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Sexual Exploitation and Abuse by UN Peacekeepers
Králik, Ján ; Šturma, Pavel (advisor) ; Hýbnerová, Stanislava (referee) ; Faix, Martin (referee)
The thesis provides legal analysis of sexual exploitation and abuse by UN peacekeepers with particular focus on military members of national peacekeeping contingents. It provides brief survey of peacekeeping operations thereby underlying their importance in the contemporary activities of the UN and describing factors that have caused or might led to sexual exploitation and abuse by UN peacekeepers. Furthermore, UN action towards those acts is described and it is also evaluated whether such steps are successful, sufficient and whether more could have been done or what more can be done in the future. A part is also dedicated to international humanitarian law perspective and international human rights law. In this context, the author tries to answer the question if and when the sexual exploitation and abuse by members of national peacekeeping contingents while deployed to a UN peacekeeping mission may constitute war crimes or crimes against humanity and whether there is a role to play by International Criminal Court. In the same vein, issues of extraterritorial application of human rights treaties are discussed. The question of international responsibility is the central topic of this thesis. Apart from individual responsibility of members of national peacekeeping contingents for acts of sexual...
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Regional and subregional protection of human rights in Africa
Demuthová, Tereza ; Faix, Martin (advisor) ; Bílková, Veronika (referee)
This thesis concentrates on the theme of regional and subregional protection of human rights in Africa. Firstly, it tries to give a summary of the system of human rights protection within the African Union and its evolution with brief characterization of the African Charter on Human and Peoples` Rights, the African Commission on Human and Peoples` Rights and the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights. The second chapter concentrates on the protection of human rights under the regional economic communities provided by three subregional courts, namely the ECOWAS Court of Justice, the SADC Tribunal and the East African Court of Justice. It provides an insight into the functioning of these three subregional courts and analyses questions relating to their human rights jurisdiction as well as their human rights practice and different challenges that these courts had and have to face. It concludes that although the effectivity of the regional and subregional human rights protection in Africa is yet not high and has to be improved, the system is still in its beginning and there is a potentional for the subregional courts to became more effective forums for human rights protection.
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Development and the current status of legal regulation of mercenaries
Kučera, Jonáš ; Faix, Martin (advisor) ; Balaš, Vladimír (referee)
Development and the current status of legal regulation of mercenaries This thesis deals with the issue of mercenary warfare, evolution of the term mercenary, and the position of mercenaries within the internation law. It contains analysis of key international conventions, customary international law and analysis of selected cases. It reviews the evolution if the legislation until present time and provides possibilites for the future. Activites of private military companies and options for their regulation are covered in lesser extent.
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Reform of the system of dispute resolution within the World Trade Organization
Svoboda, Ondřej ; Balaš, Vladimír (advisor) ; Faix, Martin (referee)
This thesis the Reform of the WTO Dispute Settlement System, deals with urgent questions about the most important system resolution in international economic law. The WTO Dispute Settlement was established in 1995 and since then it has become a prime example of evolution in the field of international dispute resolution. The system itself has indeed its flaws and therefore its critics. Even its "founding fathers" indented to conduct a reform of the mechanism after few years in action. However, the reform has not yet materialised. The aim of the thesis is to discuss the state of negotiations over the reform of the system, in particular in context of power and rule orientation, and to analyze possible causes of the current state. The thesis is composed of six chapters. Chapter One offers brief characterization of the WTO Dispute Settlement and its main document Understanding on rules and procedures governing the settlement of disputes (DSU), which is found in Annex 2 of the WTO Agreement. Chapter Two chronologically follows the so far unsuccessful development of DSU Revision in WTO. In international trade disputes, two ways of their settlement are recognised: power-oriented and rule-oriented. Both methods are described in Chapter Three. The Chapter Four focuses on the institutional dimension of the...
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Application of the international law of occupation in situations of a long-term occupation
Janíková, Tereza ; Bílková, Veronika (advisor) ; Faix, Martin (referee)
Application of the international law of occupation in situations of a long-term occupation Abstract The topic of the master thesis is an analysis of the application of the international law of occupation in a situation of a long-term occupation, i.e. an occupation which spreads over years or decades. The aim of the thesis is to critically assess whether the current legal framework, i.e. the law of occupation as a part of the international humanitarian law, corresponds to the specific conditions of a long-term occupation, with regard to fulfilling the objectives of international humanitarian law and international human rights law, or not. The first part anchors the law of occupation within the legal framework, i.e. within international humanitarian law, introduces the concept of occupation and long-term occupation and outlines the responsibilities of the occupation power under the law of occupation. One chapter focuses specifically on the role of international human rights law in the armed conflicts. The core of the thesis identifies the challenges the international law of occupation is currently facing. The assessment shows that the occupation law does not reflect the specific circumstances and conditions of a long-term occupation, especially with respect to the needs of occupied population, and does not...
