Decisions of international courts and arbitrators, as well as judgments of national courts, are fundamental elements of modern public international law. The International Law Reports is the only publication in the world wholly devoted to the regular and systematic reporting in English of such decisions. It is therefore an absolutely essential work of reference. Volume 186 is devoted to the Frontier Dispute (Burkina Faso/Niger), APDH v. Cote d'Ivoire, Umuhoza v. Rwanda, Anchugov and Gladkov v. Russia, Re Execution of the Judgment of the European Court of Human Rights in the Case of Anchugov and Gladkov v. Russia, Avotins v. Latvia, BAC v. Greece, Fontevecchia and D'amico v. Argentina, Fontevecchia Case, Request under Regulation 46(3) of the Regulations of the Court, Decision on the 'Prosecution's Request for a Ruling on Jurisdiction under Article 19(3) of the Statute' 'Rohingya Case'), Ezokola v. Canada, B010 v. Canada, Google Inc. v. Equustek Solutions Inc. and Others, Dhakal and Others v. Nepal Government and Others, Re Application by Finucane for Judicial Review.

"The United Nations Democracy Agenda" is a critical, conceptual-historical analysis of democracy at the United Nations, detailed in four "visions" of democracy: civilization, elections, governance, and developmental democracy. "I know it when I see it" were the famous words of US Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart on defining obscenity. It is with the same conviction and (un)certainty with which liberal peacebuilders and democracy promoters have used democracy to achieve both the immediate goals of peacekeeping and the broader, global mission of the United Nations. Today, democracy may have gained an international dimension, yet its success as an organizational practice depends on how democracy has been defined. Drawing on political theory and democratization scholarship, "The United Nations Democracy Agenda" questions the meaning of this "well-known" idea. The book analyzes the way in which the UN, through its Secretary-General, relevant agencies, and organizational practices, have thought about, conceptualized, and used democracy. "The United Nations Democracy Agenda" shows that while the idea of democracy's "civilizing" nature has played a prominent part in its use by the UN, an early focus on sovereignty and self-determination delayed the emergence of the democracy agenda until the 1990s. Today, a comprehensive democracy agenda incorporates not only elections but a broad range of liberal democratic institutions. Despite this, the democracy agenda is at an impasse, both practically and philosophically. "The United Nations Democracy Agenda" questions whether an extension of the UN democracy agenda to include "developmental democracy" is feasible.

Denial of justice is one of the oldest bases of liability in international law and the modern understanding of denial of justice is examined by Paulsson in this book, which was originally published in 2005. The possibilities for prosecuting the offence of denial of justice have evolved in fundamental ways and it is now settled law that States cannot disavow international responsibility by arguing that their courts are independent of the government. Even more importantly, the doors of international tribunals have swung wide open to admit claimants other than states: non-governmental organisations, corporations and individuals, and Paulsson examines several recent cases of great importance in his book.

The debate on indigenous rights has revealed some serious difficulties for current international law, posed mainly by different understandings of important concepts. This book explores the extent to which indigenous claims, as recorded in the United Nations forums, can be accommodated by international law. By doing so, it also highlights how the indigenous debate has stretched the contours and ultimately evolved international human rights standards. The book first reflects on the international law responses to the theoretical arguments on cultural membership. After a comprehensive analysis of the existing instruments on indigenous rights, the discussion turns to self-determination. Different views are assessed and a fresh perspective on the right to self-determination is outlined. Ultimately, the author refuses to shy away from difficult questions and challenging issues and offers a comprehensive discussion of indigenous rights and their contribution to international law.

The idea that states and the international community have a responsibility to protect populations at risk has framed internationalist debates about conflict prevention, humanitarian aid, peacekeeping and territorial administration since 2001. This book situates the responsibility to protect concept in a broad historical and jurisprudential context, demonstrating that the appeal to protection as the basis for de facto authority has emerged at times of civil war or revolution - the Protestant revolutions of early modern Europe, the bourgeois and communist revolutions of the following centuries and the revolution that is decolonisation. This analysis, from Hobbes to the UN, of the resulting attempts to ground authority on the capacity to guarantee security and protection is essential reading for all those seeking to understand, engage with, limit or critique the expansive practices of international executive action authorised by the responsibility to protect concept.

