| 1. |
- Ratcovich, Martin, 1984-
(författare)
-
International Law and the Rescue of Refugees at Sea
- 2019
-
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- International law provides a duty to rescue everyone in distress at sea. Rescue at sea often entails recovering survivors and bringing them on board ships or other rescue units. While their subsequent delivery and disembarkation may not always be controversial, they frequently are if those assisted are refugees and migrants. Coastal states are especially likely to be reluctant to accept disembarkation within their territories if the distress situation and rescue operation occurred in the course of attempts to enter the coastal state in a clandestine or otherwise irregular way. The controversial but unavoidable question in such situations is where refugees and migrants rescued at sea shall be brought for disembarkation.Until recently, international law was strikingly silent in this regard. However, following amendments to the two main treaties on maritime search and rescue — the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea and the International Convention on Maritime Search and Rescue — international maritime rescue law now requires that everyone rescued at sea be delivered to a ‘place of safety’. The responsibility to provide such a place or to ensure that it is provided lies with the state party responsible for the search and rescue region in which the survivors were recovered. However, ‘place of safety’ is not defined in these or any other treaty. Instead, the application is guided by a set of guidelines from the International Maritime Organization (IMO). However, the guidelines are not legally binding and many questions remain unanswered.This thesis examines the meaning of the concept of ‘place of safety’ against the background that many of those rescued at sea are refugees and migrants. Using a legal perspective, it asks how the meaning of this concept can be understood in the wider context of international law. The emphasis on the legal context links to the applicable standard of interpretation, which requires the meaning to be determined with reference to not only the text but also the context and the object and purpose of the treaty.Drawing on an explorative survey of the international legal framework for irregular maritime migration covering norms under the international law of the sea, international refugee law, international human rights law and international law against transnational organised crime and on a dedicated discussion of the applicable standard of interpretation, this thesis analyses the interpretation of the concept of ‘place of safety’. In keeping with the general legal framework of the interpretation of treaties, it explains that this concept cannot be understood with reference to the law of the sea exclusively, as it imports norms from other areas of international law. Due to the contribution of these other norms, including some of a primarily humanitarian character such as those dealing with non-refoulement, right to life and non-discrimination, this thesis argues that the meaning of the concept is broader than it first may seem. To conclude, this thesis summarises a ‘place of safety’ as a location where not only the maritime safety but also the basic security of survivors is no longer threatened.
|
|
| 2. |
|
|
| 3. |
- Svanberg, Katinka, 1969-
(författare)
-
FN:s säkerhetsråd i rättens tjänst – en studie av säkerhetsrådets ingripande under kap. VII i FN-stadgan för rätten till demokrati
- 2014
-
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The hypothesis of the present study is that the UN Security Council has a “quasi-judicial” capacity and is also able to function as a legislator. It is submitted that those roles are immanent in the Council’s mandate according to the UN Charter.The principle of internal self-determination and its development to encompass the right to democracy are taken to test the hypothesis that the Security Council uses its mandatory powers under Chapter VII to promote public international law.This is a norm which is in the making, and may be deemed outside the Security Council’s purpose of maintaining international peace and security. But democracy is part of the principle of self-determination, which is one of the United Nations purposes in Article 1 of the Charter. In part one the Security Council’s competence under the UN Charter Chapter VII and the development of the principle of self-determination, predominantly internal self-determination, are analyzed. The focus is on two new groups claiming rights to self-determination, namely a people’s right to democracy and the right of a minority to take part in government.Part two of the study is devoted to a case study of 15 cases.The last part of the study contains the conclusions. The first tries to answer the question whether the Security Council has in a principled way intervened for a right to democracy. If yes, how and in what instances has the Security Council acted in a way that can be seen as a "stare decisis" in the case of upholding democracy?Then general conclusions tries to answer the question whether the Security Council can act as a police, court of law, and legislator in international law. They show that the Security Council is equipped with broad powers. The police role is foreseen, but nothing hinders it to take up a quasi-judicial role.
|
|
| 4. |
- Langlet, David
(författare)
-
Prior informed consent and hazardous trade : Regulating trade in hazardous goods at the intersection of sovereignty, free trade and environmental protection
- 2007
-
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This dissertation analyses international and to some extent domestic law pertaining to trade in hazardous substances. Hazardous trade regulation is found to promote or accommodate three objectives in particular: the strengthening of the ability of (importing) States to exercise control of transboundary flows of hazardous substances; the protection of human health and environment; and the avoidance of impediments to the free flow of goods. The simultaneous pursuance of these objectives entails potential or actual conflicts. Among the regulatory instruments employed for controlling hazardous trade particular attention is given to prior informed consent (PIC) procedures. These have the potential to strengthen the effective sovereignty of importing States, i.e. their ability to make and enforce informed decisions with respect to import of hazardous substances. These procedures are also compared with export bans, import bans and export notification procedures. It is inter alia asked where different trade-restricting measures place the right to make decisions and whether that right is combined with any means by which such decisions may be enforced. It is concluded that there is no general international law requirement for PIC for transboundary shipments of hazardous substances. Such a requirement may, however, with certain caveats be substantiated for hazardous wastes. It is also concluded that the effective operation of PIC procedures requires the availability of substantial resources in both exporting States and importing States. This may argue for the application of e.g. export bans to particularly hazardous substances. PIC procedures are on the other hand more flexible, better at empowering importing States and are also less likely to conflict with free-trade law than many bans. PIC is in itself no guarantee for a particular level of environmental protection.
|
|
| 5. |
- Klamberg, Mark, 1975-
(författare)
-
Evidence in International Criminal Procedure : Confronting Legal Gaps and the Reconstruction of Disputed Events
- 2012
-
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This study examines the difficulties in establishing a universal code of procedural law governing international criminal trials and fact-finding. It covers five procedural systems: the military tribunals of Nuremberg and Tokyo, the ad hoc tribunals for former Yugoslavia and Rwanda and the International Criminal Court. The basis for the comparison are specific procedural activities common to the five procedural systems, including evaluation, collection, disclosure, admissibility and presentation of evidence.Certain general principles of law are applicable to evidence. However, the judges tend to favour one type of legal system (either adversarial or inquisitorial) when they identify general principles of national law which run counter to the concept of this source of law. The practice of the modern two-tiered systems suggests that pre-trial and trial judges are bound or at least guided by decisions of the Appeals Chamber. In comparison with international law in general, international criminal procedure is thus a sui generis legal system as regards the status of legal precedents. The balance between crime control, fair trial, expeditious proceedings, state sovereignty, truth-seeking, victims’ participation and witnesses and victims protection may vary. No abstract procedural model (either adversarial or inquisitorial) can be applied in its entirety to an existing procedural framework. Instead, the proceedings are mixed and in relation to a specific procedural activity one model may be more relevant as a tool of analysis than another. The concept of “robustness” is used to discuss quantity in addition to concepts that deal with quality, including “probative value” and “weight”. Finally, the method involving exclusion of every reasonable hypothesis of innocence is examined as one of several analytical steps that may contribute to the systematic evaluation of evidence.
|
|
