Australians running into trouble with the law overseas is a common topic in the news. The coverage is usually fleeting, ending with the announcement of a conviction or, less often, an acquittal.
Belinda…
The demand for shark fins has pushed threatened shark species from 15 in 1996 to 180 in 2010.
Choo Yut Shing
Each year around 100 million sharks are killed for their fins. The sharks are often pulled from the water, their fins are sliced off and they are thrown back in to drown. The industry is built on the high…
The Institute of Cetacean Research has accused the Sea Shepherd of ramming its vessels at sea.
AAP/The Institute of Cetacean Research
The US ninth circuit Court of Appeal has decided today that Sea Shepherd activists are pirates.
The decision begins with colourful rhetoric about the appearance of pirates throughout fiction, but it addresses…
To stop some countries doing all the renewable energy work and others doing none, we need incentives to cooperate.
Stefan Svensson
The UN has set out its ambition for an international policy on sustainable energy. But is the UN’s lead enough? What will it take to make nations follow?
Creating and harnessing incentives to participate…
Boycotting the Hebrew University of Jerusalem is not Anti-Semitic; it’s a recognition of violations of international law.
Flickr/delayed gratification
The last weeks of 2012 saw a great amount of criticism levelled at the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies at Sydney University and its director Jake Lynch following their boycott of an exchange program…
Sea Shepherd has just launched its new ship, the Sam Simon, but it might not see much action if a US court has its way.
AAP Image/Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, Carolina Castro
On Monday a US federal appeals court granted an injunction requiring the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society to stay at least “500 yards” (457 metres) away from Japanese whaling vessels.
It is a significant…
More and more people are flying. International emissions regulation isn’t keeping up.
Dave Sag
Aviation has – and has had for some time – an emissions problem. That problem was illustrated in dramatic fashion last week when it was announced that the European Union (EU) would freeze until late next…
Failing to reach a decision on protecting Antarctic waters doesn’t mean the process is over.
Dean Lewins/AAP
The annual meeting of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) wound up in Hobart on Thursday last week without declaring a system of marine protected areas (MPAs…
Shark fins are a delicacy in Asia, which can sometimes lead to unsustainable fishing practices.
mario ruckh/Flickr
Whether it’s from fishing and by-catch, finning or even culling, global shark populations are under a growing threat from human activity. But how successful is international law at protecting some of the…
Rape as a weapon of war needs to stop – but how can local and international communities help?
EPA/Nicolas Postal
During the chaos of war, rape is used by the powerful as a deliberate strategy to destroy any opposition. The law, seemingly, has little role to play. After all, during conflict the normal rules of law…
Humans as well as animals are affected by climate change. A treaty could keep them safe and reduce forced migration.
AAP
Climate change will lead to significant human displacement. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and other groups warn that the effects – including rising sea levels, heavier floods, more…
Australia had a special interest in fixing the ozone hole.
Jon Tunley
SAVING THE OZONE: The final part our series exploring the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer – dubbed “the world’s most successful environmental agreement” – looks at Australians…
Reduced ozone means increased UV radiation, and that leads to skin cancer.
Tracey Lawson
SAVING THE OZONE: Part seven in our series exploring on the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer – dubbed “the world’s most successful environmental agreement” – explains how the…
Is there a relationship between the ozone hole over Antarctica and the global climate?
AAP/Dean Lewins
SAVING THE OZONE: Part five in our series exploring the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer – dubbed “the world’s most successful environmental agreement” – explores the parallels…
By collecting air at pristine Cape Grim since 1978, scientists have been able to track the concentration of ozone depleting substances.
AAP/Bureau of Meteorology
SAVING THE OZONE: Part four in our series exploring the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer – dubbed “the world’s most successful environmental agreement” – looks at the substances…
This is bad, but it would be a lot worse without the ozone layer.
garth.kennedy/Flickr
SAVING THE OZONE: Part three in our series exploring on the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer – dubbed “the world’s most successful environmental agreement” – explains why we…
For more than three decades Antarctica has experienced the most severe depletion of stratospheric ozone.
NASA Goddard Photo and Video
SAVING THE OZONE: Part two in our series exploring on the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer – dubbed “the world’s most successful environmental agreement”. Yesterday’s article…
The Montreal Protocol negotiators should get a lot of credit for developing such a flexible treaty.
hhesterr/Flickr
SAVING THE OZONE: It might not seem so long ago that the discovery of the hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica had us in a frenzy over CFCs in hairsprays and insecticides. In fact, on September 16 2012…
Australia has signed up to three international agreements to outlaw shark finning, but sharks still wash up minus fins.
Alex Hofford/EPA
Another critically endangered grey nurse shark has washed up on a northern NSW beach, with its fins removed. Shark fins are valued at more than A$400 per kilogram. This high market value encourages the…
Tuna fishers agree that too many tuna are caught. But there is no good system to decide who should catch less.
Justin Woolford
The world catches too many tuna. Thanks to our high levels of fishing, some tuna species are under threat. Everyone involved in the fishing industry agrees that fishing effort needs to be reduced. But…
Universities such as Yale need to respect the human rights of their staff and students.
