International Law of Global Security, Peace and Development
International Law of Global Security, Peace and Development
The ILGSPD Publication Series aims to showcase the work developed by the programme’s postgraduate students, in the form of a dissertation, working paper, or policy brief. Publications address themes of global security, peace and development, broadly understood, through the lens of international law, international relations, and/or sustainability.
This paper is the second of a two-part study on civilian participation in cyber warfare during the Russia-Ukraine armed conflict. The ongoing armed conflict between Russia and Ukraine stands out as the most digitally integrated conflict to date, marked not only by crowdsourced intelligence through mobile applications but also by the unprecedented creation of the ‘IT Army’, comprising Ukrainian and international volunteer hackers (hacktivists), engaged in targeting Russian infrastructure and websites. The paper examines the legal status of ‘IT Army’ Volunteers under international humanitarian law, concluding that ‘IT Army’ volunteers do not qualify as combatants, or members of an organised armed group. The activities of volunteers, the author argues, generally fall short of constituting direct participation in hostilities, and they retain their protected status as civilians.
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This paper is the first of a two-part study on civilian participation in cyber warfare during the Russia-Ukraine armed conflict. It examines the legal status of civilians who use mobile apps to transmit intelligence to government forces. The Ukrainian government’s ‘Дія’ (‘Diia’) mobile application (app), used by over 18 million citizens at the time for accessing government services, has integrated a new feature, ‘єВорог’ (‘eEnemy’), which allows users to report the movements of invading forces. A separate mobile app ‘єППО’ (‘ePPO’) enables civilians to use their cell phones to pinpoint and report the locations of incoming missiles and other aerial threats. The paper concludes that users of such apps may qualify as directly participating in hostilities, thereby temporarily forfeiting their protection under international humanitarian law. It observes that in the absence of a universally accepted interpretation, state practice can significantly extend the period during which civilians are lawfully targetable.
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The universal human rights system and the concept of sustainability have emerged during different historical periods and were driven by distinct purposes, but they have increasingly converged through the concept of sustainable development as developed by the United Nations. This working paper investigates the role of economic, social and cultural rights in the integration of sustainable development and human rights, discussing in particular the General Comment on Sustainable Development and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights that is currently being drafted by the Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights.
With a focus on Article 2.1, de la Torre argues that an evolutionary interpretation of the ICESCR is crucial for integrating sustainable development with human rights and that the acceptance of sustainable development as a general principle of international law could potentially facilitate this task. However, even in the absence of such an acceptance, according to the author, the way forward for the CESCR in interpreting the key obligations of states in light of sustainability should be guided by the substantive content of sustainable development and the key obligations should be intertwined with the principles of sustainable use, intergenerational and intragenerational equity, and integration. The author adds that the notion of sustainable space, encapsulated within planetary boundaries and the minimum social foundation, with the nuances of the right to a healthy environment, should define the limits of progressive and full realisation of rights to the maximum available resources.
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Since the full-scale military invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, there has been an ongoing discussion as to whether illicit acts committed by Russia in Ukraine constitute genocide. This working paper assesses whether the situation in Ukraine meets the genocide threshold, under three different perspectives: (1) the original genocide concept by Raphael Lemkin; (2) the Genocide Convention; and (3) the Rome Statute. Ribeiro de Almeida argues that the legal discourse on genocide has departed from the concept’s original sociohistorical understanding. According the author, the bar set by international courts is astoundingly high and defies the original conception of genocide, but the author concludes that international jurisprudence can evolve and accept that genocidal intent can co-exist alongside other belligerent goals.
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Oyewo’s working paper investigates the barriers to the implementation and effectiveness of the mandates of FemWise-West Africa, which is established by the Commission of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in 2019 following in the footsteps of the African Union’s Network of African Women in Conflict Prevention and Mediation, also known as FemWise-Africa. Women mediation networks are novel initiatives aimed at addressing the gaps in the implementation of UNSCR 1325. The objective of FemWise-West Africa in this respect is to enhance women’s inclusion in conflict prevention and peace-making processes in the region. Oyewo argues that the existence of FemWise-West Africa is bound and nested within this existing gendered institutional history and context that neglects it and thus constraining it from fulfilling its mandates. This, according to the author, creates the flawed foundation on which other obstacles such as non-institutionalisation, absence of funding, and language barrier are built. Oyewo’s research participants put forward the following recommendations that may make the Network more effective: a change in mentality as stereotypes are still very much evident and they hamper the full participation of women; support and provision of resources for the country offices for implementing the WPS agenda so the sum of these interventions will have an impact on the regional level; male partners to buy into their vision and help them accomplish it; effective horizontal and vertical connection and coordination across departments in ECOWAS; political will and commitment; and support for the Network and WPS in general by politically appointed women in management level within the organisation.
