The Francis Lieber Prize is awarded annually by the American Society of International Law’s Lieber Society on the Law of Armed Conflict to the authors of publications which the judges consider to be outstanding in the field of law and armed conflict.  Both monographs and articles (including chapters in books of essays)  are eligible for consideration, as the prize is awarded to the best submission in each of these two categories.

Criteria:         Any work in the English language published during 2011 or whose publication is imminent at the time of submission may be nominated for this prize.  The re-submission of works which have already been considered for this prize is not allowed.  Entries may address such topics as the use of force in international law, the conduct of hostilities during international and non‑international armed conflicts, protected persons and objects under the law of armed conflict, the law of weapons, operational law, rules of engagement, occupation law, peace operations, counter‑terrorist operations, and humanitarian assistance.  Other topics bearing on the application of international law during armed conflict or other military operations are also appropriate.

Age Limit:       Competitors must be 35 years old or younger at the time of submission. They need not be members of the American Society of International Law.  Multi-authored works may be submitted if all the authors are eligible to enter the competition.  Should a multi-authored submission win the competition, the cash component of the prize shall be divided, pro rata, between the authors.  Submissions from outside the United States are welcome.

Submission:     Submissions, including a letter or message of nomination, must be received by 16 January 2012.  Three copies of books must be submitted.  The electronic submission of articles is encouraged.  Authors may submit their own work.  Any work not already published must be accompanied by documentation indicating that it has been accepted for publication.  All submissions must include contact data (e‑mail, fax, phone, address).  The Prize Committee will acknowledge receipt of the submission by e‑mail.

Printed submissions must be sent to: Professor Iain Scobbie, Department of Law, School of Oriental and African Studies, Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square, London,   WC1H 0XG, United Kingdom

Electronic submissions must be sent to: is17{at}soas.ac.uk

Please indicate clearly in the subject line that the email concerns a submission for the Lieber Prize.

Prize:   The Selection Committee will select one submission for the award of the Francis Lieber Prize in the book category and one in the article category. The Prizes consist of $500, a certificate of recognition, and a year’s membership of the American Society of International Law.  The winner of the Lieber Prize in both categories will be announced at the American Society of International Law’s Annual Meeting in March 2012.

In 2011, the winners were:

Tom Ruys, of the Catholic University of Leuven, for his monograph “Armed attack and Article 51 of the UN Charter” (Cambridge UP: 2010)

Naz Modirzadeh, Associate Director of the Program on Humanitarian Policy and Conflict Research, Harvard University, for her article “The dark sides of convergence: a pro-civilian critique of the extraterritorial application of human rights law in armed conflict”, 86 International Law Studies (US Naval War College) 349 (2010).

Today Anne Orford of the University of Melbourne Law School, JHH Weiler of the NYU School of Law, and Dino Kritsiotis of the University of Nottingham School of Law launched the Annual Junior Faculty Forum for International Law. The Forum is designed to assist junior faculty, i.e. those within the first six years of their academic careers, with their research by staging an annual competition in which six to nine individuals will be selected and asked to make presentations to the Forum in a given year: these presentations will then be paired with senior international legal scholars, who will comment on each of the presentations given to the Forum, so that the papers are eventually worked up and prepared for publication. The Forum will be an annual event on the international law calendar, and the inaugural Forum will be hosted in New York City by the Jean Monnet Center for International and Regional Economic Law & Justice; it will occur in May 2012.

Further particulars of the process are now available on www.annualjuniorfacultyforumIL.org . Selected presentations from the inaugural forum will be published in a special issue of the EJIL.

On the 4th of July, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) decided that Greece can intervene in the Jurisdictional Immunities of the State case (Germany v. Italy). The case concerns a claim by Germany that Italian courts have failed to respect the sovereign immunity of Germany in cases brought in Italian courts dealing with human rights violations by Germany during World War II. In addition to cases originating in Italy, Germany alleges that Italian courts have acted in breach of international law by enforcing, in Italy, the judgment of the Greek courts in the Distomo massacre case. Greece’s request for intervention relates to the aspect of the case that deals with enforcement of the Greek judgments (which relate to claims by Greek nationals). The ICJ’s decision permits intervention only in relation to that aspect of the case. For more details on Greece’s request to intervene, see the post by Antonios Tzanakopoulos and for more on the original case, see my own post from when the case was first filed in 2009.

I believe that this is only the third time in the history of the present Court in which intervention under Article 62 of the ICJ Statute has been permitted. Article 62 permits a State which has an interest of a legal nature in the subject matter of the case to apply to the Court for permission to intervene. In most cases, where Article 62 intervention has been requested, the ICJ has denied the request. Most recently (in May of this year), the Court denied requests for intervention by Honduras and Costa Rica in the Territorial and Maritime Dispute (Nicaragua v Colombia) (see decisions here and here). The ICJ’s decision to permit Greece’s intervention in the Immunities case was reached without the Court holding a hearing on the issue. This is because neither of the two original parties to the case (Germany and Italy) objected to the intervention. Greece will be intervening as a non-party to the case, meaning that it will not be bound by the decision of the Court but it cannot put it’s own claims at issue.

