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Would the world be a better place if one were to adopt a European approach to state immunity?
(2021)
This chapter argues not only that there is no European Sonderweg (or ‘special way’) when it comes to the law of state immunity but that there ought not to be one. Debates within The Hague Conference on Private International Law in the late 1990s and those leading to the adoption of the 2002 UN Convention on Jurisdictional Immunities of States, as well as the development of the EU Brussels Regulation on Jurisdiction and Enforcement, as amended in 2015, all demonstrate that state immunity was not meant to be limited by such treaties but ‘safeguarded’. Likewise, there is no proof that regional European customary law limits state immunity when it comes to ius cogens violations, as Italy and (partly) Greece are the only European states denying state immunity in such cases while the European Court of Human Rights has, time and again, upheld a broad concept of state immunity. It therefore seems unlikely that in the foreseeable future a specific European customary law norm on state immunity will develop, especially given the lack of participation in such practice by those states most concerned by the matter, including Germany. This chapter considers the possible legal implications of the jurisprudence of the Italian Constitutional Court for European military operations (if such operations went beyond peacekeeping). These implications would mainly depend on the question of attribution: if one where to assume that acts undertaken within the framework of military operations led by the EU were to be, at least also, attributable to the troop-contributing member states, the respective troop-contributing state would be entitled to enjoy state immunity exactly to the same degree as in any kind of unilateral military operations. Additionally, some possible perspectives beyond Sentenza 238/2014 are examined, in particular concerning the redress awarded by domestic courts ‘as long as’ neither the German nor the international system grant equivalent protection to the victims of serious violations of international humanitarian law committed during World War II. In the author’s opinion, strengthening the jurisdiction of international courts and tribunals, bringing interstate cases for damages before the International Court of Justice, as well as providing for claims commissions where individual compensation might be sought for violations of international humanitarian law would be more useful and appropriate mechanisms than denying state immunity.
This introductory essay is structured as follows: First of all, several forms of urbanisation (I.) are introduced and the processes of urbanisation and dis-urbanisation (II.) are defined. Then four fields of law which are deeply affected by urbanisation are put into the focus. These are, local government law (III.), but also public building law (IV.), civil service law (V.) and public finance law (VI.). Afterwards the effects of the corona pandemic on these fields of law are contemplated, taking account of the process of urbanisation (VII.). Finally, the main results are summarised (VIII.).
Addressing both scholars of international law and political science as well as decision makers involved in cybersecurity policy, the book tackles the most important and intricate legal issues that a state faces when considering a reaction to a malicious cyber operation conducted by an adversarial state. While often invoked in political debates and widely analysed in international legal scholarship, self-defence and countermeasures will often remain unavailable to states in situations of cyber emergency due to the pervasive problem of reliable and timely attribution of cyber operations to state actors. Analysing the legal questions surrounding attribution in detail, the book presents the necessity defence as an evidently available alternative. However, the shortcomings of the doctrine as based in customary international law that render it problematic as a remedy for states are examined in-depth. In light of this, the book concludes by outlining a special emergency regime for cyberspace.
Since 2015, the European Union has struggled to deal with the influx of refugees coming into its territories. The number of institutions involved in designing a competent response approach, com-bined with the unilateral and uncoordinated state reactions, have left unclear where to look for when searching for answers and new alternatives. Can the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) take a leading role in solving this and future crises? After a brief recapitulation of the crisis, an analysis of UNHCR’s statue, relationship to international law, and doctrine will put this question to the test while exploring options that are not only available but also feasible in a system where politics trump both legality and morality. If UNHCR is to play an active role in fu-ture refugee policies and become the lead agency it once was, a new daring and innovative approach has to emerge in order to readapt to the power relations that prevail in the twenty-first century.
Transitional Justice
(2022)
This publication deals with the topic of transitional justice. In six case studies, the authors link theoretical and practical implications in order to develop some innovative approaches. Their proposals might help to deal more effectively with the transition of societies, legal orders and political systems.
Young academics from various backgrounds provide fresh insights and demonstrate the relevance of the topic. The chapters analyse transitions and conflicts in Sierra Leone, Argentina, Nicaragua, Nepal, and South Sudan as well as Germany’s colonial genocide in Namibia. Thus, the book provides the reader with new insights and contributes to the ongoing debate about transitional justice.
