Countermeasures

As used in modern practice, judicial decisions, and literature, the term “countermeasures” covers the main part of the classical subject of “reprisals,” to which the first monographs of international law were devoted in the 14th century (B. de Sassoferrato and G. de Legnano). Two features used to be attached to countermeasures: (a) they are unilateral or individual measures adopted directly and independently by a state that takes the law into its own hands as based on the state’s “subjective” qualification of another state’s prior act as illegal (“selfhelp” or “self-protection”); (b) the measures would be essentially illegal if not for the fundamental prerequisite of the “objective” existence of a prior wrongful act committed by the state against which the countermeasures are adopted, and for the fulfillment of other requirements, substantive limits, and procedural conditions. In legal literature sometimes countermeasures not only include these measures but also those called “retorsion”: these are unfriendly and perhaps also retaliatory but not illegal irrespective of the conduct of the state these measures are taken against. The measures of retorsion have fallen outside the scope of the International Law Commission’s (ILC’s) work on international responsibility. On the other hand, countermeasures are not always differentiated from “sanctions” (or institutionalized coercive measures), and from unilateral measures to enforce “sanctions.” The development of judicial and institutional processes for furthering compliance and enforcement in general international law has not yet excluded such unsatisfactory legal remedies, as states’ practice and opinio juris (or the judicial decisions) prove. Legal scholars are also practically unanimous to recognize the admissibility of law enforcement through countermeasures, whether they consider it expressly or implicitly an exception or a right/faculty (or duty) of states. And so, this recognition is extended to international organizations. The ILC has taken note of all that, having contributed to the more precise development and definition of the countermeasures’ legal regime. The debates have been mainly on the conditions and restrictions to neutralize or reduce the risk of abuse, less on the pros and cons of the codification of that regime. Concerning the legality and legitimacy of countermeasures, there are other requirements related to, inter alia, their object (law-enforcement, not punishment), necessity and proportionality, temporary and reversible character, or the other obligations where fulfillment cannot be suspended as a countermeasure, all of them addressed by the ILC’s draft articles on responsibility

The European Union, the Arctic, and International Law

The European Union (EU) is willing to participate as much as possible at the negotia tion table to meet the challenges that the Arctic poses and benefit from the opportuni ties it offers. But the relationship between the EU and the Arctic is ‘problematic’ for both external (EU difficulties particularly with Canada and Russia) and internal rea sons (substantive competing interests and ambivalent policies, discrepancies among member States and within EU institutions …). Without a specific policy tradition or a direct geographical link, the EU has not yet gained legitimacy to become a key ‘Arctic actor’ or stakeholder. The EU needs to take an active stance on issues relating to the Arctic (including maritime delimitation, which is critical for determining navigational rights, the scope of Art. 234, etc.); because otherwise, the EU reduces its chances to make an impact on the relevant international fora and, ultimately, on making and implementing Arctic international la

Terrorismo y Derecho Internacional: desarrollos normativos e institucionales tras el 11-S

La «realidad» del terrorismo y de la lucha contra el terrorismo no son una novedad de nuestros días, pero sin duda presentan unas dimensiones muy novedosas en la actualidad. Podría recurrirse a un lugar común: hemos pasado del terrorismo local (nacional) al terrorismo global, y la respuesta al terrorismo, cada vez más necesariamente internacional, también exige proporcionarse a esa escala. Las novedades del terrorismo pueden ilustrarse con los cambios en las distintas «generaciones» de terroristas y de actos y actividades terroristas. Desde el terrorismo de signo anarquista de fines del siglo XIX y principios del XX hasta la aparición de Al-Qaida o el llamado Estado Islámico de Irak y el Levante (EIIL o Daesh), pasando por toda una diversidad de organizaciones y actos y actividades terroristas que, a veces, no es posible distinguir de rebeldes, insurgentes, guerrilleros u otras fuerzas y grupos armados no gubernamentales, o de los grupos militares y paramilitares que caracterizan el llamado «terrorismo de Estado». En verdad, los nuevos terroristas –cuyos actos y actividades desbordan a veces la imaginación común– aprovechan la mayor vulnerabilidad de nuestras sociedades, cada día más complejas. Se prevalen tanto las libertades que ofrecen los (algunos) Estados como los «fallos» de los (algunos) Estados. De este modo, es usual que, allá donde existen, los espacios de libertades se utilicen al servicio del terror (por ejemplo, las libertades de circulación de personas, mercancías o capitales, o de servicios como los transportes o las TICs). Y que, particularmente en los Estados «fallidos» (Afganistán, Irak, Siria, Libia...), el terrorismo esté interconectado con la delincuencia transnacional organizada, aprovechando para fines terroristas los recursos obtenidos a través del narcotráfico, el lavado de dinero, el tráfico ilícito de armas y materiales nucleares, químicos o biológicos ... y de petróleo, antigüedades, inmigrantes y otras personas, etc. etc