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On Monday of this week, the International Court of Justice indicated provisional measures in the case between Cambodia and Thailand regarding the Temple of Preah Vihear. The case was filed earlier this year after confrontations between the armed forces of both States in the area of the Temple. The case concerns a request by Cambodia for interpretation of the judgment that the ICJ issued in 1962 in the orignal dispute between the two States. In that earlier judgment, the Court had found that “the Temple of Preah Vihear is situated in territory under the sovereignty of Cambodia;” and that “Thailand is under an obligation to withdraw any military or police forces, or other guards or keepers, stationed by her at the Temple, or in its vicinity on Cambodian territory.” In the request for interpretation, Cambodia is asking the Court to clarify the meaning of the phrase “vicinity on Cambodian territory”, to state that the obligation to withdraw from that vicinity is a continuing obligation (and not a one time obligation fulfilled back in 1962). Most importantly, it seems to me, Cambodia is asking the Court to state that its 1962 judgment recognized with binding effect the frontier line that was indicated on the so called “Annex 1 map” extensively discussed by the Court back in 1962 (but which was not referred to in the operative part of the judgment). In other words, Cambodia wishes the court to clarify that the 1962 judgment did not just recognise that the Temple and its vicinity is are on Cambodian territory but determined the frontier between the two State more generally.

 In its provisional measures order, the Court went beyond the request by Cambodia which was that the Court order Thailand to withdraw its forces from those parts of Cambodian territory in the area of the Temple. Instead, the Court decided to address its orders to both parties and ordered:

Both Parties shall immediately withdraw their military personnel currently present in the provisional demilitarized zone, as defined in paragraph 62 of the present Order, and refrain from any military presence within that zone and from any armed activity directed at that zone;

The order was criticised by a number of dissenting judges (President Owada, Judges Al Khasawneh, Xue, Donoghue & Judge ad hoc Cot) because the provisional demilitarized zone not only required the parties to withdraw from the territory in dispute but also from territory indisputably under their own sovereignty (see also post by Julian Ku at Opinio Juris). I will return to this point later.

However, the main thing I want to do is to highlight two developments that may not be easily noticed in the Court’s recent case law on provisional measures. The first of these developments is that the in the past couple of years the Court has actually introduced an additional requirement for the indication of provisional measure. The second is that the Court (in a return to earlier practice) is more prescriptive in indicating provisional measures than it has been at some points in its history.

The Relationship between Provisional Measures Orders and the Merits of the Case

Traditionally, there have been three conditions which must be fulfilled for the indication of provisional measures. First of all, there must be prima facie jurisdiction. Secondly, the measures requested must be related or linked to the claim or rights which form the subject matter of the main proceedings. Thirdly, the situation must be one of urgency, meaning that there must be a risk of irreparable prejudice to the rights at stake. Now the court has added, without much discussion, a fourth requirement that:

“the Court may exercise this power [to indicate provisional measures] only if it is satisfied that the rights asserted by a party are at least plausible” (Cambodia v. Thailand Provisional Measures order, para. 33)

This requirement was first added in the Obligation to Prosecute or Extradite case (Belgium v. Senegal) of 2009. What the Court is now saying is that there must be some relationship between success on the merits of the underlying claim and the indication of provisional measures. It is not enough just to claim rights and to show that the measures requested relate to the claim. The underlying claim itself must have some merit to it. (more…)

European University Institute, PhD Training School

A three-day doctoral training school shall be held at the European University Institute, Florence, on October 20-22, 2011, in context of COST Action 1003.

The topic of this training school will be “the vices and virtues of international constitutionalism”, and submissions are invited from PhD students working in areas related to this topic who are interested in debating the topic with fellow PhD students and with internationally recognised experts in the field of interntional constitutionalism. .

The doctoral training school is intended to bring PhD students from different European countries together on topics related to COST Action 1003, International Law between Constitutionalisation and Fragmentation: the role of law in the post-national constellation. (to be found at the Action website: http://www.il-cf.eu/ ).  Support can be offered to PhD students from participating countries. Currently the following countries participate in the Action: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Israel, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, United Kingdom, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Hungary, Ireland, Sweden and the European Institute in Florence. Serbia, South Africa and Australia are currently applying for partnership.

Topic

Two recent tendencies have shaped recent discourses on international constitutionalism. On one side, the expansion of international law to areas never touched before has put into question the legitimacy and ability of international law in managing subjects that belonged previously to states. On the other side, international law is fragmenting into functionally separated regimes, challenging the unity and coherence of international law. (more…)

From: Dr. Kathleen Cavanaugh, Senior Lecturer, Irish Centre for Human Rights, National University of Ireland & Prof. Joshua Castellino, Professor of Law & Head of Law Department, Middlesex University, London, United Kingdom.

