Small Arms Control and Management in Cambodia
This article raises the growing concerns over the production, accumulation, and availability of illegal small arms around the world and points out negative effects of small arms misuse on post-conflict societies like Cambodia. It further acknowledges and illustrates small arms control efforts of the Cambodian government such as: (1) establishing the National Commission on Weapons Management and Reform (NCWMR); (2) enacting the Law on the Management of Weapons, Explosives and Ammunition; (3) collecting Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) nationally; and (4) initiating and developing public awareness campaigns. In-depth analysis of these small arms control efforts follows, and concluding remarks are emphasized at the end.
South Africa: The Good News
An interview with Cyprian Mkhuseli CyprianVimba, a South African human Rights Lawyer, portrays some of the issues that face his country, that only last week has celebrated a decade of democracy and liberation. He finds that black South Africans responses to white role are fundamentally conciliatory.
Kenya’s New Constitution
In the following article, John Onyando comments on the new constitution in Kenya. He argues, “Overwhelming endorsement for the new constitution could be a major turning point. But only if an ambitious long-term process made by the people for the people can protect itself from sectarianisms old and new.”
Record of Our Struggle: Atomic Bombing-Induced Illnesses and Class-Action Lawsuits
Kenji Urata, Vice-President of the International Association Of Lawyers Against Nuclear Arms (IALANA), reviews a recent publication that records the legal struggle of those who have suffered illnesses induced by exposure to atomic weapons. This article is an English translation of the original Japanese, published 2012 in the journal Law and Democracy.
Rights of Due Process and the Post-Arab Spring: Paradigm Shift from International to Domestic Court Jurisdiction
Kichere Mwita draws attention to the precedent-setting role of the Arab Spring from an international law perspective. Highlighting the shift from international to domestic court jurisdiction over high-level crimes committed during the Arab Spring uprisings, Mwita argues for the implementation of a sub-international criminal court based on the model of the ad hoc tribunals created for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia.
The Rise of Private Military Companies and the Legal Vacuum of Regulation
This paper discusses the rise of the private military industry as a challenge to contemporary international law. In recent times, the privatization of activities preserved by governments have been proposed and implemented;, such as communication facilities, garbage collection, electricity supply, immigration services and much more. Military operations have not been left out. The increasing privatization of military activities is proving to be a major challenge to international law. The literature on Private Military Companies (PMCs) is mind-boggling, but neither extensive nor exhaustive. As a new phenomenon, it receives situational attention. For example, when the operations of Executive Outcomes and Sandline International were unearthed by the press in the 90s,’ numerous scholarly material was written, but with distinct themes like the efficiency of the corporations and the human rights violations carried out, as well as the legal vacuum created by ex-professional soldiers banding up to create and legally incorporate a mercenary outfit. The issue of PMCs being present in weak states and ravaged war-torn zones is an understatement, yet these corporations are registered mostly in the U.S., U.K. and South Africa. The articles on this issue are usually highly polarized; opponents verses proponents of these corporations, as the activities of these outfits do not fit within any conventional classification as actors of war in the law of war.
This paper describes the history and definition of PMCs and analyses how the operations of these corporations affect human rights, sovereignty and states´ monopoly of violence. The paper also focuses on the legality of PMCs and proceeds to discuss how to regulate the industry. The paper concludes in favor of tougher regulatory controls through new international legal framework and national legislation to deal with mercenaries as decisively as with other non-state actors who wield violence.
World Peace through Law: Rethinking an Old Theory
James Ranney discusses the potential of law to bring about world peace, without submitting the world to a “global government” as such, but through the creation of a UN Peace Force to enforce the decisions of global courts, promote the abolition of nuclear arms, and generally create an atmosphere of global “justice” so that peace may prevail.
The Creation of the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala: Miscalculation by a ‘Corporate Mafia State’?
This paper traces the development of the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG). A UN affiliated hybrid International-National quasi-judicial entity, CICIG was mandated to help investigate and prosecute organized crime groups in Guatemala and was heralded as an important step forward in the fight against impunity. This paper explores the often heard narrative that human rights groups successfully convinced first the Portillo administration and then the Berger government to agree to support CICIG, and analyzes alternative rationales. The paper suggests that the Portillo government sought to derive short term benefits from supporting the agreement but may have miscalculated in its assessment of long term risks. The Berger administration clearly derived benefits from the agreement, including the reinstatement of certain US military aid, as did the Colom administration. The paper also suggests that despite its mandate to strengthen national investigations and the judiciary system, some of CICIG’s greatest successes were achieved through public actions and the eventual resignation of the founding Commissioner Castresana. The paper concludes that even though CICIG’s institutional reform efforts have been piecemeal, they are significant nonetheless.
Why the International Criminal Court is Different.
The author discusses how the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court differ from the jurisdictions of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, and concludes that power matters.
Terrorism and International Adjudication
In the past few years the international community has seen a rise in international terrorism, and international law has been stunned with a new problem that it has not been prepared for. Without international legislation defining what constitutes international terrorism, no alternative dispute settlement bodies are prepared to deal with such a phenomenon. This paper focuses specifically on the proliferation of international adjudicative mechanisms and whether or not this momentum can promote the creation of a new international adjudicative body to cope with the rise of international terrorism as an alternative means to the War on Terrorism.