Law Librarian Blog

Israel at 60, a Brief Documentary History

The State of Israel was proclaimed on May 14 1948, making today its 60th anniversary. Depending on your choice of timelines, it was the successful completion of the Zionist objective expressed in the Basel Program adopted on August 30, 1897 by the First Zionist Congress or the culmination of nearly 2,000 years of hopes by Jewish people to return one day to Eretz Yisrael after being exiled to the Diaspora by the Romans following the Bar Kochba revolt in 135. See Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs Timeline.

Political zionists base the territorial legitimacy of Israel under international law as a Jewish state on the British government's Balfour Declaration of November 2, 1917 which was re-affirmed in the League of Nations' Mandate for Palestine in 1922. The Mandate for Palestine gave international sanction to the historic connection between the Jewish people and Eretz Yisrael, and to the right of the Jewish people to recreate a "homeland" in one fourth of the Transjordan territory controlled by Britain. The historic connection to the Land of Israel in general and to Jerusalem in particular can be traced back in Jewish national and religious consciousness to the 10th century BCE, culminating in King David forging a unified nation from Jerusalem by uniting the twelve tribes.

On November 29 1947, the United Nations General Assembly voted to partition Palestine into separate Jewish and Arab states, with Jerusalem under an international regime (UN Resolution 181) despite oppositon from the Arab community which have called the declaration of the State of Israel "al-Nakba", the catastrophe. What follows is a selection from the documentary history leading up to the the proclamation of the State of Israel on May 14, 1948.

The Basel Program. The First Zionist Congress at Basel, Switzerland, adopted the "Basel Program" resolutions August 30, 1897, which proclaimed Zionism's aim "to establish a home for the Jewish people in Eretz Yisrael to be guaranteed by public (ie international) law":

Zionism seeks to establish a home for the Jewish people in Eretz Yisrael secured under public law. The Congress contemplates the following means to the attainment of this end:

1. The promotion by appropriate means of the settlement in Eretz-Israel of Jewish farmers, artisans, and manufacturers.
2. The organization and uniting of the whole of Jewry by means of appropriate institutions, both local and international, in accordance with the laws of each country.
3. The strengthening and fostering of Jewish national sentiment and national consciousness.
4. Preparatory steps toward obtaining the consent of governments, where necessary, in order to reach the goals of Zionism.

Some would call the Basel Program, the first expression of Political Zionism because of its reliance on diplomatic activity as the main method for getting the Jewish homeland. The Conference itself is clearly significant because it was the first international gathering of Jews on a national and secular basis; the delegates were largely assimilated Jews seeking to craft a secular manifesto based on the rule of law. The Basel Program was clearly influenced by Vienna journalist Theodore Herzl's political pamphlet Der Judenstaat (The Jewish State, English translation available at Project Gutenberg) which had been published in 1896, the year before the the First Zionist Congress. Herzl, who chaired the Congress, opposed unlawful efforts already made by other Zionist groups to settle Jews in Ottoman-controlled Palestine, arguing that "important experiments in colonization have been made, though on the mistaken principle of a gradual infiltration of Jews. An infiltration is bound to end badly. It continues till the inevitable moment when the native population feels itself threatened, and forces the government to stop a further influx of Jews. Immigration is consequently futile unless we have the sovereign right to continue such immigration.” Quoted from The Jewish State.

The Balfour Declaration. Issued by the British Government in 1917 as the so- to-be victors of WW I contemplated how Western powers would administer territories of the vanquished, in this instance the territories of the Ottoman Empire, the Balfour Declaration promised that a "national home for the Jewish people" would be founded in Palestine, while preserving the "civil and religious" rights of non-Jewish communities there. From the Balfour Declaration:

His Majesty's Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country.

The British could not reconcile the conflicting principles, perhaps because while the phrase "national home" was intentionally used instead of "state" it was undeniable that the creation of a Jewish state would be the eventual outcome under the Balfour Declaration and that Arab cooperation was uncertain at best. See, for example, Theodore Herzl's utopian novel, Altneuland (The Old New Land, 1902) for an illustration of how Arabs and Jews were to live together in harmony but note the arrogance of the supremacy of Western European culture and industry expressed therein).

