The practice of vote buying is neither rare nor isolated. One might then ask how international law affects the vote-buying market, if indeed it plays any role at all. Those conversant in public international law will appreciate already that most international voting is governed by the principle of “one country, one vote.” This system is the norm in the United Nations (notwithstanding the Security Council veto possessed only by the five permanent members) and is implicit in the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (“VCLT”), which governs all aspects…
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REGIONALISM AND GLOBAL GOVERNANCE IN THE MULTIPOLAR ORDER: PART II
Although regionalism has often been portrayed as a force opposed to globalization, both processes are intrinsically linked to global developments. Moreover, during the “third phase” of regionalism, globalization itself can be seen as one of the main drivers of regionalism and regionalization. In the emerging inter-polar world order, regional cooperation and integration are likely to continue to play a major role. Within the context of the current transformation of the world order, however, regional developments have attained rather limited public and scholarly attention. This is peculiar as regional cooperation continues…
Read MoreIN SEARCH FOR A BETTER MODEL FOR SPACE GOVERNANCE THROUGH THE DECENTRALIZATION OF THE CURRENT STATE OF SPACE GOVERNANCE
The crisis in space governance has not escaped the notice of the space community. The 2014 Manfred Lachs International Conference, organized by the McGill University Institute of Air and Space Law and held in Montreal, was devoted to this issue, under the general theme of Global Space Governance. The conference culminated with the Montreal Declaration, which noted that “the current global space governance system that was created during the 1960s and 1970s has not been comprehensively examined by the international community since . . . [although] numerous developments have occurred…
Read MoreINTERNATIONAL COLLECTIVE ACTION FOR CLIMATE CHANGE
Reducing the risks of climate change is the most important example of the provision of a global public good. It is also in many ways the ‘purest’ example of a public good in that emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) from any one country have the same effect on the atmosphere as those from any other. Climate change also shares some key characteristics with other environmental challenges that require the international management of common resources, including the depletion of fisheries, the protection of the ozone layer, and with the provision of…
Read MoreREGIONALISM AND GLOBAL GOVERNANCE IN THE MULTIPOLAR ORDER: PART I
The seemingly unstoppable growth of regional organizations, since the end of the Cold War, has been one of the defining characteristics of the current international system. Throughout this period, regionalism has taken many forms and shapes, varying from tiny associations that include no more than a few actors and focus on a single issue, to huge continental-unions that address a multitude of common problems from territorial defense to food security. Far from being solely state-led undertakings, regional organizations have also come to include a variety of actors from civil society…
Read MoreSECURITY LAW AND NON-BINDING NORMS IN SPACE: FROM PEACE TO CONFLICT
The 1967 Outer Space Treaty contains three important principles. Article II spells out the principle of non-appropriation, Article III requires all activities in outer space to conform with international law, and Article IV announces the principle that the Moon and other celestial bodies shall be used for peaceful purposes. The question was posed whether these principles continue to be effective, or whether the principles of non-appropriation and peaceful purposes are under threat. One key issue in raising this question is the relationship between peaceful purposes and war fighting in space.…
Read MoreTARGETED KILLING AS A METHOD OF COUNTER TERRORISM AND DRONES AS MEANS OF COMBAT AGAINST INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM
When one aims to describe the human rights legality of targeted killings, one has to examine the right to life. The right to life is a natural and unalienable right of men. From the point of view of its subjects, the right to life requires that no man shall be killed arbitrarily, thus it ensures the life of the individual. From the relevant international conventions a two-folded obligation seems to flow: On the one hand, states have to respect the right to life of individuals, and in certain situations– based…
Read MoreWHAT IMPACT COULD ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE HAVE ON ELECTIONS?
