Two Weeks in Review, 12-26 April 2020

Given the high volume of posts in recent weeks, we thought it might be helpful to provide a curated overview of everything we have recently published. Our aim is to do this every two weeks.

EJIL related posts

The new issue of EJIL was published on 21 April 2020. The Table of Contents was first released, followed by the editorials written by EJIL’s Editors-in-Chief, including In this Issue,  Brexit – Apportioning the Blame, Once Upon a Time is Catalonia, and Celebrating Peer Review, in which the journal announced a EJIL Peer Review Prize, awarding the first to Professor Dr Tilmann Altwicker.

A new EJIL:Live! episode was released, in which Professor Joseph Weiler speaks with Dr Michelle Burgis-Kasthala, about her article “Entrepreneurial Justice: Syria, the Commission for International Justice and Accountability and the Renewal of International Criminal Justice”.

Following this, we made an exciting announcement of a new international law podcast EJIL: The Podcast!  hosted by Sarah Nouwen, Philippa Webb, Dapo Akande and Marko Milanovic. Episode One: Contagion is now available to listen to:

We published the concluding pieces in the two EJIL: Debates! featured in the new EJIL issue. Nicolas Lamp whose article provided three possible narratives on how we could or should think about those who benefit and those who lose from globalization, responded to the debate with Bernard Hoekman and Douglas Nelson. Wendy Ng whose article had analysed the norms of international competition law against the backdrop of rising economic powers and examined if and how China will contest and change this regime responded to Eleanor Fox’s reply to her article.

COVID related posts

Patricia Zghibarta discussed COVID-19 related derogations from the ECHR by 9 former members of the Eastern/Communist bloc, noting the length of the emergency measures and that other state parties, facing similar or larger numbers of COVID-19 cases, chose not to resort to derogation.

Marko Milanovic wrote a series of posts on ‘Viral Misinformation and the Freedom of Expression’. Part I addressed the circumstances in which the freedom of expression might be restricted, Part II mapped out the sources of misinformation and discussed the responsibility of states promoting misinformation, and Part III evaluated the responses to misinformation by states and media companies and assessed these responses within the framework of human rights law.

Henning Grosse Ruse-Khan wrote two posts on access to COVID-19 treatment and intellectual property concerns. The first post considered the treatment states are obliged to protect under national patent laws, and how this affects access to affordable treatment. The second post looked at test data protection as another legal hurdle and whether national security exceptions can overcome problems of access.

Alina Miron considered the increasing array of port restrictions and denials due to COVID-19 and their impact on international trade and the crew aboard these ships.

Rana Moustafa Fouad asked whether the events of COVID-19 reveal an emerging acceptance of a legal duty to cooperate among States in providing disaster relief.

Andrea Maria Pelliconi discussed whether the decision to close Italian ports is compliant with human rights obligations, in particular obligations allowing people in distress at sea to land in a ‘place of safety’.

Sarthak Roy and Niriksha Sanghvi commented on the COVID-19 lockdown in India, arguing for a tailored approach to lockdowns to ensure they are not discriminatory or used to exacerbate the existing inequalities and vulnerabilities within India.

Siddharth S Aatreya considered whether COVID-19 related trade restrictions are compliant with WTO obligations.

Non COVID related posts

Jonathan G. Odom examined whether the EU is applying its overfishing regulation with a double standard benefitting China.

Prasanna Mahat provided her take on the Caribbean Court of Justice’s Advisory Opinion on the Right to Movement within the Caribbean Community.

Jorge Viñuales marks the 50^thanniversary of the UN Friendly Relations Declaration by discussing the importance of generalist international lawyers.

Finally, you can review recent Announcements and Events here.