Two Weeks in Review, 16 – 29 August 2021

EJIL News

The latest issue of the European Journal of International Law  (Vol. 32 (2021) No. 2) is now out. The free access article in this issue is Andreas Von Arnauld’s How to Illegalize Past Injustice: Contemporary Discontent, Ethical Principles in International Law, and an Obligation to Negotiate.

EJIL subscribers have full access to the latest issue of the journal at EJIL’s Oxford University Press site. Apart from articles published in the last 12 months, EJIL articles are freely available on the EJIL website.

EJIL Editors in chief, Sarah Nouwen and Joseph Weiler, in their editorial reflected on what journals can do about the unequal impact of the pandemic on scholars with caring responsibilities and pledged to do what they can in their capacity as journal editors to address these disparities. They also published statistics on submissions, acceptances, and publications in EJIL with geographical, linguistic, and gender breakdowns. You can read more about these statistics here. Finally, Associate Editor, Michal Saliternik, walks us through what is in this issue, with Review Editor, Christian Tams, doing the same for the EJIL review section. 

EJIL: The Podcast!

In Episode 11 of the podcast, Joseph Weiler is joined by Helene Ruiz-Fabri, Photini Pazartzis and Marko Milanovic, to discuss the EJIL’s sister institution, the European Society of International Law (ESIL) – its foundation, mission, governance, and plans for the future, including the forthcoming annual conference in Stockholm.

Please subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or TuneIn. It is also available on several other platforms as well, and through aggregator apps on your phone or tablet. We would appreciate listeners leaving a rating or review on the platform of their choice, as this will help promote the podcast.

Blog posts

Pearce Clancy writes about the ICC’s appeals judgment in the Ntaganda case and its ‘confused and chaotic debate’ on the meaning of ‘attack’ within IHL and ICL. In the decision, the majority appeared to uphold a narrow understanding of ‘attack’, but at the same time there was little agreement on the required nexus to the conduct of hostilities element. Read more about Clancy’s take on the judgment here. 

Carlo Maria Colombo thinks about the relationship between cities and international institutions in his post. He looks at recent decisions by the World Heritage Committee and their impact on Liverpool, Vienna, and Venice. 

Oleksii Plotnikov discusses an overlooked aspect of the interstate complaint Russia brought against Ukraine in July of this year: the North Crimean Canal and Russian claims that Ukrainian actions to block the canal ‘amount to nothing less than attempted genocide’. Russia had requested interim measures from the ECtHR but this attempt was unsuccessful. Read more about the importance of the canal, the claims, and the possible arguments should the claim reach the merits stage here. 

Peter Hilpold advances an argument about the US’ Responsibility to Rebuild as part of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) framework in relation to Afghanistan. Hipold argues that ‘R2P is not dead and neither could it be argued that the Responsibility to Rebuild would be an utopian endeavor. Quite the contrary: The consequences of this responsibility not taken in Afghanistan are before our eyes.’

David Matyas examines the recent UK Nationality and Borders Bill and argues that the provisions relating to the assistance of unlawful migrants and asylum seekers, which seek to criminalise voluntary assistance, would mean closing the door to humanitarian assistance at sea in the UK. This would, Matyas argues, create a ‘catch-22’ situation for UK-flagged vessels: if they assist those in distress they risk criminal liability for their actions, and if they do not assist then they risk violating international law. 

Carlos J. Zelada writes about the Inter-American Court of Human Rights ruling in Vicky Hernández et al. v. Honduras, which applied for the first time the Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment and Eradication of Violence Against Women to a trans woman. The case also saw some interesting measures ordered of Honduras, including the making of a documentary about trans women in Honduras, establishing a scholarship in Vicky Hernández’s name and a gender recognition procedure for trans people. Read more here.

All recent Events and Announcements can be found here.

The European Journal of International Law has new advance articles and advance reviews available to read online.