Articles for author: Anne Peters

The Double Effect of “Double Standards”

The summer may have brought a pause to parliamentary sessions, university lectures, and the editorial of Verfassungsblog, but not to international law. In early September, the Shanghai Summit made the continuing erosion of the so-called liberal international legal order and the looming risk of its fragmentation evident. The leaders of the assembled Asian states (mostly autocracies) once again decried the West’s (or North’s) “double standards” (Tianjin Declaration of 1 September 2025). The accusation of double standards is not new, but in today’s period of upheaval in the world order, it has acquired an entirely new dynamism and urgency. It focuses ... continue reading

12. September 2025

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Doppelfolge der „Double Standards“

Der Sommer ließ zwar Parlamentssitzungen, Vorlesungen und das Editorial des Verfassungsblogs ruhen, nicht aber das Völkerrecht. Anfang September hat der Shanghai-Gipfel die fortlaufende Erosion der sogenannten liberalen Völkerrechtsordnung und die drohende Spaltung dieser Ordnung augenfällig gemacht. Die Führer der versammelten asiatischen Staaten (meist Autokratien) haben wieder einmal die „double standards“ des Westens (Nordens) beklagt (Tianjin Declaration v. 1. Sept. 2025). Der Vorwurf der double standards ist nicht neu, hat aber in der Phase des Umbruchs der Weltordnung, in der wir uns befinden, eine ganz neue Dynamik und Brisanz gewonnen. Er betrifft insbesondere die angeblich selektive Durchsetzung des Völkerrechts durch Staaten ... continue reading

12. September 2025

One Health – One Welfare – One Rights

The projected WHO Pandemic Agreement, as currently under negotiation, will most likely contain a detailed prescription of a One Health approach (Art. 1(d) and Art. 5 of the INB negotiating text of 30 October 2023). This contribution examines the legal potential of a One Health approach for laws and policies towards animals raised, kept, and slaughtered for providing meat, milk, fur, and other body products for human consumption. My main argument will be that, taken seriously, the idea of One health defies a hierarchy between the health of humans, animals, and ecosystems. The inner logic of One Health is to exploit the positive feedback loops between safeguarding human, animal, and ecosystem health. This approach should modify the still prevailing unreflected and unchecked prioritisation of measures in favour of human health at the expense of and to the detriment of animal health and life. I will illustrate my claim with two policy examples.

1. April 2024

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Erklärung zum russischen Angriff auf die Ukraine / Statement on the Russian attack on Ukraine

Vorstand und Rat der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Internationales Recht erklären: Die Charta der Vereinten Nationen verpflichtet alle Mitglieder, in ihren internationalen Beziehungen jede gegen die territoriale Unversehrtheit oder die politische Unabhängigkeit eines Staates gerichtete Anwendung von Gewalt zu unterlassen (Art. 2 Abs. 4 UN-Charta). Der bewaffnete Angriff der Russischen Föderation auf die Ukraine verletzt dieses grundlegende Prinzip des Völkerrechts, auf dem die gegenwärtige internationale Ordnung beruht. Die Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationales Recht fördert die Forschung, Lehre und Rechtsgestaltung im Bereich des Völkerrechts. Wir halten fest, dass die Sprache des Völkerrechts von Russland missbraucht wird, um juristisch nicht haltbare Rechtsbehauptungen vorzubringen. ... continue reading

24. Februar 2022

Networks

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Informal, “soft” law has often been investigated through the lens of network authority. This panel contrasts two such perspectives from transnational law – private transnational legal regimes in the field of corporate social responsibility and the transition from and connections between informal and formal law in the field of global financial governance – with a theoretical approach that emphasizes the importance of connectivity norms for the global legal order.

12. Januar 2021

Multiple Legalities in International Law

This panel assembles four eminent international law scholars to discuss how the multiplicity of law beyond the state observed over the past two days affects the study of international law today. What are the prospects for international law as a discipline?

12. Januar 2021

On Vaccine Nationalism, the ‚Slowbalisation‘ and Zoonotic Diseases – Part I

Although it is impossible to predict all of the current pandemic’s potential consequences, Covid-19 has already acquired a multidimensional nature, affecting all levels of society, and will seemingly become a catalyst of change in many fields, including international relations and international law. In the light of the current developments, MURATCAN SABUNCU discusses with ANNE PETERS the coronavirus, its global effects and transformative potential.

28. Dezember 2020

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Introduction: In search for conciliation

Sentenza 238/2014 of the Italian Constitutional Court created a legal and political deadlock between Italy and Germany. In denying Germany’s immunity from civil jurisdiction over claims to reparations for Nazi crimes committed during World War II, the Italian Constitutional Court indirectly challenged the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) judgment of 2012, which had confirmed the principle of State immunity. The Sentenza warrants renewed attention because a wave of judgments issued by several Italian courts since 2015 started breathing new life into the case. Court decisions in Florence, Rome, Piacenza, Ascoli Piceno reaffirmed Italian jurisdiction and in some cases ordered Germany ... continue reading

11. Mai 2017

Let Not Triepel Triumph – How To Make the Best Out of Sentenza No. 238 of the Italian Constitutional Court for a Global Legal Order

The Italian Constiutional Court’s decision no. 238 of 22 Oct. 2014 (unofficial translation into English) already inspired a flurry of comments in the blogosphere (see in EJIL talk! Christian Tams (24 Oct. 2014) and Theodor Schilling (12 Nov. 2014); on the Verfassungsblog amongst others Filippo Fontanelli (27 Oct. 2014); on Opinio Juris Andrea Pin (19 Nov. 2014); on the Völkerrechtsblog Felix Würkert (11 Dec. 2014)); see also Karin Oellers-Frahm, „Das italienische Verfassungsgericht und das Völkerrecht: Eine unerfreuliche Beziehung“, Heidelberg Journal of International Law 2015, issue 1. In that Sentenza, the Corte refused to give effect to the ICJ’s judgment (in) Jurisdictional Immunities of the State (Germany v. Italy) of 3 February 2012, in which the ICJ had upheld the ... continue reading

23. Dezember 2014