Posts by Keiran Gibbs
The Symbolic Gesture of the ICJ Decision on Kosovo
Professor Daniel Turp, in his recent article to this blog dealt with the ICJ’s recognition of Kosovo’s unilateral declaration of independence. He states that, “le droit […] l’est parfois pour les individus, un instrument au service de la liberté.” Considering Kosovo’s longstanding struggle for independence, it is likely that many Kosovars would agree. However, I believe that the ICJ judgment points to more limits in international law than liberties, and that the likelihood of this decision to enhance personal or collective [political] liberty is illusory.
Although the ICJ intentionally avoided the issue, it is clear that secession invariably invokes self-determination. This is probably the liberty Professor Turp speaks of. The principle of self-determination was first proposed to the League of Nations by Woodrow Wilson’s in his plans for post-World War I Europe. It was based on a “reinterpretation of the principle of self-determination”, which itself has its roots in American and French revolutions [1]. Some of the biggest limits of this principled notion are its definitional ambiguities and the difficulty in applying a concept built on the foundations of individual liberties to collective rights.
Self-determination can be found in the UN Charter articles 1(2), 55 and 73; The Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples (Colonial Declaration) and the Declaration on Principles of International Law Concerning Friendly Relations and Co-operation among States in Accordance with…
BY Keiran Gibbs
FILED UNDER
Commercial Law
Corporate Social Responsibility
Finance
Special Contribution
Bill C-300 and CSR: The Canadian Approach
The private member’s bill, an Act respecting Corporate Accountability for the Activities of Mining, Oil or Gas in Developing Countries (C-300) was defeated in Parliament on Wednesday (October 27th). While it was a close vote, 140-134, it was not a surprising outcome, considering that even Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff, whose own party brought the bill forward, claimed that the bill ‘had problems’ and did not show up for the vote. The question thus remains, what is Canada’s commitment to corporate responsibility in terms of international activities?
The stated purpose of the Act was, “to ensure that corporations engaged in mining, oil or gas activities and receiving support from the Government of Canada act in a manner consistent with international environmental best practices and with Canada’s commitments to international human rights standards.” In other words, the bill hoped to codify what is currently considered, insofar as international law is concerned, to be soft law. Despite the fact that some of the biggest Multinational Enterprise (MNEs) are technologically and financially stronger than some of the countries in which they operate, they are not recognized as having international legal personality.
Several international declarations demonstrate a consensus on behalf of the majority of states that the bottom line should not be companies’ sole prerogative; human rights must also be taken into account. The 2002 Johannesburg Declaration on Sustainable Development states that the private sector,…
Is Sorry Enough?
Saying sorry isn’t always easy to do. It often takes a mature person to demonstrate to others that not only does one recognize wrongs done, but that one also feels remorse for that.
However, when an apology comes from the government for a wrong committed to individuals, the reaction tends to be much less gracious and questions of legality quickly arise. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton recently apologized to the government of Guatemala for the intentional infection of Guatemalan prisoners and handicapped residents with syphilis and gonorrhea as part of a medical research program conducted from 1946 – 1948, where at least hundreds of people were directly infected. According to the New York Times, the researcher who discovered the report claims that the Guatemalan project was co-sponsored by the U.S. Public Health Service, the NIH, the Pan-American Health Sanitary Bureau (now the Pan American Health Organization) and the Guatemalan government. Questions of state legality includes a new twist under international law: how should the U.S apology be handled and is there an obligation for further reparations?
While a trend has developed for an international legal system which imposes positive obligations on states, the first draft articles on Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts were only recently passed by the UN General Assembly in 2001. Still, the General Assembly had recommended that the International Law Commission review State Accountability…
