Suchergebnisse

There is a long-standing dispute between Iran and Afghanistan over the Helmand River. In recent years, between 2002 and 2013, the access to water of the population living in the river basin in Iran has been adversely affected. As the human right to water is recognized at the international level, this paper aims to study the national implementation of the human right to water in both countries. It analyzes Afghanistan's and Iran's legislation, regulation, adopted strategies and policies at the national level. It further assesses if there is an extraterritorial obligation for both countries to respect, protect, and fulfill the human right to water. Finally, it to proposes solutions that would contribute to the fulfillment of the human right to water.

IN AN EXAMINATION OF AMERICA'S POLICY TOWARD CHINA AND TAIWAN, THE ARTICLE DISCUSSES THE INTERNAL POLITICAL SITUATION IN TAIWAN; TRACES US POLICY SINCE 1972; AND DISCUSSES AMERICA'S OBLIGATIONS TO TAIWAN, PARTICULARLY AS EXPRESSED IN THE JOINT 'MUTUAL DEFENSE TREATY' (WHICH TERMINATED AT THE END OF 1979).

Examination of the causes and effects of present international tensions in Europe and of the means to secure a real and lasting improvement in the relations between the Soviet Union, the United States, United Kingdom and France, including the following questions relating to: the demilitarization of Germany; the existing level of armaments and armed forces and measures to be proposed jointly by the USSR, United States, United Kingdom and France for the international control and reduction of armaments and armed forces; fulfillment of present treaty obligations and agreements; the elimination of the threat of war and fear of aggression.

The debate on the UN's possible use of drones for peacekeeping took a turn in 2013 when the Security Council granted the Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) permission to contract surveillance drones for MONUSCO, its peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).This article examines what drone capability may entail for UN peacekeeping missions. We find that surveillance drones can help missions acquire better information and improve the situational awareness of its troops, as well as inform decision-making by leadership, police, and civilian components of the mission. We see a significant potential in the use of surveillance drones to improve efforts to protect civilians, increase UN troops' situational awareness, and improve access to vulnerable populations in high-risk theaters. The use of drones can dramatically improve information-gathering capacities in proximity to populations at risk, thereby strengthening the ability of peacekeepers to monitor and respond to human rights abuses as well as violations of international humanitarian law (IHL). Drones may also enable peacekeepers to maintain stealth surveillance of potential spoilers, including arms smugglers and embargo breakers. They could additionally improve UN forces' own targeting practices, further contributing to the protection of civilians (PoC). Furthermore, we emphasize how drone capability significantly increases peacekeepers' precautionary obligations under IHL in targeting situations: the availability of drones triggers the obligation to use them to gather information in order to avoid civilian casualties or other violations of IHL or international human rights law.There may soon come a shift among human rights groups, from being skeptical of the use of drones by UN peacekeepers to demanding that peacekeeping operations be equipped with surveillance drones for humanitarian and human rights reasons – shifting the current debate, which has focused largely on the negative impact of the use of drones, to a more balanced debate that considers more objectively what drones are and what they can be used for. Finally, the debate about armed drones looms on the horizon for the UN as well – and we outline some of the key dilemmas that the inclusion of such a capability will entail.

Treaties — Termination of treaties — By operation of law — In general — Termination of specific provisions by lapse — Failure to implement those provisions — Whether breach of treaty obligation justified by failure of others to implement — Effect of delay in bringing proceedings for breach — Whether breach must cause damage to other States — Treaty interpretation — Euratom Treaty — Supply agency provisions — The law of the European Communities

Treaties — Interpretation of — Principles and rules of — Natural meaning of words — Statement of facts not constituting legal obligation — Restrictive interpretation — Exclusion by "broad language" of treaty.Treaties — Interpretation of — Consideration of preparatory work — Restraint in use of.Disputes — Arbitration — The award — Scope of — Rationes decidendi not part of award — Exchange of letters after award to resolve ambiguity.International organization — Officials — Immunity from national income tax.

Dependent Territories — Colonies — Status of Belgian CongoState Succession — Succession to Obligations — Loan Issued in France by Independent Congo — Subsequent Change of Status of Congo to Belgian Congo — Whether Belgian Congo Subject to Jurisdiction of French Courts.191Jurisdiction — Exemptions from — Foreign States — Loan Issued by Foreign State in Country of Forum — Whether Courts of Forum Competent to Exercise Jurisdiction — The Law of France.