Since 2013, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights can examine individual communications under the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). This opens up the possibility to interpret Covenant provisions in a thorough manner. With regard to forced evictions and the right to housing under Article 11 ICESCR, one can discern a fast-developing approach concerning the proportionality analysis of evictions, entailing the establishment of specific criteria that may guide such analysis. This paper seeks to delineate these developments and will also shed light on possible general trends on the topic of limitations within the Committee’s emerging jurisprudence. In doing so, the paper will address if, and how, the developing proportionality analysis under the individual complaints procedure takes into consideration multi-discriminatory dimensions of State measures and how it specifically relates to or incorporates other ICESCR-concepts, such as minimum core obligations or the reasonableness review under Article 8(4) OP ICESCR.
Die Arbeit untersucht bewaffnete Konfliktszenarien, in denen an multinationalen Militäroperationen beteiligte Staaten während einer Gewahrsamsoperation gegnerische Kräfte oder andere Personen in Gewahrsam nehmen und diese dann an die Kräfte eines anderen Staates, oftmals der Hostnation mit zweifelhafter Menschenrechtsreputation, überstellen. Gewahrsamspersonen laufen dann Gefahr, Opfer erheblicher Rechtsverletzungen zu werden
The article analyses whether the Palestinian-Israeli conflict has served as a catalyst for the development of international law, as well as whether international law has been instrumental in attempting to find solutions for the said conflict.
In several ways, this conflict has made a significant contribution to understanding and interpreting the UN Charter. It also brought along important developments about the role of third parties, both under the Geneva Conventions and under the law of state responsibility, which provides for an obligation of not recognizing as legal, or not rendering aid or assistance to situations caused by serious violations of jus cogens.
International judicial institutions (and also domestic ones) play a rather limited role in this respect, due both to a lack of courage to address fundamental questions, and/or a disregard of the outcome of the proceedings by at least one of the parties to the conflict. Other reasons are Israel's reluctance of accepting the jurisdiction of either the ICJ or the ICC, and its view on the non-applicability of human rights treaties outside of its territory, as well as Palestine's uncertain status in the international community limiting its access to international courts. However, the ICJ's 2004 (formally non-binding) advisory opinion on the Israeli Wall provided answers to some of the most fundamental questions related to the conflict, unfortunately without having any immediate impact on the situation on the ground. Given Palestine's accession to the Rome Statute in early 2015, time has yet to show which role in the process will be played by the ICC.
Other issues arising from the conflict, and examined by this article, are that of (Palestinian) statehood, going beyond the traditional concept of statehood and including the consequences of the jus cogens-character of the right of self-determination, as well as questions of treaty succession and succession in matters of State responsibility with regard to acts committed by the PLO.
The international covenant on civil and political rights : cases, materials, and commentaries
(2004)
In ihren Beiträgen verbinden die Autoren grundsätzliche philosophische Überlegungen zur grundlegenden Bedeutung von Menschenwürde für die Menschenrechte mit konkreteren Forderungen, wie mit der Befriedigung lebensnotwendiger Bedürfnisse umzugehen und was zur Beendigung von Armut notwendig ist. Ihre rechtlichen und politischen Argumente stützen sich auf jüngere Rechtsprechung regionaler Gerichtshöfe und internationaler Menschenrechtsorgane. Sie berufen sich auf die Verpflichtungsdimensionen der Menschenrechte und fragen nach der Verantwortlichkeit für deren Umsetzung. Die Autorinnen kommen aus Universitäten in Deutschland, der Schweiz, den Niederlanden und dem Vereinigten Königreich.
The Forgotten War: Yemen
(2019)
The conflict in Yemen seems forgotten considering the worldwide severe humanitarian catastrophes. Nevertheless, since the conflict escalated around four years ago, it became one of the worst humanitarian crises in recent history and has no end in sight. Thousands of people were killed even more displaced and the country is facing tremendous food insecurity as well as the world’s largest cholera outbreak. It is no longer just a civil war between the Houthi- and Hadi-Faction. International interests play a major role and made it a proxy war between Saudi Arabia (and its allies) on one side and Iran on the other. This all happens at the expense of the civilian population. Therefore, it is urgent to analyse the actors involved, their interests within the conflict and furthermore searching for possibilities to overcome it.
