Project: Public International Law

Textbook

International law spans the globe and, per definition, concerns peoples and nations around the world. Yet, truly transboundary scholarly communication all too often is hampered by legal and technical barriers and obstacles. To overcome some of these hurdles, we look for authors to create the first-ever Open Access textbook in international law in the context of the initiative “OpenRewi”. The aim of the book is to introduce readers to the field of public international law with a focus on the general questions/questions common to all specialized sub-fields. The aim is both to give an overview of the vast body of law and to discuss certain important questions in more detail and provide further references. The targeted audience are both students studying the field for the first time and those who would like to deepen their knowledge.

Participate

The team of authors is fully staffed at the moment. However, we always welcome comments. The latest version is always available at Wikibooks. For further questions please contact pil@openrewi.org.

Exercises

Our textbook is complemented by a variety of interactive learning exercises:

Part I – History, Theory, and Methods

Part II – General International Law

Part III – Specialized Fields

Team

Shubhangi Agarwalla

Author

International Trade Law Team, Sarvada Legal (India)

International Trade Law and the Political Economy, Feminist Approaches to International Law

Shubhangi is an international trade lawyer at Sarvada Legal wherein she was the youngest lawyer to present oral arguments before a WTO Panel in a dispute representing the Government of India (DS582). Prior to joining Sarvada, she was a legal assistant at the United Nations International Law Commission. She is the recipient of the Helton Fellowship by the American Society of International Law. She runs a blog, International Law and the Global South which aims to bring critical sensibilities to the international law blogosphere.

Walter Arévalo-Ramírez

Author

Universidad del Rosario (Colombia)

Public international law, international courts and tribunals, State responsibilities, diplomatic immunities, Human rights, Law of the seas.

Principal Professor of Public International Law at the Law Faculty of Universidad del Rosario (Colombia), LLM Stetson University College of Law, PhD summa cum laude U.Rosario. Local Director of the BRIDGE Project – Latin American Journal of European Studies funded by the Jean Monnet Network of the European Commission and the Erasmus+ Program. Tutor of The Hague Academy of International Law (2019). Fellow of the international law Fellowship of the United Nations, Office of Legal Affairs. Professor of the Diplomatic Academy, Ministry of Foreign Relations of the Republic of Colombia. Director of the Latin American Network of International Law Journals RELAREDI. Secretary General of the Colombian Academy of International Law.

Grażyna Baranowska

Author

Hertie School (Germany), Institute of Law Studies, Polish Academy of Sciences (Poland)

European Court of Human Rights, UN treaty bodies, Enforced disappearances, Missing persons, Missing migrants, Border violence, Memory laws

Grażyna Baranowska is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Hertie School, where she leads a project funded by Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions “Missing Migrants: Identifying and Shaping Obligations for Protection” (MIRO). She is also Assistant Professor in the Institute of Law Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences. Previously, she was a Postdoctoral Researcher in an EU-funded project on memory laws, and worked as a Policy Advisor on enforced disappearances in the German Institute for Human Rights.

Beáta Bolyová

Author

International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (Slovakia)

Public International Law, International Procedural Law and Dispute Settlement, State Responsibility, International Human Rights Law

Harvard Law School and Leiden University Public International Law LL.M. graduate, previously Assistant Legal Advisor at NATO Headquarters.

Bernardo Mageste Castelar Campos

Author

PhD Candidate in International Law in the Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca (UNIMIB) and in the Universitè Côte d'Azur (UCA)

Public International Law, State Responsibility, Use of Force and the Law of International Organization

PhD candidate in International Law at Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca (Italy) in cotutelle with Université Côte d'Azur (France). Master in Contemporary International Law from the Federal University of Minas Gerais (2018). Undergraduate exchange student at Université Lille 2 - Droit et Santé, Lille, France (2015). Participant in the Philip C. Jessup Law Moot Court Competition, Washington, USA (2013). Member of the European Society of International Law and of the Società Italiana di Diritto Internazionale. Lawyer registered in the OAB/MG.

