Introduction -- Energy in international law -- Foundational approach : international energy transactions -- Ad hoc approach : joint development of hydrocarbons -- Ad hoc approach : hydroelectricity, offshore wind, pipelines and electricity transmission lines -- Centralised approach : nuclear energy -- Centralised approach : producer/consumer, promotion and regional cooperation organisations -- International law and the energy transformation -- Conclusion.
AbstractThis article revisits the overlooked field of comparative environmental law. It examines contributions to this field from the late 1960s to 2022, highlighting the methodologies proposed, their shortcomings, the main aspects and angles taken by the literature, and the curious lack of engagement by experts in comparative law proper with environmental law systems. On the basis of a structured examination of the literature, the article extracts four main aims or purposes that may guide this line of research: (i) clarifying the initial system by contrasting it with a foreign system; (ii) using the basic conceptual features of a known system to analyse and understand a foreign unknown system; (iii) evaluating and fine-tuning a system or an aspect thereof; and (iv) extracting analytical categories that can serve to map the entire field or areas of it.
AbstractThe 2018 report issued by a High-Level Panel on Water convened by the UN Secretary-General and the President of the World Bank, and consisting of 11 sitting heads of State and government, concluded that one of the main challenges facing global water governance is integration. Finding ways of integrating the different layers and areas of global water governance will, in turn, require institutional innovation. This article explores the potential of a well-tested yet largely under-studied approach to integration, namely that provided by the UNECE/WHO-Europe Protocol on Water and Health. It proposes that the Protocol be relied on both as an instrument and as a model that can be harnessed in four main ways: accession by a State or a regional organization (eg the EU) to the Protocol; amendment to give the Protocol a global scope; as a model framework for development, cooperation and foreign policy; as a model framework for the adoption of a contextualized instrument in another regional context.
This article explores the expression of State sovereignty through customary norms in a regulatory space dominated by investment treaties. It argues that, because most of the actionable concepts expressing sovereignty in international law are general (not specific to a "branch") andcustomary, misunderstanding the role of customary law in investment regulation amounts to confining sovereignty to a few narrow carve-outs and exceptions in investment treaties. However, customary concepts operate autonomously and in parallel to treaties, unless specifically excluded by the latter. The lex specialis principle does not necessarily command the exclusion in toto of relevant customary rules. The article discusses the work of the Institut de Droit International in this regard and then analyses the investment case law relating to the application of the police powers doctrine, necessity, countermeasures and transnational public policy. It shows that failure to address specifically the articulation of treaty and customary norms even in the event the former apply as lex specialis is subtly eroding, without clear legal grounds,the customary expression of sovereignty in foreign investment disputes.
The article deals with the impact of the "war on terror" as a global trend, focusing on the particular case of Yemen. This case warrants interest not only because it has been relatively neglected by western observers in recent years, but also because it illustrates the outcome volatility of the "war onterror" strategy in a less controversial setting than those of Iraq and Afghanistan. After a brief review of the present political situation in Yemen, the paper analyzes the legality of the actions conducted by Yemen's government under the "war on terror" leitmotif in the light of domestic and international human rights law. ; El artículo analiza el impacto de la guerra contra el terrorismo como tendencia global, concentrándose en el caso específico de Yemen. Este caso merece atención no sólo por la relativa falta de interés por parte de analistas occidentales de la que ha sido objeto en estos últimos años sino también por su capacidad ilustrativa de los riesgos que implica la estrategia de guerra contra el terrorismo, todo esto en un contexto menos polémico que el de Irak o el de Afganistán. Luego de un breve sobrevuelo de la situación política actual en Yemen, el artículo analiza la legalidad de la acción emprendida por el gobierno bajo la bandera de la guerra contra el terrorismo con respecto al marco interno e internacional relativo a la protección de derechos humanos.