On 21 April 2021, the European Commission presented its long-awaited proposal for a Regulation “laying down harmonized rules on Artificial Intelligence”, the so-called “Artificial Intelligence Act” (AIA). This article takes a critical look at the proposed regulation. After an introduction (1), the paper analyzes the unclear preemptive effect of the AIA and EU competences (2), the scope of application (3), the prohibited uses of Artificial Intelligence (AI) (4), the provisions on high-risk AI systems (5), the obligations of providers and users (6), the requirements for AI systems with limited risks (7), the enforcement system (8), the relationship of the AIA with the existing legal framework (9), and the regulatory gaps (10). The last section draws some final conclusions (11).
This book provides empirical evidence that all States have a universally binding obligation to adopt national laws and international treaties to protect the marine environment, including the designation of Marine Protected Areas. Chapter by chapter this obligation is detailed, providing the foundation for holding States responsible for fulfilling this obligation. The fundamentals are analysed in a preliminary chapter, which examines the legally binding sources of the Law of the Sea as well as its historical development to help readers understand the key principles at hand.
The Law of the Sea provides more than 1000 instruments and more than 300 regulations concerning marine protection. While the scope of most treaties is limited either regarding species, regions or activities, one regulation addresses States in all waters: the obligation to protect and preserve the marine environment as stipulated under Art. 192 of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). As this ‘Constitution of the Ocean’ not only contains conventional laws but also very broadly reflects pre-existing rules of customary international law, an extensive analysis of all statements made by States in the UN General Assembly, their practices, national laws and regulations as well as other public testimonials demonstrates that Art. 192 UNCLOS indeed binds the whole community of States as a rule of customary international law with an erga omnes effect. Due to the lack of any objections and its fundamental value for humankind, this regulation can also be considered a new peremptory norm of international law (ius cogens).
While the sovereign equality of States recognises States’ freedom to decide if and how to enter into a given obligation, States can also waive this freedom. If States accepted a legally binding obligation, they are thus bound to it. Concerning the specific content of Art. 192 UNCLOS, a methodical interpretation concludes that only the adoption of legislative measures (national laws and international agreements) suffices to comply with the obligation to protect and preserve the marine environment, which is confirmed by the States’ practices and relevant jurisprudence. When applied to a specific geographical area, legislative measures to protect the marine environment concur with the definition of Marine Protected Areas. Nonetheless, as the obligation applies to all waters, the Grotian principle of the freedom of the sea dictates that the restriction of activities through the designation of Marine Protected Areas, on the one hand, must be weighed against the freedoms of other States on the other. To anticipate the result: while all other rights under the UNCLOS are subject to and contingent on other regulations of the UNCLOS and international law, only the obligation to protect and preserve the marine environment is granted absolutely – and thus outweighs all other interests
Nils-Hendrik Grohmann beschäftigt sich mit dem noch andauernden Stärkungsprozess der UN-Menschenrechtsvertragsorgane. Er analysiert, welche rechtlichen Befugnisse die Ausschüsse haben, ob sie von sich aus Vorschläge einbringen können und inwieweit sie ihre Verfahrensweisen bisher aufeinander abgestimmt haben. Ein weiterer Schwerpunkt liegt auf der Zusammenarbeit zwischen den verschiedenen Ausschüssen und der Frage, welche Rolle das Treffen der Vorsitzenden bei der Stärkung spielen kann.
Nils-Hendrik Grohmann beschäftigt sich mit dem noch andauernden Stärkungsprozess der UN-Menschenrechtsvertragsorgane. Er analysiert, welche rechtlichen Befugnisse die Ausschüsse haben, ob sie von sich aus Vorschläge einbringen können und inwieweit sie ihre Verfahrensweisen bisher aufeinander abgestimmt haben. Ein weiterer Schwerpunkt liegt auf der Zusammenarbeit zwischen den verschiedenen Ausschüssen und der Frage, welche Rolle das Treffen der Vorsitzenden bei der Stärkung spielen kann.
State sucession in treaties
(2012)
Smend, Rudolf
(2021)
Should the binding effect of the judgements of the European Court of Human Rights be extended?
