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ANZSIL Perspective
We are proud to publish the ANZSIL Perspective. It is hoped that these Perspectives will generate discussion and contribute to thoughtful debate on major issues of international law.
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ANZSIL Perspective is open to submissions from authors of any background. Articles are assessed for publication in line with the submission guidelines.
Please see the current call for Perspectives.
Past Perspectives
In Law and Practice: Australia’s Obligation to Prohibit Child Detention in the Context of International Migration
More than three years have passed since the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child issued new general comments pronouncing immigration-related detention of children to be a clear violation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). However, many States...
Protecting equality in the context of the proliferation of artificial intelligence technology
The advances in artificial intelligence technology create an imperative to protect individuals from discrimination in the context of automated decisions. In order to meet their obligations under Article 26 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)...
Edition 20: Editorial
Welcome to the FEBRUARY 2021 issue of ANZSIL Perspective. My editorial team and I are delighted to launch the ANZSIL Perspective online platform www.anzsilperspective.com where you can find all our latest Perspectives and our archive. Over the last year since we have been...
Legal Acts and Legal Facts: The Mauritius/ Maldives Maritime Boundary Dispute in the Chagos Archipelago
On 28 January 2021 a Special Chamber of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) delivered its decision in the preliminary objections stage of the Indian Ocean maritime boundary dispute between Mauritius and the Maldives. Belying its dry nomenclature,...
Leadership Liability for Torture: Complementarity and the age-old problem with complicity in the UK and Australia
Recently ANZSIL member Douglas Guilfoyle discussed the concern that the Brereton report into war crimes by Australians in Afghanistan apparently finds no evidence that “there was knowledge of, or reckless indifference to, the commission of war crimes, on the part of Troop,...
BOOK REVIEW: Petulant and Contrary: Approaches by the Permanent Five Members of the UN Security Council to the Concept of “Threat to the Peace” Under Article 39 of the UN Charter by Dr Tamsin Paige
One of the key issues in the UN system that has bedevilled international lawyers since 1945 is how the term ‘a threat to the peace’ in article 39 of the UN Charter should be understood. When invoked, the term unlocks the Security Council’s extensive Chapter VII powers and...
BOOK REVIEW: Neuroscience and the Problem of Dual Use: Neuroethics in the New Brain Research Projects
Malcolm Dando; Springer, 2020; PAGES 210; €155,99; ISBN 978-3-030- 53790-0 In many scientific fields, dual use is seen as an opportunity, not a risk. As limitations on the development and use of biological and chemical weapons have developed over the years, one of the last...
Accountability for the perpetration of war crimes in Afghanistan
The history of modern Afghanistan is one of internecine and systemic violence. The current prospects for peace and security in Afghanistan after more than four decades of war are uncertain. The question now is whether Afghanistan can move forward without addressing the legacies...
A Community-based approach to address refugee resettlement in Australia
In the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, Australia’s current refugee Community Sponsorship Program (CSP) in Queensland needs socially distinct community-led support. The concept of a community sponsorship-based approach to address the refugee crisis is not new and was...
Perceived Threats to the Making and Enforcement of International Law
Two key elements underpinning international law and the important role it plays in the international system appear to be under some stress. Those two underpinnings are the development and subsequent acceptance of rules of international law to meet emerging international...
Prisoners of war: Updating our thinking on the law of armed conflict
In an era in which a number of developed nations, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand have been accused of ill-treating or unlawfully killing captured persons or persons under their control, the need for international bright-lines has never been more important.
BOOK REVIEW: Complicity and the Law of International Organizations
Complicity and the Law of International Organizations: Responsibility for Human Rights and Humanitarian Law Violations in UN Peace Operations Magdalena Pacholska; Elgar International Law, 2019; 288 pages; AUD285 (hardcover) ISBN: 9781 83910 135 9 We often think of, and write...
Genocide, the duty to protect and complicity: Is Australia sailing close to the wind in Myanmar?
As Canada and the Netherlands announce their intention to intervene in proceedings against the Republic of the Union of Myanmar (hereinafter “Myanmar”) concerning alleged violations of the Genocide Convention before the International Court of Justice in order "to prevent the...
Is a recent Argentine map of the Antarctic Peninsula a potential source of tension within the Antarctic Treaty System?
Despite common perceptions to the contrary, national concerns over territorial claims in Antarctica are not completely “frozen”. These national concerns have recently been brought to light by an amendment to Argentinian legislation on “Maritime Spaces” and publication of a map...
