Thema: Völkerrecht

Verfassungsrechtliche Aspekte des Völkerrechts, einschließlich der Integration völkerrechtlicher Normen in nationale Verfassungsordnungen, Vertragsabschlussbefugnisse, völkerrechtliche Verpflichtungen und verfassungsrechtliche Grenzen internationaler Bindungen. Umfasst die Schnittstelle zwischen nationalem Verfassungsrecht und völkerrechtlichen Verpflichtungen.

Wagner ist keine Söldnertruppe

Spätestens seit Wagners Putsch-Versuch von letztem Samstag gerät die Gruppe immer stärker in den Fokus der Öffentlichkeit. Dabei nimmt das Interesse an Söldnern und die Forderung nach ihrer Kontrolle und Verboten von allen Seiten zu. Die Mitglieder der Gruppe Wagner sind jedoch keine Söldner. Sie sind private military contractors (PMCs) – und damit eine weitaus größere Bedrohung für das Gewaltmonopol, die Einhaltung des humanitären Völkerrechts und den Schutz von Betroffenen. Echte Regulierung von PMCs ist nicht erst seit Wagners brutalem Einsatz bitter nötig. Jetzt könnte sich zuletzt durch den gescheiterten Staatsstreich das erste Mal ein Fenster auftun, indem auch der Westen sich einer echten Kontrolle von PMCs nicht mehr verschließen kann. Wagner könnte damit zum Kipppunkt werden, die Haltung zum Outsourcing von Gewalt zu überdenken.

30. Juni 2023

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Saifan and the Weaponization of Trade Secrets

The Knesset’s Constitution, Law and Justice Committee has been convening to discuss the regulation of spyware in response to the on-going fall-out over the Israeli police’s use of the spyware Pegasus (“Saifan” in its local iteration) to surveil Israeli citizens, including political activists. Public debate has chiefly focused on the question of legal authority surrounding police surveillance but has generally failed to recognize the underlying cooptative dynamics of governmental technology procurement. In this post, we detail the contested legal grounds on which the Israeli police and Ministry of Justice rely for spyware authorization as well as an analysis of the government procurement of surveillance technology, with particular emphasis on the weaponization of trade secrets in the service of strategic concealment of governmental operations. We argue that the combination of outdated laws with nontransparent operations make public accountability and oversight intensely difficult.

28. Juni 2023

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Yevgeny Prigozhin and Russia’s Expanding Prerogative State

Over the weekend, the world’s attention was gripped as a well-equipped Russian private military company led by Evgeny Prigozhin seized control of a key Russian city and military hub, and marched on Moscow. Prigozhin’s actions reveal a deeper truth about Putin’s Russia: the absence of formalised, legal mechanisms for peacefully resolving high-level, intra-elite disputes. As the war in Ukraine drags on, what Ernst Fraenkel called the ‘prerogative state’ is expanding. This lawless realm of unchecked public power has no rules or institutions that can settle disputes among the Russian elite; these can only be resolved by Putin himself.

26. Juni 2023

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Erdogan’s Wish List Come True?

On 1 June 2023, the new Swedish anti-terrorism legislation entered into force whose primary novelty is the criminalization of membership in terrorist groups. While it thereby aligns Swedish counter-terrorism law with the EU 2017 Counter-terrorism Directive, the move has been controversial for several reasons. In particular, the legislation is widely seen as an attempt to win Erdogan’s support for Sweden’s still pending NATO application. This, in turn, has raised concerns that the new law is exceeding what is required by the Directive.

