Amsterdam Center for International Law
COST - Call for Papers
The COST Working Group on the International Rule of Law, one of the working groups within the COST Action on ILDC, has published a call for papers on the theme ‘The international rule of law in post conflict situations: the role of domestic courts'.
Selected papers will be presented and discussed during one or more workshops in 2009 and subsequently included in an edited volume.
States that are in transition after a violent conflict face daunting challenges in relation to the rule of law. The legal system may have collapsed, and may be in need of rebuilding or even reinvention. A reinvigorated or reformed justice system may be needed to effectively deal with the perpetrators of mass crimes. More generally, it may bring a climate of lawlessness to an end and create the conditions for a more stable future.
Over the last two decades, the international community has made a major effort to assist States achieve stability after armed conflicts or oppressive regimes by strengthening the rule of law (e.g., through capacity-building in the framework of development cooperation, and through the establishment of international territorial administrations, international or internationalized criminal tribunals, truth commissions, and claims or restitution commissions).
Scant attention has been paid, however, to the rule-of-law-entrenching role of empowering domestic courts to apply international legal principles. Granting domestic courts the power to apply international law may help stabilize the legal order, contribute to the protection of fundamental rights and protect the separation of powers.
Examining how international law is or is not being made part of domestic law in post-conflict situations is of particular interest as the transitional nature of such situations provides a constitutional moment that allows communities to establish anew what they (and other interested parties) consider the most proper relationship between international and domestic law.
The COST Working Group on the International Rule of Law in Domestic Courts has established a research project that will involve a series of workshops with the eventual aim to produce an edited volume that can make a significant contribution to both the rule of law development practice and to legal scholarship.
With a view to forming the research group and identifying the contributers to a publication, the COST working group welcomes contributions on the topic of the international rule of law in domestic courts. Contributions may address for instance (non-exhaustive list):
- Case-studies of constitutional moments when a particular society, in a post-conflict situation, newly defined the powers of courts to apply international law;
- Case-studies of particular rule of law initiatives by international organizations, States, or private rule of law development initiatives that were aimed at strengthening the position of international law in the domestic legal order
- Comparative studies the judicial application of international law in post-conflict or failed-state domestic courts
- The role of international law in deciding claims for reparation by individuals and groups who suffered injury during the conflict
- The willingness of domestic courts of other States to adjudicate reparation claims or prosecutions stemming from violations of international law in the transitioning State.
- The role of international law in the prosecution of persons suspected of crimes during the conflict; this may also involve issues relating to amnesties.
- The application of principles of international criminal law by domestic courts under the supervision of the ICC, the ICTY, the ICTR, (e.g., Rule 11bis of the ICTY/ICTR rules) or other international tribunals.
- The application of principles of international law by transitional justice mechanisms, e.g., traditional local courts, ad hoc claims or restitution bodies, or truth and reconciliation commissions.
- The development of international rule of law parameters by international territorial administrations, and their role in reviewing local judicial decisions that have a rule of law deficit.
- Decisions of domestic courts concerning accountability of international organizations and/or NGOs active in the State during or after the conflict.
For now, the editors leave open the answer as to what the international rule of law precisely implies, or should imply. Authors could thus espouse - or review domestic practice in light of - ‘thin' (formal) or ‘thicker' (more substantive) - conceptions of the rule of law.
Participants will be invited to present and discuss their papers at one or more workshops in 2009. The working group will work towards an edited volume discussing various aspects of the theme The international rule of law in post conflict situations: the role of domestic courts.
Information
The deadline for submission of abstracts is closed.
For information please contact Cedric Ryngaert: Cedric.Ryngaert@law.kuleuven.be or André Nollkaemper:
P.A.Nollkaemper@uva.nl.
call for papers