Sexual Harassment: Human Rights Obligations
Sexual harassment in the legal profession has been much discussed in Australia this year, after the announcement from the High Court that an investigation had found former High Court Justice Dyson Heydon had sexually harassed six women who worked at the High Court. Other...
Allegiance is a Bond of Protection Not a Means through which to Deliver a Punitive Moral Judgement
Stranded in the al-Hawl refugee camp in Northern Syria for the last two years, Australian women and children have desperately been seeking repatriation to Australia. In response, the Australian Government has steadfastly resisted repatriation efforts and requests. Underpinning...
Further Thoughts on Australia/Hong Kong Relations on Extradition and Other Matters in Transnational Criminal Law
All views expressed in the above article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of his firm. In the July edition of ANZSIL Perspective, Holly Cullen authored an informative article examining Australia’s suspension of its Extradition Agreement with Hong Kong...
Australia Clarifies its South China Sea Legal Position in Responding to China
Australia’s 23 July statement to the UN Secretary-General in formal response to a series of diplomatic exchanges between Malaysia, China and other states is the clearest to date on legal issues associated with China’s South China Sea maritime claims. Diplomatically the...
All is Fair in Law and War: Legal Cynicism in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
Can legal fact-finding processes into wartime actions resolve factual and legal disputes about these events? Despite the growing popularity of international and domestic legal fact-finding processes, recent examples demonstrate that the terminology and epistemology of...
Slow Burn to Success: WTO Reaffirms Australia’s Tobacco Plain Packaging Measure
On 9 June 2020, the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) Appellate Body issued its long anticipated reports in the tobacco plain packaging disputes, drawing to an end nearly nine years of litigation in various domestic and international fora resulting from Australia’s tobacco plain...
Suspending the Australia-Hong Kong Extradition Treaty After the National Security Law
States have begun to respond to China’s adoption of a new national security law for Hong Kong, bypassing the Hong Kong legislature. Key features of the new law include life sentences for crimes of secession and subversion of state power, and more active state oversight of...
Legal Options for Cross-Border Humanitarian Assistance in Syria, with or without the Security Council
Over a period of five days earlier this month, the UN Security Council conducted nine rounds of voting on five draft resolutions, before finally reaching a compromise on the issue of whether to authorise cross-border humanitarian assistance to millions of desperately vulnerable...
As lockdown lifts, it is time to repatriate women and children held in Syrian camps
Australian women and children currently being held in the Al-Hawl camp in Syria present a jurisdictional headache for their home States, some of whom have made domestic criminal allegations against these citizens in respect of their conduct abroad. In Australia, senior...
Interrogating the Definition of Women Human Rights Defenders
International lawyers love a good crisis, argues Hilary Charlesworth, though this tendency can often impoverish the discipline of international law. So whilst all eyes are drawn to the pandemic, we alert you to the closing of civil society space in many parts of the globe,...
Joint Criminal Enterprise in the Kosovo Specialist Chambers
Now that indictments have been filed with the Kosovo Specialist Chambers (KSC) for review by the Pre-Trial Judge, one of the issues on the KSC’s horizon will be whether it adopts, as a basis for individual criminal responsibility, the extended form of joint criminal enterprise...
COVID-19 and the UN Security Council: Should We Expect an Intervention?
When the 2014 West African Ebola crisis reached its pinnacle the UN Security Council (UNSC) took the unprecedented step of declaring the outbreak an Article 39 threat to international peace and security – thus activating its most powerful tool under the UN Charter. Just six...
Antarctic Governance in a Time of Coronavirus
Antarctic governance under the Antarctic Treaty System2 is achieved through two annual decision-making meetings. The Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting for the Antarctic Treaty and Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty (Madrid Protocol); the Commission...
Frequently asked questions
Do you accept submissions from law graduates or masters students?
Yes. ANZSIL Perspective is pleased to consider articles from authors of any background. Articles are assessed for publication in line with the submission guidelines, available here.
Are you accepting applications to join your editorial board?
ANZSIL Perspective is not currently accepting applications to join its editorial board.
Is there a word limit for article submissions?
Articles should not exceed 1,500 words.
Is there a publication charge for accepted articles?
No. ANZSIL Perspective does not charge a submission fee or publication fee.
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ANZSIL Perspective is pleased to hear from its readership and answer any questions from prospective contributors. We aim to respond within three business days.