New International Law Research Guides From Globalex

GlobaLex, the electronic collection created by the Hauser Global Law School Program at the New York University School of Law, recently added two new research guides:

• Cyberwarfare and Collateral Damages: "The purpose of this paper is to offer an introductory overview on the collateral damages of cyberwarfare. This paper offers an overview on cyberwarfare with focus on collateral damages and the role of victims. Cyberwarfare is a new type of warfare that poses numerous challenges. First, the article outlines basic definitions of cyberwarfare and cyber weapons proposed so far, and it outlines the international legal framework. Second, the article addresses collateral damages and the role of victims including illustrations of two paradigmatic cases of widely known cyberattacks."
• A Review of the Progressive Development of International Human Rights Framework on Capital Punishment:"It has been widely recognized that the restriction of the death penalty has found its way into positive international human rights law. Although historically the death penalty was essentially a state's own choice of a suitable punishment for the most heinous criminal wrongdoings, it is no more restricted by transnational norms as well as domestic policies today. In some states, the death penalty has become primarily a human rights issue, in lieu of an exclusive criminal justice topic. As a general trend, the historical arch of the administration of the death penalty has bent towards human rights worldwide. The human rights standard-setting, as guarantee to protect the rights of those facing the death penalty, has become a now well-established area of international law. Human rights standards, guidelines and principles serve as principal forces which influence, curtail, and limit retentionists’ practices on the death penalty. The normative framework of the international human rights limiting capital punishment includes, among others, the UN-based human rights instruments, notably the International Bill of Human Rights, and the three regional human rights legal regimes. Important developments during the past few decades concerning capital punishment took place within intergovernmental organizations, international courts and human rights monitoring bodies. Excluding vulnerable groups of persons from the death penalty, restricting capital punishment to an ever-shrinking death-eligible offence list of “the most serious crimes”, enhancing due process safeguards for the administration of the death penalty, and securing the right to petition on clemency, commutation and pardon, inter alia, are the thematic constituents of this body of international human rights law. "