Prior to the twentieth century, international law was predominantly written by and for the 'civilised nations' of the white Global North. It justified doctrines of racial inequality and effectively drew a colour line that excluded citizens of the Global South and persons of African descent from participating in international law-making while subjecting them to colonialism and the slave trade. The International Legal Order's Colour Line narrates this divide and charts the development of regulation on racism and racial discrimination at the international level, principally within the United Nations. Most notably, it outlines how these themes gained traction once the Global South gained more participation in international law-making after the First World War. It challenges the narrative that human rights are a creation of the Global North by focussing on the decisive contributions that countries of the Global South and people of colour made to anchor anti-racism in international law. After assessing early historical developments, chapters are devoted to The League of Nations, the adoption and implementation of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the debates within UNESCO on the notion of race itself, expansion of crimes against humanity to cover peacetime violations, as well as challenges to apartheid in South Africa. At all stages, the focus lies on the role played by those who have been the victims of racial discrimination, primarily the countries of the Global South, in advancing the debate and promoting the development of new legal rules and institutions for their implementation. The International Legal Order's Colour Line provides a comprehensive history and compelling new approach to the history of human rights law.

At last a history of Australia in its dynamic global context. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, in response to the mobilisation and mobility of colonial and coloured peoples around the world, self-styled 'white men's countries' in South Africa, North America and Australasia worked in solidarity to exclude those peoples they defined as not-white--including Africans, Chinese, Indians, Japanese and Pacific Islanders. Their policies provoked in turn a long international struggle for racial equality. Through a rich cast of characters that includes Alfred Deakin, WEB Du Bois, Mahatma Gandhi, Lowe Kong Meng, Tokutomi Soho, Jan Smuts and Theodore Roosevelt, leading Australian historians Marilyn Lake and Henry Reynolds tell a gripping story about the circulation of emotions and ideas, books and people in which Australia emerged as a pace-setter in the modern global politics of whiteness. The legacy of the White Australia policy still cases a shadow over relations with the peoples of Africa and Asia, but campaigns for racial equality have created new possibilities for a more just future. Remarkable for the breadth of its research and its engaging narrative, Drawing the Global Colour Line offers a new perspective on the history of human rights and provides compelling and original insight into the international political movements that shaped the twentieth century.

The aim of this text is therefore to mark the long overdue arrival of - some would say return to - the "race question" in IR

The international legal system has weathered sweeping changes over the last decade as new participants have emerged. International law-making and law-enforcement processes have become increasingly multi-layered with unprecedented numbers of non-State actors, including individuals, insurgents, multinational corporations and even terrorist groups, being involved. This growth in the importance of non-State actors at the law-making and law-enforcement levels has generated a lot of new scholarly studies on the topic. However, while it remains uncontested that non-State actors are now playing an important role on the international plane, albeit in very different ways, international legal scholarship has remained riddled by controversy regarding the status of these new actors in international law. This collection features contributions by renowned scholars, each of whom focuses on a particular theory or tradition of international law, a region, an institutional regime or a particular subject-matter, and considers how that perspective impacts on our understanding of the role and status of non-State actors. The book takes a critical approach as it seeks to gauge the extent to which each conception and understanding of international law is instrumental in the perception of non-State actors. In doing so the volume provides a wide panorama of all the contemporary legal issues arising in connection with the growing role of non-state actors in international-law making and international law-enforcement processes.

This Oxford Commentary is the first comprehensive article-by-article analysis of the provisions of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. It discusses the conceptual and instrumental framework of the Convention and the CERD Committee, and addresses some of the critical challenges confronting the Convention.

This book simultaneously sheds light on the most pressing global challenges facing humanity in the 21st century and pays tribute to President Vaclav Havel of the Czech Republic, who had a great impact on the transformation of world politics in the 20th century. It examines in detail contemporary international issues such as climate change, mass migration, refugees, internal armed conflicts, great power rivalry, and regional political instability. It also underscores the increasing inability of the Westphalian model to solve complex transnational problems and calls for a new approach. Included as a postscript is an extensive analysis of the resurgence of dictatorial regimes in many regions of the world and their attempt to undo the rules-based international order established after World War II. This trend is a setback for those who fought tirelessly to end the Cold War and to spread freedom and democracy to millions of people across the globe. Today that legacy is being challenged by autocratic regimes that see respect for human rights as a threat to their political survival. International law is what unites us as citizens of the world; and only through international law and multilateral cooperation, can we address the global challenges examined in this book.

Established as one of the main sources for the study of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, this volume provides an article-by-article analysis of the Statute; the detailed analysis draws upon relevant case law from the Court itself, as well as from other international and national criminal tribunals, academic commentary, and related instruments such as the Elements of Crimes, the Rules of Procedure and Evidence, and the Relationship Agreement with the United Nations. Each of the 128 articles is accompanied by an overview of the drafting history as well as a bibliography of academic literature relevant to the provision. Written by a single author, the Commentary avoids duplication and inconsistency, providing a comprehensive presentation to assist those who must understand, interpret, and apply the complex provisions of the Rome Statute.This volume has been well-received in the academic community and has become a trusted reference for those who work at the Court, even judges. The fully updated second edition of The International Criminal Court incorporates new developments in the law, including discussions of recent judicial activity and the amendments to the Rome Statute adopted at the Kampala conference.