Faisal-Weizmann Agreement. One attempt at Arab-Jewish cooperation was the Faisal-Weizmann Agreement, a short-lived secret agreement signed on January 3, 1919, by Amir Faisal I ibn Hussein (acting on behalf of the Arab Kingdom of Hedjaz) and Chaim Weizmann (acting on behalf of the "Zionist Organization"). The Agreement, brokered by T. E. Lawrence, sought to harmonize the positions of all three parties -- Jews, Arabs and Britain -- before the Paris Peace Conference. The Agreement stipulated Arab-Jewish cooperation on the development of a Jewish homeland in Palestine and an Arab nation in a large part of the Middle East. However, the Paris Peace Conference refused to recognize an independent Arab state in the region. Ultimately, the principles expressed in the the Balfour Declaration were recognized under international law by the League of Nations in the Mandate for Palestine (July 24, 1922) which carved out one-quarter of the territory of Palestine for a Jewish home and provided for immigration to that homeland.

British White Paper of 1939. In the spring of 1920, spring of 1921 and summer of 1929, civil unrest broke out between Zionist settlers and Arab nationalists who opposed the Jewish homeland and immigration policies expressed in the Balfour Declaration and the Mandate. This unrest culminated in 1936 with widespread rioting, now known as the Arab Revolt or Great Uprising. During this period, the British government pursued a number of policies to restrict Jewish immigration that culminated in the British White Paper of 1939 which effectively closed Jewish immigration to Palestine and restrict land purchases. Specifically, the 1939 White Paper decreed that 15,000 Jews would be allowed to enter Palestine each year for five years. Thereafter, immigration would be subject to Arab approval. Effectively, it had rescinded the Balfour Declaration and reneged on the British commitment to a Jewish national home in Palestine. The League Mandates Commission declared the White Paper to be unlawful, stating "The policy set out in the White Paper is not in accordance with the interpretation which, in agreement with the Mandatory Power and the Council, the Commission has placed upon the Palestine Mandate."

Readers are well aware of the historical context. While many people may not have known about the Nazi atrocities, the increasingly frequent and vivid reports of the Holocaust were common knowledge in government circles in Britain and the US. Despite the desperate need to find a haven for refugees, the doors of Palestine remained shut to Jewish immigration as the British tried to maintain internal peace in Palestine.

The Biltmore Program. In Nazi-occupied Europe, there were still millions of Jews trapped in the Nazi occupation, and the Zionist were looking desperately for a way to get them out. Though the World Zionist Congress had been cancelled owing to the war, a small group of leaders met in the Biltmore Hotel in New York on May 6-11 of 1942. Towards that end, the Conference removed any doubt over the diplomatic fiction of a "homeland" by calling for the creation of sovereign Jewish state. The Conference adopted the following resolutions, now known as the Biltmore Program::

• the fulfillment of the original purpose of the Balfour Declaration and the Mandate
• to found there a Jewish Commonwealth"
• unalterable rejection of the White Paper of May 1939
• that Palestine be established as a Jewish Commonwealth integrated in the structure of the new democratic world.

In reality what followed the British White Paper of 1939 until the British Mandate expired on May 14, 1948, was the a gradual infiltration of Jews into Palestine.

UN Resolution 181. On November 29, 1947, the United Nations General Assembly voted on the Partition Plan for Palestine, UN Resolution 181. Passing by a vole of 33 in favor, 13 against, with 10 countries abstaining, UN Resolution 181 specified that the Mandate for Palestine would expire no later than August 1, 1948 and did expire on May 14, 1948. Pursuant to the Resolution, the territory covered by the Mandate would be divided into two sovereign states, one Jewish and one Arab. Under Sec. III of the Resolution, the City of Jerusalem would be established as a corpus separatum under a special international regime administered by the United Nations for no less than 10 years.