Annalisa Ciampi

Author

Professor of International Law, University of Verona (Italy)

Human Rights, International Criminal Law, International Dispute Settlement, International Organizations

Annalisa Ciampi - Harvard LL.M.; Ph.D., International Law, University of Rome 'La Sapienza' - is an academic and international lawyer specializing in human rights and international justice. She is currently full Professor of International Law, University of Verona and Ad Hoc Judge of the European Court of Human Rights (2021-2024). She is one of the women experts included in the 100esperte database (international politics area) and a European Network for Women Excellence – ENWE Ambassador.

Alex P Dela Cruz

Author

PhD Candidate and Teaching Fellow, Melbourne Law School, University of Melbourne (Australia)

Law of the Sea, Histories of International Law, Legal Theory, Archipelagos, Empire, Legal Form, State-making

Alex P Dela Cruz is a PhD candidate and Teaching Fellow at Melbourne Law School where he writes a thesis that reconstructs the history of Philippine state-making from 1946 as a series of moments of contestation over the concept of the archipelago in international law. He is admitted to the bar of the Philippines, where he served as a government attorney prior to the start of his PhD.

Anne Dienelt

Author

Senior research fellow at the Institute for International Affairs, University of Hamburg (Germany)
International Humanitarian Law, International Environmental Law, Human Rights, General Public International Law, Resilience in Law

Anne is currently working on her postdoc project (Habilitation) on questions of "Resilience & Law" at the University of Hamburg, Germany. She obtained her doctorate in law on "Armed Conflicts and the Environment" from the University of Göttingen. During her doctorate, Anne has spent some time researching at New York University, at the UN International Law Commission in Geneva, and also at Lund University in Sweden.

Viljam Engström

Author

Åbo Akademi University, Turku/Åbo (Finland)

The function of law and legal reasoning, International organizations/institutions, The role of rights in global governance, Law and governance of the European Union

Dr.Soc.Sc (Public International Law), Adjunct professor (Docent), works as Lecturer in Public International Law. The uniting theme in my research is exploration of the role and function of international organizations/institutions. Publications include e.g: “EU Interaction with Institutions in the Baltic Sea Region”, outcoming in EU and the Baltic Sea Area (ed. A. Rosas); "The IMF and Protection of Vulnerable Groups", Nordic Journal of International Law 89 (2020).

Başak Etkin

Author

Ph.D. candidate, Université Paris 2 Panthéon-Assas (France)

International Legal Theory, Jurisprudence, Positivism

Başak Etkin is a Ph.D. candidate at Université Paris 2 Panthéon-Assas and a visiting postgraduate research student at the University of Edinburgh. Her research focuses on the evolution of treaty obligations and state consent, at the crossroads of international law and jurisprudence. Together with Dr. Kostia Gorobets, he co-created and co-hosts Borderline Jurisprudence, the philosophy of international law podcast.

Taxiarchis Fiskatoris

Author

African Centre for Transnational Criminal Justice, University of the Western Cape (South Africa), The Philipps University of Marburg (Germany)

Public International Law, historical and critical approaches to International and Transnational Criminal Law, Use of Force, International Dispute Settlement

Taxiarchis Fiskatoris is a Research Fellow with the African Centre for Transnational Criminal Justice at the University of the Western Cape in South Africa; an Adjunct Lecturer at the law school of the Philipps-University in Marburg, Germany; and an Associate Researcher with the Siracusa International Institute for Criminal Justice and Human Rights. Taxiarchis holds a PhD in Law from Middlesex University London, and a Master´s in International Law of Security and Defence from the University of Grenoble Alpes, France. He has previously studied international relations and international law in Greece and Italy and therefore takes great pleasure in researching and teaching at the intersection of international law, politics, and history. He was entrusted by the International Research and Documentation Centre for War Crimes Trials of the University of Marburg to conceptualise and develop a new interdisciplinary Master's degree in International Criminal Justice, which started running in 2020.