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The unwilling or unable doctrine and its development in international law
Matoušková, Anna ; Faix, Martin (advisor) ; Bílková, Veronika (referee)
The unwilling or unable doctrine and its development in international law Abstract The unwilling or unable doctrine represents a response of the international community to the increasing presence of non-state actors in international relations. According to this doctrine, a state who suffers an attack by a non-state actor is entitled to intervene in the territory of the state where this non-state actor finds its harbour, given that this state is unwilling or unable to tackle the threat alone. This, in turn, means that the harbouring state must endure an intervention by the attacked state on its territory, even though the harbouring state has not resorted to the use of force itself - the action of the non-state actor is not attributable to it. This thesis first pays attention to the concept of self-defence, in terms of its two equivalent content sources - customary and contractual international law. Both of these sources set certain (pre)conditions for the exercise of the right to self-defence. In the case of customary law, these are conditions of necessity, proportionality and immediacy. The UN Charter then determines one further precondition for exercising the right to self-defence - the existence of a previous armed attack. Given that the unwilling or unable doctrine is a specific example of how states...
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The Legality of Unilateral Countermeasures in International Law
Velechovský, David ; Bílková, Veronika (advisor) ; Faix, Martin (referee)
The Legality of Unilateral Countermeasures in International Law Abstract The aim of this thesis is to examine the legality of unilateral countermeasures in international law. The term refers to measures adopted by a State in response to a wrongful act committed by another State in order to induce the wrongdoing State to comply with its obligations of cessation and / or reparation. Given the decentralized character of contemporary international law, countermeasures represent the effective mechanism of enforcement equally available (at least formally) to all States to seek the restoration of the legal relationship with the responsible State. Nevertheless, like other forms of self-help, countermeasures are liable to abuse, which is only aggravated by the controversial history of reprisals and factual inequalities between States. For this reason, countermeasures are lawful only if certain conditions are met. These conditions, nowadays codified in Draft Articles on Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts, are the main subject of interest of this thesis, which is divided into four chapters. Chapter One deals with the concept of State responsibility and the enforcement of international law. Chapter Two is concerned with the role of countermeasures in international law, the International Law...
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International legal framework for foreign political missions of the European Union
Faix, Martin
1 Abstract One of the proclaimed goals of the European Union is to contribute to an "effective multilateral system leading to a fairer, safer and more united world". In order to enable itself to achieve these goals, the EU implemented a number of changes in the field of its common foreign and security policy. One of the most apparent elements of this process became its crisis management operations (CMOs). The progressive development of the ESDP, creation of capabilities enabling the EU to conduct military operations, and continuously raising number of military CMOs, point more and more urgently to the need to analyze these developments through the prism of international law. Out of these facts arises also the main question of the thesis: Has the EU's increasing military emancipation been paralleled by the definition of a clear international legal framework? The thesis is divided in five parts. The first chapter provides an overview of the basic characteristics and present status of the ESDP. We argued that the EU in order to achieve its goals has currently a wide range of instruments at its disposal, including an emergency a crisis response system. This system enables the EU to respond to whole spectrum of crisis situations and conflicts, including peace enforcement operations. The EU established respective...
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Sexual Exploitation and Abuse by UN Peacekeepers
Králik, Ján ; Faix, Martin (referee)
The thesis provides legal analysis of sexual exploitation and abuse by UN peacekeepers with particular focus on military members of national peacekeeping contingents. It provides brief survey of peacekeeping operations thereby underlying their importance in the contemporary activities of the UN and describing factors that have caused or might led to sexual exploitation and abuse by UN peacekeepers. Furthermore, UN action towards those acts is described and it is also evaluated whether such steps are successful, sufficient and whether more could have been done or what more can be done in the future. A part is also dedicated to international humanitarian law perspective and international human rights law. In this context, the author tries to answer the question if and when the sexual exploitation and abuse by members of national peacekeeping contingents while deployed to a UN peacekeeping mission may constitute war crimes or crimes against humanity and whether there is a role to play by International Criminal Court. In the same vein, issues of extraterritorial application of human rights treaties are discussed. The question of international responsibility is the central topic of this thesis. Apart from individual responsibility of members of national peacekeeping contingents for acts of sexual...
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Military Intervention Upon Invitation or with Consent of the State
Hruban, Jiří ; Faix, Martin (advisor) ; Balaš, Vladimír (referee)
IN ENGLISH THESIS TITLE: Military Intervention Upon Invitation or with Consent of the State ABSTRACT: The aim of this thesis is to (i) define reasonably general criteria for an intervention by invitation to be lawful, and (ii) analyze two recent cases of intervention by invitation. Based on an examination of state practice, legal documents and expert opinions, the theoretical part of the thesis concludes that only government can be allowed to invite intervention, and that the intervener's rights are defined by the intersection of what the invitation allows and what is allowed by other rules of international law. Even though the so-called effective control theory still significantly impacts both state practice and expert opinions, there is an apparent shift towards accounting for democratic legitimacy of the inviter, which often causes more harm than good in practice. In this part, the author also explains why only governments should be allowed to ask for intervention, and why broadening the group of possible inviters might destabilize international community. The practical part examines whether Russian interventions in Ukraine and Syria were justified by respective invitations. When the Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych invited Russia to intervene, he was already removed from power and forced...
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