Enforced disappearance is one of the most serious human rights violations. It constitutes an autonomous offence and a crime under international law on account of its multiple and continuing character. It is not a phenomenon of the past, nor is it geographically limited to Latin America: such scourge is widespread today and on the increase in other continents. For more than twenty-five years, relatives of disappeared people worldwide have insisted on the pressing need for an international legally binding instrument against enforced disappearances. 2006 is the year of the adoption of the International Convention on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances, which represents the result of several legislative and jurisprudential developments that are duly analyzed in this book. The Convention has been opened for signature in February 2007.

Launched in 1991, the Asian Yearbook of International Law is a major refereed publication dedicated to international law issues as seen primarily from an Asian perspective, under the auspices of the Foundation for the Development of International Law in Asia (DILA). It is the first publication of its kind edited by a team of leading international law scholars from across Asia. The Yearbook provides a forum for the publication of articles in the field of international law, and other Asian international law topics, written by experts from the region and elsewhere. Its aim is twofold: to promote international law in Asia, and to provide an intellectual platform for the discussion and dissemination of Asian views and practices on contemporary international legal issues. Each volume of the Yearbook normally contains articles and shorter notes; a section on State practice; an overview of Asian states participation in multilateral treaties; succinct analysis of recent international legal developments in Asia; an agora section devoted to critical perspectives on international law issues; surveys of the activities of international organizations òf special relevance to Asia; and book review, bibliography and documents sections. It will be of interest to students and academics interested in international law and Asian studies.

This book offers a distinctive approach to the right not to be subjected to enforced disappearance. Over the last decade, the entry into force of the UN Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance has brought to the forefront of legal discussion the need to effectively address the practice of disappearance. Yet, there are still obstacles to combatting it, which are in part due to a limited understanding of the right’s underlying concept, content and scope. This book examines the phenomenon and definition of enforced disappearance and sheds new light on the right against disappearance. Presenting a doctrinal appraisal of the norm’s legal value, it suggests that the right against enforced disappearance holds a customary value, while also arguing that it has since attained a jus cogens status. Lastly, it examines in detail the rights to truth and reparation and how regional and national courts have interpreted these norms. It assesses the UN Convention’s dynamics and considers whether the lack of a right against disappearance embedded in regional human rights systems affects individuals’ protection. The book provides an overview of key jurisprudence on disappearances, making it of benefit to both practitioners and theorists of international law.

The United Nations, whose specialized agencies were the subject of an Appendix to the 1958 edition of Oppenheim's International Law: Peace, has expanded beyond all recognition since its founding in 1945.This volume represents a study that is entirely new, but prepared in the way that has become so familiar over succeeding editions of Oppenheim. An authoritative and comprehensive study of the United Nations' legal practice, this volume covers the formal structures of the UN as it has expanded over the years, and all that this complex organization does. All substantive issues are addressed in separate sections, including among others, the responsibilities of the UN, financing, immunities, human rights, preventing armed conflicts and peacekeeping, and judicial matters. In examining the evolving structures and ever expanding work of the United Nations, this volume follows the long-held tradition of Oppenheim by presenting facts uncoloured by personal opinion, in a succinct text that also offers in the footnotes a wealth of information and ideas to be explored. It is book that, while making all necessary reference to the Charter, the Statute of the International Court of Justice, and other legal instruments, tells of the realities of the legal issues as they arise in the day to day practice of the United Nations. Missions to the UN, Ministries of Foreign Affairs, practitioners of international law, academics, and students will all find this book to be vital in their understanding of the workings of the legal practice of the UN. Research for this publication was made possible by The Balzan Prize, which was awarded to Rosalyn Higgins in 2007 by the International Balzan Foundation.

This textbook offers for the first time a comprehensive analysis of the classic doctrines and main areas of international law from a European perspective, meeting the needs of the many European law schools teaching public international law in English. Special attention is devoted to the practice of the European Union, the Council of Europe and European States – both civil law and common law countries – with regard to international law. In particular the book analyses the interplay between international law, EU law and national law in the case law of the Court of Justice of the EU, the European Court of Human Rights and national jurisdictions in Europe. It provides the reader with insights into how the international legal practice of the EU and its Member States impacts the development of international law, both in terms of doctrines such as treaty-making and customary law, the exercise of (extraterritorial) jurisdiction, state responsibility and the settlement of disputes, as well as particular sub-fields of international law, such as human rights law and international economic law. In addition the book covers other important areas such as the use of force and collective security, the law of armed conflict, and global and regional international organisations. It provides European perspectives on all these issues and will be of great value to students, scholars and practitioners.