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In November 2023, Meta (formerly known as Facebook) implemented a subscription model in the European Union, Switzerland, Iceland, Norway, and Liechtenstein for Facebook and Instagram users over the age of eighteen in an attempt to comply with the General Data Protection Regulation. Meta’s pay-or-okay model asks users to pay a monthly fee or consent to behavioural targeted advertising to access Facebook and Instagram services. Behavioural targeted advertising involves monitoring a user’s browsing habits and processing personal data to customize and distribute advertisements. Companies like Meta are increasingly collecting and processing personal data for behavioural advertising to boost click-through rates and revenue, finding it more effective than non-targeted advertisements. As personal data becomes the new currency of the digital age, advertisers are increasingly using online platforms like Facebook and Instagram to reach potential customers. This working paper’s objective is to address the legal uncertainties surrounding pay-or-okay models in the EU. More specifically, this paper asks: What legal issues surrounding freely given consent do pay-or-okay models raise under the GDPR?
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Transitioning from fossil to renewable energy sources has been a way for countries to not only meet their commitments under environmental and climate law but also contribute positively to a range of human rights affected by the advance of climate change, most notably, the right to a healthy environment. Renewable energy, such as wind, solar or hydropower, however, does not only come with positive impacts. Already in 2011, the UN Special Rapporteur on Indigenous peoples warned that ‘the implementation of natural resources extraction and other development projects on or near indigenous territories has become possibly […] the most pervasive source of the challenges to the full exercise of their rights’. This working paper examines which principles of human rights law guide the balancing of competing human rights and interests and how adequate they are in balancing Indigenous rights with the right to a healthy environment. Concluding that current balancing principles are insufficient in the context of collective rights, it then outlines possible alternatives by considering sources outside the traditional international human rights law framework and existing case law. The paper concludes by proposing a set of criteria that a new theory of balancing geared at the collective dimension of human rights could consider.
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More than thirteen million people were forcibly displaced from their homes in Ukraine following Russia’s invasion in February 2022, eight million of whom fled beyond the country’s borders. The response of the European Union to this refugee movement has been widely celebrated as a successful use of the Temporary Protection Directive (TPD) in a challenging context. Yet, implementation of the TPD increased the vulnerability of certain groups fleeing Ukraine, namely Romas and non-white refugees. In this paper, Anna Kirby develops an interdisciplinary theoretical framework to examine the implementation of the TPD in Hungary as a case study, focusing on the concepts of vulnerability and security from a constructivist approach. In doing so, Kirby explores and critiques the relevant EU law and the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). On the utility of vulnerability in this endeavour, Kirby concludes that (1) as a heuristic tool, vulnerability enables critical analysis of the TPD, illuminating the gaps in respect of the most vulnerable individuals; (2) as a legal concept, it can be used in building a case for establishing violations of the principle of non-discrimination before the ECtHR; and (3) on a more conceptual level, vulnerability can help to reframe migration and asylum policy towards the human security paradigm.
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In this background paper, Chloe Young traces the evolution of Russia and China’s perspectives on international law’s applicability in cyberspace, focusing on the two states’ contributions to the Open-Ended Working Group (OEWG) on Information and Communication Technologies since 2019. Reviewing a broad range of written and oral government statements, the paper demonstrates that Russia and China advocate for the creation of a new legally binding instrument on cyberspace due to the ‘alleged gaps’ in existing international law relating to the qualification of computer attacks as armed attacks, attribution of malicious cyber activity, definition of illegal cyber behaviour, establishing the responsibility of manufacturers, countering online terrorist activity, and addressing the dissemination of illegal online content. The paper also identifies Russia and China’s positions on which issues fall outside the OEWG’s mandate and the extent to which the existing international law applies in cyberspace.
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This working paper by Rusudan Shashikadze focuses on rights-based climate change litigation before the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). It identifies the legal challenges that the ECtHR is likely to face in its development of a climate change jurisprudence and explores potential legal approaches that the Court can adopt in response to these challenges, drawing on the jurisprudence of domestic and international courts that have to date dealt with climate change cases.
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This background paper by Nina Valentini analyses the developments in the Olympic sports sanctions landscape in response to the Russia-Ukraine war, exploring the interplay of sports neutrality, peace, and human rights considerations in the decisions of the International Olympics Committee and International Sports Federations. In addition, the paper includes a rich compilation of sanctions imposed by International Sports Federations and political statements made by states, international organisations, and other international actors in this context.
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