The issue of state succession continues to be a vital and complex focal point for public international lawyers, yet it has remained strangely resistant to effective articulation. The formative period in this respect was that of decolonization which marked for many the time when international law came of age and when the promises of the UN Charter would be realized in an international community of sovereign peoples. Throughout the 1990s a series of territorial adjustments placed succession once again at the centre of international legal practice, in new contexts that went beyond the traditional model of decolonization: the disintegration of the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia, and Czechoslovakia, and the unifications of Germany and Yemen brought to light the fundamentally unresolved character of issues within the law of succession. Why have attempts to codify the practice of succession met with so little success? Why has succession remained so problematic a feature of international law? This book argues that the answers to these questions lie in the political backdrop of decolonization and self-determination, and that the tensions and ambiguities that run throughout the law of succession can only be understood by looking at the historical relationship between discourses on state succession, decolonization, and imperialism within the framework of international law.

There is an increasing focus on the need for national implementation of treaties. International law has traditionally left enforcement to the individual parties, but more and more treaties contain arrangements to induce States to comply with their commitments. Experts in this book examine three forms of such mechanisms: dispute settlement procedures in the form of international courts, non-compliance procedures of an administrative character, and enforcement of obligation by coercive means. Three fields are examined, namely human rights, international environmental law, and arms control and disarmament. These areas are in the forefront of the development of current international law and deal with multilateral, rather than purely bilateral issues. The three parts of the book on human rights, international environmental law and arms control contain a general introduction and case studies of the most relevant treaties in the field. Will appeal widely to both generalists and specialists in international law and relations.

The WTO Agreement on Agriculture subjected agriculture to a set of international rules for the first time in the history of international trade. Ever since its negotiation, the Agreement has been at the forefront of the controversy surrounding the purpose and impact of the WTO itself. This commentary provides a full legal analysis of the obligations imposed by the agreement on WTO members, and of the complex history of the Agreement's negotiation and revision and the controversy surrounding its effect on international development.
The commentary is structured around the three areas of reform initiated by the Agreement - market access, domestic support and export competition. The book provides an in-depth examination of the substantive provisions and the disputes that have arisen in each of these three areas. In addition, the book situates these provisions against their background in pre-WTO regulation. It analyzes the operation of the 'Peace clause' and assesses the impact of the clause's expiration. The commentary concludes by assessing the Agreement's accommodation of and impact on developing economies, and examining the process of reforming domestic farm subsidies, one of the dominant issues currently confronting the WTO.

For several decades after the UN Charter insisted that the promotion of development and human rights were central to post-World War II conceptions of world order, the two fields remained in virtual isolation from one another. Only in the past 15 years or so, with the fall of the Berlin Wall and the realization that freedom and economic well-being are empirically linked, have the professional communities dealing with development and human rights issues really begun to communicate effectively. But too much of the dialogue has been confined to an abstract or theoretical level. This volume addresses highly specific but crucial aspects of the human rights and development interface, including the economics of social rights; land rights and women's empowerment; child labour and access to education; reform of legal and judicial systems; the human rights role of the private sector; and building human rights into development planning, especially the Poverty Reduction Strategy process. Contributors include lawyers, economists, and both scholarly and practitioner perspectives are presented. Several chapters are written by Senior World Bank officials, including the Bank's President and the head of the International Finance Corporation.

Can transnational corporations ignore human rights as long as governments don't hold them accountable? If the UN is put in charge of a territory, is it bound by human rights law? Under traditional approaches to human rights, non-state actors cannot be parties to the relevant treaties and so they are only bound to the extent that obligations accepted by States can be applied to them by governments. This situation threatens to make a mockery of much of the international system of accountability for human rights violations. The contributors to this volume examine the different approaches that might be taken in order to ensure some degree of accountability. Making space in the legal regime to take account of the role of non-State actors is one of the biggest and most critical challenges facing international law today.

