United Nations System Part 4 in the United States

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INDIGENOUS PEOPLES’ PARTICIPATORY RIGHTS IN RELATION TO DECISIONS ABOUT NATURAL RESOURCE EXTRACTION: THE MORE FUNDAMENTAL ISSUE OF WHAT RIGHTS INDIGENOUS PEOPLES HAVE IN LANDS AND RESOURCES
James Anaya
Arizona Journal of International and Comparative Law
Volume 22, Number 1, Spring 2005    p.7 LAW JOURNAL / LAW REVIEW
It has become a generally accepted principle in international law that indigenous peoples should be consulted as to any decision affecting them. This norm is reflected in articles 6 and 7 of I.L.O. Convention No. 169, and has been articulated by United Nations treaty supervision bodies in country reviews and in examinations of cases concerning resource extraction on indigenous lands. The existence of a duty to consult indigenous peoples is also generally accepted by states in their contributions to discussions surrounding the draft declarations on indigenous peoples’ rights, at both the United Nations and in the Inter-American system. This widespread acceptance of the norm of consultation demonstrates that it has become part of customary international law. Ambiguity remains, however, as to the extent and content of the duty of consultation owed to indigenous peoples. In particular, there is much debate as to whether indigenous peoples’ right to participation in decisions affecting them extend to a veto power over state action. Logically, the extent of the duty and thus the level of consultation required is a function of the nature of the substantive rights at stake. Thus the more critical issue underlying the debate over the duty to consult is the nature of indigenous peoples’ rights in lands and resources. My remarks will focus on this question.

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[Articles] THE PERSISTENT PUZZLES OF SAFEGUARDS: LESSONS FROM THE STEEL DISPUTE
Sykes, A. O.
Journal of International Economic Law
Volume 7, Number 3, 2004 LAW JOURNAL / LAW REVIEW

The recent WTO dispute between the United States and eight complainant nations over protective measures for the steel industry brought widespread attention to a little known area of WTO law – the rules governing ‘safeguard measures’, the temporary protection of troubled industries against import surges. The use of safeguard measures is normatively controversial, although their welfare implications are much less clear than their critics sometimes suggest. This paper makes the point that WTO rules, as interpreted by recent Appellate Body decisions and applied by the dispute panel in the steel case, pose nearly insurmountable hurdles to the legal use of safeguard measures by WTO members. Among other things, the current interpretation of the ‘nonattribution’ requirement for the use of safeguard measures in the WTO Safeguards Agreement obliges members to make a demonstration that is logically impossible as an economic matter. Those who believe that safeguard measures are merely wasteful protectionism may welcome such impediments to their use, but it is not obvious that the trading system will benefit in the long run, and there can be little doubt that one key objective of the Uruguay Round negotiators – to revive the use of disciplined, temporary safeguard actions – is being frustrated.

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The True Challenge to the United Nations System of the Use of Force: The Failures of Kosovo and Iraq and the Emergence of the African Union
Allain, Jean
Max Planck Yearbook of United Nations Law
Volume 8, 2004 LAW JOURNAL / LAW REVIEW

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Exercising Environmental Human Rights and Remedies in the United Nations System
Linda A. Malone and Scott Pasternack
William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review
Volume 27, Number 2, Winter 2002    p.365 LAW JOURNAL / LAW REVIEW

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Water Scarcity, Conflict, and International Water Law: An Examination of the Regime Established by the UN Convention on International Watercourses
Simon Nicholson
New Zealand Journal of Environmental Law
Volume 5, 2001 LAW JOURNAL / LAW REVIEW
Access to a reliable supply of clean fresh water is a matter of fundamental importance to every person on the planet. Yet in many regions human activity and natural conditions mean that fresh water resources are becoming increasingly scarce. Increased competition over a decreasing per capita water supply has the potential to contribute to levels of inter-State conflict. This paper begins by outlining the general problem of water scarcity and the manner in which increased scarcity might be expected to contribute to situations of conflict between States. The system of international water law will have a key part to play in determining whether competition for shared water resources leads to violent conflict or increased levels of inter-State co-operation. The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses 1997 is examined in order to determine whether the present legal regime can be expected to assist in the prevention and resolution of future ‘water wars’. It is concluded that while the Convention is positive in its encouragement of co-operative arrangements between States, seeming clashes between key principles will limit the practical application of the Convention.