17. Juni 2023

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EU-Recht bricht Völkerrecht? Der Trugschluss der europäischen Calvo-Doktrin

Am 27. Juli 2023 wird der BGH drei Urteile in Rechtssachen verkünden, die alle um eine Frage kreisen: geht EU-Recht in internationalen Schiedsgerichtsverfahren zwischen EU-Investoren und EU-Mitgliedstaaten immer vor, selbst wenn dadurch ein multilateraler völkerrechtlicher Vertrag, der immer und auf alle Vertragsparteien bezogen Rechte begündet, berührt wird? Diese scheinbar rein rechtsdogmatische Frage hat völkerrechtshistorisch, wirtschaftspolitisch und rechtspolitisch weitreichende Folgen. Es geht um nicht weniger als um die Frage, ob die Bundesrepublik Deutschland sowie die EU und alle ihre Mitgliedstaaten weiterhin bereit sind das Völkerrecht zu achten, und zwar gerade in einer Zeit, in der die Notwendigkeit der Wirksamkeit völkerrechtlicher Rechtsbindungen nicht hoch genug gewertet werden kann.

16. Juni 2023

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Political Pluralism and the Camel’s Back

On 27 April, the High Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Christian Schmidt has unblocked the appointment of the government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina by overriding the veto of the largest Bosniak party, SDA. The party, currently in opposition, had blocked the appointment of the government. Schmidt's move could be a welcome breakthrough – the country has been ridden by abuses of ethnic vetoes ever since the Dayton Agreement. However, this specific imposition may have detrimental consequences for the future of political pluralism in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and any parties which want to outgrow the existing ethnic division.

17. Mai 2023

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The UK vs the ECtHR

In recent months, the UK government has tabled two Bills - the Bill of Rights Bill and the Illegal Migration Bill - before Parliament which would have the consequence - and almost certainly have the intention - of setting the UK on a collision course with the Council of Europe, and especially the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). This post details how these Bills serve to undermine the UK’s obligations under the ECHR and explains their significance within the larger debate surrounding the UK’s possible withdrawal from the Convention. It places this debate in the context of the rarely-convened Council of Europe summit of heads of state and government in Reykjavik in May 2023, whose ambitious agenda is to protect the ‘common heritage’ of respect for human rights, democracy and the rule of law in the face of Russia’s aggression in Ukraine and other existential threats.

5. Mai 2023

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Education as Indoctrination: Mnemonic Constitutionalism and History Teaching in Russia

In January 2023, Russia adopted new amendments to the Law "On Education in the Russian Federation" which will become effective by September 1st, 2023. The amendments establish mandatory, federal curricula for the following school subjects: "Russian language", "Literary reading", "The world around", "Russian language", "Literature", "History", "Social science", "Geography" and "Basics of life safety". The content of the curricula was developed and pre-approved by the Ministry of Education in November 2022, and aims to establish a single, uniform standard of teaching for these subjects. The amendments are emblematic of Russia’s increasingly aggressive pursuit of mnemonic constitutionalism. This article will detail how its legislative governance of memory in the context of history teaching violates the right to education enshrined in international human rights law.

25. April 2023

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Context Is Open to Interpretation, Too

Taiwan is no longer ‘The Orphan of Asia’ as depicted in a 1983 mandarin Chinese pop song that gave expression to the Taiwanese’ feelings of betrayal and abandonment, after the US ‘recognize[d] the Government of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] as the sole legal Government of China’ in 1979 and withdrew its troops from the island. Today Taiwan is one of the most discussed geopolitical hotspots. In this contribution, I aim to take the discussion of Taiwan’s legal status forward in response to Wu and Lin’s outright rejection of the Resolution’s bearing on the Taiwan question, by drawing attention to the complexity of the context in which the Resolution was adopted.

20. April 2023

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Achmea Goes to Washington

Recently, a US District Court trashed a Dutch company's arbitral award against Spain. Why? Because investor-state arbitration within the EU violates European law. Yet, many tribunals keep issuing arbitral awards - especially under the infamous Energy Charta Treaty. Challenging those awards in domestic courts outside the EU, like here in Washington D.C., might work as corrective to the continuing illegal assumption of jurisdiction and blatant disregard for the EU Treaties by arbitral tribunals.

19. April 2023

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