Sué González Hauck

Editor, Author

Legal Researcher at the National Monitoring of Discrimination and Racism at the DeZIM Institut (Germany)

Research Interests: Critical histories and theories of international law, Law and racism, Feminism

Sué is a postdoctoral Researcher at the German Center for Integration and Migration Studies (DeZIM), where she is responsible for the legal part of the national discrimination and racism monitor (Nationaler Diskriminierungs- und Rassismusmonitor, NaDiRa). She obtained her PhD in legal studies from the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland with a dissertation on systemic interpretation in international law.

Alex Green

Author

Lecturer, York Law School, University of York (United Kingdom)

Legal and Political Theory, Statehood and Legal Status, Indigenous Justice

Alex works at the intersection of law and analytical philosophy. He has an LLB, LLM, and PhD from University College London, and is currently an Academic Associate of 23 Essex Street Chambers in the United Kingdom. His work has been funded by bodies such as the Hong Kong Research Grants Council and the Modern Law Review and has appeared in periodicals such as the Oxford Journal of Legal Studies and the Journal of Comparative Law.

Pia Hüsch

Author

University of Glasgow & Royal United Services Institute, United Kingdom

Cyber, general PIL, sovereignty, non-intervention, election interference, humanitarian law

Pia is a doctoral researcher at the University of Glasgow, focusing on the regulation of low-intensity cyber operations in international law, especially under the principle of sovereignty and the principle of non-intervention. She is also a research analyst cyber, technology and national security at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), London. Other areas of interest include general public international law, artificial intelligence, humanitarian law, and the relationship of law and technology.

Verena Kahl

Author

University of Hamburg (Germany)

Human and Fundamental Rights, Environmental/ Climate Change Law, Feminist Approaches

Verena Kahl is PhD candidate and research assistent at the University of Hamburg. She is currently awarded a scholarship by the Albrecht Mendelssohn Bartholdy Graduate School of Law and holds both German State Examinations as well as a Master of Public International law and Human Rights from the United Nations University for Peace, Costa rica. From 2015 to 2018 she served as a junior lawyer at the Inter-Amercian Court of Human Rights.

Deepa Kansra

Author

Jawaharlal Nehru University (India)

International Human Rights Law, Public International Law, Criminal Law

Assistant Professor, Human Rights Studies Programme, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, India

Raffaela Kunz

Editor, Author

Senior Research Fellow, Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law, Heidelberg (Germany)

Relationship Between International Law and Domestic Law, Domestic Courts in International Law, International Courts and Tribunals, ECtHR, Human Rights, Global Administrative Law, Open Science

I am a Senior Research Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law where I conduct research for my habilitation thesis which deals with access to scientific knowledge in the digital age and lead the DFG-funded research project “Scientific Blogs as Infrastructure for Digital Publishing and Academic Communication”. I am also a lecturer in public international law at the Europainstitute of Saarland University and Co-Editor-in-Chief of Völkerrechtsblog.

Lucas C. Lima

Author

Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (Brazil)

Public International Law, International Dispute Settlement, International Adjudication, Procedure before international tribunals , Inter-American System, Regionalism

Adjunct professor of Public International Law at Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG), Brazil. PhD in International and European Law from Università degli Studi di Macerata, having been Visiting Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for International Procedural Law in Luxembourg and at the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law at Cambridge University. LLM and undergraduate studies at Federal University of Santa Catarina. Coordinator of the Research Group on International Courts and Tribunals CNPQ/UFMG 11:55 PM

Marnie Loydd

Author

Te Herenga Waka-Victoria University of Wellington (New Zealand)

Public International Law, International Humanitarian Law, Armed Conflict, Humanitarianism, Foreign Fighting, Counterterrorism, Nationality and Legal Identity, Forced Migration

International lawyer with expertise in international law related to armed conflict and the protection of civilians and detainees. Teaches and researches in the areas of humanitarian law and policy, forced migration, foreign fighting and counterterrorism which builds on fifteen years in the international humanitarian sector, primarily with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). Member of New Zealand’s National IHL Committee and Associate-Director of the New Zealand Centre for Public Law.

