way to democratic success are also highlighted. Contributors include: Alissa Amico, Laura El-Katiri, Philippe Fargues, Bassam Fattouh, Steffen Hertog, Giacomo Luciani, Samir Makdisi, Adeel Malik, Bassem Snaije, Robert Springborg, and Eckart Woertz.

This book investigates China's demands for the repatriation of Chinese cultural relics 'lost' during the country's modern history. It addresses two main research questions: Can the original owners, or their rightful successors, of cultural objects looted, stolen, or illicitly exported before the adoption of the 1954 Hague Convention and the 1970 UNESCO Convention reclaim their cultural objects pursuant to remedies provided by international or national law? And what are the philosphical, ethical, and cultural considerations of identity underlying the international conventions protecting cultural objects and claims made for repatriating them? The first part of the book explores current positive legal regimes, while the second part focuses on the philosphical, ethical, and cultural considerations regarding repatriation of cultural objects. Consisting of seven chapters and an introduction, it outlines the loss of Chinese cultural relics in modern history and the normative framework for the protection of cultural heritage. It presents case studies designed to assess the possibility of seeking legal remedies for restitution under contemporary legal regimes and examines the cultural and ethical issues underpinning the international conventions protecting cultural heritage and claims for the repatriation of cultural heritage. It also discusses issues of cultural identity, the right to cultural identity and heritage, multiculturalism, the politics of recognition, cosmopolitanism, the right to cultural heritage, and other related issues. The concluding chapter answers the two research questions and offers suggestions for future research.

Reform discourse about the United Nations Security Council gives every reason to believe that flaws in its legal and institutional design prevent the Council from adequately meeting its responsibility to maintain or restore international peace and security - in part by allowing the Council to act in an ad hoc and unprincipled manner. In Towards a more accountable United Nations Security Council, Carolyn Evans argues that enhanced accountability of the Council, and corresponding evolution of practice, are feasible, salutary changes towards the Council better answering its raison d'e tre. Discussion proceeds by probing the why, to whom, for what, and how, of Council accountability - four corners of concerns central to seeing any actor held accountable.

As in previous years the Yearbook offers in-depth articles on issues such as Human Rights, UN organs and Commissions as well as questions of international law in connection with the United Nations. The core of authors proves to be a well balanced mix between young scholars and professors from all over Europe.

The Role of International Administrative Law at International Organizations, edited by Peter Quayle, is centred on the law of employment relations at international organizations, and divided into four parts. It examines the interplay between international administrative law and the jurisdictional immunities of international organizations. It explores the principles and practice of resolving employment related disputes at intergovernmental institutions. It considers the dynamic development of international administrative tribunals. It examines international administrative law as the basis for the effectiveness and integrity of international organizations. Together academics, jurists and practitioners portray the employment law that governs the international civil service and the resulting accountability of the United Nations, UN Specialized Agencies, and international financial institutions, like the World Bank and IMF.

This book examines the responsibility of States and international organizations for complicity (aid or assistance) in an internationally wrongful act. Despite the recognition of responsibility for complicity as a rule of customary international law by the International Court of Justice, this book argues that the effectiveness and utility of this form of responsibility is fraught with systemic and operational limits. These limits include a lack of clarity in its constituent elements, its co-existence with primary rules prohibiting complicity and the obligations of due diligence, its implementation and the underlying causal tests, its uncertain relationship to other forms of shared and indirect responsibility, and its potential as a form of attribution of conduct. This book submits that the content and elements of this form of responsibility need adjustments to respond more effectively to the phenomenon of complicity in international affairs. Awarded The Paul Guggenheim Prize in International Law 2017!

This volume focuses on the everyday social relationships through which international justice is produced. Using case studies from the International Criminal Court, the European Court of Human Rights, the UN Women's Convention Committee and elsewhere, it explores international justice as a process that takes place at the intersection of the often contradictory practices of applicants, lawyers, bureaucrats, victims, accused and others. With a sensitivity to broader institutional and political inequalities, the contributors ask how and why international justice is mobilised, understood and abandoned by concrete social actors, and to what effect. An attention to the different voices that feed into international justice is essential if we are to understand its potentials and limitations in the midst of social conflict or full blown political violence.

Experience and research have long shown an intrinsic link between human rights, conflict and development. This interdependence between different areas, doctrines, and disciplines calls for a genuinely coherent, holistic approach in International Affairs. With the challenges the work for the protection and respect of humanity encounters, this book intends to bring together articles and ideas that indicate the complexity of such an endeavor. The chapters, written by academics and practitioners encompass snapshots of crucial development lines as well as conceptual ideas and frameworks. In doing so the book provides insight to the principal understanding that peace efforts, encapsulating human rights, conflict management and development, can only be sustained and flourish as long as conflicting parties have at least a minimal consensus and will to settle their differences peacefully. As a Liber Amicorum for Joseph Voyame the book honors the determination for humanity and respect for human dignity and peaceful mitigation of conflict which marked his life and work.

