Episodes
What explains the rise of investor-state arbitration? To the extent that investor-state arbitration had founding fathers, what were their motivations, what constraints did they have, what was their thinking? Using documents from the American, British, German, and Swiss archives, this talk will revisit three moments: the initial vision for a standalone arbitration convention (the ICSID Convention), European governments’ decisions to add consent to arbitration into their investment treaties,...
Published 05/31/19
Investment treaties are often said to have two principal effects for the states that enter into them. First, it is asserted that investment treaties act to increase levels of foreign investment in host states. Second, it is said that investment treaties have a positive effect on national governance. Out of their desire to avoid liability for breaches of investment treaties, the argument is made, states will internalize their international legal obligations, reform their policy-making...
Published 05/07/19
This talk will examine the legal nature of due diligence, namely whether it is a free-standing obligation under customary international law or a standard by which compliance with specific obligations may be assessed. It will be shown that there is a significant number of common elements in the analysis of due diligence as it is performed by international courts and tribunals, notwithstanding the specificities of the underlying subject matter. In doing so, this presentation will bring into...
Published 05/07/19
Even though UN Security Council resolutions may have major consequences for the disputes and states concerned, some of the resolutions are ambiguous in their meaning. This raises questions about the appropriate means of interpreting Security Council resolutions. In the process of interpreting Security Council resolutions, explanation of votes may have a role. Explanation of votes are not provided for in Security Council Provisional Rules of Procedure. However, members of the Security Council...
Published 03/05/19
Even though UN Security Council resolutions may have major consequences for the disputes and states concerned, some of the resolutions are ambiguous in their meaning. This raises questions about the appropriate means of interpreting Security Council resolutions. In the process of interpreting Security Council resolutions, explanation of votes may have a role. Explanation of votes are not provided for in Security Council Provisional Rules of Procedure. However, members of the Security Council...
Published 03/05/19
Oceans are increasingly under pressure; be it for the multiplication and diversification of economic activities performed at sea, for the consequences of climate change, or for the deterioration of their environmental health. Several international bodies and a plethora of international instruments regulate, influence and shape what is happening in the oceans. Moreover, actors at different levels of governance participate in what it is commonly called ocean governance. But what is ocean...
Published 02/22/19
This talk will consider the regulation of corporations for the human rights impacts of their activities. It will include the role of legislation, industry sectors and civil society, as well as courts, in regulation of the actions of corporations that abuse human rights. It will use the framework of developments in the area of responsible business conduct, especially of human rights due diligence. Professor Robert McCorquodale is Professor of International Law and Human Rights at the...
Published 02/12/19
Following a difficult and protracted process, in 2014 the UNGA adopted Resolution 68/268 which set out to strengthen the UN human rights treaty body system. It mandated a further review in 2020. The proposals which are emerging for that review have the potential to radically change the nature of the UN human rights system - but whether for better or worse is keenly contested. In his talk, Malcolm Evans, who has been a participant in these developments, will outline the background to the...
Published 02/01/19
War does not escape the transformations global governance has experienced in the past decades. The research presented identifies a move from a binary War-Peace framework to a global security governance, characterized by techno-managerial normative assemblages aiming at taming risk.Core to the project of international law throughout the 20th century, peace has been occupying a central role in the development of international legal regimes aiming at governing armed violence. But the promise of...
Published 01/25/19
The presentation will discuss the approaches to writing such reference works (based on the speaker's experience with the Update of the ICRC Commentaries to the 1949 Conventions, and the Max Planck Encyclopedia of International Procedural Law). The presentation will discuss the approaches to writing such reference works (based on the speaker’s experience with the Update of the ICRC Commentaries to the 1949 Conventions, and the Max Planck Encyclopedia of International Procedural Law). Then a...
Published 12/05/18
Since the 24 June 2016, the politics of Brexit – in both the UK and the EU – has driven the negotiations and discussion surrounding the UK's departure from the EU. It is the international legal framework, however, that has framed those negotiations and will shape the UK's future trading relationship with the EU and the rest of the world after March 2019, in whatever form Brexit takes. Andrew Hood will examine some of the structural and practical realities of public international law that...
Published 11/13/18
An analogy between States and international organizations has characterised the development of the law that applies to intergovernmental institutions on the international plane. That is best illustrated by the work of the International Law Commission on the treaties and responsibility of international organizations, where the Commission for the most part extended to organizations rules that had been originally devised for States. The talk will reflect on the foundations and limits of the...