Since the Nuremberg Trials of top Nazi leaders following the Second World War, international law has affirmed that no-one, whatever their rank or office, is above accountability for their crimes. Yet the Cold War put geopolitical agendas ahead of effective action against war crimes and major human rights abuses, and no permanent system to address impunity was put in place. It was only with the Cold War's end that governments turned again to international institutions to address impunity, first by establishing International Criminal Tribunals to prosecute genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity in the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, and then by adopting the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court in 1998. Domestic courts also assumed a role, notably through extradition proceedings against former Chilean President Augusto Pinochet in London, then in Belgium, Senegal, and elsewhere. At the same time, as some have announced a new era in the international community's response to atrocities, fundamental tensions persist between the immediate State interests and the demands of justice. This book is about those tensions. It reviews the rapid recent development of international criminal law, and explores solutions to key problems of official immunities, universal jurisdiction, the International Criminal Court, and the stance of the United States, seeking to clarify how justice can best be done in a system of sovereign States. Whilst neither the end of the Cold War nor the 'decline of sovereignty' in themselves make consistent justice more likely, the ICC may encourage a culture of accountability that will support more regular enforcement of international criminal law in the long term.

The International Law Commission's Articles, adopted in 2001, mark a major step in international law. They define when there has been a breach of international law and the consequences of such breaches. They show how international law now allows for categories of general public interest-- human rights, the environment, etc... Including a full introduction, the text of the Articles and commentary, plus a guide to the legislative history, a detailed index and table of cases, this volume will be an indispensable accompaniment to the ILC's work on this vital topic.

On July 8, 1996 the International Court of Justice handed down two Advisory Opinions on the legality of nuclear weapons. This book offers a comprehensive study of those opinions. More than thirty internationally respected experts contribute their analyses of the status of nuclear weapons in international law across all its sectors: use of force, humanitarian law, environment and human rights. The contributions also assess the implications of the opinions for international organizations and the international judicial function. Contributors include lawyers, academics, diplomats and advisors to international bodies.

This book deals with a central issue of international law: the relationship between two of its sources, treaty and custom. In particular, it examines one aspect of this relationship that has not been satisfactorily covered in the literature, whether new customary law may abrogate or modify prior incompatible treaties. State practice in the Law of Sea and other areas of international law contains a number of examples of treaties that have been terminated or revised on account of new conflicting custom. The author draws on these examples as well as on decisions of international tribunals to argue that although new customary law does not automatically affect prior incompatible treaties, it gives a State, under certain conditions, the unilateral right to call for their termination or revision. This is an original position on a controversial subject that was considered too complex to be included in the Vienna codification of the Law of Treaties. This issue may arise in all areas of international law and is of practical importance to all those involved in the field.

The application and interpretation of the four Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their two Additional Protocols of 1977 have developed significantly in the seventy years since the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) first published its Commentaries on these important humanitarian treaties. To promote a better understanding of, and respect for, this body of law, the ICRC commissioned a comprehensive update of its original Commentaries, of which this is the third volume. The Third Convention, relative to the treatment of prisoners of war and their protections, takes into account developments in the law and practice in the past seven decades to provide up-to-date interpretations of the Convention. The new Commentary has been reviewed by humanitarian law practitioners and academics from around the world. This new Commentary will be an essential tool for anyone involved with international humanitarian law.

Treaties and Indigenous Peoples is an edited version of Professor Ian Brownlie's 1990 Robb Lectures, delivered at the University of Auckland in the sesquicentennial year of the establishment of New Zealand as a British colony.

Whereas most sesquicentennial writing necessarily deals with Treaty and related problems in the immediate context of New Zealand law and politics, Professor Brownlie, bringing the external perspective and the expertise of an eminent academic and practising international lawyer, deals with those problems in the international context of the rights of indigenous peoples.

The New Zealand constitutional background to the work is provided by Professor Brookfield's annotations.

Winner of the 1988 Paul Reuter Prize awarded by the International Committee of the Red Cross, this book examines two branches of the international law of armed conflict as they apply to national liberation movements. First, it explores the idea that national liberation movements may legitimately resort to the use of force to secure the right of their peoples to self-determination. Second, it examines the application of the humanitarian law of armed conflict in wars of national liberation. After a brief explanation of the traditional law, the book explores the development of the idea that there is a right of peoples to self-determination in international law. The book then expands upon two corollaries which derive from this idea. The first is that in situations of national liberation struggles the use of force should be regarded as legitimate. The second corollary is that, since peoples have status in international law separate and distinct from that of the states governing them, wars of national liberation are international wars by definition, and the international rules governing the conduct of hostilities should apply.