The Experts/Researchers adopt a broad understanding of elections that encompasses more than the practical conduct of elections and includes the election campaign and the post-election period, when the election results are published and discussed. In its work, the Experts/Researchers have focused on three main areas where we believe Artificial Intelligence (AI) may have an impact on elections and democracy. In these areas, we believe there is particular cause to be vigilant and prepared to avoid negative consequences for elections and democracy: – The information and media landscape – Covert election…
Read MoreCLIMATE CHANGE AND ITS IMPACT ON THE REGIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS SYSTEMS
With reference to the UN Human Rights Commission’s adoption of Resolution 7/23.2 and the flurry of preparations for the December 2009 round of United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change negotiations in Copenhagen (“UNFCCC COP-15”), several institutions had joined the call to develop the nexus between human rights and climate change. The nexus was meaningful because it demonstrated that climate change’s numerous negative impacts on human rights, particularly for already vulnerable populations, can be used as a way to measure the harm. It is also meaningful because it connects this…
Read MoreTHE SUBSTANTIVE COMPONENT OF THE RIGHT TO LIFE IN LIGHT OF TARGETED KILLINGS AND EXTRATERRITORIAL APPLICABILITY OF HUMAN RIGHTS TREATIES AND TARGETED KILLINGS
When one aims to describe the human rights legality of targeted killings, one has to examine the right to life. The right to life is a natural and unalienable right of men. From the point of view of its subjects, the right to life requires that no man shall be killed arbitrarily, thus it ensures the life of the individual. From the relevant international conventions a two-folded obligation seems to flow: On the one hand, states have to respect the right to life of individuals, and in certain situations– based…
Read MoreTHE CONSEQUENCES OF POST WAR CONFLICT RECONSTRUCTION: REVIEW
War Conflicts affect the lives of people not only due to the large scale loss of lives, but also due to the destruction that it causes on infrastructure and livelihoods. Thus, War conflicts create a long term impact on social, economic and political systems making it difficult for societies to revive back to normal on their own. The period after war conflict poses several challenges for the communities and governments to recover the economic and social systems, while maintaining stability and achieving sustainable peace. The recovery process necessitates post conflict…
Read MoreNEEDFUL VOTER FRAUD DEFINITION : VOTER FRAUD AND THE PROBLEM OF EVIDENCE : PART II
Conceptual clarity is important in evaluating evidence of fraud. We begin with a discussion of what voter fraud is and what it is not. The first problem in defining voter fraud is that as a crime, it defies precise legal meaning. In fact, there is no single accepted legal definition of voter fraud. In fact, some states do not actually criminalize ‘voter fraud,’ although they all criminalize acts that are commonly lumped together under the term, such as illegal voting, providing false information to register to vote, and multiple voting.…
Read MoreMILITARY STRATEGY IN A MORE HUMANITARIAN AGE : AN OVERVIEW WITH THE INTERNATIONAL LAW
International law has come to play an expanded role in the use of force. This expanded role has elevated evolving humanitarian law concepts over the long-standing preference for sovereignty, and has contributed to the state losing its uncontested control over the direction of war. The “state therefore has an interest in reappropriating the control and direction of war.” As Hew Strachan notes, “that is the purpose of strategy.” Arguments about international law are part of diplomacy, and “diplomatic arguments are a means to an end. They are part of a…
Read MoreTHE RIGHT TO A FAIR TRIAL IN INTERNATIONAL LAW: UNIVERSAL AND REGIONAL INSTRUMENT
All general universal and regional human rights instruments guarantee the right to a fair hearing in judicial proceedings (criminal, civil, disciplinary and administrative matters) before an independent and impartial court or tribunal. A treaty is an international written agreement concluded between States and/or intergovernmental organisations and governed by international law. The name the parties give to a treaty is of no relevance here (Covenant, Convention, Treaty, Protocol, etc.); what matters is the content and the language of the treaty, as well as the parties’ intention to be bound by it.…
Read MoreNEEDFULNESS OF VOTER FRAUD DEFINITION: VOTER FRAUD AND THE PROBLEM OF EVIDENCE : PART I
Conceptual clarity is important in evaluating evidence of fraud. We begin with a discussion of what voter fraud is and what it is not. The first problem in defining voter fraud is that as a crime, it defies precise legal meaning. In fact, some states do not criminalize ‘voter fraud.’ However, they all criminalize acts that are commonly lumped together under the term, such as illegal voting, providing false information to register to vote, and multiple voting. The legal incoherence contributes to popular misunderstandings. We need a basic definition of…
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