On May 14, 1948, The Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel, oftentimes referred to as the "Israeli Declaration of Independence," was released as the official announcement that the new Jewish state, named the State of Israel, had been formally established. We all know the rest. The inter-communal fighting between Palestinian Arabs and Jews that had preceded the Declaration while Palestine was controlled by the British after WWII escalated into all out war as armies from five Arab states invaded the territory of the new State of Israel. By the time of the 1949 armistice, the Israelis had extended their territory, leaving Jordan with the West Bank, Egypt with Gaza and Jerusalem divided. [BBC's Changing Map of Israel] Thousands of Palestinian Arabs fled or were driven out of Israeli-controlled territory. See Ilan Pappe, The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine (2007). The refugee count now numbers some 4 million. [BBC's Facts and Figures] For a chronology of war and peace in Palestine since the Declaration, see the BBC's Timeline. See generally BBC's Special Report: Israel at 60]. [JH]

UN Convention on Disabilities Ratified

From the UN Pulse: "The Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights and Dignity of Persons with Disabilities entered into force on 3 May 2008. The Convention was adopted by the General Assembly on 13 December 2006 (A/RES/61/106), and was opened for signature and ratification on 30 March 2007. The Convention had to be ratified by 20 states before it came into force – a process that can sometimes take several years. In this case, it took only a little over one year."  [RJ]

Violence Against Women, WHO and CRS Reports

From the UN Pulse: "The World Health Organization (WHO) has published Multi-country Study on Women's Health and Domestic Violence against Women. This report presents initial results based on interviews with 24 000 women. The report concludes with 15 recommendations to strengthen national commitment and action on violence against women." 

See also International Violence Against Women: U.S. Response and Policy Issues (pdf) (CRS Report, March 31, 2008) which addresses causes, prevalence, and consequences of violence against women. It provides examples of U.S. activities that address VAW directly or include anti-VAW components. It also outlines possible policy considerations for the 110th Congress, including the scope and effectiveness of current U.S. programs; further integrating anti-VAW programs into U.S. assistance and foreign policy mechanisms; strengthening U.S. government coordination of international anti-VAW activities; and collaborating with international organizations such as the United Nations on anti-VAW efforts. [RJ & JH]

New GlobaLex Articles

April 2008 GlobaLex features include the following:

• Towards the Human Rights Protection of Minority Languages in Africa by Innocent Maja
• Guide to Estonian Legal System and Legal Research by Jannu Kuusik and Kart Miil
• Researching Ghanaian Law by Victor Essien by Vicotor Essien                                              
• A Basic Guide to International Environmental Legal Research by Heidi Frostestad Kuehl
• The Bulgarian Legal System and Legal Research by Angel Panayotov, Venelin Dimitrov, and Blagomir Minov
• A Research Guide to Ukrainian Law by Alexander Biryukov & Myroslava Kryvonos

Visit GlobaLex for additional articles and guides on international, comparative, and foreign law research. [RJ]

Cybercrime Legislation: 27 Country Profiles

The cybercrime national legislation profiles have been prepared within the framework of the Council of Europe’s Project on Cybercrime for sharing information on cybercrime legislation and assessing the current state of implementation of the Convention on Cybercrime under national legislation. Hat tip to beSpacific. [JH]

International Law Video Library Relaunched

The International Law Video Library has moved to a permanent location, been revamped and includes some new material. Bookmark the new URL! A Queen's University of Belfast project, ILVL was developed so as to be accessible to all and find its way into lecture halls throughout the world, especially in those places where resources may be limited. The resources are free, internet-based teaching tool, allowing viewers to see interviews with leading international law scholars and practitioners as well as "visit" locations relevant to international law.

The website includes a stand-alone video library focusing on issues of human rights law -- The International Human Rights Law Video Library. [JH]

UNICEF's The State of the World's Children 2007 Report

New report from UNICEF:

"The State of the World's Children 2007 examines the discrimination and disempowerment women face throughout their lives - and outlines what must be done to eliminate gender discrimination and empower women and girls. The report argues that investment in women's rights will ultimately produce a double dividend: advancing the rights of both women and children." 

