From God's home to people's house: Property struggles of church redevelopment

Religious organizations participate in urban redevelopment in various ways including redeveloping their churches. While the literature has attempted to explain church redevelopment from different perspectives, what has often been forgotten is the fundamental characteristic of churches as property in cities. Drawing on the established scholarship of legal geography, this article argues that the lens of property relations offers an insightful framework to examine church redevelopment. By presenting a case study in Hong Kong, this article unpacks the property struggles of church redevelopment to examine how that resulted from the conflicting property claims and why these claims emerged. This article contrasts and analyzes the religious and market-driven values underlying these claims in the context of a property-led society like Hong Kong. To understand how urban churches transform from God’s home to people’s house, it is necessary to recognize the diverse readings of property. In so doing, this article invites scholars to re-conceptualize urban struggles from the property lens

Les devoirs de protection et de préservation du milieu marin selon la Convention des Nations Unies sur le droit de la mer à l’aune de la sentence du Tribunal arbitral du 12 juillet 2016

La sentence du 12 juillet 2016 rendue par un Tribunal arbitral dans le cadre de la Convention des Nations Unies sur le droit de la mer (CNUDM) a suscité de nombreuses réactions. Elle règle un conflit opposant les Philippines à la République populaire de Chine (RPC) en Mer de Chine méridionale (MCM) et sanctionne les autorités chinoises sur de nombreux points. Au-delà des enjeux géopolitiques de cet arrêt, cet article questionne l’une des facettes de la CNUDM : sa capacité à améliorer la protection et la préservation des milieux marins. A partir d’un corpus issu de revues scientifiques chinoises, les auteurs relèvent que la plupart des arguments mobilisés renforcent et légitiment la position très ferme des autorités de la RPC. Ces dernières ont contesté toute la procédure arbitrale et refusé ses conclusions. Selon elles, le différend avec les Philippines porte sur un conflit de souveraineté. Il échappe donc aux compétences des instances arbitrales de la CNUDM. En insistant sur la question de la souveraineté, les autorités de la RPC se sont gardées de commenter les critiques contenues dans la sentence. Elles sont aussi restées silencieuses quant à leurs responsabilités et leurs manquements, en matière de protection du milieu marin en particulier. Cette analyse de la réception de la sentence du 12 juillet 2016 illustre les difficultés de la Convention à produire tous les effets escomptés, malgré l’urgence de la crise environnementale. Cette conclusion conforte la voix de celles et ceux qui appellent à une réforme profonde de la CNUDM.The July 12, 2016 award issued by an arbitral tribunal under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) has generated a lot of reaction. It settles a dispute between the Philippines and the People's Republic of China (PRC) in the South China Sea (SCS) and sanctions the Chinese authorities on many points. Beyond the geopolitical stakes of this ruling, this article questions one of its facets: the UNCLOS capacity to improve the protection and preservation of marine environments.Based on a corpus drawn from Chinese scientific journals, the authors note that most of the arguments reinforce and legitimize the very firm position of the PRC authorities. The latter have contested the entire arbitration procedure and rejected its conclusions. In their view, the dispute with the Philippines is a matter of sovereignty. It is therefore not within the jurisdiction of UNCLOS. By highlighting the issue of sovereignty, the PRC authorities have avoided commenting on the criticisms contained in the award. They also remained silent about their responsibilities and failures to protect the marine environment. This analysis of the receipt of the July 12, 2016 award illustrates the Convention’s difficulties in achieving its full effects, despite the urgency of the environmental crisis. This conclusion supports the voice of those who call for a profound reform of UNCLOS

Les devoirs de protection et de préservation du milieu marin selon la Convention des Nations Unies sur le droit de la mer à l’aune de la sentence du Tribunal arbitral du 12 juillet 2016

The July 12, 2016 award issued by an arbitral tribunal under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) has generated a lot of reaction. It settles a dispute between the Philippines and the People's Republic of China (PRC) in the South China Sea (SCS) and sanctions the Chinese authorities on many points. Beyond the geopolitical stakes of this ruling, this article questions one of its facets: the UNCLOS capacity to improve the protection and preservation of marine environments.Based on a corpus drawn from Chinese scientific journals, the authors note that most of the arguments reinforce and legitimize the very firm position of the PRC authorities. The latter have contested the entire arbitration procedure and rejected its conclusions. In their view, the dispute with the Philippines is a matter of sovereignty. It is therefore not within the jurisdiction of UNCLOS. By highlighting the issue of sovereignty, the PRC authorities have avoided commenting on the criticisms contained in the award. They also remained silent about their responsibilities and failures to protect the marine environment. This analysis of the receipt of the July 12, 2016 award illustrates the Convention’s difficulties in achieving its full effects, despite the urgency of the environmental crisis. This conclusion supports the voice of those who call for a profound reform of UNCLOS