The Geneva Conventions are the best-known and longest-established laws governing warfare, but what difference do they make to how states engage in armed conflict? Since the start of the "War on Terror" with 9/11, these protocols have increasingly been incorporated into public discussion. We have entered an era where contemporary wars often involve terrorism and guerrilla tactics, but how have the rules that were designed for more conventional forms of interstate violence adjusted? Do the Geneva Conventions Matter? provides a rich, comparative analysis of the laws that govern warfare and a more specific investigation relating to state practice. Matthew Evangelista and Nina Tannenwald convey the extent and conditions that symbolic or "ritual" compliance translates into actual compliance on the battlefield by looking at important studies across history. To name a few, they navigate through the Algerian War for independence from France in the 1950s and 1960s; the US wars in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan; Iranian and Israeli approaches to the laws of war; and the legal obligations of private security firms and peacekeeping forces. Thoroughly researched, this work adds to the law and society literature in sociology, the constructivist literature in international relations, and legal scholarship on "internalization." Do the Geneva Conventions Matter? gives insight into how the Geneva regime has constrained guerrilla warfare and terrorism and the factors that affect protect human rights in wartime.

Africa often remains neglected in studies that discuss the historical relationship between international law and imperialism during the nineteenth century. When it does feature, focus tends to be on the Scramble for Africa, and the treaties concluded between European powers and African polities in which sovereignty and territory were ceded. Drawing on a wide range of archival material, Inge Van Hulle brings a fresh new perspective to this traditional narrative. She reviews the use and creation of legal instruments that expanded or delineated the boundaries between British jurisdiction and African communities in West Africa, and uncovers the practicality and flexibility with which international legal discourse was employed in imperial contexts. This legal experimentation went beyond treaties of cession, and also encompassed commercial treaties, the abolition of the slave trade, extraterritoriality, and the use of force. The book argues that, by the 1880s, the legal techniques that were fashioned in the language of international law in West Africa had largely developed their own substantive characteristics. Legal ordering was not done in reference to adjudication before Western courts or the writings of Western lawyers, but in reference to what was deemed politically expedient and practically feasible by imperial agents for the preservation of social peace, commercial interaction, and humanitarian agendas.

The dispute settlement regime in the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) has been in operation for well over twenty years with a steadily increasing number of important cases. This significant body of case law has meaningfully contributed to the development of the so-called 'constitution of the oceans'. Judging the Law of the Sea focusses on how Judges interpret and apply UNCLOS and it explores how these cases are shaping the law of the sea. The role of the Judge is central to this book's analysis. The authors consider the role of UNCLOS Judges by engaging in an intensive study of the their decisions to date and assessing how those decisions have influenced and will continue to influence the law of the sea in the future. As the case law under UNCLOS is less extensive than some other areas of compulsory jurisdiction like trade and investment, the phenomenon of dispute settlement under UNCLOS is under-studied by comparison. Cases have not only refined the parameters for the exercise of compulsory jurisdiction under the Convention, but also contributed to the interpretation and application of substantive rights and obligations in the law of the sea. In relation to jurisdiction, there is important guidance on what disputes are likely to be subjected to binding third-party dispute resolution, which is a critical consideration for a treaty attracting almost 170 parties. Judging the Law of the Sea brings together an analysis of all the case law to the present day while acknowledging the complex factors that are inherent to the judicial decision-making process. It also engages with the diverse facets that continue to influence the process: who the Judges are, what they do, and what their roles might or should be. To capture the complex decision matrix, the authors explore the possible application of stakeholder identification theory to explain who and what counts in the decision-making process.

A large amount of foreign direct investment (FDI) has been poured into Africa in recent decades and these investments can come with adverse effects on the environment, human rights, and development. At the same time, investment treaties, entered into by African states and aimed at promoting and protecting FDI, seriously limit those states' ability to regulate such activities in the interests of affected communities. Whilst these tensions have generated global debate, little attention has been paid to the legal status of many of these investment treaties, and whether - given their constitutional and customary international law obligations to act in the public interest - African states truly have the capacity to conclude treaties which contain standards of investment protection expressly preventing or unduly abridging the exercise of their regulatory authority. Focusing on this question, The Investment Treaty Regime and Public Interest Regulation in Africa presents The Imperatives Theory: a legal, normative, and principled framework for rethinking the legal status, making, and reform of investment treaties and investment dispute settlement in Africa, with relevant and significant implications for the global investment treaty regime.

In accordance with Article 102 of the Charter and the relevant General Assembly Resolutions, every treaty and international agreement registered or filed and recorded with the Secretariat since 1946 is published in the United Nations Treaty Series. At present, the collection includes about 30,000 treaties reproduced in their authentic languages, together with translations into English and French, as necessary.