A Wall Street Journal best book of the year "What made this episode in our collective history possible was not so much the lies we told one another, but the lies we told ourselves." A recent Brown University graduate, Michael Soussan was elated when he landed a position as a program coordinator for the United Nations' Iraq Program. Little did he know that he would end up a whistleblower in what PBS NewsHour described as the "largest financial scandal in UN history." Breaking a conspiracy of silence that had prevailed for years, Soussan sparked an unprecedented corruption probe into the Oil-for-Food program that exposed a worldwide system of bribes, kickbacks, and blackmail involving ruthless power-players from around the globe. At the crossroads of pressing humanitarian concerns, crisis diplomacy, and multibillion-dollar business interests, Soussan's story highlights core flaws of our international system and exposes the frightening, corrupting power of the black elixir that fuels our world's economy.

The United Nations Global Compact is a strategic policy initiative that encourages businesses to support ten universal principles in the areas of human rights, labor standards, the environment, and anti-corruption. It is the world's largest voluntary corporate responsibility initiative with more than 7,500 business and non-business participants in over 130 countries. This book reviews the first ten years of the Compact's existence (2000-2010) by presenting exclusively commissioned chapters from well-known scholars, practitioners from the business world and civil society, and Global Compact staff. They reflect on what the Global Compact has achieved, what trends it may have to respond to, and what challenges are ahead. The book contains not only up-to-date reflections but also debates recent changes to the structure of the Compact, including the Communication on Progress policy, the role of Global Compact Local Networks, and the role of emerging specialized initiatives.

This study, available for the first time in paperback, explores the normative dimension of the evolving role of the United Nations in peace and security and, ultimately, in governance. What is dealt with here is both the UN's changing raison d'etre and the wider normative context within which the organisation is located. The study looks at the UN through the window of one of its most contentious, yet least understood, practices: active involvement in intra-state conflicts as epitomised by UN peacekeeping. Drawing on the conceptual tools provided by the 'historical structural' approach, this study seeks to understand how and why the international community continuously reinterprets or redefines the UN's role with regard to intra-state conflicts. The study concentrates on intra-states 'peacekeeping environments', and examines what changes, if any, have occurred to the normative basis of UN peacekeeping in intra-state conflicts from the early 1960s to the early 1990s. One of the original aspects of the study is its analytical framework, where the conceptualisation of 'normative basis' revolves around objectives, functions and authority, and is closely connected with the institutionalised values in the UN Charter such as state sovereignty, human rights and socio-economic development. This book is essential reading for postgraduate students of IR and international peacekeeping organisations. -- .

In 2004, the Report of the Secretary-General's High-Level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change emphasised the linkages between economic development, security and human rights, and the imperative in the twenty-first century of collective action and cooperation between States. In a world deeply divided by differences of power, wealth, culture and ideology, central questions today in international law and organisation are whether reaffirmation of the concept of collective security and a workable consensus on the means of its realisation are possible. In addressing these questions, this book considers the three key documents in the recent UN reform process: the High-Level Panel report, the Secretary-General's In Larger Freedom report and the 2005 World Summit Outcome document. The chapters examine the responsibilities, commitments, strategies and institutions necessary for collective security to function both in practice and as a normative ideal in international law and relations between state and non-state actors alike.

"Backpacks Full of Hope: The UN Mission in Haiti" describes the experience of a Chilean general as Deputy Force Commander of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) during the particularly turbulent year September 2005 to September 2006. It details the realities of commanding more than 7,000 men from eleven countries while working to fulfill the mandate of the United Nations in Haiti--to ensure a secure and stable environment, to support the transitional government in a democratic political process, and to promote and protect the human rights of the Haitian people.

Despite the enormous challenges of a complex scenario that included local violence and extreme poverty, the UN command succeeded in its mission, stabilizing the local situation and paving the way for Haiti to hold a presidential election.

Originally published as "Mision en Haiti, con la mochila cargada de esperanzas," this work provides a new audience with insight on the peace operation and sheds light on the long-term endeavour of civilians, military, and local and international agencies to support Haiti's path to prosperity.

Co-published with the Centre for International Governance Innovation

The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea is one of the most important constitutive instruments in international law. Not only does this treaty regulate the uses of the world"s largest resource, but it also contains a mandatory dispute settlement system - an unusual phenomenon in international law. While some scholars have lauded this development as a significant achievement, others have been highly sceptical of its comprehensiveness and effectiveness. This book explores whether a compulsory dispute settlement mechanism is necessary for the regulation of the oceans under the Convention. The requisite role of dispute settlement in the Convention is determined through an assessment of its relationship to the substantive provisions. Klein firstly describes the dispute settlement procedure in the Convention. She then takes each of the issue areas subject to limitations or exceptions to compulsory procedures entailing binding decisions, and analyses the interrelationship between the substantive and procedural rules.

