Call for Submissions to the ILA Reporter

The ILA Reporter (ilareporter.org.au) is the official blog of the Australian Branch of the International Law Association (ILA). The ILA was founded in Brussels in 1873. It has consultative status, as an international non-governmental organisation, with a number of the United Nations specialised agencies. The ILA Reporter provides analysis, commentary and discussion on issues in public and private international law which have bearing on Australia and the wider region.

The ILA Reporter accepts articles on a rolling basis from academics, legal practitioners, and students. This is a great opportunity to be published by a well-respected non-government organisation with a wide readership.

The ILA Reporter accepts analytical articles, book reviews, case analysis, and recounts of recent events in the field of international law. It is preferable that articles have a connection with Australia. We are flexible as to the length of the article – anywhere between 400 and 2,000 words is ideal – and multi-part articles may be submitted. Articles must follow the citation guide, which is available here.

Please contact the Editors, Molly Thomas and Evan Ritli, at editor@ilareporter.org.au with your proposal or completed article, or any queries you may have.

The Exponential Growth of Space Activities: Challenges for Space Law in the Coming Decades – Steven Freeland

On 4 October 1957, a Soviet space object, Sputnik I, was launched and subsequently orbited the earth over 1,400 times during the following three-month period. This milestone heralded the dawn of the space age, the space race (initially between the Soviet Union and the United States), and the legal regulation of the use and exploration of outer space.

Ecosystem-Based Fisheries Management in International Fisheries Law and Its Implementation in Bangladesh – Abdullah Al Arif

Sustainable management of marine fisheries is a complex, multi-dimensional and multi-stakeholder process that entails sustainable use of marine living resources and conservation of marine biodiversity. Legislative, policy and institutional frameworks play a crucial role in conservation and management of fish stocks at all levels of governance—global, regional, national and local. Like many parts of the world, fisheries resources in the marine waters of Bangladesh are not sustainably managed.

Reciprocal Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments in China: Breakthrough and Trend – Associate Professor Jeanne Huang

Chinese Civil Procedure Law (CPL) provides that foreign judgments can be recognised and enforced according to reciprocity if no treaty is applicable. However, although Chinese judgments have been recognised and enforced in many countries without a treaty, China had never reciprocated before 2016.^[1]Since 2016, Chinese courts unprecedentedly recognised and enforced foreign monetary judgments based on de facto reciprocity. This spurs rich literature with mixed views about the future direction of reciprocity-based judicial recognition and enforcement (JRE) in China.^[2] This post aims to add to the current debate from two aspects. First, it tries to answer the doubts in contemporary literature about whether the two foreign judgments recognised and enforced in 2016 and 2017 are fortuitous. Second, it addresses the question of what the trend of the Chinese reciprocity-based JRE law might be.

Call for Applications – Assistant Editor, ILA Reporter

The ILA Reporter is calling for applications for the role of Assistant Editor.

What is the ILA Reporter?

The ILA Reporter is the official blog of the Australian Branch of the International Law Association (ILA). The ILA was founded in Brussels in 1873. It has consultative status, as an international non-governmental organisation, with a number of the United Nations specialised agencies. The ILA Reporter provides analysis, commentary and discussion on issues in public and private international law which have bearing on Australia and the wider region.

What is the role?

The role of Assistant Editor is to support the Editors by commissioning, editing and publishing articles for the Blog.

Assistant Editors will be engaged on a voluntary basis and will be required to source and edit at least one article per month. There may also be opportunities for Assistant Editors to have their own articles published on the blog.

The role is a great opportunity for those looking to gain experience in the field of international law with a well-respected non-government organisation.

Are you a suitable candidate?

At a minimum candidates must be in their penultimate or final year of a law degree or law masters degree. They must have taken an international law course during their degree.

Strong written communication and legal research skills are essential.

How do you apply?

Please send a copy of your CV, academic transcript and an example of a written work to the Editors at editor@ilareporter.org.au by 17 February 2019.

Please feel free to send any questions to the above address.