See also:  The State of the World's Children 2007: Executive Summary 

[RJ]

Council of Europe: Trafficking in Human Beings: Internet Recruitment

New study from the Council of Europe: "The rapid development in the use of information technologies, in particular the Internet, has given a new dimension to trafficking in human beings. The risks for young people to fall into the traffickers’net have substantially increased. This study presents the current methods used by traffickers to recruit their victims via the Internet, and identifies legal, administrative and technical means used to combat this misuse." 

See also:  Country by Country overview of ratification of the Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings.  [RJ]

Revised and Expanded Edition Now Online: Crimes of War: What the Public Should Know

The full text of the revised and updated edition of Crimes of War: What the Public Should Know is now available on the website of the Crimes of War Project. The book is an A-Z guide to the laws of war and their application in today’s world, written by some of the world’s leading journalists and scholars, in clear and compelling language.  The revised edition includes detailed coverage of all recent developments and controversies, including the “war on terror,” Iraq, Darfur and the rise of international courts and tribunals. [JH]

First Legal Research Book Recommendation for 2008: International and Foreign Legal Research

Marci Hoffman (Associate Director, International & Foreign Law Librarian, University of California, Berkeley, School of Law Library) and Mary Rumsey (Foreign, Comparative & International Law Librarian, University of Minnesota Law School Library) support their new work, International and Foreign Legal Research: A Coursebook, with a companion website that will provide updated links and additional information. The book can also be used for quick reference. [JH]

International and Foreign Legal Research: A Coursebook
Marci Hoffman and Mary Rumsey

List Price: $125.00
Hardcover: 350 pages
Publisher: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers (December 15, 2007)
ISBN-13: 978-1571053121
Available from: Brill | Amazon.com

Description: This book is designed for use as a coursebook for classes in foreign and international legal research. However, librarians, students, law professors and other researchers can also use it as a research guide outside of formal classes. The order of chapters is one possible way to structure a class in international and foreign legal research, but it is by no means the only one or the best one. This book can also be used as a tool for quick look-ups when a researcher needs some direction on a topic or information on a source.

Topics covered in the book range from a general chapter on basic concepts to five chapters on particular subjects of international law. Each major aspect of research, such as using periodical indexes, is treated once in depth. Elsewhere in the book, other sections refer readers to that in-depth treatment, while adding information specific to the topic being discussed. We hope that this compromise avoids extensive repetition. 

United Nations Arms Embargoes: Their Impact on Arms Flows and Target Behaviour

New report from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute: "This report is the first analysis of the 27 United Nations arms embargoes that have been imposed since 1990. UN arms embargoes have been criticized as having a limited impact on reducing arms flows to their targets or improving target behaviour. Against this background the report offers a reassessment of UN arms embargoes, their objectives and their effects. Recommendations for strengthening the implementation of arms embargoes are addressed in particular to the UN Security Council, but will be of interest to all UN member states, UN agencies, regional organizations, non-governmental organizations, researchers and the concerned general public."  [RJ]

Resources from the UN Climate Change Conference in Bali

The UN Climate Change Conference in Bali this month culminated in the adoption of the Bali roadmap, which charts the course for a new negotiating process to be concluded by 2009 that will ultimately lead to a post-2012 international agreement on climate change. Ground-breaking decisions were taken which form core elements of the roadmap. They include the launch of the Adaptation Fund as well as decisions on technology transfer and on reducing emissions from deforestation. These decisions represent various tracks that are essential to achieving a secure climate future.