While the legality of intervention without Security Council authorisation is still debatablein international law, over-reliance on military intervention increases the risk of too much focus on reactive rather than proactive strategies. If the thresholds for Article 4(h) intervention – like those of the responsibility to protect – are serious international crimes subject to universal jurisdiction, it follows that measures to ensure the observance of the law in prospect, rather than intervention and penalisation of violations in retrospect,are important in preventing violations. Therefore, in order to in a timely manner and effectively implement Article 4(h) and R2P, the missing link is borderless 'persuasive prevention' which aims at enforcing fundamental human rights obligations to prevent mass atrocity crimes stipulated in Article 4(h). To this end, as a minimum, the AU should discharge its responsibility to prevent human rights violations through the 'force of law'. Where atrocities are likely to take place, the African Standby Force (ASF) should be deployedin a timely way, not to defeat a State, but to pursue perpetrators of mass atrocity crimes. To achieve this, the ASF should have the 'capability to protect' to ensure the 'obligationto prosecute or extradite'. Although the AU has taken an interventionist stance, what is needed most is early action to prevent mass atrocity crimes. The AU may need to establish a body to monitor the implementation of obligations whose breach may lead to the heinous crimes in Article 4(h). In addition, the AU needs a legally binding instrument to ensure accountability and end impunity for crimes in Article 4(h). The idea is to influencethe calculus of potential authors of atrocities and ensure compliance with human rights and humanitarian law obligations.

AbstractThis article outlines and evaluates the US perspective on how treaty and customary international law protect the natural environment during international armed conflict. It surveys the relevant treaties to which the United States is a party and examines US views on their pertinent provisions. It then assesses claims that the environmental obligations residing in the 1977 Additional Protocol I to the 1949 Geneva Conventions have attained customary status, outlines the United States' rejection of those claims, and evaluates the reasonableness thereof. Finally, it highlights ambiguities in certain US environmental positions, the resolution of which would bring much-needed clarity to the law.

It is argued that the 2001 UN Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms & Light Weapons in All Its Aspects failed to address relevant humanitarian & human rights concerns. It is contended that the availability & ease of using small arms & light weapons makes placing controls upon these objects an immediate concern for the international community. Governments that permit such weaponry to be acquired by nationalist or terrorist organizations are charged with failing to adhere to international humanitarian law. It is maintained that individual governments' contention that their right to sovereignty outweighs their obligation to international humanitarian law has facilitated these states' ability to avoid addressing legal trade issues. The achievements & principal shortcomings of the conferences plan of action for limiting international arms & weapons transfers are also discussed. It is concluded that the conference succeeded in raising the international community's awareness of problems caused by small arms. J. W. Parker

This paper hopes to challenge the existing paradigm in refugee studies, which presents the development of domestic asylum policies as being essentially driven by a conflict between international humanitarian norms and the self-interest calculations of sovereign states. This paper will show that asylum policies are determined more by conflicting domestic principles, and that the dominance of one or another of the competing domestic principles is decided largely by the prevailing 'social contract' notions held by the state. That is, notions about social contract determine what the perceived obligations and priorities of the state are; this 'hierarchy of obligations' is clearly manifested in, and indeed guides the development of, asylum policies. Looking first at the macro level, the paper outlines some of the important philosophical dimensions of the social contract idea, some possible variations, as well as the role of the social contract in international refugee and human rights law. Moving on to the chosen case studies, the second half of the paper examines the dominant notions of 'social contract' in Turkey and Germany, and highlights some of the many ways these notions impacted upon refugee protection in each country during the 1990s. Finally, the paper compares and contrasts briefly some of the themes and processes which emerged in the two case studies, and concludes by evaluating these results in light of the existing refugee studies paradigm.

The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) is one of important international nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament measures. One of its pillars is the verification mechanism that has been built as an international system of nuclear testing detection to enable the control of observance of the obligations anchored in the CTBT. Despite the great relevance to the global non-proliferation and disarmament efforts, the CTBT is still not in force. The main aim of the article is to summarize the importance of the CTBT and its entry into force not only from the international relations perspective but also from the perspective of the technical implementation of the monitoring system.