Max Milas

Editor, Author

University of Muenster (Germany)

Public International Law, International Human Rights Law, Constitutional Law, Empirical Legal Studies

PhD student in international human rights law at the University of Muenster (Germany) and research assistent at the chair for Public Law, International Law and European Union Law of Professor Niels Petersen.

Tamsin Paige

Author

Deakin Law School, Deakin University (Melbourne, Australia)

Sociology of Law, with a focus on maritime crime and armed conflict

Tamsin Phillipa Paige is a Senior Lecturer with Deakin Law School and periodically consults for the UN Office on Drugs and Crime in relation to Maritime Crime. Her work is interdisciplinary in nature, using qualitative sociological methods to analyse international law. She also does law and literature research using popular fiction to understand social perceptions of the law. Her work has examined (among other things) Somali piracy, UN Security Council decision making, and conflict based sexual violence. In a former life, she was a French trained, fine dining pâtissier.

Anne Peters

Author

Director, Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law, Professor at Universities of Heidelberg, Basel and FU Berlin

Public International Law including its History, Global Animal Law, Global Governance and Global Constitutionalism, Status of Humans in International Law

Anne Peters is a director at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law (Heidelberg) (Max Planck Institute), a professor at the Universities of Heidelberg, Freie Universität Berlin and Basel and an L. Bates Lea Global Law Professor at the University of Michigan. She holds an honorary doctor- ate of the University of Lausanne. She was a member (substitute) of the European Commission for Democracy through Law (Venice Commission) in respect of Germany (2011–14) and a legal expert for the Independent International Fact- Finding Mission on the Conﬂict in Georgia (2009). She was the President of the European Society of International Law (2010–12) and has served on the governance board of various learned societies such as the German Association of Constitutional Law (VDStRL) and the Society of International Constitutional Law (ICON-S). She is currently president of the German Association of International Law (DGIR).

Abbas Poorhashemi

Author

President of the Canadian Institute for International Law Expertise (Canada)

International law, International environmental law, International criminal law, Human rights

Dr. Poorhashemi holds a Ph.D. in International Law from the University of Strasbourg, France. He received a Postdoctoral Fellowship in International Law at CEDIM of University UQAM, Canada. He is academic and expert in international law. His practice, teaching and research interests are in different areas of International Law. He has published many books and articles in international law. He is also the Editor-in-Chief of the CIFILE Journal of International Law (CJIL), Canada.

Mando Rachovitsa

Author

Assistant Professor of International Law, Faculty of Law, University of Groningen (The Netherlands)

Human Rights Law, Judicial Dispute Settlement, Interpretation, International law & Technology

Dr Mando Rachovitsa is an Assistant Professor of International Law at the University of Groningen. Prior to this, she held the same position at the College of Law, Qatar University (2013-2016). Her research involves judicial dispute settlement, including interpretational and jurisdictional issues across international (human rights) courts. She also writes on the relevance of international law and human rights to regulating the Internet and technology. She is a qualified lawyer in Greece (currently non-practicing).

Anam Soomro

Author

Postdoctoral Fellow at the Berlin Potsdam Research Group

Critical Histories of International Law and Histories of Global Migration

Anam is a post doctoral fellow at the Berlin Potsdam research group (KFG) "The international rule of law— rise or decline". She researches critical histories of international law and histories of global migration. Her work is deeply influenced by TWAIL. She received her PhD from the Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin Graduate School for Global and Transregional Studies (BGTS)

Andrés Rousset Siri

Author

Professor of Human Rights at the National University of Cuyo and the University of Congress (Argentina)

International Human Rights Law, Inter-American System of Human Rights Protection

Professor of Human Rights at the National University of Cuyo and the University of Congress (Argentina). Master in International Protection of Human Rights (University of Alcalá, Spain) and Doctor PhD in Law with honorable mention (National University of Cuyo, Mendoza, Argentina). Director of the Postgraduate Diploma in International Litigation (National University of Cuyo, Mendoza, Argentina).