The Bali Conference website includes decisions adopted by COP 13 and CMP 3 and an on-demand webcast of conference proceedings. See also UN Development Programme's Fighting Climate Change: Human solidarity in a Divided World

Climate Change Resources. In future posts, we will be publishing selective bibliographies covering recent publications on climate change, including contributions from readers who email me. Thanks to the International Environmental Law Blog, listed below is a recent publication from New Zealand's the Institute of Policy Studies, Victoria University of Wellington, that might not grab the attention of US readers had it not been publicized on International Environmental Law Blog. [JH]

Towards a New Global Climate Treaty:
Looking Beyond 2012
Edited by Jonathan Boston, Professor of Public Policy,
Deputy Director, Institute of Policy Studies, School of Government, Victoria University of Wellington

Institute of Policy Studies, November 2007
Paperback: $30.00
ISBN: 1877347221

Description: Climate change poses huge ethical, political, economic and technical challenges. The global community had taken initial steps to address these challenges, but this falls far short of what will be needed in the years ahead. The Kyoto Protocol, negotiated in 1997 under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, requires industrialised countries to reduce their emissions by an average of 5% below 1990 levels during the first commitment period (2008-12). Most developing countries and all but two industrialised countries have ratified the Protocol – the exception being Australia and the United States.

With the first commitment period ending in barely five years, the international community must now decide what is the right mix of policies and commitments needed to build the momentum required to reverse the growth of greenhouse gas emissions and help nations adapt to the unavoidable impact of climate change. Much is at stake – not least the well-being of many future generations of humanity.

This book explores the critical policy issues that will need to be addressed during the forthcoming negotiations for a post-2012 climate treaty. Particular attention is given to the implications of such a treaty for New Zealand including the issues affecting the energy, agricultural and forestry sectors. The book is based on a series of roundtable discussions hosted by the Institute of Policy Studies in mid-2007. The roundtable series was sponsored by the chief executives of the New Zealand government departments and involved about 120 people drawn from a diverse range of stakeholder groups, sectors and communities of interest.

Lisbon Treaty Ratified

Documents online:

• 'Treaty of Lisbon' in a form ready for execution on 2007-12-13 (287 pages, PDF)
• The 'Final Act' (including the declarations of the Member States)

Hat tip to beSpacific. [JH]

International Criminal Court 2006-2007

From the UN Pulse:

"The report of the International Criminal Court for 2006/2007 is now available (A/62/314). Four situations were before the Court during the period, including the situations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Darfur, the Sudan and the Central African Republic."  [RJ]

The Council of Europe Adopts Guidelines on Protecting Freedom of Expression and Information in Times of Crisis

Recently the Committee of Europe Ministers called on Member States to protect and promote investigative journalism and to increase the awareness and skills of citizens with regard to the protection of their rights in the new communication environment. Read more about it.

• Text of Guidelines on Protecting Freedom of Expression and Information in Times of Crisis

[JH]

Hard Bargaining Leads to Success at EU Treaty Summit in Lisbon

European ministers agreed to a landmark agreement that will reform EU's administrative operations and make it more efficient. The new treaty, scheduled to be formally signed in December, comes in place of the proposed 2005 EU Constitution. Details at Deutsche-Welle. [JH]

Rights panel to hear U.S. domestic violence case

From the National Law Journal:

"The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights has agreed to decide whether the United States violated the rights of a domestic violence victim whose three children were killed when local police failed to enforce a restraining order against her former husband."  (sub. req.)  [RJ]

Guide to Finding Proposed Legislation Using EUR-Lex, OEIL, and PreLex

The European Information Association has produced several guides on locating legislation from the European Union.  From the site:

"Although there is a wealth of material available, it is not always obvious which source is most appropriate. These guides show how to use official sources to find specific documents or types of information."

Legislation

• using EUR-Lex, OEIL, PreLex to find proposed EU legislation
• using EUR-Lex to find legislation adopted at EU level
• using EUR-Lex and N-Lex to find legislation adopted at national level

[RJ]

Impunity Watch Launches Today

The first global blog to report human rights violations, Impunity Watch, created at Syracuse University, launches today. From the press release:

Impunity Watch uses three distinct functions to inform, analyze and publicize human rights violations. First, law students research the latest human rights violations and reports in seven geographic regions. Each report is purely fact-based and meant to spread knowledge.

