This book provides a comprehensive explanation of what the right to a fair trial means in practice under international law. Focus on factual scenarios that practitioners may, it brings together sources and cases that define the right to a fair trial in criminal proceedings.
Human dignity is a classical concept in public international law, and a core element of the human rights machinery built after the Second World War. This book reflects on the past, present and future of the concept of human dignity, focusing on the role of international lawyers in shaping the idea and their potential and actual role in protecting the rights of certain vulnerable groups of contemporary societies, such as migrant women at risk of domestic servitude, the LGB community and indigenous peoples
The duty of good faith is well established in international law. While parties frequently invoke this duty, its scope and effect in international disputes remain unclear.
AbstractInternational law prohibits slavery and slavery-like practices under treaties that have been in force for more than a century. Yet, contemporary forms of slavery are one of the prevailing challenges for the international community, with 40.3 million people in modern slavery on any given day in 2016. The State has been largely overlooked as a perpetrator or accomplice in the global movement to eradicate modern slavery. The hand of the State can however be found in contemporary cases of modern slavery. This article identifies five scenarios of State involvement in modern slavery and aims to uncover and bridge the responsibility gap.
Four features make states potentially different to other litigants. First, states are still the principal player in international law—they are the parties to treaties, members of international organizations, and the makers and breakers of customary international law. They also establish courts, decide on budgets, and elect the judges. Second, states enjoy immunity from jurisdiction and from enforcement measures—courts are obliged to consider such immunity in limine litis and on their own initiative. Third, states, whether they are democracies or dictatorships, are political entities. Fourth, sovereignty is associated with notions of honor, dignity, and comity.
I was a silent observer in deliberations and readings at the ICJ for fifteen cases, and my opinion of those was very positive. Laborious, yes, time-consuming, yes. But in the end, it improves the outcome. What I find so striking about the ICJ in comparison to other courts and so important with its status as the principal judicial organ is that it is the judges who hold the pen. There is a drafting committee of three judges, but after that the judges have readings where they engage with the draft paragraph by paragraph for the first reading, page by page for the second reading. In most cases this process leads to a net improvement in the final result, so I can see from an efficiency point of view it may not be ideal, but for the authority and the quality of the judgment I think it is very important.
On October 18, 2017, the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom delivered an important judgment on diplomatic immunity. It was the first time the Supreme Court had considered the implications of human trafficking for the scope of diplomatic immunity. As Lord Sumption noted, "[s]ince there is some evidence that human trafficking under cover of diplomatic status is a recurrent problem, this is a question of some general importance."
Revised and updated to include recent developments since 2013, this edition provides a detailed guide to the operation of the international rule of State immunity which bars one State's national courts from exercising criminal or civil jurisdiction over claims made against another State. Building on the analysis of its two previous editions, it reviews relevant material at both international and national levels with particular attention to US and UK law; the 2004 UN Convention on Jurisdictional Immunities of the State and its Property (not yet in force), and also seeks to assess the significance of recent changes in the evolution of the law
Fragmentation is a potential problem in an international legal system that has seen the creation of new courts and tribunals around the world, with the chance for different judicial approaches to develop in different courts. This book addresses this issue by analysing judicial practice in three areas genocide, immunities, and the use of force
In: Webb , P 2005 , ' The United Nations Convention Against Corruption : Global Achievement or Missed Opportunity? ' JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC LAW , vol 8 , no. 1 , pp. 191-229 . DOI:10.1093/jielaw/jgi009
The United Nations Convention Against Corruption represents the first binding global agreement on corruption. It has elevated anticorruption action to the international stage. This article sets the context for the Convention by considering the first wave of anticorruption initiatives that occurred at the regional level. It then assesses the significance of this new international convention by examining the negotiating process and the strategic positions of different countries. In particular, it analyzes the four areas that generated the most controversy during the negotiations: asset recovery, private sector corruption, political corruption, and monitoring. Although the Convention contains many innovative provisions, the article suggests that it also suffers from some basic weaknesses that may prevent it from having a real impact on corrupt behavior.