Die Entwicklung der Völkerrechtslehre und -wissenschaft in der Schweiz: eine Übersicht = Teaching and research in public international law in Switzerland: an overview

How has the teaching of public international law evolved in the regions that make up Switzerland as of today? Are there any peculiarities that have influenced this development, and who have been the proponents and teachers that have educated Swiss lawyers? To what extent has the development of a proper tradition in this area been influenced by the academic traditions outside the territory of Switzerland? This article tries to give a first overview of these questions in order to allow future research in this still understudied field of law. Most of Switzerland has been a latecomer regarding university education and in particular theoretical legal education. While the intensification of Switzerland's international relations in the 19th century leads to the (slow) introduction of courses in public international law, the special role in the aftermath of the two world wars has certainly led to a stronger tradition in this field than in many other States of similar size, initially with a strong interaction with neighbouring States, in particular Germany and France

Die Rechte sexueller Minderheiten in Europa

In den letzten Jahren sind viele rechtliche Diskriminierungen sexueller Minderheiten insbesondere in Nord- und Westeuropa abgebaut worden. Dennoch bestehen zahlreiche Probleme weiter, so in Bezug auf das Adoptionsrecht oder auf Hassverbrechen. Besonders schwierig gestaltet sich die Situation von Transpersonen, vor allem weil eine Änderung des Geschlechts in den Personenstandsregistern erst in wenigen Staaten möglich ist

The World Trade Organization (WTO) in Need of Ecological Reform ? A Close Look at the Existing Proposals by the European Parliament.

As of 1998, the debate on ”Trade and Environment” has been going on for almost ten years. After the successful conclusion of the Uruguay Round in 1993 and in view of the newly created World Trade Organization (WTO) in 1994 many observers thought that the WTO would now approach the existing problems in this field without further delay. These expectations were reinforced by the Ministerial Decision on Trade and Environment on occasion of the signature of the Final Act in Marrakesh on 14 April 1994 and the creation of a Committee on Trade and Environment (CTE) in early 1995. The reality, however, proved to be different. After some initial enthusiasm, the impetus seems to have slowed down considerably and the work presented by the CTE at the first Meeting of the Contracting Parties of the WTO in December 1996 in Singapore was not up to the high expectations by environmentalists and international lawyers. While the current problems seem to be identified , the solutions suggested by legal writers, NGOs and other actors seem far from any form that could reach consensus. On the whole, there are only a few concrete proposals for a reform of the WTO and especially the GATT system. They generally ask for the introduction of substantive or procedural provisions into the existing treaties in order to take account of today’s regional and global ecological problems. The European Community due to its commercial strength is undoubtedly one of the main actors within the WTO besides the United States. It is therefore interesting to observe that, in particular, the European Parliament has closely followed the trade and environment de-bate since the early 1990s and actively participated in the debate on the ecological reform of the world trading system and, in particular, the WTO and thereby constantly pushed the Commission to take action (admittedly with variable success). The following article there-fore tries to analyse the development of the European Parliament’s various proposals over time in view of the current debate and to place their views and suggestions within the framework of the general debate in order to show which positions are taken by the European Parliament, how much they are backed by the Commission and the Council, and to what extent they contrast with the views expressed by other main actors such as NGOs, developing countries and the various international organisations involved

Teaching International Law as “Law of the Land” - Taking into Account the Domestic Nexus

International aspects play an immense role in the work of most lawyers today. One can even go further and say in order to understand most current challenges most people would need a better understanding of global problems and the potential (and limitations) of (international) law to deal with them. Nevertheless, in this contribution I shall focus on the specific requirements with regard to the training of future lawyers - irrespective of whether they will work as attorneys, judges, prosecutors, notaries, civil servants or as employees of companies, associations, ngo s, or international organizations. In my view, knowledge of how to deal with these aspects is of fundamental importance for the goal-oriented and high- quality training of lawyers. Ideally, these aspects should always be an essential part of the training, but this is only possible if sufficient basic knowledge and skills are guaranteed. Unfortunately, it is still very common that no compulsory courses of international law are taught to future lawyers. This is particularly common for larger countries where many legal transactions seem to be solely governed by domestic facts and law (though this is obviously most of the times a wrong assessment)

State Immunity – Trends and Problems Encountered in Recent Swiss Practice

The issue of state immunity has long been a very prominent topic in general international law as well as in (international) civil procedural law and debt recovery law. At different times, different aspects were of particular importance, so that there is nevertheless a certain dynamic that makes it appropriate to explain from time to time the current state of the legal debate and state practice. This contribution looks at historic and, in particular depth, at recent Swiss practice. At the moment, the theoretical focus worldwide is certainly on the issue of restricting state immunity in the event of serious human rights violations. The development with respect to the immunities for state organs (in particular the use of criminal law against individuals) may influence eventually the state practice regarding states as such. In the Swiss practice, the accepted limitations of state immunity for related to economic activities remain of particular relevance. The general acceptance of these restrictions of state immunity in the economic sphere, and the abundance of cases relying on this exception may pave the way for similar developments with regard to international crimes in order to make the international legal system somewhat more coherent in this respect as well

How global should legal education be? Recommendations based on the compulsory teaching in international aspects taught at Swiss law schools

International aspects play an immense role in the work of most lawyers today. Accordingly, knowledge of how to deal with these aspects is of fundamental importance for the goal-oriented and high-quality training of lawyers. Ideally, these aspects should always be an essential part of the training, but this is only possible if sufficient basic knowledge and skills are guaranteed. The main finding of this article is that most universities (in Switzerland - and this probably applies elsewhere) offer a good choice of courses covering international aspects of law but do not ensure that all their students get the minimum necessary. In addition, the language skills so necessary on the (Swiss) job market are too often left to the student and not guaranteed by the university when delivering a degree. A third finding is that it is not easy for students to find out which universities are more diligent regarding the adequate teaching of international aspects. Without a thorough introduction to the basic foundations and the skills necessary to find and apply non-domestic sources legal education in all areas of law is inadequate