The prohibition of torture - the right to physical and mental integrity - is guaranteed in the strongest terms under international law. It is protected as an absolute right, non-derogable even in times of war or public emergency under many human rights treaties and is also generally accepted as a part of customary international law and even ius cogens. The main instrument to combat torture within the framework of the United Nations is the Convention Against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT). This Commentary explores the problematic definition of torture in the Convention, the substantive obligations of States parties, the principle of 'non-refoulement', provisions for international monitoring, and also the concept of preventative visits to all places of detention as contained in the Optional Protocol to the CAT. It also covers issues including the distinction between torture and cruel inhuman or degrading treatment and the principle of non-admissibility of evidence extracted under torture. Full article by article commentary on the Convention also provides historical context and thorough analysis of case-law and practice from international and regional courts and monitoring bodies. Relevant case-law from domestic courts are also discussed. Despite the broad ratification and the universal recognition of the prohibition of torture and other forms of ill-treatment we witness a 'global crisis' affecting the majority of countries worldwide. In recent years the protection of human rights is experiencing a particularly serious crisis - also affecting the phenomenon of torture - in which official narratives and public belief often trivialise and even endorse such practices in the name of security and the fight against terrorism, ignoring the suffering and damages it causes. On the other hand, the positive experiences in some States illustrate that torture can be eradicated if the provisions of CAT and OPCAT are taken seriously and are being fully implemented. This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC 4.0 International licence. It is offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations.

The TRIPS Agreement is the most comprehensive and influential international treaty on intellectual property rights. It brings intellectual property rules into the framework of the World Trade Organization, obliging all WTO Member States to meet minimum standards of intellectual property protection and enforcement. This has required massive changes in some national laws, particularly in developing countries. This volume provides a detailed legal analysis of the provisions of the TRIPS Agreement, as well as elements to consider their economic implications in different legal and socio-economic contexts. This book provides an in depth analysis of the principles and of the substantive and enforcement provisions of the TRIPS Agreement, the most influential international treaty on intellectual property currently in force. It discusses the legal context in which the Agreement was negotiated, the objectives of their proponents and the nature of the obligations it created for the members of the World Trade Organization. In particular, it examines the minimum standards that must be implemented with regard to patents, trademarks, industrial designs, geographical indications, copyright and related rights, integrated circuits, trade-secrets and test data for pharmaceutical and agrochemical products. Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights: A Commentary on the TRIPS Agreement elaborates on the interpretation of provisions contained in said Agreement, in the light of the customary principles for the interpretation of international law. The analysis -which is supported by a review of the relevant GATT and WTO jurisprudence- identifies the policy space left to such members to implement their obligations in accordance with their own legal systems and public policy objectives, including in respect of complex issues such as patentability criteria, compulsory licenses, exceptions and limitations to copyright, border measures, injunctive relief and the protection of test data under the discipline of unfair competition.

The case law of the World Trade Organization is extensive, now running into some three hundred decided cases and thousands of pages. The interpretative process involved in this jurisprudence constitutes a form of legislative activity, and is therefore of great significance not only to the parties to disputes, but to the membership of the WTO. Qureshi identifies some of the underlying problems of interpreting WTO agreements, and examines the conditions for the interpretation of these agreements. Since the first edition of this book, the case law has grown, and the interpretation evolved further. This second edition addresses these developments and engages in the contemporary discourse on the subject. Also included is a new section on issues of interpretation relating to preferential trade agreements and the WTO. This book is an essential tool for WTO trade specialists, as well as government and judicial officers concerned with interpreting these agreements.

The United Nations Convention against Corruption includes 71 articles, and takes a notably comprehensive approach to the problem of corruption, as it addresses prevention, criminalization, international cooperation, and asset recovery. Since it came into force more than a decade ago, the Convention has attracted nearly universal participation by states. As a global and comprehensive convention, which establishes new rules in several areas of anti-corruption law and helps shape domestic laws and policies around the world, this treaty calls for scholarly study. This volume helps to fill a gap in existing academic literature by providing an invaluable reference work on the Convention. It provides systematic coverage of the treaty, with each chapter discussing the relevant travaux preparatoires, the text of the final article, comparisons with other anti-corruption treaties, and available information about domestic implementing legislation and enforcement. This commentary is designed to serve as a reference work for academics, lawyers, and policy-makers working in the anti-corruption field, and in the fields of transnational criminal law and domestic criminal law. Contributors include anti-corruption experts, scholars, and legal practitioners from around the globe.