Considering paradigmatic changes and current challenges in international law this collection of essays covers diverse areas such as law of the sea, human rights, international environmental law, international dispute settlement, peace and security, global governance and its relationship to domestic law.

Considering paradigmatic changes and current challenges in international law this collection of essays covers diverse areas such as law of the sea, human rights, international environmental law, international dispute settlement, peace and security, global governance and its relationship to domestic law.

The Oxford Handbook of International Human Rights Law provides a comprehensive and original overview of one of the fundamental topics within international law. It contains substantial new essays by more than forty leading experts in the field, giving students, scholars, and practitioners a complete overview of the issues that inform research, as well as a 'map' of the debates that animate the field. Each chapter features a critical and up-to-date analysis of the current state of debate and discussion, assessing recent work and advancing the understanding of all aspects of this developing area of international law. The Handbook consists of 39 chapters, divided into seven parts. Parts I and II explore the foundational theories and the historical antecedents of human rights law from a diverse set of disciplines, including the philosophical, religious, biological, and psychological origins of moral development and altruism, and sociological findings about cooperation and conflict. Part III focuses on the law-making process and categories of rights. Parts IV and V examine the normative and institutional evolution of human rights, and discuss this impact on various doctrines of general international law. The final two parts are more speculative, examining whether there is an advantage to considering major social problems from a human rights perspective and, if so, how that might be done: Part VI analyses current problems that are being addressed by governments, both domestically and through international organizations, and issues that have been placed on the human rights agenda of the United Nations, such as state responsibility for human rights violations and economic sanctions to enforce human rights; Part VII then evaluates the impact of international human rights law over the past six decades from a variety of perspectives. The Handbook is an invaluable resource for scholars, students, and practitioners of international human rights law. It provides the reader with new perspectives on international human rights law that are both multidisciplinary and geographically and culturally diverse.

What happens under international law if a state perishes due to rising sea levels without a successor state being created? Will the state cease to exist? What would this mean for its population? Have international law and globalization progressed enough to protect the people thus affected, or does international law still depend on the territorial state when it comes to protecting entire populations? Exploring these issues, this book provides answers to these pressing questions. Focusing on small island states as actors in the international community, it evaluates the challenges that the state as a subject of international law faces in general from globalization and humanization, and what this means for small island states threatened by rising seas. Highlighting the experience of the indigenous peoples of small island states as collectives, and to the individuals living in these states, the book addresses fundamental questions of general state theory and international law, drawing on an extensive body of source material. As rising sea levels present an increasingly pressing threat to small island states, this book highlights the importance of international protection of the individual and the capacity of international organizations to act within existing international law. It identifies pressing problems where immediate action is required and argues that, in future, the responsibility for protecting individuals could shift to the international community, if a sinking island state can no longer protect its population on its own.

The international community has long grappled with the issue of safeguarding the environment and encouraging sustainable development, often with little result. The 1992 Rio Declaration on Environment and Development was an emphatic attempt to address this issue, setting down 27 key principles for the international community to follow. These principles define the rights of people to sustainable development, and the responsibilities of states to safeguard the common environment. The Rio Declaration established that long term economic progress required a connection to environmental protection. It was designed as an authoritative and comprehensive statement of the principles of sustainable development law, an instrument to take stock of the past international and domestic practice, a guide for the design of new multilateral environmental regimes, and as a reference for litigation. This commentary provides an authoritative and comprehensive overview of the principles of the Declaration, written by over thirty inter-disciplinary contributors, including both leading practitioners and academics. Each principle is analysed in light of its origins and rationale. The book investigates each principle's travaux préparatoires setting out the main points of controversy and the position of different countries or groups. It analyses the scope and dimensions of each principle, providing an in-depth understanding of its legal effects, including whether it can be relied before a domestic or international court. It also assesses the impact of the principles on subsequent soft law and treaty development, as well as domestic and international jurisprudence. The authors demonstrate the ways in which the principles interact with each other, and finally provide a detailed analysis of the shortcomings and future potential of each principle. This book will be of vital importance to practitioners, scholars, and students of international environomental law and sustainable development.

Offering a practical exploration of persistent and new challenges relating to contemporary international fisheries law, this book examines emerging and unresolved issues in international fisheries law. Covering a wide range of international legal aspects related to fisheries governance, it offers practical perspectives that go beyond the existing debates in this field. An expert team of contributors offers a comprehensive study of current challenges in fisheries governance, institutional law frameworks, procedural aspects and trade and enforcement issues. The book enriches fisheries law scholarship, outlining the capacity of international law to address challenges in international fisheries law and policy, highlighting the critical importance of fisheries to many states, coastal communities and economies globally. The book’s chapters have been meticulously selected, focusing on policy and practical considerations. The result is a comprehensive edited collection covering the main persistent challenges in international fisheries law, making it an essential reading for all those interested in the conservation, integrated management and sustainable use of living resources globally.