This book is a study of regime change in the context of international administration, where the United Nations and other multilateral organisations hold temporary executive authority at the domestic level. Work on the politics of state-building has highlighted how these administration operations can influence nearly every aspect of politics in the country or territory in which they are deployed. This book concentrates in particular on the 'regime-building' practices of these missions, and examines the aims and influences of international administrations in the area of democratic development, as well as their ultimate impact on the process of regime change. Through a comparative analysis of events in Bosnia, Kosovo and East Timor, the book demonstrates how external actors assume positions of power conventionally held by domestic elites, and in so doing gain the ability to affect democratic development in ways unavailable to international actors in more conventional settings. In particular, the case studies highlight the ways in which the democracy promotion objectives of international administrators can have both positive and negative effects on democratization processes, with the presence of international authorities helping to rule out non-democratic options in some areas, while at times undermining democratic development in others. The book identifies the key international actors involved, highlights the mechanisms of influence available to them in these contexts, and explores the crucial mediating role of domestic actors and structures. Oxford Studies in Democratization is a series for scholars and students of comparative politics and related disciplines. Volumes concentrate on the comparative study of the democratization process that accompanied the decline and termination of the cold war. The geographical focus of the series is primarily Latin America, the Caribbean, Southern and Eastern Europe, and relevant experiences in Africa and Asia. The series editor is Laurence Whitehead, Official Fellow, Nuffield College, University of Oxford.

This book is about a problem that had moved to the centre of international concern when it was first published in 1978 - how the UN System was to cope with the overwhelming volume of world wide economic and social tasks that had been placed upon it. The UN System comprises, in addition to the UN Organization itself, the Specialized Agencies like FAO, WHO and the World Bank, the regional commissions, the innumerable semi-independent programmes like the UN Development Programme, UNCTAD and the UN Environment Programme. There was a growing concern among governments and the intelligent public of developing and developed countries alike that the UN System stood in urgent need of greater internal cohesion and important structural reforms.

The Asia-Pacific Trade and Investment Report (APTIR) is a major annual publication of the Trade, Investment and Innovation Division of United Nations ESCAP. It aims to deepen understanding of trends and developments in trade and investment in the Asia-Pacific region; emerging issues in trade, investment and trade facilitation policies, and impacts of these policies on countries' abilities to meet the challenges of achieving inclusive and sustainable development. It offers innovative policy options to meet the challenges of achieving sustainable trade and investment. APTIR 2016 shows that 2015-2016 has been a worrying period for trade and investment n the Asia-Pacific region and worldwide, and there are few signs that the current economic and trade slowdown is simply a temporary phenomenon. Instead, this pattern may be the result of a change in the fundamental structure of world trade, which might lead to a persistent trade stagnation. On the other hand, good progress was made, especially at the regional level, with furthering cross-border paperless trade as one of the approached to deal with the upward pressure on the trade costs. Special feature of this volume is a chapter on digital trade in Asia-Pacific. Accepting the rising importance of e-commerce as a new trade platform, there is opening for the possible changes in the focus of trade and investment policies in order to leverage the potential of e-commerce to support intraregional trade.

The United Nations Security Council has increasingly resorted to sanctions as part of its efforts to prevent and resolve conflict. United Nations Sanctions and the Rule of Law traces the evolution of the Security Council's sanctions powers and charts the contours of the UN sanctions system. It also evaluates the extent to which the Security Council's increasing commitment to strengthening the rule of law extends to its sanctions practice. It identifies shortcomings in respect of key rule of law principles and advances pragmatic policy-reform proposals designed to ensure that UN sanctions promote, strengthen and reinforce the rule of law. In its appendices United Nations Sanctions and the Rule of Law contains summaries of all 25 UN sanctions regimes established to date by the Security Council. It forms an invaluable source of reference for diplomats, policymakers, scholars and advocates.

