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“Spread Your Wings and Fly Away” – Reimagining Customary International Law Jurisdiction in Investor- State Disputes
No full textA common assumption in investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) is that subject to the language of the arbitral provision invoked, an arbitration tribunal can only decide claims that allege a breach of the substantive obligations articulated in the instrument from which it derives jurisdiction. Over time, this assumption has come under challenge, including in cases where an ISDS tribunal derives jurisdiction from a municipal law source, such as an investment contract or legislation. The article addresses this issue by critiquing the Decision on Jurisdiction in Cambodia Power Company v. Cambodia, wherein an ICSID tribunal constituted pursuant to related investment contracts concluded that “customary international law exists and may be applied independently of any choice of law.” Adopting a TWAIL-lens, it unpacks the political dimensions inherent in any issue of jurisdiction of ISDS tribunals. On such premise, the article argues that the Cambodia Power decision is jurisprudentially unsound, makes flawed assumptions about the omnipresence of customary international law in foreign investment protection, and evokes comparisons with the civilization mission that defined the colonial encounter
Informality at Work - Towards a Law on Livelihoods?
No full textThis chapter examines the manner in which informality and related concepts are defined in the law and labour statistics, and how these concepts can be better aligned to capture the reality of changes in the world of work. The chapter examines the many ways in which formal and informal forms of work are distinct, and yet may overlap. It further examines different explanations for the presence of formal and informal forms of work and how labour statistics define and measure informal forms of work. The chapter focuses on certain key challenges confronting the world of work as we move ahead to create decent work and livelihoods for all and argues for a law on livelihoods to capture the myriad forms of informal employment and work
Do Time-Use Surveys Give a Higher Estimate of Women in Economic Activity?
No full textHow accurately do we measure women\u27s economic activity and how can the measurement be improved? Traditional Labour Force Surveys (LFS) often falls short, especially in rural areas, by overlooking activities such as livestock rearing, firewood collection, and unpaid work in self employment. Why? These surveys rely on narrow definitions that don’t include the full range of women’s contributions, and they often reinforce biases rooted in social norms - that women are primarily identified with household chores and child care. Enter the 2019 Time Use Survey (TUS). Unlike standard surveys, TUS asked people to track all their daily activities without labeling them as economic or not. By using this approach, TUS captured a more comprehensive picture of women’s activities. For instance, when the survey data was used to expand the definition of economic activity to include primary production activities, such as farming and construction for own use, the percentage of rural women identified as economically active jumped from 20.8% in the LFS to a striking 32%. This jump highlights the critical importance of capturing all economic activities for women, particularly in rural communities where such contributions are indispensable
Aligning India’s AI future with climate goals
No full textAt the recently concluded Conference of Parties (COP)29, a part of the discourse centred on the growing role of digital technologies, particularly Artificial Intelligence (AI), in addressing the climate crisis. While AI offers potential for climate action, from optimising renewable energy grids to enhancing climate modelling, its environmental footprint is also substantial and growing. The recent COP29 Declaration on Green Digital Action, announced on the first ever “digitalisation day” at COP, reflects a growing international recognition of these trade-offs – highlighting the need to align AI trajectories with climate goals. For India, this conversation takes on a particular urgency, as the nation advances its AI ambitions, while striving to meet its climate targets under the Paris Agreement
Quasi-Democratic Imagination: How the Constituent Assembly Envisioned the Parliamentary Opposition
No full textInstitutionalising parliamentary opposition ensures political pluralism, and an opposition needs constitutional protections to enable it to demand accountability and seek scrutiny over the executive. How did the Constituent Assembly of India envision the idea of parliamentary opposition? Did it take the issue seriously? Or, overshadowed by the burgeoning dominance of the Congress Party, was it apprehensive about providing constitutional space for the opposition? Some members of the assembly did demand that an institutional space be created to guarantee an effective opposition. But these demands were not given serious attention in the assembly. This paper argues that, in effect, the assembly brushed aside the question of a robust parliamentary opposition—creating what I term a ‘quasi‑democratic imagination’
Beside Marriage Equality: Conversations on Supriyo
No full textThis case comment takes the form of an epistolary exchange between the authors as they reflect on the Indian Supreme Court’s 2023 judgment in Supriyo @ Supriya Chakraborty & Anr v Union of India, which denied the existence of a constitutional right to marriage and deferred the responsibility of legalising same-sex marriage to the legislature. Through a staged conversation, the comment explores personal subject positions, legal frameworks, and the intricate entanglements of intimacy and state recognition. The authors consider how the law leaves imprints on our bodies and, in turn, how our embodied lives reshape the law through acts of resistance and reinterpretation. The dialogue moves beyond legal critique to ask whether marriage can be queered or reimagined in ways that foster liberation. In doing so, we foreground the generative potential of conversation as a space of freedom—one that reflects the authors’ lived experiences and the ongoing struggles for queer recognition and justice
