B018947 - CURRENT CHALLENGES TO INTERNATIONAL LAW

English

The first part of the course will be devoted to the analysis of the system of collective security set out in the UN Charter. The second part of the course will focus on the use of unilateral force by States and the fight against terrorism. The third part will deal with the UN role in the emerging system of international criminal justice.

Reading materials for Attending students (see at the end additional readings for non-attending students):
Gary Wilson, The United Nations and collective security, Routledge, London/New York, 2014

N. D. White, C.Henderson (eds.), Research Handbook on International Conflict and Security Law. Jus ad Bellum, Jus in Bello and Jus post Bellum, Elgar, Cheltenham, 2016, ONLY THE FOLLOWING CHAPTERS: Chapter 4 (O’Connell), Chapter 5 (Henderson), Chapter 6 (Kritsiotis), Chapter 7 (Gray), Chapter 17 (White)

L.Ginsborg, “The United Nations Security Council’s Counter-Terrorism Al-Qaida Sanctions Regime: Resolution 1267 and the 1267 Committee” ONLY CHAPTER 35 in Ben Saul (ed.), Research Handbook on International Law and Terrorism, Elgar, Cheltenham, 2014

M. Scharf, “How the War against ISIS changed International Law”, Case Western Reserve Faculty Publications, freely available at http://scholarlycommons.law.case.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2637&context=faculty_publications

M. Frulli, “Fact-Finding or Paving the Road to Criminal Justice?: Some Reflections on United Nations Commissions of Inquiry”, Journal of International Criminal Justice (2012) 10 (5): 1323-1338, available online in the library

B. Van Schaack, “A Concise History of International Criminal Law”, Santa Clara Law Faculty Publications, available at http://digitalcommons.law.scu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1629&context=facpubs

A. Novak, The International Criminal Court. An Introduction, Springer, 2015, ONLY CHAPTER 2 (The origins of international criminal justice), available online in the Springer books database in the library (you can download a single chapter).

L.Moss, “The UN Security Council and the International Criminal Court”, PAPER 2012, available at http://library.fes.de/pdf-files/iez/08948.pdf

C.Binder, Introduction to the Concept of Transitional Justice, PAPER 2013, available at http://www.bundesheer.at/pdf_pool/publikationen/transitional_justice_sr_11_2013_03_c_binder.pdf


NON-Attending students shall study additional reading materials:

N. D.White, An Advanced Introduction to International Conflict and Security Law, Elgar, 2014

This course aims at providing the students with advanced knowledge of the United Nations system under two respects. In the first place, through the exam of the exceptions to the ban on the use of force as contemplated in 1945 in the UN Charter or emerged in recent years. In the second place, through the analysis of the coercive measures other than the use of force that are either traditional (sanctions) or new (international criminal justice). This knowledge will allow he students to understand the normative limits that the international legal order places on the use of force and the consequences ensuing from the serious violations of the founding principles of such order.

Good Knowledge of the basics of Public International Law is required

Lectures and Seminars: 72 hours

Attending Students must register on the E-Moodle Platform (http://e-l.unifi.it/, ask the password to the professor) and download the materials that will be uploaded there. Registration is possible until October 11, 2018, while materials can be downloaded until April 15, 2019.
NB Non-Attending Students are not allowed to register on the E-Moodle Platform

The final examination consists of a written test aimed at ascertaining the knowledge and abilities acquired by the students. The test will be formed by 3 open questions (at your choice among 4) and available time is one and a half hour. It is possible to consult the UN Charter and other documents (in paper) only in agreement with the Professor.

The course will be titled:
The United Nations, collective security and the use of force by States: The evolution of peace maintenance to face ever-changing threats
The first part of the course will be devoted to the analysis of the UN structure: objectives and principles, main organs and main functions. It will mainly focus on the system of collective security set out in the UN Charter with a view to addressing its origins, its evolution and the role of the Security Council (SC) as the main responsible for the maintenance of international peace and security. The UN Charter provisions will be analyzed in a legal perspective - in particular the prohibition of the use of force enshrined in article 2, para 4 and the exceptions allowed by the Charter - in order to address their merits and pitfalls, their actual (partially failed) implementation and their evolutive interpretation taking stock of both past and most recent practice.
In order to complement the analysis of the current functioning of the UN system of collective security, the second part of the course will dwell on past and recent cases of unilateral use of armed force by States or coalition of States outside the legal framework provided for by the Charter. Several States resorted to the use of armed force against other States on many occasions and they always argued about the legality of their interventions with a variety of justifications: humanitarian intervention, individual or collective self-defence (including preventive self-defence) and reactions against terrorist attacks. The course will dwell on the soundness of these legal justifications through the analysis of past and recent practice, including recent interventions in the Syrian conflict and against the Islamic State.
The last part of the course will deal with the UN role in the birth and actual functioning of the international criminal justice system. The UN increasingly connected its action in peace maintenance with the need to mete out justice with respect to individuals responsible of the most serious crimes under international law. Thanks to the changing role of fact-finding commissions, the UN started investigating the commission of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. In the 1990’ the SC created the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and played a key role in the creation of other transitional justice mechanisms (such as the Special Court for Sierra Leone) and in the fight against impunity. The SC has also a crucial role according to the referral mechanism provided for in the International Criminal Court Statute since it can prompt the ICC to deal with a specific situation, for example as it happened with Darfur. This last part will also be a necessary introduction for students who will choose the second year course on genocide and international crimes.