The second function encompasses the special features and scholarly articles sections. In this area, staff members write op-eds on overarching human rights issues and publish in-depth analytical human rights papers written by professionals, academics and students. The final function of Impunity Watch is the message board function. The message board creates a vehicle for persecuted people to tell the world that they are suffering and allows anyone to express their thoughts or opinions about human rights.

[JH]

The Department of Labor's 2006 Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor

From the press release:

"The U.S. Department of Labor released its sixth annual report on the worst forms of child labor in 141 countries and territories that receive U.S. trade benefits.

ILAB prepared the department's 2006 Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor under the child labor reporting requirement of the Trade and Development Act of 2000. The act requires trade-beneficiary countries and territories to implement their international commitments to eliminate the worst forms of child labor.

As defined by the International Labor Organization Convention 182, the worst forms of child labor include any form of slavery, such as forced or indentured child labor; the trafficking of children and the forced recruitment of children for use in armed conflict; child prostitution and pornography; the use of children for illicit activities such as drug trafficking; and work that is likely to harm the health, safety or morals of children.

This report presents information on the nature and extent of the worst forms of child labor in each of the 141 countries and territories and the efforts being made by their governments to eliminate these problems."

European Union Court Rejects Microsoft's Appeal in Historic Case

From CNet News:

"The European Union's Court of First Instance handed Microsoft a major defeat on Monday, slapping down the software maker's appeal in three significant areas of the historic antitrust case brought by the European Commission.

In the closely watched case, which has dragged on since March 2004, the Luxembourg-based court upheld the Commission's findings that Microsoft abused its dominant position in the market." 

See aslo:

• Press release and Judgment of the Court of First Instance in Case T-201/04.
• Microsoft Statement Regarding the European Court of First Instance's Judgment in the  EU/Microsoft Case
• Statement of the Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) on Today's Judgment by the European Court of First Instance

2007 WTO Annual Report

Via UN Pulse: "The Annual Report of the World Trade Organization focuses on the main activities of the organization and details of its current structure, staff and budget. This is a companion report to the World Trade Report, the World Tariff Profiles and the International Trade Statistics."  [RJ]

Securing, Stabilizing, and Rebuilding Iraq: Iraqi Government Has Not Met Most Legislative, Security, and Economic Benchmarks

New report from the Government Accountability Office:

"Our analysis of the 18 legislative, security and economic benchmarks shows that as of August 30, 2007, the Iraqi government met 3, partially met 4, and did not meet 11 of its 18 benchmarks." 

Highlights Page (PDF) or Full Report (PDF)   

See also, Independent Commission on the Security Forces Report, Center for Strategic & International Studies [RJ]

FLARE Project: Foreign Law Research

From the site:

"FLARE is a collaboration between the major libraries collecting law in the United Kingdom: Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, Bodleian Law Library, Squire Law Library, British Library, and School of Oriental and African Studies. It is working to improve the coverage and accessibility of foreign legal materials at the national level and to raise expertise in their use.

The work is currently focused on improving national coverage of the law of the transition states of central and Eastern Europe and building a distributed national collection of official gazettes. Current projects include:

• Produce a series of Research Guides to the law of foreign jurisdictions
• Hold training courses on the law of the transition states
• Publish a Union List of holdings of European Legal Gazettes in major research libraries
• Sconul Focus article: Formation of a distributed national collection of foreign official gazettes
• Agree collection development policies that will improve coverage of European and central European law as a national resource

Check it out!  [RJ]

International Criminal Law Database & Commentary

The ICL Database & Commentary is edited by Mark Klamberg, Pd. D. Student, Stockholm University, Faculty of Law. At this website you may find case law from the International Criminal Court and a commentary to the Rome Statute. Please note that the work on the commentary is in progress. You may find a sample of the future commentary here. It is expected that all articles in the Rome Statute will be commented by 31 December 2007. Even after that date the commentary will be updated in order to include the latest case law. The commentary will also at a later stage include a full commentary to the rules of procedure and evidence.

At the moment the jurisprudence of the ICC is sorted on the Court's website according to source/trial stage and date. With this new tool you may find cases in three different ways.

