The practices of apartheid as a war crime: a critical analysis

The human suffering caused by the political ideology of apartheid in South Africa during the Apartheid era (1948-1994) prompted worldwide condemnation and a variety of diplomatic and legal responses. Amongst these responses was the attempt to have apartheid recognised both as a crime against humanity in the 1973 Apartheid Convention as well as a war crime in Article 85(4)(c) of Additional Protocol I. This article examines the origins, nature and current status of the practices of apartheid as a war crime and its possible application to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

Between learning and schooling: the politics of human rights monitoring at the Universal Periodic Review

This paper explores the politics of monitoring at the Universal Periodic Review (UPR), a new United Nations human rights monitoring mechanism which aims to promote a universal approach and equal treatment when reviewing each country’s human rights situation. To what extent are these laudable aims realised, and realisable, given entrenched representations of the West and the Rest as well as geopolitical and economic inequalities both historically and in the present? Based on ethnographic fieldwork at the UN in 2010–11, the final year of the UPR’s first cycle, we explore how these aims were both pursued and subverted, paying attention to two distinct ways of talking about the UPR: first, as a learning culture in which UN member states ‘share best practice’ and engage in constructive criticism; and second, as an exam which UN member states face as students with vastly differing attitudes and competences. Accounts and experiences of diplomats from states that are not placed in the ‘good students’ category offer valuable insights into the inherent contradictions of de-historicised and de-contextualised approaches to human rights

(Certified) Humane Violence? Animal Production, the Ambivalence of Humanizing the Inhumane, and What International Humanitarian Law Has to Do with It

The chapter draws a comparison with the self-certifying of production methods as ‘humane’ or animal-friendly in the labelling of animal products—that is, according to companies’ own self-imposed codes of conduct. It likens the idea of humanizing animal slaughter, factory farms, and other forms of production to the notion of humanizing warfare. Like international humanitarian law (IHL), animal welfare law is marked by the tension inherent in its attempt to humanize innately inhumane practices. Given these parallels, the analysis of animal welfare law might benefit from existing insights into the potential and limits of IHL. Both areas of law endorse a principle of ‘humanity’ while arguably facilitating and legitimizing the use of violence, and might thereby ultimately perpetuate the suffering of living beings. The implicit justification of violence percolating from the IHL-like animal ‘protection’ laws could only be outweighed by complementing this body of law with a ius contra bellum for animals

The International Law of Secession and the Protection of the Human Rights of Oppressed Sub-State Groups: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

This paper focuses on significant patterns/features in the historical development of the international law of secession and its contribution over time (or the lack thereof) to the struggle to afford greater protection to oppressed sub-state groups the world over. It was Crawford Young who once observed that “the state as an analytical quarry is an elusive and complex prey.” With the necessary modifications, this observation applies with almost equal force to the international law of secession. Complexity and confusion loom too large in this area of international law. For example, there is, at best, little clarity in the literature of the discipline of international law and in related fields of study regarding the existence or otherwise of an international legal entitlement to secession in favor of even the most highly oppressed and subjugated sub-state groups

NAFTA Chapter 11 as Supraconstitution

More and more legal scholars are turning to constitutional law to make sense of the growth of transnational and international legal orders. They often employ constitutional terminology loosely, in a bewildering variety of ways, with little effort to clarify their analytical frameworks or acknowledge the normative presuppositions embedded in their analysis. The potential of constitutional analysis as an instrument of critique of transnational legal orders is frequently lost in methodological confusion and normative controversy. An effort at clarification is necessary. We propose a functional approach to supraconstitutional analysis that applies across issue areas, accommodates variation in kinds and degrees of supraconstitutionalization, recognizes its simultaneously domestic and transnational character, and reflects its uneven incidence and impacts. We apply this framework to NAFTA to consider whether and how it superimposes a supraconstitutional legal order on member states\u27 domestic constitutional orders. We show that the main thrust of this contemporary supraconstitutional project is to restructure state and international political forms to promote market efficiency and discipline, enable free capital movement, confer privileged rights of citizenship and representation on corporate capital, insulate key aspects of the economy from state interference, and constrain democratic decision-making

Official Discrepancies: Kosovo Independence and Western European Rhetoric

This article examines approaches and official discrepancies characterising Western European rhetoric with regard to the Kosovo status question. Since the early 1980s, Kosovo has been increasingly present in European debates, culminating with the 1999 international intervention in the region and subsequent talks about its final status. Although the Kosovo Albanians proclaimed independence in February 2008 and the majority of EU Member States decided to recognise Kosovo as an independent state, Western European rhetoric has been rather divided. This article shows that in addition to five EU members who have decided not to recognise Kosovo from the very beginning, and thus are powerful enough to affect its further progress, both locally and internationally, some of the recognisers, although having abandoned the policy of ‘standards before status’, have also struggled to develop full support for the province – a discrepancy that surely questions the overall Western support for Kosovo’s independence

Prevalence of Hirschsprung-associated enterocolitis in patients with Hirschsprung disease

Purpose!#!Hirschsprung's associated enterocolitis (HAEC) is a complication of Hirschsprung's Disease (HD) with considerable morbidity and mortality. The variability in presentation leads to a wide variety of the reported prevalence pre-and postoperatively. This systematic review aimed to clarify the prevalence of HAEC in short-(S-HD), long (L-HD), TCA and the type of operation used.!##!Methods!#!A systematic literature-based search for relevant cohorts was performed using Pubmed/Medline, Cochrane Library from its inception to May 2021. Studies reporting on pre-and postoperative enterocolitis, segment length, and surgical procedure (Soave, Swenson, Duhamel) were included. Pooled prevalence and subgroup analysis have been calculated for pre-and postoperative HAEC.!##!Results!#!4738 articles were identified from the literature search, among which 57 studies, including 9744 preoperative and 8568 postoperative patients, were included. The groups were sorted by length of the aganglionic segment for further analysis. The pooled prevalence for preoperative HAEC was 18.3% for all types, 15.2% for S-HD and 26.1% for TCA. The pooled prevalence for postoperative HAEC was in total 18.2% for all segment lengths and used techniques. Subgroup analysis showed no significant difference in the occurrence of postoperative enterocolitis between the three techniques.!##!Conclusion!#!The prevalence of preoperative HAEC increases with segment length. However, pooled data suggest that the postoperative risk for developing HAEC, independently of the employed method and segment length, is comparable to the preoperative risk

Menschenrechtssicherungen der internationalen Praxis

Lecture held in Saarbruecken, 20 January 1984SIGLEBibliothek Weltwirtschaft Kiel A150,615 / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische InformationsbibliothekDEGerman

Le tyrannicide en droit international

Drawing on practice pertaining to the killing of Saddam Hussein, Hailé Sélassié, Nicolae Ceausescu etc., the paper explores various legal aspects of a tyrannicide in International Law. It expounds more particularly on the legal problems caused by the murder of a head of State from the standpoint of the right to life of the tyran and from the angle of democracy. It also provides some insights from the vantage point of international criminal law. The paper argues that very limited consequences are attached in international law to the tyrannical character of a head of State who is deprived of his life