Published 11/06/18
This talk will discuss elements of a research project that explores the evolution of the law of the sea over the course of the 20th century It will focus on the emergence of the seabed as an area of political, economic and technological interest, and trace its subjection to national and international regimes. Calling attention to the legally constructed imaginary of the seabed as a space distinct from the above water, the talk will re-examine views of both the ocean and the law, which are...
Published 10/26/18
The absolute prohibition of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment is under considerable pressure. This talk will explore how the prohibition is understood, questioned, and flouted, and trace continuities between torture and other dimensions of our securitised and unequal societies. Distilling key challenges for the prohibition, including those often overshadowed by the ubiquitous ‘ticking bomb’ scenario and ther prominent areas of concern, it will consider how...
Published 10/23/18
Ever since the trial against the major war criminals of World War II before the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg the institution of 'punishment' has been an integral part of the international legal system. Nowadays a considerable number of perpetrators of crimes under international law – that is: genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes – are being sent to jail by international judges. But why and to what aim do we punish individuals for their involvement in mass...
Published 10/16/18
The talk will review the Trump administration’s record in international and national security law over the last 18 months, and will address challenges ahead, including the administration’s counter-terrorism policies and approach to international agreement and international courts, including the International Criminal Court and International Court of Justice. John Bellinger heads the public international law practice at Arnold & Porter in Washington, DC, and is Adjunct Senior Fellow in...
Published 06/12/18
The 21st century has seen significant progress and recent regression in terms of entrenchment of the rule of law. These developments have occurred not only in the domestic context but also within the international sphere. This presentation by Kimberly Prost will explore some of these ‘rule of law’ changes and challenges within the international legal order. The establishment of the international tribunals and the International Criminal Court represents a landmark advancement in terms of...
Published 05/22/18
Marking the 20th Anniversary of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Twenty years after the adoption of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, the ICC is thought to be in crisis. Despite the many successes, including completing the institution-building process and the Court's emerging jurisprudence, the ICC is also facing a number of challenges. Universality, independence, effectiveness and efficiency, but also cooperation and the relationship with national...
Published 04/27/18
Professor Akhavan will speak about his recent book In Search of a Better World: A Human Rights Odyssey, the 2017 CBC Massey Lectures which became the best-selling non-fiction book in Canada. Professor Akhavan will speak about his recent book In Search of a Better World: A Human Rights Odyssey, the 2017 CBC Massey Lectures which became the best-selling non-fiction book in Canada. Part memoir, part manifesto, it is a "powerful survey of some of the major human rights struggle of our...
Published 03/09/18
A presentation of the new principles of shared responsibility in international law The event featured a presentation of the new principles of shared responsibility in international law which supplement as well as amend the 2001 Articles on the Responsibility of States as well as the 2011 Articles on the Responsibility of International Organizations. The principles have been prepared by a group of experts of the law of international responsibility and will soon be disseminated.
Published 03/06/18
Arbitrators have many powers – express, implied, and those inherent in the very process of arbitration. Disputes that involve corruption put into question the breadth of those powers. Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike 2.0 UK: England & Wales; http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/uk/
Published 02/28/18
Arbitrators have many powers – express, implied, and those inherent in the very process of arbitration. Disputes that involve corruption put into question the breadth of those powers. The first tribunals confronted by cases involving corrupt acts were concerned about their taint bringing into disrepute the process of arbitration. A whiff of scandal thus served as a basis for dismissal. Tribunals in later cases have shown a more nuanced approach but often with apprehension about potential...
Published 02/28/18
From a law-making perspective 'soft-law' is simply a convenient description for a variety of non-binding, normatively worded instruments used in contemporary international relations by states and international organisations. The paper begins by examining the considerations that have encouraged the use of 'soft' law instruments in UN law-making. The literature identifies at least four reasons. First, it may be easier to reach agreement when the form is non-binding. Secondly, soft law...
Published 02/28/18
The International Law Commission is a subsidiary organ of the United Nations General Assembly entrusted with the progressive development of international law and its codification. This talk argues that the Commission interprets international law, as part of its function, in numerous topics of its work, and that the Commission’s interpretative activity serves its long-lasting vision to reinforce international law by providing clarity and predictability as to its content thus convincing states...
Published 02/06/18