Over the last half a century the discourse of public international has been enlivened by a growing emphasis on international human rights law, spawning robust debate and discussion, and also the creation of an imperfect system of accountability for crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide. In the last two decades in particular, the scholarship and activism of Professor William Schabas has had a significant impact on the growth and direction of the normative frameworks around these subjects. In addition through his own engagement in different theatres, Professor Schabas has also contributed to the spread of implementation models worldwide, and has supervised a growing number of successful doctoral contributions that have further enhanced the quality of the debate. His sterling role on the Sierra Leone Truth Commission is but one manifestation that that his contribution has spread well beyond the realms of the classroom: recognition that is also reflected in the bestowal of the Order of Canada upon him for his contribution to human rights.

On the occasion of his 60^th year, we are seeking contributions from scholars, practitioners, judges and others that critically engage with the published contributions of Professor William Schabas. We seek this in the belief that the best testament to a scholar is a critical engagement with their work. We therefore invite contributions of between 8,000 and 10,000 words, in English or French that critically assess the work and impact of Professor Schabas’ writing. The book is likely to be published by Cambridge University Press and will therefore adhere to the house style of that publisher, with further details provided with the invitation letter to those whose abstracts have been accepted. The range of topics that we anticipate include: genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, the creation and functioning of the International Criminal Court, the death penalty, the concept of reservations to treaties, norms of jus cogens, minority rights, religion and human rights, truth commissions, reparative justice and  other topics including literature and human rights.

To be considered for publication we request interested authors submit a 500 word abstract, outlining the general thrust of their contribution and highlighting the aspect of Professor Schabas’ scholarship that will be engaged. This abstract should be sent to either of the two editors by the 1^st of October 2011. (more…)

The European Court has announced today that on Thursday next week, 7 July, it will hand down its long awaited Grand Chamber judgments in Al-Skeini and Al-Jedda, both against the United Kingdom. See more in Waiting for the Als, and in my case preview. We will of course strive to have quick commentary on the judgments once they come out – let’s hope they were worth the wait!

On Monday, the International Criminal Court’s Pre-Trial Chamber I issued a decision acceding to the ICC Prosecutor’s request for an arrest warrant for Libyan leader Muammur Gaddafi, his son Saif Al Islam Gaddafi and head of the Libyan military intelligence Abdullah Al Sanusi (see previous post on the request). The situation in Libya was referred to the ICC by the UN Security Council under Security Council resolution 1970. The three persons who were the  subject of this request were alleged by the Prosecutor to be responsible for crimes against humanity within the jurisdiction of the ICC Statute. As was widely expected, the Pre-Trial Chamber has issued warrants of arrest for all 3 accused persons. In its decision, which was based on Article 58 of the ICC Statute, the Chamber found that there are “reasonable grounds to believe” that all three are responsible for murder and persecution as crimes against humanity under Articles 7(1)(a) & 7(1)(h) of the Statute. Contrary to the request of the Prosecutor that the request for surrender should be directed solely to Libya, the Chamber decided that the request for surrender should be addressed to

“to the competent Libyan authorities in accordance with rule 176(2) of the Rules and to (i) all States Parties to the Statute; (ii) all of Libya’s neighboring States; and to (iii) the United Nations Security Council members that are not States Parties to the Statute;”

One pleasing point to note is that the Pre-Trial Chamber has dealt with this request pretty quickly. The Prosecutor’s request was made on May 16 (see previous post) and a decision has been made within 6 weeks. This contrasts very favourably with the 8 months that it took for the ICC to make an initial decision on the arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar Al Bashir. Given that these proceedings are ex parte (i.e without defence representation) and the Chamber appears to rely almost exclusively on material submitted by the Prosecution there is no reason for a delay in the decision.

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I am just on my way back from the 4th Research Forum of the European Society of International Law in Tallinn, Estonia. Many thanks are due to Lauri Malksoo and his team for organizing an excellent event. Some news from ESIL follow below.

The ESIL-ASIL-EJIL-HiiL symposium “Global Public Goods and the Plurality of Legal Orders” will be held at the European University Institute (EUI), Florence, on 24 -25 October 2011. The symposium is arranged by the Academy of European Law (EUI), the European Society of International Law, the American Society of International Law, the European Journal of International Law, and the HiiL project on Private Transnational Regulatory Regimes. Further details will be available on the ESIL website shortly.

The 5th ESIL Biennial Conference “Regionalism and International Law” will be held in Valencia, Spain, on 6-8 September 2012.

The 5th ESIL Research Forum “International Law as Profession’’ will be held in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, in May 2013. The Society particularly wishes to encourage younger scholars to engage in research, particularly empirical research, about the various aspects of the international legal profession and legal professionals.

Finally, ESIL would like to invite its members to register for the MILE 2.0 project, the first professional directory specifically dedicated to international law professionals. The database is fed by ESIL members themselves, who create and manage their profile online. All profiles can then be browsed or searched through a powerful search engine.