Las Naciones Unidas y el terrorismo internacional

Libro completo en: http://www.exteriores.gob.es/Portal/es/SalaDePrensa/Multimedia/Publicaciones/Documents/2006PUB/LAS%20NACIONES%20UNIDAS%20DESDE%20ESPA%C3%91A.pd

In memory of Antônio Augusto Cançado Trindade (1947-2022), humanist and (re)humanizer of international law

El fallecimiento del profesor y juez Antônio Augusto Cançado Trindade ha causado innumerables y hondas muestras de dolor, admiración y respeto, desde la academia o desde organizaciones, organismos y agencias internacionales, pasando por medios de comunicación y el propio gobierno brasileño. El historial académico, docente e investigador de Antônio A. Cançado Trindade, y su experiencia como asesor jurídico y como juez, son impresionantes y fueron merecedores de innumerables homenajes y reconocimientos en vida. Destacamos su condición de miembro del Curatorium de la Academia de Derecho Internacional de La Haya, porque allí coincidió con el profesor Juan Antonio Carrillo Salcedo entre 2004 y 2012, y esa circunstancia hizo que estrecharan amistad dos de los más insignes defensores e impulsores del proceso de (re)humanización del Derecho internacional. En sus escritos académicos y en su actividad judicial en la CtIADH y, por tratarse de una jurisdicción esencialmente interestatal, en la CIJ, el profesor y juez Cançado Trindade trató de reforzar el orden público internacional. Las lecciones extraídas de la labor judicial y de los votos emitidos por el juez Cançado Trindade en la CtIADH y en la CIJ ponen de manifiesto la concepción particular del Derecho internacional defendida a lo largo de su vida: un nuevo Derecho internacional para la persona humana que implica la superación del positivismo jurídico –defendido particularmente por la CIJ en sus sentencias– que se encuentra desacreditado, como defiende dicho autor en sus votos, por el hecho de que por encima de la voluntad de los Estados se encuentra la conciencia humana. Este proceso de humanización, como habría venido defendiendo el profesor Cançado Trindade desde hace más de cuatro décadas, ha dado lugar al despertar de una conciencia jurídica universal que tendría como objetivo central reconstruir las bases del Derecho internacional, apoyándose en un nuevo paradigma, no exclusivamente interestatal, en el que la persona humana ocupe una posición central y en el que sus disposiciones normativas positivicen los intereses colectivamente legitimados por la humanidad en su conjuntoThe death of Professor and Judge Antônio Augusto Cançado Trindade has caused countless expressions of grief, admiration and respect, from academia to international organizations, bodies and agencies, from the media to the Brazilian government itself. Many scientific journals have honored and will honor his memory after his death, but his legacy will undoubtedly live on forever. Antônio A. Cançado Trindade’s academic, teaching and research record, and his experience as a legal adviser and judge, are impressive and merited countless tributes and acknowledgements during his lifetime. We highlight his status as a member of the Curatorium of The Hague Academy of International Law, because he met there Professor Juan Antonio Carrillo Salcedo, then Full Professor of the University of Seville, between 2004 and 2012. Few academics have left a mark comparable to that of Antônio A. Cançado Trindade, both in the theory and, particularly, in the practice of international law. It is sufficient to examine his activity as an international judge, which he did not in any way dissociate from his legal thinking as an academic, but, on the contrary, with an uncommon consistency in defending his ideas in the forum and translating them into law. The lessons drawn from Judge Cançado Trindade’s judicial work and votes at the IACtHR and the ICJ highlight the particular conception of international law defended throughout his life: a new international law for the human beings which implies the overcoming of legal positivism - particularly defended by the ICJ in its judgments - which is discredited, as he argues in his votes, by the fact that the human conscience is above the will of the states