The Secretary-General of the United Nations is a unique figure in world politics. At once civil servant, the world's diplomat, lackey of the UN Security Council, and commander-in-chief of up to a hundred thousand peacekeepers, he or she depends on states for both the legitimacy and resources that enable the United Nations to function. The tension between these roles - of being secretary or general - has challenged every incumbent. This book brings together the insights of senior UN staff, diplomats and scholars to examine the normative and political factors that shape this unique office with particular emphasis on how it has evolved in response to changing circumstances such as globalization and the onset of the 'war on terror'. The difficulties experienced by each Secretary-General reflect the profound ambivalence of states towards entrusting their security, interests or resources to an intergovernmental body.

This is a study of the principal negotiating processes and law-making tools through which contemporary international law is made. It does not seek to give an account of the traditional - and untraditional - sources and theories of international law, but rather to identify the processes, participants and instruments employed in the making of international law. It accordingly examines some of the mechanisms and procedures whereby new rules of law are created or old rules are amended or abrogated. It concentrates on the UN, other international organizations, diplomatic conferences, codification bodies, NGOs, and courts.
Every society perceives the need to differentiate between its legal norms and other norms controlling social, economic and political behaviour. But unlike domestic legal systems where this distinction is typically determined by constitutional provisions, the decentralized nature of the international legal system makes this a complex and contested issue. Moreover, contemporary international law is often the product of a subtle and evolving interplay of law-making instruments, both binding and non-binding, and of customary law and general principles. Only in this broader context can the significance of so-called 'soft law' and multilateral treaties be fully appreciated.
An important question posed by any examination of international law-making structures is the extent to which we can or should make judgments about their legitimacy and coherence, and if so in what terms. Put simply, a law-making process perceived to be illegitimate or incoherent is more likely to be an ineffective process. From this perspective, the assumption of law-making power by the UN SecurityCouncil offers unique advantages of speed and universality, but it also poses a particular challenge to the development of a more open and participatory process observable in other international law-making bodies.

This is the official Record of the Report of the Human Rights Committee Volume II Part 1, 108th session (8-26 July 2013) 109th session (14 October-1 November 2013) 110th session (10-28 March 2014).

The United Nations Development Programme is the central network co-ordinating the work of the United Nations in over 160 developing countries. This 2006 book provides the first authoritative and accessible history of the Programme and its predecessors. Based on the findings of hundreds of interviews and archives in more than two dozen countries, Craig Murphy traces the history of the UNDP's organizational structure and mission, its relationship to the multilateral financial institutions, and the development of its doctrines. He argues that the principles on which the UNDP was founded remain as relevant in a world divided by terrorism as they were in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War, as are the fundamental problems that have plagued the Programme from its origin, including the opposition of traditionally isolationist forces in the industrialized world.

Since the mid-1990s the United Nations and other multilateral organizations have been entrusted with exceptional authority for the administration of war-torn and strife-ridden territories. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, Eastern Slavonia, Kosovo, and East Timor these organizations have assumed responsibility for governance to a degree unprecedented in recent history. These initiatives represent some of the boldest experiments in the management and settlement of intra-state conflict ever attempted by third parties. This book is a study of recent experiences in the international administration of war-torn territories. It examines the nature of these operations - their mandates, structures, and powers - and distinguishes them from kindred historical and contemporary experiences of peacekeeping, trusteeship, and military occupation. It analyses and assesses the effectiveness of international administrations and discusses, in thematic fashion, the key operational and political challenges that arise in the context of these experiences. It also reflects on the policy implications of these experiences, recommending reforms or new approaches to the challenge posed by localized anarchy in a global context. It argues that, despite many of the problems arising from both the design and implementation of international administrations, international administration has generally made a positive contribution to the mitigation of conflict in the territories where they have been established, thus removing or reducing a threat to peace and helping to improve the lives of the vast majority of the territories' inhabitants. This major new work from a leading scholar provides the first comprehensive treatment of recent attempts at international governance of war-torn territories, and will be essential reading for anyone interested in peace-keeping operations and international administration.

