World Trade Organisation | ANZSIL Perspective

International Law of Assistance from a Japanese Perspective

International law of assistance is an emerging field that governs the principles and rules of assistance across various fields of international law. This article, written by four Japanese scholars, examines the international law of assistance from a Japanese perspective and explores its significance concerning recent Japanese experiences. First, it elaborates on Japan's contribution as a party to the Food Assistance Convention, followed by an analysis of Japan's new Official Development Assistance policies. Then, it examines the protection of persons and assistance in the event of disasters, using Japan's triple disaster as a case study. Finally, it evaluates the international law of...

Has Dispute Settlement in Trade Fallen Silent?

Since its creation in 1995, the World Trade Organisation (WTO)’s dispute settlement mechanism was its “crown jewel”. Contrary to the single-tiered system under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), the WTO’s Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) would settle disputes through first-instance panels whose reports could be reviewed on legal grounds by the Appellate Body. Moreover, the “reverse consensus” requirement, by which the DSB adopts reports unless WTO Members agreed by consensus not to, stopped the losing party from singlehandedly blocking adoption. WTO Members took to the dispute settlement mechanism. Appeals were meant to be rare, yet happened to two-thirds of the panel reports...