The adoption of the Rome Statute of the InternationalCriminal Court on July 17, 1998, was an historicachievement culminating decades of efforts toestablish a permanent body to bring to justice thoseresponsible for the most serious internationalcrimes. The Bureau of the Committee of the Whole ofthe Conference played a leading role in forging thefinal package that was overwhelmingly endorsed bythe Conference. In developing this package, theBureau went to considerable lengths to consultdelegations and members of civil society and toaccommodate the concerns of the vast majority ofparticipants at the Rome Conference. The RomeStatute is a carefully crafted instrument balancingcomplex legal and policy concerns and fullyconsistent with the norms and standards ofinternational law. The successful outcome of theRome Conference was due to the recognition that thisbalanced approach was timely and appropriate. Thecredit for the achievement of this seminal moment inhistory is shared by the commitment of a core groupof states, the so-called Like-Minded Group, thededication of a number of ministers and delegates tothe goal, and the strong, vocal, and committedsupport of members of civil society.

One of humanity’s most important challenges for thenext century will be to ensure the rationalmanagement of common natural resources and, mostimportantly, of environmental resources. Theconcepts of common heritage and of sustainabledevelopment offer interesting perspectives for thecreation of mechanisms that will provide for thesafe management of common resources and theequitable sharing of the benefits of exploitation.This study aims to present a model for themanagement of these resources that incorporates thepractice of the international community into themanagement of the atmosphere and of biologicaldiversity.

Evidence indicates that individuals responsible formass rapes in the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda wereacting on orders from their superiors. Theinternational criminal tribunals for the formerYugoslavia and for Rwanda have indicated theirintention to prosecute individuals responsible forsexual violence and their superiors. The prosecutionof superiors rests on the doctrine of commandresponsibility — a doctrine Well-established ininternational criminal law. This article presentsthe difficulties that arise in applying the doctrineof command responsibility to cases of wartime sexualassaults. Relying on a feminist analysis ofinternational humanitarian law, the authoridentifies the imbalance that exists between theprinciple of military necessity and the principle ofhumanitarianism — an imbalance that makes rape theleast condemned and punished of war crimes. In theabsence of traditional military command structures,as was the case in Bosnia and Rwanda, a superior iswell-placed to deny his authority over those whocommitted wartime rapes. Despite this challenge, theauthor asserts that the Tribunal for the formerYugoslavia, in the Celebici case, developed arealistic approach to the doctrine of commandresponsibility and reasonably concluded that a campcommander was criminally responsible for rapescommitted by his subordinates.

Some advocates of Québec separatism claim thatQuebecers could retain their Canadian nationalityfollowing Québec’s secession from Canada. Thisarticle examines international nationality law totest the accuracy of that claim. A device known asan option exists in international law as a means ofallowing individuals to determine for themselves theeffect of state succession upon their nationality.This article considers the place of options in thelaw of state succession, both as it now stands andas proposed by the International Law Commission’sDraft Articles on the Nationality of Natural Personsin Relation to the Succession of States, 1997. Fourpossible arguments in favour of a Québécois optionare given, the most convincing of which arises byanalogy to state practice in the use of plebiscites.This argument suggests that international law wouldrequire the state of Québec to grant all Canadiansaffected by Québec’s secession a right to opt forCanadian nationality instead of Québécoisnationality with the caveat that those opting toretain Canadian nationality could face expulsionfrom Québec. Finally, the article suggests that thedevelopment of human rights in international lawshould extend to recognize a true human right ofoption in cases of state succession. Regrettably,the ILC Draft hinders, rather than encourages, thisdesirable development.

This article addresses the difficulties to be faced inreconciling the international law and policy oftrade regulation with that of environmentalprotection. It reviews the recentenvironment-related cases brought before theGATT/WTO dispute settlement panel and Appellate Bodyand provides a critical analysis of the results inthe context of the relevant GATT/WTO rules. Such areview informs the case study, which is undertakenin the article, addressing the Australiangovernment's use of trade policy in negotiating itsposition under the Kyoto Protocol to the UnitedNations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Thearticle argues that it is crucial for environmentalregulators to work cooperatively with free tradeproponents to better clarify and strengthen theposition of environmental law and policy within thefree trade regime. The article concludes that,although this debate continues to remain polarized,there does appear to be signs of movement towardssuch a cooperative approach.

Alors que les effets de la crise asiatique s’étendent àl Amérique latine, et que les États empruntentlargement pour soutenir leurs économies vacillantes,les ressources naturelles, ressources économiquesfondamentales, sont de plus en plus menacées par lesnécessités du remboursement de la dette. Dette etenvironnement restent aujourd’hui encore, quatorzeannées après la proposition du vice-président deWWF, Thomas Lovejoy, profondément interdépendants.Les échanges dette-contre-nature de la premièregénération dans les années 1984-90 ontinévitablement rencontré des difficultés. Mais latechnique a convaincu, les État et les États s’ensont alors emparés pour la transposer aux problèmesdu règlement de la dette dans les relationsbilatérales. Peu à peu, la technique des échangess’est affinée, s’est structurée et s’estdiversifiée. Repensé et corrigé, le mécanisme deséchanges dette-contre-nature apparaît à la foiscomme un instrument utile de gestion et deprotection de la ressource naturelle, et comme unesource de financement pour la mise en œuvre du droitinternational de l’environnement. Enfin cet articlemet en lumière l’importance du rôle desorganisations non gouvernementales dans ledéveloppement du droit international del’environnement et plaide pour le maintien de laparticipation de la société civile au mécanisme qu'elles ont inventé.

This article explores the impact of the WTO on Canadiancultural sovereignty. More specifically, it providesan assessment of the recent WTO decision inCanada — Certain Measures ConcerningPeriodicals in an effort to demonstratethat the multilateral trade framework is not onlyincompatible with, but in fact threatens, thecontinued viability of a distinct Canadianculture.

NATO’s seventy-nine-day campaign of air strikes againstthe Federal Republic of Yugoslavia has sparked awide-ranging debate as to the legality of suchmilitary action. NATO has consistently justified itsintervention on humanitarian grounds, thus clearlyresorting to the controversial doctrine of“humanitarian intervention.” The author argues thatwhile a conventional analysis of the purported rightof unilateral humanitarian intervention underinternational law and of NATO’s acts on the Kosovoissue might lead some individuals to the conclusionthat such acts were illegal (or, at best, of dubiouslegality), this conclusion fails to take intoaccount the fact that state actors, particularlywhen acting in concert, tend to influence thecontent of international law itself. The authorsuggests that the true significance of NATO’sforcible intervention in the Kosovo crisis is thatit sets a clear precedent that may well crystallizean emergent norm of customary international lawpermitting forcible intervention by one or morestates against another on humanitarian grounds, evenwithout prior UN Security Council authorization.While such a norm may acquire universal status, itis also possible, in light of the regionalconcentration of the primary actors involved as wellas of important objections from some quarters as toits legality, that it will acquire (at least in thefirst instance) a local or regional character,perhaps confined to the Euro-Atlantic area.

In its August 1998 reference, Reference Re Secession ofQuébec, the Supreme Court of Canada discussed thetopic of the international recognition of Québec.The authors argue that the Court is incorrect in itssuggestion that recognition is a precondition forstatehood, confusing legal and political factors. Inthe authors’ view, the introduction of the conceptof international recognition by the Court is anattempt to provide a sanction against unilateralsecession and to back up the Court’s view that thereis an obligation to negotiate any departure byQuébec. The result, the authors consider, isunsatisfying for it leads the Court into legal errorand political conjecture.