This book provides a reference guide to the case law of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. Structured in two parts, it covers the case law on jurisdiction and procedure before the Court and the case law on the scope of particular rights, drawing comparisons with the case law of the European Court of Human Rights.

This book explores, through the lens of the conflict in Syria, why international law and the United Nations have failed to halt conflict and massive human rights violations in many places around the world which has allowed tens of millions of people to be killed and hundreds of millions more to be harmed. The work presents a critical socio-legal analysis of the failures of international law and the United Nations (UN) to deal with mass atrocities and conflict. It argues that international law, in the way it is set up and operates, falls short in dealing with these issues in many respects. The argument is that international law is state-centred rather than victim-friendly, is, to some extent, outdated, is vague and often difficult to understand and, therefore, at times, hard to apply. While various accountability processes have come to the fore recently, processes do not exist to assist individual victims while the conflict occurs or the abuses are being perpetrated. The book focuses on the problems of international law and the UN and, in the context of the many enforced disappearances and arbitrary detentions in Syria, why nothing has been done to deal with a rogue state that has regularly violated international law. It examines why the responsibility to protect (R2P) has not been applied and why it ought to be used, generally, and in Syria. It uses the Syrian context to evaluate the weaknesses of the system and why reform is needed. It examines the UN institutional mechanisms, the role they play and why a civilian protection system is needed. It examines what mechanism ought to be set up to deal with the possible one million people who have been disappeared and detained in Syria. The book will be a valuable resource for students, academics and policy-makers working in the areas of public international law, international human rights law, political science and peace and security studies.

'This volume by Robert Kolb and Gloria Gaggioli, contributed by some of the most renowned experts in the field, devotes an impressive amount of legal analysis to the most diverse aspects of the interplay between international humanitarian law and international human rights law in situations of violence, in theory and practice. It is bound to become an indispensable tool for scholars and practitioners alike.' Marco Pedrazzi, University of Milan, ItalyThis fascinating Handbook explores the interplay between international human rights law and international humanitarian law, offering expert analysis on the increasingly complex issues surrounding their application in conflict areas across the world. Contributors to this volume provide a comprehensive treatment of the ongoing relationship between human rights law and humanitarian law, from the historical background and origins of the two bodies of law to their various applications today. Divided into four parts Historical Background, Common Issues, The Need for a Combined Approach, and Monitoring Mechanisms the Handbook presents a rich and varied spectrum of original research and thought from some of the brightest minds in the field.This groundbreaking volume will surely have great appeal for anyone with a professional or academic interest in human rights law and humanitarian law, from students to professors to practitioners in the field.

The present book addresses the right to truth in the field of international human rights law. The objective is to verify the outlines of this right that make it unique, and which justify its own (disputable) existence in the human rights scenario as a legally binding norm. Departing from a historical perspective of the emergence of this right in International Law, the intent is to analyze the multiple debates that have marked the development of the right to truth throughout the past decades. It is explored, therefore, how the a priori abstract notion of truth became a right and the strict relation this has with the social mobilizations of victims of gross violations of human rights. To accomplish this, the book spans across the struggle, in particular, of the relatives of disappeared victims during the 1970's and 1980's when the dictatorships reigned in Latin America. It follows on the expansion of the right to truth during what has been known as the fight against impunity, until it reaches the main human rights courts. To finalize, it discusses the inclusion of the right to truth in the International Convention on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance and the measures more commonly used to realize such right. In the book, it is concluded that the right to truth carries a singularity that is crucial for the protection of victims of gross human rights violations.

The current volume supplements Volume 1 and 2 of The Construction of a Humanized International Law, which contains a selection of the Individual Opinions of Judge Antônio A. Cançado Trindade (1991-2013), former Judge and President of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, and since 2008 a Judge of the International Court of Justice. Volume 3 brings these texts up to date till 2015. Many dwell on aspects of the increased humanization of international law. Elevating this body of norms, which have traditionally focused on purely inter-State relations, to a level where individuals and their suffering (projected in time) become a primary concern, is without doubt Antônio A. Cançado Trindade ́s major doctrinal contribution. His great achievement at the International Court of Justice has been to draw attention to this dimension, and to further its development in the international case-law, in the light of the universal juridical conscience and stressing the relevance of general principles of international law. In a significant number of cases the World Court acts today as a human rights court, dealing increasingly, albeit under the traditional umbrella of inter-State disputes, with situations that involve human suffering and lead it to find human rights violations. We also offer this title as part of a 3 volume set (isbn 9789004375048).