Groningen Journal of International Law

Yohannes Eneyew Ayalew

1.   Introduction

On 25 June 2020, the ECOWAS Community Court of Justice ruled that the deliberate internet shutdowns in Togo imposed in 2017 were illegal and violated applicants rights to freedom of expression. Also, domestic courts — including in  India, Indonesia, Pakistan, and Zimbabwe –  have ruled in favour of internet restoration against shutdown measures. This would give rise to the question how the issue of internet shutdown is resurfaced under public international law? The aim of this post is therefore to flag how internet shutdown can be examined from the perspective of two bodies of public international law, i.e., — international human rights law and international telecommunications law. Continue reading →

Abhishek Rana and Rishabha Meena

In the first part of the blog series, the authors discussed the specifics of India’s recent FDI policy change and its criticism by China. The discussion further delved into China’s inability to bring a successful claim against India at the WTO under GATT and TRIMS. The second part of the blog series thereby attempts to address the possible violations of provisions under the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), and the likely way forward for India. Continue reading →

Abhishek Rana and Rishabha Meena

Introduction

While the COVID-19 (also referred to as ‘coronavirus’) pandemic has been declared as a public health emergency of international concern by the WHO -with the health sector of many economies in crisis, this virus has had an equally significant impact on the global economy too. To deal with issues surrounding the outbreak of this pandemic, numerous countries have taken multiple economic measures like the imposition of restrictions on exports of specific goods and services, the shutdown of factories and industries, changes in investment policies, et cetera. UNCTAD through its Investment Policy Monitor’s special issue, published on May 4, 2020, highlighted the responses of various countries to this ongoing crisis by analysing the investment policy measures undertaken for the facilitation of investment, support for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), foreign investment screenings, and other incentives to the domestic industries. The pandemic has affected the foreign direct investment (“FDI”) flows as well, where the recent report from the UNCTAD’s Global Investment Trade Investment Monitor noted that there is a 40% expected decline in such global FDI flows during the 2020-21 period. Numerous countries, mostly being developed economies, like Italy, Germany, Australia, France, and Spain have interestingly already amended their domestic legislation(s) concerning FDI. For instance, Australia amended its FDI policy requiring approval from the Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) in all types of foreign investment irrespective of its value; whilst Italy amended its Golden Power law empowering the government to regulate and screen investments in new sectors too with such amendment being enforced until December 31, 2020. Continue reading →

The members of GroJIL would like to extend their support to #BlackLivesMatter, a movement that is ultimately one for basic human rights. We would like to share some different ways to help and support the movement with our audience as we believe this should be a collective effort involving people from all over the world, no matter their race, gender, sexuality or otherwise, that want to fight against racism and for equality and justice. Find the variety of ways to help below.  Continue reading →