Today there are more than 2,500 bilateral investment treaties (BITs) around the world. Most of these investment protection treaties offer foreign investors a direct cause of action to claim damages against host-states before international arbitral tribunals. This procedure, together with the requirement of compensation in indirect expropriations and the fair and equitable treatment standard, have transformed the way we think about state liability in international law. We live in the BIT generation, a world where BITs define the scope and conditions according to which states are economically accountable for the consequences of regulatory change and administrative action. Investment arbitration in the BIT generation carries new functions which pose unprecedented normative challenges, such as the arbitral bodies established to resolve investor/state disputes defining the relationship between property rights and the public interest. They also review state action for arbitrariness, and define the proper tests under which that review should proceed. "State Liability in Investment Treaty Arbitration" is an interdisciplinary work, aimed at academics and practitioners, which focuses on five key dimensions of BIT arbitration. First, it analyses the past practice of state responsibility for injuries to aliens, placing the BIT generation in historical perspective. Second, it develops a descriptive law-and-economics model that explains the proliferation of BITs, and why they are all worded so similarly. Third, it addresses the legitimacy deficits of this new form of dispute settlement, weighing its potential advantages and democratic shortfalls. Fourth, it gives a comparative overview of the universal tension between property rights and the public interest, and the problems and challenges associated with liability grounded in illegal and arbitrary state action. Finally, it presents a detailed legal study of the current state of BIT jurisprudence regarding indirect expropriations and the fair and equitable treatment clause.

This book presents a complete and coherent view of the subject of Common European Sales Law from a range of European perspectives. The book offers a comparison of the CESL with the CISG, as well as pre-existing instruments, including the Draft Common Frame of Reference (DCFR) and the Principles of European Contract Law (PECL). It analyses the process of enactment of CESL and its scope of application, covering areas such as the sale of goods, the supplying (licensing) of digital content, the supply of trade-related services, and consumer protection. It examines the design of the CESL bifurcating businesses into large and small-to-medium sized enterprises, and the providing of rules covering digital content and the supply of trade-related services. Lastly, it studies the field of application of the CESL combined with the already existing EU consumer protection laws, as well as nation-specific laws.

In The Protection of Water During and After Armed Conflicts: What Protection in International Law?, Mara Tignino offers an analysis of the principles and rules protecting water in situations of armed conflicts. The monograph also gives insights on the legal mechanisms open to individuals and communities after a conflict. Practice of international organizations and judicial decisions are examined in order to define the contours of the norms dealing with armed conflicts and post-conflict situations. Beyond international humanitarian law, the author suggests that other areas of international law should be taken into account such as human rights law and international water law. This comprehensive view aims at preventing damage to water resources and ensuring access to safe drinking water. Given the fragmentation of instruments and norms dealing with water in times of armed conflicts, it requires an in-depth examination of what means of international law may be developed to ensure a better protection to water.

This book analyses how the complementarity regime of the ICC's Rome Statute can be implemented in member states, specifically focusing on African states and Nigeria. Complementarity is the principle that outlines the primacy of national courts to prosecute a defendant unless a state is 'unwilling' or 'genuinely unable to act', assuming the crime is of a 'sufficient gravity' for the International Criminal Court (ICC). It is stipulated in the Rome Statute without a clear and comprehensive framework for how states can implement it. The book proposes such a framework and argues that a mutually inclusive interpretation and application of complementarity would increase domestic prosecutions and reduce self-referrals to the ICC. African states need to have an appropriate legal framework in place, implementing legislation and institutional capacity as well as credible judiciaries to investigate and prosecute international crimes. The mutually inclusive interpretation of the principle of complementarity would entail the ICC providing assistance to states in instituting this framework while being available to fill the gaps until such time as these states meet a defined threshold of institutional preparedness sufficient to acquire domestic prosecution. The minimum complementarity threshold includes proscribing the Rome Statute crimes in domestic criminal law and ensuring the institutional preparedness to conduct complementarity-based prosecution of international crimes. Furthermore, it assists the ICC in ensuring consistency in its interpretation of complementarity.

Controversy over Iranian nuclear policy has been mounting in both legal and political circles since the early 2000s. Most recently, the International Atomic Energy Association (IAEA), tasked with verifying compliance of Member States with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, has been expressing concern that Iran's nuclear efforts are directed not solely toward peaceful uses, but also for military purposes. In response, various States have tried, individually and collectively, to engage Iran in agreed frameworks of action that would include an Iranian self-imposed restraint regarding its nuclear development. This volume documents the Iranian nuclear issue, tracing the evolution of international interest and concern with Iran's nuclear policy since the 1970s, when Iran began earnest efforts to acquire nuclear capabilities. Emphasis is nonetheless placed on events since 2002-2003, when it was established that Iran had concealed certain aspects of its nuclear activities from the IAEA. Alongside reports of the IAEA and Security Council documents, the volume covers diverse sources rather than relying solely on UN organs and agencies, international organizations, or dedicated ad hoc bodies.