Amnesty laws are political tools used since ancient times by states wishing to quell dissent, introduce reforms, or achieve peaceful relationships with their enemies. In recent years, they have become contentious due to a perception that they violate international law, particularly the rights of victims, and contribute to further violence. This view is disputed by political negotiators who often argue that amnesty is a necessary price to pay in order to achieve a stable, peaceful, and equitable system of government. This book investigates whether an amnesty necessarily entails a violation of...

As with any rapid technological development, the biotechnology revolution is putting great strains on the ability of law to adapt to new challenges and threats. Although there is general agreement on the need to regulate biotechnology in many different fields of human activity (agriculture, life sciences, forensic science), domestic law remains deeply divided over the best approach to take. This book is the first major work to cover the most pressing legal issues raised by the impact of biotechnologies on different categories of international norms. Through the contribution of a select group...

This book argues that, since the end of the Cold War, an international community of liberal States has crystallized within the broader international society of sovereign States. Significantly, this international community has demonstrated a tendency to deny non-liberal States their previously held sovereign right to non-intervention. Instead, the international community considers only those States that demonstrate respect for liberal democratic standards to be sovereign equals. Indeed, the international community, motivated by the theory that international peace and security can be only...

Increasingly, European States are using policy on the reception of asylum seekers as an instrument of immigration control, e.g. by deterring the lodging of asylum applications, preventing integration into their societies, and exercising a large degree of control over asylum seekers in order to facilitate expulsion. The EU is currently engaged in a process of developing minimum conditions for the reception of asylum seekers, as part of a Common European Asylum System. This book critically examines the outcomes of the negotiation process for these minimum standards in relation to international...

This book poses the enigma of a widespread absence of membership in an international community claiming universal standards for all natural persons. After identifying profound legal, social, and economic consequences of the enigma, the book critically evaluates the traditional efforts to recognize and reduce statelessness. The problem, the book argues, rests in the obligatory nature of a law, domestic or international. By closely analyzing a remarkably broad spectrum of court and tribunal judgments from many jurisdictions across the globe, Statelessness explains how two international law...

When faced with those who act with impunity, we seek the protection of law. We rely upon the legal system for justice, from international human rights law that establishes common standards of protection to international criminal law that spearheads efforts to end impunity for the most heinous atrocities. While legal processes are perceived to combat impunity, despite the ready availability of the law, accountability often remains elusive. What if the law itself enables impunity? Law's Impunity asks this question in the context of the modern Private Military Company (PMC), examining the...

International law has long been dominated by the state. But, it has become apparent that this bias is unrealistic and untenable in the contemporary world where the rise of the notion of common goods challenges this dominance. These common goods - typically values (like human rights, rule of law, etc.) or common domains (the environment, cultural heritage, space, etc.) - speak to an emergent international community beyond the society of states and the attendant rights and obligations of non-state actors. This book details how three key areas of international law - human rights, culture, and...

In recent decades, there has been a considerable growth in the activities of international tribunals and the establishment of new tribunals. Furthermore, supervisory bodies - established to control compliance with treaty obligations - have adopted decisions in an increasing number of cases. National courts further add to the practice of adjudication of claims based on international law. While this increasing practice of courts and supervisory bodies strengthens the adjudicatory process in international law, it also poses challenges to the unity of international law. Most of these courts...

This important book provides a framework for complementarity between promoting and protecting human rights and combating corruption in Africa. The chapters make three major points regarding the relationship between corruption and human rights law. First, corruption per se is a human rights violation, insofar as it interferes with the right of the people to dispose of their natural wealth and resources and thereby increases poverty and frustrates socio-economic development. Second, corruption leads to a multitude of human rights violations. And finally, the book demonstrates that human rights...

This book addresses the international legal questions arising from the 'right of visit on the high seas' in the 21st century. This right is considered the most significant exception to the fundamental principle of the freedom of the high seas (the freedom, in peacetime, to remain free of interference by ships of another flag). It is this freedom that has been challenged by a recent significant increase in interceptions to counter the threats of international terrorism and WMD proliferation, or to suppress transnational organized crime at sea, particularly the trafficking of narcotics and...