Rene Lefeber – författare

The work of legal practitioners in the field of international law, particularly when working in a ministry of foreign affairs, takes place at the crossroads of international relations and international law. The legal advisers of ministries of foreign affairs provide advice on the content of international law, and how it should be interpreted and applied in a particular situation.Since Johan Lammers became Legal Adviser, the Netherlands – quite unexpectedly – was increasingly facing situations in which it would become involved in litigation concerning international law. The first essays in this collection deal with actual or potential interstate disputes involving the Netherlands before international courts and arbitral tribunals, followed by articles with respect to international courts and other international bodies before which individuals may appear as applicant or defendant. The final set of essays deal with the increasing number of cases in which international law is invoked in national court proceedings.This work provides insight into the role of the international legal practitioners working for the government of the Netherlands and should be of particular interest to their colleagues in other foreign ministries and other lawyers interested in a reflection on the law in action.

Following profound modifications of Soviet ideology after the coming to power of Gorbachev, Europe experienced an unprecedented time of change which resulted, inter alia, in the unification of the two German States, the abolition of socialist international organizations, the obsolescence of neutrality policies in the New Europe and the pull on the European Communities to admit new members. These revolutionary events give rise to interesting legal questions. Since international relations are changing, the legal framework in which these relations are set has to change, too. In December 1990, international legal aspects of the changes in the political structure of Europe were discussed at a conference held in Amsterdam. In this book, which takes account of the outcomes of the discussions, the international legal framework in which these changes take place and their consequences are described and analyzed by eminent scholars from East and West.

On-going deterioration of the state of the environment and the continuous risk of an environmental disaster has forced society to reconsider its environmental and developmental objectives. For economic and environmental reasons, the costs of prevention and reparation of environmental harm should be channelled to the polluter. However, such channelling may run counter to legal principles. This work scrutinizes this field of tension between economic and legal principles at state level. It provides a unique analysis of traditional thinking on state liability for transboundary harm and the theories which have challenged it since the proliferation of hazardous activities in the 1960s. The author favours a return to traditional thinking, but has an eye for the theories that challenged it with the aim of safeguarding the compensation of victims of transboundary harm.

This focused collection of essays on various aspects of the law of treaties does justice to its honoree, scholar and author Professor Bert E.W. Vierdag, on the occasion of his retirement as Professor of International Law and International Relations at the University of Amsterdam. Written by leading academics in the field as well as practitioners and former practitioners, the essays cover: - the alignment of treaties with more general sources doctrine, addressing such issues as conflicts between various types of treaties and the relationship between treaties and customary international law, and between treaties and domestic law; - the emergence of treaty norms through various ways and methods; and - the creation of treaty law in several branches of international law. This cohesive, focused, expert work will assist and appeal to both academics in the fields of public law and political science and professionals engaged in international negotiations and treaty-making.

The revival of group consciousness in Eastern European countries in the wake of the Cold War has put the protection of subnational groups high on the political agenda. The present book bears witness to the renewed interest in the legal position of subnational groups in international law.This book and the Conference, at which provisional versions of most of the contributions were presented, originate in perceived deficiencies of contemporary international law to protect subnational groups within a legal framework of which the principal subjects are states. Divided into three parts, the book commences with an analysis of the antagonistic relation between the right of peoples to self-determination and the right of states to territorial integrity, and the need to redefine these concepts in the post-Cold War era. The book continues with the highly controversial issue of the attribution of rights to subnational groups and the identification of subnational groups which would be entitled to such rights. The second part deals with the identification and protection of peoples and minorities at different levels of organization, viz. subnational, national and supranational. This part is followed by an analysis of the modes and means by which international obligations vis-a-vis subnational groups can be enforced. Not only the judicial means are considered, but also the justifiability of recourse to military means to the cause of subnational groups.This book not only provides an in-depth analysis of contemporary international law with respect to the protection of peoples and minorities, but also of the law as it is developing in the post-Cold War era.