“Viruses do not have a passport”, declared French President Macron[1] on 12 March 2020 in a major television address to the French people. He was particularly interested in the measures taken by neighbouring Germany which had declared the French region of “Grand Est” a “risk area” the day before. Continue reading
Tag Archives: Borders
A Transnational Human Rights Approach to Human Trafficking: Empowering the Powerless
Numerous legal texts and scholars use the term “transnational” to describe diverse legal concepts or phenomena the more traditional term “international” cannot fully or accurately capture. At least three different aspects are referred to or analyzed as transnational: the nature of the relevant cases, the operation of relevant legal systems, and the process of norm-making. First, many legal issues, including human rights cases, factually possess transnational features. Compare transborder human trafficking with a more traditional, textbook international human rights case such as discrimination against ethnic minorities in a certain state. The latter involves a state violating the human rights of its nationals within its territory, followed by an intervention of international law in a situation previously regarded as a “domestic matter.” In such cases, the main perpetrator is the state, the victims are the state’s own nationals, and human rights violations are committed within the state’s territory. A cross-border human trafficking case inverts this model: Continue reading
Sovereignty and the Mount Scopus Enclave in Jerusalem
Despite various attempts to turn Jerusalem into an international city accessible to believers of the three monotheistic religions, as envisioned in UN Resolution 181 II, the 1948 War left it a divided city under Jordanian and Israeli control. However, amidst the Jordanian territory, in the northern part of the city, there remained an area that acquired an exceptional status: the Mount Scopus enclave. Continue reading
Krise, Kritik und Globaler Konstitutionalismus: Ein Workshop-Bericht
Globaler Konstitutionalismus ist etwas für Optimisten. Dass politische Macht in der globalisierten Welt sich der Herrschaft des Rechts, der Demokratie und den Menschenrechten unterwirft, ist nichts, was sich rein faktenorientiert an irgendwelchen Messinstrumenten ablesen ließe – noch viel weniger, dass sie sich diesen konstitutionellen Grundprinzipien auch auf globaler Ebene unterwerfen sollte. Das muss man schon auch glauben wollen, zumal in Zeiten wie diesen, wo sich die Zweifel häufen: Sind diese im Westen entwickelten Verfassungsprinzipien wirklich so universalisierbar, dass sie sich Chinesen, Saudis, Türken und Russen auch dann anempfehlen, wenn diese zunehmend – und zunehmend selbstbewusst – ohne sie zurechtzukommen scheinen? Continue reading