Extending a Collective Human Right to Address a Global Challenge: Self-Determination for Refugees, Asylum Seekers and Internally Displaced Persons – Amy Maguire and Amy Elton

Refugees and people seeking asylum make up approximately 28.5 million of the world’s displaced population. At international law, a refugee is someone who is ‘unable or unwilling to return to their country of origin owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion.’ Asylum seekers have left their country of origin but have not had their claims for refugee status resolved. Once these individuals cross the border, they are no longer part of a national community and effectively relinquish self-determination. As self-determination forms a foundation for the exercise of other human rights, refugees and asylum seekers are especially vulnerable to continuing human rights violations.

ILA Annual End-of-Year Function – Thursday 6 December 2018

The International Law Association (Australian Branch) has the pleasure of inviting all members and non-members to its annual end of year function on Thursday 6 December 2018 at 5.30pm. The function will explore the topic of “Climate Change and Sea-Level Rise: Possible International Law Responses”, and include a panel discussion by Justice Nicola Pain, Professor Jane McAdam, Professor Donald Rothwell, and Dr Rosemary Rayfuse. Please see flyer for further details. Registrations of attendance are required by email to secretary@ila.org.au by Monday 3 December 2018.

ILA End of Year Function 2018

The Rights of Indigenous Peoples in International Law: Strategic Lessons from Latin America – A/Prof. Lucas Lixinski

It is well-known that when the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) was being voted on in the United Nations General Assembly in 2007, only four states voted against it: the infamous CANZUS countries (Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the United States). They have all since changed their position and shown varying degrees of support for the UNDRIP and what it contains.

It is noteworthy, however, that these are four developed countries with histories of English colonization and common law systems. The reluctance of these states to engage with the UNDRIP would suggest that other countries, more supportive of that process, would offer better lessons for strategic engagement. And yet, in Anglophone circles we tend to neglect the experiences of other parts of the world, particularly Latin America.

Philosophy, Priorities and Provisional Measures: The ICJ’s Order on the United States’ Sanctions against Iran – Molly Thomas

On 3 October 2018, the International Court of Justice (“the Court”) handed down its decision on provisional measures in the Islamic Republic of Iran’s (“Iran”) case against the United States of America (“United States”) for alleged violations of the 1955 Treaty of Amity, Economic Relations and Consular Rights (“Treaty of Amity”).

The case arose out of the issuing by United States President Donald Trump of a National Security Presidential Memorandum ending the United States’ participation in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (“JCPOA”), a multilateral plan designed to monitor and manage Iran’s compliance with its nuclear disarmament by lifting sanctions imposed on Iran by major world powers, including the United States. The President ordered that sanctions lifted under the Obama Presidency be reimposed.

A Tad on the Intersection between Climate Change and Free Trade Agreements – Dr Jadranka Petrovic

Climate change is considered to be one of the most serious (‘the most serious’?) of all the threats that our planet is facing currently. Research shows that in its potential impact, climate change poses a graver problem than weapons of mass destruction, cyber war, terrorism, armed conflict and every other peril. One of the main reasons that climate change figures strongly is due to its interrelatedness with other problems, including the adverse effects of international trade on the environment. It has been argued that although beneficial and indispensable economically, trade can exacerbate pollution and other forms of environmental degradation, particularly carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions. An unprecedented expansion of international trade since the 1950s has significantly impacted upon the environment. Trade is predicted to continue to be one of the major factors driving economic growth in the future. In parallel, it is expected that carbon dioxide emissions will continue to accelerate with growth indefinitely and that the very fact of increased trade, in and of itself, will lead directly to more global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. As free trade agreements (FTAs) are being increasingly negotiated throughout the world,[1]the questions of whether and how these agreements can be used to support a successful transition to a low emission and resilient economy is becoming more and more significant. By considering the effects of climate change on the Great Barrier Reef in Australia as an example, this article pinpoints (albeit tangentially) some of the trade-climate-change-related concerns in the context of the recently signed Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for the Transpacific Partnership (CPTPP).