(2000)
Back in 1949, and thus only one year after the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the four Geneva Conventions were adopted, providing a strong signal for a new world order created after 1945 with the United Nations at their centre and combining as their goals both the maintenance of peace and security and the protection of human rights, but also recognising, realistically, that succeeding generations had so far not yet been saved from the scourge of war. Hence, the continued need for rules governing, and limiting, the means and methods of warfare once an armed conflict has erupted. At the same time, the international community has unfortunately not been able so far to fully safeguard individual human rights, its efforts to that effect and the continuous development of international human rights law over the years notwithstanding.
The public health insurance in Germany will face huge economic challenges in the upcoming years. New diagnostic and therapeutic methods as well as the demographic change contribute to constantly rising expenditure. Although incentives for health-promoting behaviour or financial sanctions for an unhealthy lifestyle have been already discussed in the past, there has been a general reluctance to legally establish corresponding mechanisms for fear of eroding solidarity and increasing state control. In the course of the Coronavirus pandemic however, a stronger awareness rose to the fact that personal health-related life choices can have a huge impact on the stability of the healthcare system including public health insurance. Not only in Germany but throughout much of Europe, the pandemic led to a new and more fundamental debate about the relationship between individual responsibility for personal health and the wider responsibility for public health assumed by the community of solidarity.
As part of the current overall process of de-formalization in international law States increasingly chose informal, non-legally binding agreements or ‘Memoranda of Understanding’ (‘MOUs') to organize their international affairs. The increasing conclusion of such legally non-binding instruments in addition to their flexibility, however, also leads to uncertainties in international relations. Against this background, this article deals with possible indirect legal consequences produced by MOUs. It discusses the different legal mechanisms and avenues that may give rise to secondary legal effects of MOUs through a process of interaction with and interpretation in line with other (formal) sources of international law. The article further considers various strategies how to avoid such eventual possible unintended or unexpected indirect legal effects of MOUs when drafting such instruments and when dealing with them subsequent to their respective ‘adoption’.
In 2009, 'Palestine' lodged a declaration recognizing the jurisdiction of the ICC under Article 12(3). However, in April 2012, the OTP determined that this declaration had not brought about the result, of providing for the ICC's jurisdiction, pending clarification from the political organs of the UN concerning the legal status of Palestine within the organization. On 29 November 2012, the General Assembly granted Palestine the status of a non-member observer state within the UN framework, thereby fulfilling the condition mentioned by the OTP in April 2012. It is against this background that the article considers the current legal effects of the 2009 Palestinian declaration. In particular, it addresses the issue of whether the declaration, when read in conjunction with the 29 November 2012 decision, possesses retroactive effect, i.e. whether it provides, as claimed, for the Court's temporal jurisdiction from 1 July 2002 onwards or rather starting only from 29 November 2012.
... the current status granted to Palestine by the United Nations General Assembly is that of 'observer', not as a 'Non-member State'. ... [T]his... informs the current legal status of Palestine for the interpretation and application of article 12 [Rome Statute]. ... The Office could in the future consider allegations of crimes committed in Palestine, should competent organs of the United Nations... resolve the legal issue relevant to an assessment of article 12. ... International Criminal Court, Office of the Prosecutor, 'Situation in Palestine', 3 April 2012
Unfolding the history of one of the oldest human val-ues, the freedom of expression, while defining its limits, is a complicated task. Does freedom stop where hate starts? This very old dilemma is -now more than ever before- revealing new dimensions. Politicians and new laws aim at regulating free expression, while disagree-ments over such regulation gradually become a source of endless conflict in newly formed multicultural, inter-connected, and digitized societies. The example of the Network Enforcement Act is used to understand the idea of restrictive legal practices in Germany, but also to enlighten the fact that law is a human construction which was created in order to regulate communication among individuals. Alternative practices, to straight legal ones, are summarized to show other dimensions of regulating hate speech without involving top-down approaches. The article proposes the approach of re-storative justice as a combination of legal and medita-tive practices in cases of hate speech. One advantage of the restorative justice approach elaborated in this arti-cle is the potential to remedy the inner hate and the pain, both of the victim and perpetrator. Finally, reveal-ing parts of history and new aspects of the ‘hate speech-puzzle’, leads to a questioning of contemporary social structures that possibly generate hate itself.