3 ECTS
ESG became one of the most popular acronyms which entails Environment, Society and Governance (Corporate Governance). The aim of the course is to present what is behind this acronym with more detail. It is also accompanied by major pieces of EU legislation which has evolved over the years, e.g. SFRD, CSRD, CS3D and others. The topic will be accompanied by recent legislative initiatives on EU financial sector such as introduction of green bonds standard as well as the amendment of CRD IV.
- Teacher: Jaroslaw Beldowski
One of the most significant developments both in international law and international relations throughout the last three decades has been the (re-)emergence of an international legal order based on a robust interpretation of the concept of international criminal justice. By establishing both international and hybrid criminal courts addressing international core crimes such as genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, the international community has demonstrated an ever more growing commitment to end impunity for the most heinous crimes affecting mankind as a whole and to hold those bearing individual criminal responsibility personally liable.
This course offers a comprehensive introduction to international criminal law (ICL) and familiarizes students with a fundamental understanding of this increasingly important realm of public international law. In a first take, the course provides an overview both of international criminal law’s theoretical foundations as well its historical development before turning towards its fundamental principles, including individual criminal responsibility. Subsequently, the course will turn towards (some of) the key actors in past and present international criminal justice, most importantly the ad-hoc tribunals for the Former Yugoslavia and Rwanda as well as the International Criminal Court (ICC) before turning towards both the procedural and substantive dimensions of international criminal law, including an in-depth assessment of the four core international crimes genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression. Subsequently, contemporary ICL-related developments – such as most importantly in the context of the War in Ukraine – will be addressed and complemented by an invited guest lecture.
The course relies on a dual approach where theory is followed by practice: thus, several lectures are followed by a seminar where the material of the preceding session is discussed and applied in concreto.
- Teacher: Gizem Guney
- Teacher: Raphael Oidtmann
3ECTS
The course offers a combination of criminological and socio-legal analysis of cybercrime together with a wider understanding of important cybersecurity issues. Initially, the course will focus on cybercrime and will provide an in depth understanding of the different types of cybercrime and online deviance from hacking and hacktivism to cyberstalking, online fraud and online piracy. During these sessions, we will discuss cybercriminal practices and techniques, relevant legal developments and practical challenges in terms of dealing with these crimes. Moreover, the course will look at the practical and ethical principles relating to digital forensic investigations that relate to the uncovering and prosecuting of cybercrimes and other crimes involving digital evidence.
Subsequently the course will focus on important cybersecurity issues such as organisational risk management and incident response mechanisms and will also offer an analysis of the phenomenon of cyberwarfare, which is has generated heated discussions in terms of attribution of cyberattacks and also regarding the mitigation of the impact of such attacks. Finally, the course will close with a forward-looking overview of the future of digital crime, as it will be facilitated by the development of the Internet of Things, where extensive interconnectivity of a multitude of device and the immediate processing of huge amounts of data will change the ways crime is committed and policed.
- Teacher: Paul Michael Gilmour
- Teacher: Vasileios Karagiannopoulos
3 ECTS
We enter the world of international environmental governance by first telling the story of its birth and evolution over the past century. We will then introduce some of the core principles of international environmental law today, placing a particular focus on the notions of prevention, precaution and those dimensions of international environmental governance that seek to promote equity between developed and developing countries. In this context we will, amongst other things, explore the emergence of sustainable development as a central concept, question its legal nature and critically appraise the different functions it is said to perform. The course similarly interrogates the institutional framework designed to help developing countries meet their environmental commitments through financial and technical assistance.
We then turn to consider how international law has responded to specific environmental challenges, beginning with one of the greatest challenges of our time: climate change. We deep dive into the regulatory framework that has come to govern this seemingly intractable problem. Subsequently, we will assess how the destruction of the environment and loss of biodiversity catalyses the emergence of zoonotic diseases and ask whether the failure of international environmental law to prevent pandemics can be remedied. The course then turns to consider international criminal responsibility for environmental damage, and a special emphasis is placed on the genesis and newly crafted definition of ecocide, as well as its blind spots, critique and prospects going forward.
We also engage with the set of secondary norms that are triggered when a state causes significant environmental damage, we consider the various challenges and obstacles in applying the Articles on the Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts to situations of environmental harm, as well as issues that arise with the reparation and valuation of compensation in this context. The course then turns to the obligations incumbent on other actors, such as corporations, for environmental harm as we examine the international regimes of civil liability for environmental damage.
Finally, we evaluate how certain specialized regimes like international investment and trade law engage with non-economic concerns such as the environment, asking whether these bodies of law ultimately help or hinder the cause of environmental protection under international law.
- Teacher: Jerzy Jendroska
- Teacher: Jason Thomas Peter Rudall
- Teacher: Gerd Heinrich Garlef Winter