CONTENTS
EX OFFICIO
Reviews are freely available
JUSTICIA
THREE INTERNATIONAL LAWYERS IN A HALL OF MIRRORS
Jean d’Aspremont
This article uses the metaphor of the hall of mirrors to produce three distinct images of an international lawyer. The hall of mirrors refers here to the extent to which international legal discourses are built on self-referential mechanisms tantamount to mutually reflecting mirrors, by virtue of which movements and postures are reproduced ad infinitum without disclosing the origin thereof. This article ends with a few observations on the coexistence of these three international lawyers – the invincible, the vulnerable, and the self-reflective – standing together in the hall of mirrors, possibly not even seeing one another.
Ruslan Kantur
This paper highlights certain legal issues related to the situations when a judge of the International Court of Justice appears to be a party to a conflict of interest. The author assumes that in international adjudication the definition of a conflict of interest embraces a conflict of potential conditions, when the personal interests of an international judge collide with international legal interests of the world community, while the latter is presumed to be interested in due fulfillment by international judges of their official duties. In the situation of a conflict of interest, international judges acting as agents of the world community, which casts itself in the role of a collective principal, have a proclivity to abuse their procedural rights to the detri- ment of the principal.
Maria Filatova, Ekaterina Baliuk
The article is freely available
The enforcement of the European Court of Human Rights judgments as a part of an issue of compliance with international courts’decisions is of major theoretical and practical importance for the Russian legal system. More generally, the enforcement of the ECtHR’s judgments reflects state compliance with international law. More specifically, such enforcement refers to the degree of real human rights protection in a particular State. One of the main issues regarding the enforcement of the ECtHR’s judgments is the question of the formal moment since which a judgment is considered to be enforced.
JUS HOMINUM
THE RIGHT OF CHILDREN OF IMPRISONED PARENTS TO VISIT THEM: INTERNATIONAL AND RUSSIAN CONTEXTS
Natalya Kravchuk
Children of imprisoned persons were not considered a vulnerable group with specific needs and interests until recently. During last several years, however, international bodies adopted documents that provided for rights of these children that should be particularly noted by governments, including the right to maintain the contact with the imprisoned parent. Presently this right is interpreted as a separate right of the child and not only as a right of an imprisoned parent both on a global level by the UN Committee on the rights of the child and on the regional level by the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers.
OPINIO JURIS
Larisa Zaitseva
The problem of implementation of the freedom of expression in labor relations is examined in accordance with the principles which are enshrined in Article 10 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. The aim of the study is to identify current trends in the protection and restriction of the freedom of expression by employees in the presence of subordination and confidentiality in labor relations. The author completed the following tasks: the characterized traditions of ensuring and restricting the freedom of expression in labor relations in foreign legal systems; examined and summarized the arguments in the ECtHR decisions on the permissibility of expressing critical opinions against the employer; described modern Russian practices of restricting and protecting freedom of expression by an employee; the connection between the Russian judicial practice and the practice of the ECtHR was revealed.
FORUM INCOGNITA
UNIQUE LEGAL FEATURES OF THE SPECIAL TRIBUNAL FOR LEBANON
Ivana Hrdličková
The article is freely available
This article is dedicated to the unique features of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, which is the first international court prosecuting terrorism in times of peace and the only one dealing with the Middle East. The author introduces the establishment of the Tribunal by the Security Council under the Chapter 7 of the United Nations Charter and its specific mandate over persons responsible for the attack of 14 February 2014 resulting in death the former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri, death of 21 people and injury to a further 226.
LEX MERCATORIA
Ilia Rachkov
The specificity of the international investment law (IIL) is that it is not based on a single source in which the norms which constitute its nucleus would be codified and progressively developed. This is true for both substantive and procedural parts of the IIL. There exists no international organiza- tion or body to settle investment disputes that would facilitate a uniform application and interpretation of IIL rules. Therefore, it is difficult (or even impossible) to predict how an arbitration tribunal would decide the one or the other dispute between a foreign investor and the host state. This en- tails a legal uncertainty which impedes the IIL to perform the main function of the law – to create certainty and predictability in the relations the law regulates. The analysis of the awards rendered by arbitration tribunals allows forecasting to some extent. The author examines the specific examples of how States seek to shield themselves against the claims brought forward by foreign investors through challenging the jurisdiction of the arbitration tribunals and/or admissibility of claims through the notions of foreign investor and foreign investment; lawfulness of foreign investment as a precondition for admissibility; scope of the jurisdiction and other notions.
LIBRORUM
WHEN POLITICS PREVAILS OVER THE SCIENCE
A BOOK REVIEW: SRETO NOGO. MEZHDUNARODNOE UGOLOVNOE PRAVO / PER. S SERBSKOGO A. A. LITVINSKOY. SAINT PETERSBURG: YURIDICHESKIY TSENTR, 2019.
Gennady Esakov, Gleb Bogush
The subject of this review is the translation of the Serbian textbook on international criminal law. The authors of the review found that the textbook in question can be regarded as a low-quality text for the following reasons: the superficial content of the book along with extremely controversial statements, the presence of numerous juridical and factual errors, and the lack of reliable references to sources.