Hybrid journal (It can contain Open Access articles) ISSN (Print) 1572-3739 - ISSN (Online) 1572-3747 This journal is no longer being updated because: RSS feed has been removed by publisher
Authors:Charuka Ekanayake; Susan Harris Rimmer First page: 9 Abstract: Source: Volume 15, Issue 1, pp 9 - 38Responsibility is a notion that is central to all legal systems. Its operation in international law, however, has been complicated by (inter alia) the complexity of the operative rules, as well as the intricate factual dynamics on which it is called upon to operate. Such complications often create confusion, mistrust and even accountability gaps in important areas. This article deals with one such area: responsibility for the conduct of United Nations (‘UN’) troops. It commences with an analysis of the notion of responsibility in international law before elaborating the factual dynamics underpinning the relevant legal discussion comprised, inter alia, of the troop contribution frameworks, command and control structures, and the execution of UN orders. The article will then proceed to its core issue: how responsibility for acts directly perpetrated by UN forces (in contrast to other forms of responsibility pertaining to, for instance, aiding and assisting or directing the acts of another) should be apportioned. PubDate: 2018-05-01T00:00:00Z
Authors:Yohei Okada First page: 39 Abstract: Source: Volume 15, Issue 1, pp 39 - 76In 2013, a suit was lodged before the US District Court in NY, invoking UN responsibility for the outbreak of cholera in Haiti. The outbreak is a tragedy not only because of its catastrophic consequences but because it was caused by the UN peacekeeping operation. To date, however, the merits of the claims have never been examined due to UN immunity. While the UN Charter provides for this immunity in an equivocal manner, the specification by the CPIUN allows for a straightforward determination of its content and scope. In contrast, section 29 of the CPIUN , which stipulates the UN’s obligation to provide alternative means for dispute settlement as a counterpart of its immunity, is an interpretative puzzle. Due to discrepancies over the interpretation of the provision, the Haiti cholera case has resulted in a stalemate. Against this backdrop, the present study aims to clarify the content and scope of the obligation. PubDate: 2018-05-01T00:00:00Z
Authors:Francesco Presutti First page: 77 Abstract: Source: Volume 15, Issue 1, pp 77 - 129The UN has recently embarked in a comprehensive debate concerning the reform of its peace and security response. Improved financing mechanisms and other support modalities are called for. Currently, the EU is engaged in a strategic and operational cooperation framework with the UN, but only its Member States contribute troops, civilian police, and funding to the UN peace operations. This article explores the feasibility and potential benefits for the maintenance of international peace and security of an enhanced role of the EU as an entity in funding UN peace operations and other activities related to them. It first contends that this development would increase the effectiveness of the EU foreign policy. It then analyses the institutional and legal challenges that it would raise in the UN setting. It finally concludes that using this financing tool to invigorate the EU leadership in foreign policy would benefit the European integration project. PubDate: 2018-05-01T00:00:00Z
Authors:Teresa F Mayr First page: 130 Abstract: Source: Volume 15, Issue 1, pp 130 - 167The value of resorting to the flexible concept of experts on mission is strongly engrained in the United Nations’ pursuit of its institutional mandate. However, the discretion left to the Organization in the process is a potential source of disputes with its member states. Besides the 1946 Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations, both the protection and the accountability system of experts has undergone little development since the creation of the United Nations. This article attempts to build the necessary framework for such a system, including by discussing its theoretical underpinnings as well as creating a hierarchy of authorities to settle disputes involving experts on mission. It departs from current ad hoc practices and advocates for a more robust approach that is based on the treaty text of the 1946 Convention but guided by a more realistic understanding of the role of experts. PubDate: 2018-05-01T00:00:00Z
Authors:Dimitri Van Den Meerssche First page: 168 Abstract: Source: Volume 15, Issue 1, pp 168 - 201This article explores how the World Bank’s engagement with governance reform has sparked a practice of measuring, ranking and diagnosing countries based on an epistemically constructed ideal-type of the modern state. With Foucault, I define this praxis of normalisation as a ‘transnational discipline of diagnosis’. The contribution of the article is both empirical and doctrinal. On an empirical level, it weaves together an innovative assemblage of three different technologies in the Bank’s epistemic governance praxis: the axiomatic dimension (World Development Reports); the statistical dimension (Worldwide Governance Indicators) and the diagnostic dimension (Systematic Country Diagnostics). On a doctrinal level, drawing on critical sociology and performativity theory, the article categorises this epistemic praxis as a world-making socio-political enterprise. It thereby rejects both the categorisation of epistemic power as a mode of public authority (to be integrated in a public law framework), as well as the respresentationalist idioms that inform ideology critique. PubDate: 2018-05-01T00:00:00Z
Authors:Paul van der Heijden First page: 203 Abstract: Source: Volume 15, Issue 1, pp 203 - 220Throughout the 20th century, the International Labour Organization (‘ILO’) has played a significant and successful role in the international advancement of social justice. However, in the past 10–15 years the impact of the organization has decreased. Its legislative machinery seems to have come to a standstill. Hardly any influential modern legal instruments have been developed in these years. The ILO’s monitoring system via the Committee of Experts is in danger to be weakened, mainly due to questions from within the organization. The boat that passed by flying the corporate social responsibility (‘CSR’) flag, has been missed. A powerful and unanimous signal, for instance by adopting a Framework Convention on Decent Work, is necessary if the organization is to survive in the 21st century. PubDate: 2018-05-01T00:00:00Z
Hybrid journal (It can contain Open Access articles)
