Syllabus
1. Introductory lesson. Case study of the work of the ICTR and the Rwandan genocide. Interrelation of various sub-disciplines of international law. Nexus between international law and international relations.
2. The system of sources Is there any hierarchy among the sources? The miraculous nature of international customs. General principles recognized by civilized nations? Soft law. The political and legal weight of UN GA resolutions.
3. Subjects of international law Traditional subjects as states and intergovernmental organisations. The issue of limited competence of the individual. People and mankind as subjects of international law. Borderline cases (such as the Holy Sea, the Maltese Knights Order, Taiwan).
4. The law of treaties 1969 Vienna Convention on the law of treaties. Treaty conclusion, reservations, objections, invalidity and termination. Case study of the termination of the Gabcikovo-Nagymaros treaty.
5. The international system of human rights protection The UN related conventions and treaty bodies concerning the human rights protection. Are human rights universal or are they culturally determined? Case study of the European Court on Human Rights, its law and practice.
6. International humanitarian law War crimes, crimes against peace, crimes against humanity, and war criminals. The most brutal attack on the individual's integrity is war. Can those responsible for wars be called to justice? International ad hoc tribunals - ICTY, ICTR (see class No.
1), Special Court for Sierra Leone, International Criminal Court. The truth and reconciliation commissions.
7. Refugee in international law The Geneva Convention relating to the status of refugees and its application. Inclusion, exclusion and cessation clauses. Agents of persecution. Well-founded fear. The European Union and the interception strategies of the West.
8. States. Recognition of states and governments. State succession The attributes of a state. Constitutive and declarative theories of state recognition. Legal obligation or political favour? Recognition and non-recognition of governments. Effects of recognition. Recent practice concerning state succession (Germany, Soviet Union, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia).
9. Diplomatic and consular law The law governing the status and activities of the diplomatic missions. Use and misuse of privileges. Functions of the regular and honorary consuls. Consular protection versus diplomatic protection.
10. The territory of states. The law of navigational and other uses of rivers. The law of the sea Sovereignty, jurisdiction over land and internal waters. Forms of acquisition. The tension between unlawful seizure and long term status quo. Fundamental rules of the utilization of a river. Non-navigational uses of international waterways. The zoning of oceans: internal waters, territorial waters, the exclusive economic zone, the law of the sea. The economic utilization of the sea resources and their protection against pollution.
11. The settlement of disputes The Charter methods of dispute settlement. Psychological and other traps. The law related to arbitration and arbitral tribunals. The question of the threat and the use of force.
12. International responsibility The International Court of Justice The doctrine of international responsibility of states. Circumstances precluding the wrongfulness of a states act. Consequences of the wrongful act: countermeasures, individual and collective sanctions. Composition of the ICJ, basis for its jurisdiction. Pending cases. Advisory opinions.
13. Outer space The status of outer space and the celestial bodies. The hard and soft law regulating its uses for remote sensing, communication, including TV broadcasting and other purposes. The fundamental principles of international law ('constitutional' principles): sovereignty, non-interference, prohibition of the threat or use force, self-determination of peoples, peaceful settlement of disputes, pacta sunt servanda, the obligation to cooperate and the respect for human rights will be integrated into the relevant classes.
Annotation
The course covers major issues of public international law. Specific emphasis is given to the rights of the individual (human rights, refugee law), the settlement of disputes (ICJ, responsibility), the rules of international transactions (treaties, diplomacy) and the law of natural resources.
The law is presented as applied by the international subjects and tribunals. Critical thinking, however, is strongly encouraged and will penetrate the discussion based on readings and knowledge derived from other disciplines.