Flickr/Snap Man
Yale university’s decision to set up a liberal arts college at the National University of Singapore (NUS) while accepting Singapore’s restrictions on students’ rights to free speech and freedom of association…
Western Governments will be recklessly ignoring their human rights obligations if they continue to support Shell in its US supreme court case.
EPA/George Esiri
We all know corporations do bad things. Big corporates have been publicly named and shamed for their participation in causing harm to people and the planet, and they are not always held to account.
As…
Libyans celebrated when Saif al-Islam Gaddafi was arrested, but he won’t get a fair trial while his lawyers are detained.
EPA
The detention of Melinda Taylor in Libya since June 7 has thrown into the spotlight the roles, responsibilities, and risks associated with being a lawyer in the international realm.
Taylor is necessarily…
The UK Supreme Court has ruled in favour of extraditing Julian Assange.
EPA/Kerim Okten
Julian Assange’s legal battle has taken a new direction overnight, with the UK Supreme Court ruling in favour of his extradition to Sweden following the issue of a European arrest warrant in November 2010…
Australia’s newly declared continental shelf may be as big as its land mass, but its not a stealth attack on Antarctica.
AAP
Despite recent commentary in the media, Australia’s proclamation of its extended continental shelf does not represent new “claims” in Antarctica and does not contravene the Antarctic Treaty. With Australia…
Why has Paul Watson suddenly been picked up in Germany on a Costa Rican charge?
Kay Nietfeld/EPA
Captain Paul Watson, founder of the marine conservation organisation Sea Shepherd, was arrested last week in Frankfurt, Germany, on an international arrest warrant issued by the Costa Rican government…
Ratko Mladić’s trial is more than likely to exceed three years in duration.
EPA Valerie Kuypers
The trial of former Bosnian Serb Army (VRS) Colonel General, Ratko Mladić commenced in the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) this past Wednesday.
Mladić’s arrest at his…
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad addresses Iran “Nuclear Day” gathering.
EPA/Press TV
Talk of a possible Israeli strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities has re-ignited debate over the right of self-defence under international law.
Some academics, including Anthony D'Amato and Alan Dershowitz…
Scientists are clear that tuna catch needs to be cut, but figuring out who will fish less and where is much trickier.
AAP
The eighth meeting of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission concluded in Guam on Friday 30 March 2012. Five hundred delegates from more than 40 countries argued for a week about how to reduce…
Opposition leader Tony Abbott has resurrected former coalition government policy to “turn back” boats seeking asylum in Australia.
(AAP Image/Tracey Nearmy)
Opposition leader Tony Abbott has said that under a coalition government every boat coming to Australia carrying asylum seekers will be sent back to Indonesia.
The Indonesian police, the United Nations…
The legalities of whaling and protesting aren’t black and white.
wietse?/Flickr
Japanese whaling and Australian opposition to it has become as much a staple for the Australian media in summer as bushfires and the cricket. The level of interest has greatly intensified since Sea Shepherd…
In Iceland, the whale is just another fish.
reutC/flickr
On December 7, three whaling ships set out from Japan and kicked off the 2011 whaling season. For the next few months, Australian eyes will be focused on conflict in the Southern Ocean as the annual ritual…
The conference is over, but has anything changed?
AAP
DURBAN CLIMATE CHANGE CONFERENCE: Occasionally international treaties conflict with each other. The last days of the Durban climate talks was one of those times. The United Nations’ Convention on Climate…
Protesters have a point: big polluters' approach to patents isn’t helping developing nations clean up.
Tck, Tck, Tck
DURBAN CLIMATE CHANGE CONFERENCE: In a global day of action for climate justice, thousands of protestors complained about the slow progress in international debates on climate change at the United Nations…
No new climate dawn at Durban? It’s not the end of the world.
Andrew Roos
DURBAN CLIMATE CHANGE CONFERENCE: Progress towards a binding international agreement on targets to tackle global warming has been more than glacial. Yet despite growing alarm among the climate science…
The Rena disaster could push New Zealand to stronger maritime laws.
AAP
Last week the Rena, a Liberian-registered container ship, ran aground on Astrolaube Reef in the Bay of Plenty, around 12 nautical miles from the New Zealand coast. The stricken vessel has been stuck there…
The Australian government decides what help it will provide to travellers caught in civil unrest, like these foreign tourists in Thailand.
EPA/Rungroj Yongrit
The passport all Australians carry overseas is not just an entry or exit permit in and out of countries. It represents our nationality and our rights when abroad, as well as the rights and duties the government…
What is Australia’s responsibility for low-lying neighbours like Palau?
CasaDeQueso
The Pacific Island State of Palau recently announced it will seek an Advisory Opinion from the International Court of Justice (ICJ), asking whether countries have a responsibility to avoid their emissions…
Laws designed to protect domestic workers could also help those trafficked from other countries.
Flickr/Kara Allyson
Domestic workers now have greater protection from exploitative employers. The International Labour Organization (ILO) has adopted a convention which regulates working hours and prevents violence in the…
Colonel Gaddafi is a brutal tyrant, but his arrest warrant is a political move.
EPA/Sabri Elmhedwi
Arrest warrants have been issued for the Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, his son Seif al-Islam, and Libya’s intelligence chief Abdullah Sanussi. It follows a referral by the United Nations Security Council…