• The case law is sorted according to source/trial stage and date
• The case law and commentary is sorted under the relevant provision
• The legal texts, the commentary and the case law are searchable

You will also find that the references between the legal texts are linked.

GlobLex Research Guides and Articles for August 2007

New articles published on GlobaLex in August 2007:

• The Exploitation of Women and Children: A Comparative Study of Human Trafficking Laws between the United States-Mexico and China-Vietnam by Christina T. Le
• A Guide to online research resources for the Australian Federal Legal System with some reference to the State Level by Petttal Kinder
• Guide to Legal Research in Norway by Pål A. Bertnes
• A Guide to the Legal System and Legal Research in Paraguay by Ana E. Rolón C.       

More international, comparative, and foreign law research articles at: http://www.nyulawglobal.org/globalex/index.html   [RJ]

The End of U.S. Exceptionalism in War Crimes

In The End of Exceptionalism in War Crimes: The International Criminal Court and America’s Credibility in the World (Harvard International Review), David Scheffer, Richard Cooper, Juliette Voinov Kohler argue that the U.S. needs to join the Internation Criminal Court if we as a nation still want to claim the moral high ground in foreign affairs.

From the article's introduction:

US exceptionalism may have a place in international politics, but this concept has run its course in the sphere of international criminal justice. No nation should ignore its duty to bring war criminals to justice or otherwise shield its own leaders or soldiers from charges of genocide, crimes against humanity, or war crimes. The rule of law debacles in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantanamo have been the death-knell of exceptionalism in the war crimes business. Reality is knocking and its name is the permanent International Criminal Court (ICC). Any claim that the US may have to moral high ground in foreign policy necessarily requires that the United States join the ICC and do so relatively soon. The United States needs the ICC to help restore its global credibility, discipline its own decision-making, and strengthen judicial intervention against atrocity crimes.

[JH]

IISS Applauds EU Proposals for Institutional Reforms

The International Institute for Strategic Studies believes the European Union has taken important steps towards institutional reforms in a new paper. The paper cites two in particular – one streamlining decision-making and another consolidating in one position responsibility for security policy and overseas development aid. [JH]

New Research Guides from GlobaLex

New articles available on GlobaLex. Don't miss Mimi Vollstedt's great profile of GlobaLex in the June 2007 issue of AALL Spectrum. Here's a link to the pdf.

• Transatlantic Turbulence: The European Union and United States Debate Over Passenger Data by Irfan Tukdi
• An Introduction to Colombian Governmental Institutions and Primary Legal Sources by Antonio Ramirez
• UPDATE: The Bulgarian Legal System and Legal Research by Angel Panayotov, Venelin Dimitrov, and Blagomir Minov
• UPDATE: The Croatian Legal System and Legal Research by Dunja Kuecking, Milivoje Žugić, and Tajana Pazman
• UPDATE: Swedish Law and Legal Materials  by Ibngrid Kabir and Sofia Sternberg   

[RJ]

NGOs Alarmed at Some UN Human Rights Council Candidates

From the press release:

"The non-governmental organizations UN Watch and Freedom House issued a joint evaluation of the candidates for the United Nations Human Rights Council, in advance of the election on May 17.  Of the 15 candidates, the human rights groups rated four as well qualified (Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands, and Slovenia), four as not qualified (Angola, Belarus, Egypt and Qatar) and seven as having questionable qualifications (Bolivia, India, Indonesia, Madagascar, Nicaragua, Philippines, and South Africa).  The evaluation was based on the candidates' records of protecting human rights at home and of promoting human rights at the UN."  [RJ]

GlobLex Research Guides and Articles for March 2007

New articles published on GlobaLex in March 2007: Global Warming, International Human Rights, Nicaragua, Tools for Building a Foreign and International Law Collection, Guide to Select Databases for Spanish-Speaking Jurisdictions.