Das Konzept der Schutzverantwortung (Responsibility to Protect) hat nach seiner ersten fundierten Aufbearbeitung im Bericht der International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty (ICISS) im Jahr 2001 und der Aufnahme in das Abschlussdokument des UN-Weltgipfels 2005 weltweit einen Siegeszug angetreten. Das Denken und Argumentieren in Völkerrechtswissenschaft und –praxis ist mittlerweile nachhaltig davon geprägt. Dennoch bleiben viele Fragen in diesem Zusammenhang offen. In diesem Band diskutieren Experten des Internationalen Rechts Grundsatzaspekte der Schutzverantwortung. Diese wird in ihrer historischen Dimension analysiert, es wird geprüft, wie sich dieses Konzept in das allgemeine System des Völkerrechts fügt und es wird analysiert, welche Entwicklungsperspektiven sich für diesen Ansatz abzeichnen. The concept of R2P has found broad approval in international law doctrine as well as in practice after it was first introduced by the Report of the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty (ICISS) in 2001, and after its affirmation by the UN World Summit in 2005. It is fair to say that international law has been profoundly influenced by this new approach. Nonetheless, many questions in this regard are still open. In this volume international lawyers discuss a series of fundamental aspects of R2P: the historical dimension, the relationship between R2P and general international law and the dynamics surrounding this concept. In particular it is examined in which direction this concept is expected to evolve. Contributors include: Alex Bellamy, Enzo Cannizzaro, Martina Caroni, Thomas Cottier, Fernand de Varennes, Oliver Diggelmann, Andrea Gattini, Hans-Joachim Heintze, Peter Hilpold, Karolina Januszewski, Nadakavukaren Scheffer, Stefanie Schmahl, Peter-Tobias Stoll, and Lotta Viikari.

ÿClimate change poses very serious risks to mankind. Adaptation and damages are emphasised more and more. Although adaptation is important, priority should be given to prevention (mitigation). The contributions in this volume emanate from an international research project that deals with a legal kaleidoscope of legal issues and focuses primarily on preventive remedies. The contributions of Spier and Magnus tackle injunctive relief and discuss the myriad of legal questions courts have to answer if they are willing to grant injunctive relief. This part of the book addresses procedural, private international and substantive law. Kemp?s contribution discusses the role criminal law could play to come to grips with the threats of climate change. So far, the greater part of the debate is about the United States, Europe and, increasingly, Asia. Ruppel fills this gap by painting an African perspective.

The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses plays a crucial role in protecting and managing international watercourses and other sources of fresh water. Boisson de Chazournes, Mbengue, Tignino, and Sangbana head a team of experts in this Commentary, examining the travaux préparatoires leading to the Convention and the practice that has developed since the adoption of the Convention in 1997. Tackling the rationale and objectives of the provisions, they offer crucial insights to the Convention's impact on the development of a universal regime for shared water resources. Examining cross-cutting topics such as the core water principles, the prevention and settlement of water disputes, the relationship between the Convention and other legal instruments, as well as the role of the ICJ and other judicial means to solve water disputes, this book is crucial to all those who seek a deep understanding of water law.

This book discusses the many legal aspects arising in relation to the maintenance of peace in Africa. Over the past twenty years, the majority of peace operations have been deployed on this continent, most of them established by the UN Security Council, sometimes in cooperation with the African Union and other African regional organizations, with contributions from the European Union and NATO. In some cases, the African Union has invoked its ‘primary responsibility for promoting peace, security and stability in Africa’, thus questioning the legal partnership between UN and regional organizations provided for in Chapter VIII of the UN Charter. The peace operations deployed in Africa have sometimes received a very robust mandate, which also includes the use of force and the protection of civilians’ human rights. The implementation of this broad mandate, which goes well beyond the traditional ‘peacekeeping approach’, requires considerable human and economic resources. Moreover, it raises several issues of concern with regard to the impact on the economic and political systems of the states in which the operations are deployed and, more generally, on the exercise of sovereignty over their territorial communities by these states. Offering an update for lawyers in practice and in academia interested in the field of international law, the book also contributes to the theoretical studies concerning the activities of international organizations, focusing on one of the most challenging issues to emerge in recent times.