Economic Development

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Right to Development in Today’s Draft Convention: Retransformation into a State’s Right?

March 21, 2022

From 22 to 26 November 2021, the 22nd session of the Intergovernmental Working Group on the Right to Development (IGWG) was held at the Human Rights Council (HRC). At this forum, States, international organizations and NGOs discussed and elaborated upon the Draft Convention on the Right to Development (DCRTD). As two IGWG sessions have been held since the first submission of the DCRTD in January 2020, it is worth reviewing the original text and its most recent negotiation status before the finalization of a revised version of the DCRTD, which is due before the 23rd IGWG in May 2022. As a precursor of the third generation human rights, the right to development (RTD) has established, at least in theory, its logic as a human right that saves the rights and dignity of the most vulnerable (see also Diane Desierto’s article in this blog). However, an analysis comparing the DCRTD and its most recent negotiations with other international documents reveals that this concept is at risk of being retransformed into an instrument…

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Energy Lessons from the Ukraine Crisis

February 24, 2022

It is a cliché that wars are fought over energy access.  It is just as trite to point out the illegality of military action to secure energy resources for oneself or to deny energy access to adversaries.  As sanctions against Russia and against Ukrainian separatist regions come into focus, energy access again comes front and center.  Germany’s…

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Will the Morocco-Nigeria Bilateral Investment Treaty Transform Sustainable Development into Hard Law?

January 27, 2022

The SDGs have now received virtually global endorsement. At the same time, new BITs have emerged which incorporate both the SDGs and the concept of sustainable development. This includes Morocco-Nigeria BIT 2016 (‘the Treaty’) which may prove to be the IIA that transforms sustainable development from a ‘mere’ political commitment or soft law into a hard legal obligation…

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International Economic Law in a Time of Global Perils: Omicron and other COVID variants, Climate Change, Human Rights, and Development

November 29, 2021

The World Trade Organization decided to indefinitely postpone its 12th Ministerial Conference, originally scheduled for this week (30 November to 3 December), due to travel constraints for many delegations coming from countries that had already imposed travel bans and other restrictions due to the new Omicron variant.  The 12th Ministerial was slated to take up a…

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Just Transitions in Climate Change Actions: Are States Respecting, Promoting, and Considering Human Rights Obligations in Setting and Implementing NDCs?

October 8, 2021

Recent exchanges hosted on EJIL:Talk! on climate action and how to go about "mainstreaming" it (see here and here) provide a microcosmic view of the ongoing challenges of State policies to transition and transform economies to reach treaty commitments under the Paris Agreement, including States' commitments as indicated in their publicly registered nationally determined contributions.  International…

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