international law – City Law Forum

Tag: international law

UK-EU Reset May Break International Law

For a government that has continually emphasized the importance of upholding international law, even when it is evidently against the national interest (for example the relinquishing of the Chagos Islands), the UK’s EU ‘reset’ agreement is a baffling development. The UK has evidently succumbed to all of the EU’s demands, gaining little more than vague statements in relation to defence procurement and e-gates in airports, while giving away fishing rights for an astonishing twelve years, free movement of young adults as well as budgetary contributions. Each of these is arguably a rejection of UK voters’ wishes to leave the EU but do not in themselves put the UK in breach of the country’s international legal obligations. The new agreement’s dynamic alignment with the EU’s sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) regulations on the other hand could well do this, potentially leading to claims from other treaty partners via international arbitration tribunals.

The new UK-EU reset agreement effectively creates a single market for agri-foods in which the UK agrees to follow EU regulations, the ultimate conformity to which lies at the discretion of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). This feature of the new arrangement was important for the EU because it ensures that the UK remains a captured market for its agricultural produce, preventing the UK from importing cheaper, better foods from other countries, ostensibly for the purpose of safeguarding public health.

It is bad enough that this worsens the choice available to British consumers from markets around the world. It is even more problematic, though, if, like Prime Minister Keir Starmer, one claims to be a supporter of and adherent to international law. This is because alignment with the EU’s regulations in this area may violate the terms of some of the UK’s recent Free Trade Agreements (FTAs). This includes the mega-regional Comprehensive Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) which the UK joined after lengthy negotiations at the end of last year. The 12-nation CPTPP comprises 15 per cent of global GDP and some of the world’s fastest growing economies in the Asia-Pacific.

Cosmopolitanism from within and the ‘third model’ of immigration regulation

January 6, 2025 / City Law Forum / 0 Comments

By Prof Francesca Strumia, The City Law School

Set under the palms of Florida’s Key West, the Truman Little White House, originally a winter retreat for US President Harry Truman and now a public museum, has at first sight little to say about law, let alone cosmopolitan law. Yet the sign outside its gate adds a cosmopolitan touch to the history of the building. It points out that the Little White House is ‘held in trust by the state for the citizens of the world’.

In hinting to something that the state, the state of Florida in this case, does for the citizens of the world, the sign evokes an unsolved conundrum of international law and legal theory: does the sovereign state owe any legal duties, beyond its citizens and its jurisdiction, to humanity at large? And if so, why?

These questions about the cosmopolitan role of the sovereign state have grown more pressing as the first quarter of the 21^st century slides towards its end. The sovereign state remains the main actor in the international arena. Yet the challenges it faces are increasingly of a type that affects the entire human race: climate change; energy provision; security of data and identities in a borderless cyberspace; as well as the global movement of people. In the face of such challenges, a vision of the sovereign state as the mere guardian of its territory and people is increasingly inadequate.

The Challenges of Long-Delayed Prosecutions in Fighting Impunity in Bangladesh

May 24, 2022 / City Law Forum / 0 Comments

Dr Aldo Zammit Borda

This article focuses on the challenges of ‘long-delayed’ prosecutions, that is, criminal prosecutions that begin decades after the conflict, using the experience of the International Criminal Tribunal for Bangladesh (ICT-BD) as a case study. This issue is still an insufficiently discussed topic even though such prosecutions are likely to become more common in the future. This is because of the greater emphasis that is being placed on fighting impunity around the world, as well as legal and historical reckoning with past atrocities. As one ICT-BD prosecutor put it, the establishment of the ICT-BD in Bangladesh has opened the door for the possibility of accountability in other South Asian countries and more broadly. One day, the political leaders of such countries may find the political will to try perpetrators of mass atrocities even after a long delay. Indeed, it is possible that such prosecutions may become more common:

Shaping International Migration Law. A discussion of ‘The Interplay between the EU’s Return Acquis and International Law’ by Tamás Molnár

July 5, 2021 / City Law Forum / 0 Comments

Andrea Maria Pelliconi

On 16 June, 2021, the City Law School hosted a virtual launch of Dr Tamás Molnár’s new book The Interplay between the EU’s Return Acquis and International Law. The webinar, chaired by Dr Andrew Wolman, was organised by City’s International Law and Affairs Group (ILAG) and the Institute for the Study of European Laws (ISEL), and saw Professor Paul James Cardwell (University of Strathclyde) and Professor Elspeth Guild (Queen Mary University of London) as expert discussants. This post summarises the discussion and provides some reflections on Molnar’s book.

Legal Challenges Faced by Coastal and Fishing Communities, Brexit and the New British Fisheries Policy

June 14, 2021 / City Law Forum / 0 Comments

Dr Jonatan Echebarria Fernández (City Law School), Dr Tafsir Matin Johansson (World Maritime University) and Mr Mitchell Lennan (University of Strathclyde)

On Tuesday 8 June 2021, eleven leading experts from academia, the fishing industry, and international organisations gathered at an online workshop to discuss the legal challenges presented by Brexit and fisheries. The workshop was organised as part of the City Law School Higher Education Innovation Fund (HEIF) funded project “Legal challenges faced by coastal and fishing communities and the new British Fisheries Policy”. The project is led by Dr Jonatan Echebarria Fernández of City Law School (Principal Investigator), Dr Tafsir Matin Johansson of World Maritime University (Senior Expert Consultant) and Mr Mitchell Lennan of the University of Strathclyde (Impact Assistant).

The International Dimension of Brexit

November 15, 2020 / City Law Forum / 0 Comments

Legal debates about Brexit have mostly focused on the legal issues that arise under EU law and UK law and the impact of Brexit on the EU and UK. A recent book edited by Juan Santos Vara and Ramses A. Wessel analyses the international dimension of Brexit. The book examines the implications of Brexit for the external relations of both the EU and UK.

Researchers at City Law School – Professor Elaine Fahey, Professor Panos Koutrakos and Jed Odermatt – contributed chapters that examine some of the challenges arising from the UK’s departure from the European Union, with a focus on the international dimension.