Crónica de derecho internacional público y derecho de la Unión Europea. Año 2014

La «Crónica de Derecho Internacional Público. Año 2014» pretende abarcar algunos de los desarrollos habidos durante 2014 en diversas instituciones y regímenes internacionales, tanto en el ámbito universal como en el ámbito regional europeo. Primero se pone de manifiesto la labor llevada a cabo por los principales órganos jurídicos de la ONU (en particular, la Sexta Comisión y la Comisión de Derecho Internacional). Después, se aborda la práctica judicial internacional, en particular la actividad de la Corte Internacional de Justicia, del Tribunal Internacional del Derecho del Mar, así como la solución de controversias en el seno de la OMC, y la actividad de la Corte Penal Internacional. De entre los distintos regímenes internacionales, se presta especial atención a los desarrollos habidos en el Derecho de la Unión Europea. También se indican los acuerdos internacionales que han conformado la práctica convencional española.The Public International Law and European Union Law report deals with some institutional and normative regime developments occurred in 2013. Starting with the United Nations, it is particularly taken into consideration the work realized by the Sixth Commission and the International Law Commission. Attention is also paid to International Tribunals, the International Criminal Court included, and the settlement of disputes in the WTO. Moving to the international regimes, attention is focused on the European Union Law. It is also showed the international agreements concluded by Spain

An inventory system with time-dependent demand and partial backordering under return on inventory investment maximization

Producción CientíficaIn this article, we study an inventory system for items that have a power demand pattern and where shortages are allowed. We suppose that only a fixed proportion of demand during the stock-out period is backordered. The decision variables are the inventory cycle and the ratio between the initial stock and the total quantity demanded throughout the inventory cycle. The objective is to maximize the Return on Inventory Investment (ROII) defined as the ratio of the profit per unit time over the average inventory cost. After analyzing the objective function, the optimal global solutions for all the possible cases of the inventory problem are determined. These optimal policies that maximize the ROII are, in general, different from those that minimize the total inventory cost per unit time. Finally, a numerical sensitivity analysis of the optimal inventory policy with respect to the system input parameters and some useful managerial insights derived from the results are presented.Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades - Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (project MTM2017-84150-P

Profitability index maximization in an inventory model with a price- and stock-dependent demand rate in a power-form

Producción CientíficaThis paper presents the optimal policy for an inventory model where the demand rate potentially depends on both selling price and stock level. The goal is the maximization of the profitability index, defined as the ratio income/expense. A numerical algorithm is proposed to calculate the optimal selling price. The optimal values for the depletion time, the cycle time, the maximum profitability index, and the lot size are evaluated from the selling price. The solution shows that the inventory must be replenished when the stock is depleted, i.e., the depletion time is always equal to the cycle time. The optimal policy is obtained with a suitable balance between ordering cost and holding cost. A condition that ensures the profitability of the financial investment in the inventory is established from the initial parameters. Profitability thresholds for several parameters, including the scale and the non-centrality parameters, keeping all the others fixed, are evaluated. The model with an isoelastic price-dependent demand is solved as a particular case. In this last model, all the optimal values are given in a closed form, and a sensitivity analysis is performed for several parameters, including the scale parameter. The results are illustrated with numerical examples.Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades y Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER) - (project MTM2017-84150-P