The 74th Conference of the International Law Association, hosted by the Netherlands Society of International Law, takes place in The Hague from 15-20 August 2010. A new blog, ila2010conference, has been set up, which is entirely dedicated to this conference. Check it out! And if you are attending this conference in person, I hope to see you there. All the best, Otto.
Guest post by Julia-Pia Schütze
These days public attention in Cambodia focuses on three different legal proceedings. As most international lawyers will be aware of, the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) are going to pronounce its verdict in the “Duch” trial in late July. But apart from that, two domestic cases also touch upon some interesting features of human rights law. Firstly, two arrests warrants, the latest dating from 22 June 2010, were issued against opposition leader Sam Rainsy for uprooting border markers near the border to the neighbouring country Vietnam and publishing a map on his party’s website containing false information about the border demarcation between the two countries respectively. Secondly, the Cambodian Supreme Court has recently decided as Court of Appeal on a defamation case brought by the well known lawmaker and Member of Parliament Mu Sochua against the Prime Minister of Cambodia, Hun Sen. This note deals with the latter case. However, I will not comment on any of the issues but rather only briefly summarise the facts of the case to bring them to the knowledge of a wider public. Continue reading
Knut Traisbach asked us to share the following announcement with our readers. Of course, I am happy to do so:
The European Inter-University Centre for Human Rights and Democratisation (EIUC) in Venice will host a distinct human rights program this summer.
The inaugural session of the Venice Academy of Human Rights will take place from 12-17 July.
Confirmed speakers include:
- Jochen Abr. Frowein, Former director of the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law, Heidelberg
- Douglas A. Johnson, Executive Director of the Center for Victims of Torture, Minneapolis
- Theodor Meron, Judge and Former President of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
- Manfred Nowak, UN Special Rapporteur on Torture
- Giorgio Sacerdoti, Former Member of the WTO Appellate Body
- Kathryn Sikkink, McKnight Presidential Chair in Political Science at the University of Minnesota
- Amartya Sen, Nobel Prize Laureate in Economics, Thomas W. Lamont University Professor at Harvard University
The Academy offers interdisciplinary thematic programs open to academics, practitioners and Ph.D./J.S.D. students from anywhere in the world who have an advanced knowledge of human rights. It is open to a maximum of only 50 participants who attend the morning lectures in the plenum and will be divided in smaller groups for more intensive afternoon seminars.
For further information please visit: www.eiuc.org/veniceacademy.
Deadline for applications is 31 May 2010.
Rights’ impact on Europeans everyday lives, its achievements and
shortcomings. Let’s debate about how we perceive our rights to
life,
liberty, security, a fair trial, family life and freedom of
conscience,
religion and expression.
Our rights,
our freedoms –
Our Convention on Facebook – see you there!
**********************
commentaires sur le mur, vous informer grâce à de nombreuses
ressources
multimédias (affiches, brochures animées, podcasts), suivre des
débats et
vous tenir au courant des derniers événements. Enfin et surtout,
vous
pourrez entrer en contact avec des partisans des droits de l’homme
dans
tous les pays d’Europe.
Nos droits, nos libertés – Notre
convention : Rejoignez-nous sur Facebook !
By Otto Spijkers
This is Part II of a diptych. The previous post, entitled Special Committee on Principles of International Law concerning Friendly Relations (Part I), discussed the first three reports of the Special Committee. I will now discuss the remaining three reports. Continue reading
By Björn Elberling
Two counts of navel-gazing in one post: First of all, I would like to welcome our new co-bloggers to the Invisible College. I am looking forward to reading your perspectives and to hopefully many interesting discussion.
Second, I want to shamelessly abuse my posting privileges for some self-promotion: On the occasion of the re-start of the Karadzic trial at the ICTY, the Hague Justice Portal has published a short comment by yours truly on the accused’s defense woes. (Full disclosure: I clerked with the Karadzic defense team in the summer of 2009). Continue reading
By Otto Spijkers
In 1970, the Assembly adopted the Declaration on Principles of International Law concerning Friendly Relations and Co-operation among States in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations, which is one of the most authoritative interpretations of some of the principles in the United Nations Charter. I was a bit surprised that the reports of the Special Committee, which initially prepared a first draft of this declaration, were not easily available on the internet. The main aim of this post is to remedy that situation. You can use the links in the text below to access the reports and other primary documents. I will also try to briefly summarize the most interesting parts of the debates. Continue reading
Welcome to the Invisible College Blog. Until the end of 2017, this was the official blog of the Netherlands School of Human Rights Research.
Until the end of 2017, the Invisible College Blog was the continuation of its successful predecessor carrying the same name (see here for more about the ‘pre-school days’ of the blog). The aim of the renewed blog was to attempt to offer an even more comprehensive, yet pluriform and diverse collection of posts along the spectrum of research activities conducted within the School of Human Rights Research. These areas of interest comprise various disciplines such as, but not limited to, human rights law, international criminal law, international humanitarian law, international economic law and development cooperation, international relations and philosophical approaches to any of these disciplines.
The main idea was not to directly represent the School of Human Rights Research, but more to create an online forum which provides (former) members of the School, and likeminded spirits, the opportunity to report, share and exchange thoughts on current developments through open dialogue.
The aim was to be informative, but also to stimulate debate on these topics. For this purpose, we regularly invited guest bloggers to share their expertise and views on particular issues, and invited the reader to participate in a meaningful way in the discussion!
The School of Human Rights Research aims at promoting disciplinary and multidisciplinary scientific research in the field of human rights. By means of critical analysis and the submission of proposals, based on thorough scientific research, the School wants to contribute to the further implementation and strengthening of international, regional and national systems of protection of human rights.
The School is an inter-university alliance of universities and research institutes – a joint effort of the School of Law and the Faculty of the Humanities of Utrecht University, and the Faculties of Law of Maastricht University, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Tilburg University and Leiden University. The T.M.C. Asser Institute in The Hague, also participates in the Research School. The Netherlands Institute of Human Rights (SIM) of the Faculty of Law at Utrecht University is entrusted with the administration of the School and hosts the secretariat and management of the School.
The School aims to unite researchers in the field of human rights and provides a joint training programme for Ph.D. researchers who are employed at the universities participating in the School. Various disciplines are represented within the Research School: Law (including several sub-disciplines), Political Science, History, Philosophy, and Cultural Anthropology.
The School of Human Rights Research was officially recognised by the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) in 1995 and re-accredited in 2000 and 2005.
By Otto Spijkers
The wonderful Interdisciplinary Journal of Human Rights Law (IJHRL) has just published volume 4 (2009-2010). The journal is available for free online. I am proud to say that it includes an article written by myself, entitled What’s Running the World: Global Values, International Law, and the United Nations. The article is largely based on a paper I presented earlier at the 2nd Global International Studies Conference: What Keeps us Apart, What Keeps us Together (International Order, Justice, Values), organized by the World International Studies Committee (WISC), in Ljubljana, Slovenia, 23 – 26 July 2008 (I think the paper is still available on the website of the conference).
By Otto Spijkers
One of my favorite topics to think about is the place of the individual in the world. It seems I am not the only one who does so. In fact, in her 2009 Christmas address, the Queen of the Netherlands warned ‘her’ people about the increasing individualism in Dutch society. According to our Queen, there is a real danger that the Dutch are slowly alienating themselves from the local community, from the warm bonds of neighborliness, and instead turn into isolated, cynical, and cold-hearted individuals. And the social networks on the internet (Facebook, Hyves, etc.) only accelerate this process, said the Queen, because they replace ‘real’ connections with ‘unreal’, or virtual connections.