Silvia Steininger

Author

Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law, Heidelberg (Germany)

Public International Law, Human Rights Law, International Courts and Tribunals, International Economic Law, Interdisciplinary Perspectives, in particular Social Sciences and Empirical Methods

Silvia Steininger is a Research Fellow at the Max Planck Institute of Comparative Public Law and International Law in Heidelberg and a PhD candidate at the Faculty of Law, Goethe University Frankfurt. She holds graduate degrees in public international law (University of Amsterdam) and political science (University of Heidelberg) and teaches human rights and public international law in universities in Germany and France.

Victor Stoica

Author

Assistant Professor of Public International Law and of International Organisations and International Relations, University of Bucharest (Romania)

International Dispute Settlement, Public International Law, International Organisations, International Relations

Victor is a tenured Assistant Professor of Public International Law and of International Organisations and International Relations at the University of Bucharest. He has an LL.M. in International Dispute Settlement from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies and the University of Geneva, and a Ph.D. in public international law from the University of Geneva. Since 2019, Victor is an Advisor of the Romanian MFA on issues related to international law.

Marko Svicevic

Author

Centre for International Humanitarian and Operational Law, Palacký University, Olomouc (Czech Republic)

Collective security, Use of force, Extradition and mutual legal assistance

Dr Svicevic obtained his BA(Law), LLB and LLD degrees from the University of Pretoria, where he was also a research associate with the South African Research Chair in International Constitutional Law. He is currently a post-doctoral fellow with the South African Research Chair in International Law at the University of Johannesburg, and a researcher and guest lecturer at the Centre for International Humanitarian and Operational Law in Palacký University, Czech Republic.

Jens Theilen

Author

Helmut Schmidt University, Hamburg (Germany)

Human Rights, Citizenship and Migration Law, Critical Legal Theory

Jens is a post-doc at Helmut Schmidt University, Hamburg, and holds a doctorate from the University of Kiel. Their first monograph, European Consensus Between Strategy and Principe, offers a critical reading of argumentative structures within regional human rights law and was published by Nomos in 2021.

Imdad Ullah

Author

Assistant Professor at the Centre for International Peace and Stability (CIPS), National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST), Islamabad (Pakistan)

International law, politics, war and new technologies of warfare

Earlier I completed my PhD from the Willy Brandt School of Public Policy, the University of Erfurt, Germany as a DAAD fellow. My PhD dissertation came out as a book (Terrorism and the US Drone Attacks in Pakistan: Killing First) in 2021 by the Routledge, London and New York. I am also working as a Regional Coordinator for the Digest on State Practice (Journal of Use of Force and International Law, Routledge)

Raghavi Viswanath

Author

European University Institute (Italy)

Cultural rights, international criminal law, decolonial approaches, and TWAIL

Raghavi is a PhD researcher in international human rights law at the European University Institute in Florence. Alongside the PhD, Raghavi is a consultant for cultural rights collectives in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, a senior research associate at the Public International Law and Policy Group, and a visiting lecturer at the National Law School of India University.

Thalia Viveros-Uehara

Author

Doctoral Candidate at the School for Global Inclusion and Social Development, University of Massachusetts Boston (United States of America)

Climate change law and policy; social and economic rights; poverty; sustainable development.

Thalia Viveros-Uehara is a Mexican lawyer who has worked at the local, national, and international levels on environmental and climate change legislation and human rights protection. She has served at the Mexican Senate, the National Human Rights Commission of Mexico, and the Human Rights Commission of the City of Boston. She holds a MSc in Environmental Policy and Regulation from the London School of Economics and Political Science and is currently a Doctoral Candidate at the University of Massachusetts Boston.