Blogposts by Ilias Plakokefalos
Ilias is a post-doctoral researcher in the SHARES Project. His research interests include public international law, international environmental law and the law of international responsibility. Ilias holds an LLB from the University of Essex, an LLM from Tulane University and a … Read more
1 November 2013
The International Law Commission (ILC), in its sixty-fifth session (2013) decided to include in its programme a topic entitled ‘Protection of the Atmosphere’ (see here para. 168). The ILC appointed as a Special Rapporteur Mr. Shinya Murase.
The inclusion of the topic is a very interesting development. It is the second topic pertaining to environmental law (the other being ‘Protection of the Environment in Relation to Armed Conflicts’) currently under consideration by the ILC. It is also a very difficult topic, given the number of conventions, both successful and unsuccessful ones, that have been so far concluded, the body of academic output on issues of atmospheric pollution and the strong political pull on the issue. (more…)
30 May 2013
Symposium on the Law of the Sea and the Law of Responsibility, cross-posted on Opinio Juris
Telesetsky’s highly interesting post highlights the problem of flag state responsibility in the law of the sea. The post identifies two major issues: Illegal Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing and structurally unsafe vessels. Both these issues have been hard to resolve and difficult to regulate, at least from a flag state perspective. This comment seeks to further the debate by raising two questions regarding the role of the flag state in terms of its international responsibility. (more…)
29 May 2013
Symposium on the Law of the Sea and the Law of Responsibility, cross-posted on Opinio Juris
Takei asks whether there is a role for responsibility in international fisheries management, and he proceeds to reply -correctly so- in the affirmative. The blog eloquently presents all possible scenarios, in terms of the law of fisheries, wherein issues of state responsibility might arise. Therefore the purpose of this comment will be to highlight some questions from the viewpoint of the law of responsibility. Two intertwined points merit closer scrutiny. The first relates to the primary rules and the second to the application of the rules on responsibility. (more…)
19 April 2013
Fishing boats at Cape Coast, Ghana, West Africa.
Photo by Michael Sarver
Used under Creative Commons By Attribution license
On 28 March 2013 the Sub-Regional Fisheries Commission (SRFC), an intergovernmental fisheries management organisation, submitted to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) a request for an Advisory Opinion (see here). The SRFC comprises of seven states (Cape Verde, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mauritania, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Gambia) and it covers an area that corresponds to theses states’ Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ). The SRFC took this decision at its 14th Extraordinary Session, where it adopted a Resolution under article 22 of the Convention on the Determination of the Minimal Conditions for Access and Exploitation of Marine Resources Within the Maritime Areas under Jurisdiction of the Member States of the SRFC. (more…)
28 June 2012
During the past weeks several reports have emerged revealing details on one of the gravest cyber-attacks that have taken place, the Flame malware. It has been suggested that Flame has been co-sponsored by the same State or States that had launched Stuxnet, even though the head of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) of the UN has stated that this is mere speculation, Stuxnet being the virus that had targeted the Iranian nuclear programme. Flame has been used to attack computers and network systems across the Middle East. The malware exploited a flaw in the Windows operating system in order to map and monitor the targeted computers. The situation provoked a reaction by the ITU, which stressed the need for co-operation among states in addressing the problems arising out of the growing use of networks to infiltrate and cause damage to systems across the world. (more…)