• Global Warming: A Comparative Guide to the E.U. and the U.S. and Their Approaches to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol by Deborah Paulus-Jagrič 
• International Human Rights Research Guide by Grace M. Mills
• Guide to Legal Research in Nicaragua by Magda Violeta Blandino
• Collection Development Policies and Other Basic Tools for Building a Foreign and International Law Collection by Barbara H. Garavaglia
• A Brief Guide to Select Databases for Spanish-Speaking Jurisdictions by Dennis Kim-Prieto

Editor's Note: GlobLex, there is no better web destination for foreign and international legal research guides. [JH]

Confronting Climate Change: Avoiding the Unmanageable and Managing the Unavoidable

From the press release:

"The United Nations Foundation (UN Foundation) and Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research Society, released “Confronting Climate Change: Avoiding the Unmanageable and Managing the Unavoidable, ” the final report of the Scientific Expert Group on Climate Change and Sustainable Development. The report, prepared as input for the upcoming meeting of the UN’s Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD), outlines a roadmap for preventing unmanageable climate changes and adapting to the degree of change that can no longer be avoided."

“Two starkly different futures diverge from this time forward,” the report cautions. “Society’s current path leads to increasingly serious climate-change impacts… The other path … will reduce dangerous emissions, create economic opportunity, help to reduce global poverty, reduce degradation and carbon emissions from ecosystems, and contribute to sustainability. Humanity must act collectively and urgently to change course through leadership at all levels of society. There is no more time for delay.”  [RJ]

U.N. Court Issues Ruling on Bosnia Genocide

From the N.Y. Times: "The International Court of Justice ruled that Serbia had failed to prevent the 1995 massacre at Srebrenica during the Bosnian war, but cleared the country of direct intent to commit genocide."

See also, Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, Judgment from the ICJ.  [RJ]

Network of Chinese Human Rights Defenders Issues Report on Cheng Guangcheng Case

Known as the "barefoot lawyer," Chen Guangcheng, a traditional Chinese medicine practitioner and self-taught legal adviser who has been blind since the age of one, has a long history of campaigning for the rights of farmers and the disabled. According to the organization Network of Chinese Human Rights Defenders in China vs. a Blind Man: A Report on the Case of Imprisoned Human Rights Defender Chen Guangcheng (Feb. 20, 2007) (pdf):

[Chen Guangcheng] assisted villagers in solving drinking water pollution problems when he was attending Nanjing Chinese Medicine University in 2000.  He created and ran the "Rights Defense Project for the Disabled" under the auspices of the Chinese Legal Studies Association between 2000 and 2001.  Since 1996, he has provided free legal consultation to farmers and the disabled in rural areas.  In 2003, he was sponsored by the "International Visitors Project" to visit the US.  In 2004, he ran a "Citizen Awareness and Law for the Disabled Project" supported by the US National Endowment for Democracy and the Monica Fund.

The Report outlines Chen Guangcheng's prosecution as follows:

The reasons for the detention imputed by the authorities was that Mr. Chen fabricated information about violence inflicted on rural people around Linyi City to enforce the population control policies and achieve quotas for reducing birth rates in the area. On some occasions, Chen and his family have been told that releasing this information constituted a breach of laws governing protection of state secrets. When he protested beating of a villager by security guards, he was taken into custody, Three months later, on June 10, a formal notice was sent to his wise, alleging he was detained for "deliberate destruction of property" and "gathering a crowd to obstruct traffic."  He was twice tried, twice convicted, and one of his two-time appeals was ruled by a higher court to be sent back to local court for retrial, but at the second appeal, the higher court upheld the verdict.

For an analysis of the case, see Chen Guangcheng Re-Convicted (Chinese Law Prof Blog); for commentary, see Liang Jing Commentary on Chen Guangcheng Case  (Chinese Law Prof Blog).

Hat tip to George Washington law prof and Chinese Law Prof Blog editer Donald C. Clarke. [JH]

U.N. Adopts Landmark Convention on Rights of Disabled

The U.N. General Assembly adopted last Wednesday the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities to promote and protect the rights of the world's 650 million disabled people. 

Text of Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

Final Report of the Ad Hoc Committee on a Comprehensive and Integral International Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights and Dignity of Persons with Disabilities

Additional resources

[RJ]