"Crucial lessons for the immediate future"-Noam Chomsky At a time when the international community is imposing sanctions and discussing no-fly zones, A Different Kind of War delivers a frightening parallel and a heart-rending accounting of suffering in Iraq among locals who bore the brunt of the 13-year sanctions from 1990 until 2003. H. C. von Sponeck, the former "UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq," explores the UN's sanction policies against Iraq, their consequences, and the domestic conditions during this period. His extensive research is based on previously unpublished internal UN documents and discussions with UN decision makers (such as General Secretary Kofi Annan), Iraqi officials and politicians (including Saddam Hussein), and ordinary Iraqis. The author's findings question who really benefited from the program, what role the UN Security Council and its various member states played, and whether there were then and are today alternatives to the UN's Iraq policies. Chapter 1. The Oil for Food Programme: An Adequate Humanitarian Exemption? Chapter 2. The UN Compensation Commission: Benefit for Some, Deprivation for Others Chapter 3. The No-Fly Zones: Zones of Protection and Zones of Confrontation? Chapter 4. The United Nations Special Commission and the UN Office of the Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq: Two Units of the Same Organisation? Chapter 5. The Government of Iraq, its People and their Rights Chapter 6. The UN Sanctions Structure: Confrontation, Fragmentation, Conclusions What customers are saying: 5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent expose Reviewed in the United States Verified Purchase excellent expose from someone who knew all the details how the US government uses sanctions to wage war 5.0 out of 5 stars Great book Reviewed in the United Kingdom Verified Purchase This is an excellent book, so well written and the amount of detailed research that has gone in is amazing to say the least - hard work to write I'm sure but so easy to read - it flows beautifly. I left Iraq as a child a few months after the first Gulf war - it has been emotionally challenging to read this at times at the same time it is written in such a logical way as to keep the reader engaged.

Should states use military force for humanitarian purposes? What are the challenges to international society posed by humanitarian intervention in a post-September 11th world? This path-breaking work brings together well-known scholars of law, philosophy, and international relations, together with practitioners who have been actively engaged in intervention during the past decade. Together, this team provides practical and theoretical answers to one of the most burning issues of our day. Case studies include Somalia, Rwanda, the Balkans, and East Timor, as well as the recent US intervention in Afghanistan. The book demonstrates why humanitarian intervention continues to be a controversial issue not only for the United Nations but also for Western states and humanitarian organizations.

The absence of a regional system of human rights protection for Asia, and the ambivalence of some Asian states towards existing human rights regimes often results in a lack of awareness of the plight of minorities in these states. The existing human rights literature on Asia tends to focus on the debate of cultural relativism. On the other hand, minority rights literature largely ignores Asia. This book tackles this lacuna by undertaking an analysis of the minority rights legal regimes in India, China, Malaysia and Singapore, while also locating this discussion in the context of a wider debate on human rights in Asia. India and China, the world's most populous states, face similar problems vis-a-vis minorities, yet tackle these using starkly different techniques. Malaysia and Singapore, vocal in their articulation of 'Asian Values', have taken opposing stances over minority rights. Malaysia has sought to establish Malay hegemony using minority rights tools in favour of the majority, while Singapore deliberately adopted a doctrine of meritocracy, nonetheless emphasising ethnic fault-lines within its population. Together the four states reflect not only the complex layers of culture and identity within Asian states, but also the vastly different political systems and contrasting conceptions of the role of law in the continent. Through its examination of minority rights theory and its application in specific cases, this book provides a useful comparative model for the assessment of other states within Asia, thereby taking an important first step towards understanding the situation of minorities within the entire continent.

The United Nations: Reality and Ideal examines the structure, operation and history of the United Nations. It explains the historical roots of the UN system and its legal and organizational structures and sets out what the organization and its partners do in relation to major global events and issues. This revised and updated edition gives extended attention to peace-maintenance, human rights and economic and social development and examines the special position of the United States.

The governance of post-conflict territories embodies a central contradiction: how does one help a population prepare for democratic governance and the rule of law by imposing a form of benevolent autocracy? Transitional administrations represent the most complex operations attempted by the United Nations. The operations in East Timor and Kosovo are commonly seen as unique in the history of the UN - perhaps never to be repeated. But they may also be seen as the latest in a series of operations that have involved the United Nations in 'state-building' activities, where it has attempted to develop the institutions of government by assuming some or all of those sovereign powers on a temporary basis. The circumstances that have demanded such interventions certainly will be repeated. Seen in the context of earlier UN operations, such as those in Namibia, Cambodia, and Eastern Slavonia, the view that these exceptional circumstances may not recur is somewhat disingenuous. Moreover, the need for such policy research has been brought into sharp focus by the weighty but ambiguous role assigned to the UN in Afghanistan and the possibility of a comparable role in Iraq. This book fills that gap. Aimed at policy-makers, diplomats, and a wide academic audience (including international relations, political science, international law, and war studies), the book provides a concise history of UN state-building operations and a treatment of the five key issues confronting such an operation on the ground: peace and security, the role of the UN as government, judicial reconstruction, economic reconstruction, and exit strategies.