CYIL 2013

JURIDICAL DAYS IN OLOMOUC

JURIDICAL DAYS IN OLOMOUC, 9. –10. 5. 2013

The “life” of Public international law obtains its features not only in its worldwide framework but it is also shaped through thousands of separate elements of higher or lower importance and relevance, worth being commemorated or not. The 20 th anniversary of the formation of the independent Czech Republic after the dissolution of Czechoslovakia is definitely one of these elements worth being remembered in the context of international law. For these purposes a special project examining the formation and dissolution of state in the international legal perspective is being conducted in 2013 at Palacký University in Olomouc, Faculty of Law (Czech Republic). An international conference on this issue was one of the outcomes of the project. The scientific conference on “International law aspects of the formation and dissolution of the state, or the 20 th anniversary of the formation of an independent Czech Republic” was organized in May 2013 as part of the Olomouc Juridical Days, a traditional scientific event focusing on current legal issues. Some 30 participants from academy and practice from the Czech Republic and Slovakia gathered for two days to discuss the broad variety of aspects and legal challenges concerned with questions of the formation of new states in international law. On 9 May the meeting started with a presentation dealing with general issues of the formation of new states, their rights and obligations under the international legal order, questions of dissolution and succession, taking as an example the Czechoslovakian secession. The next presentation focused on the problem of so called de facto regimes which enshrine many of the elements of statehood but are nevertheless not accepted by the international community as states ( e.g. Abkhazia, Southern Ossetia, Transdniestria). This raised many questions about the position of government in the state and its recognition by the international community. One of such question was addressed in detail by a presentation concerning the recognition of national liberation movements, their legal personality and the role it plays in modern international law. The conference, however, also addressed the topic of the dissolution of states, which has been debated extensively. Two presentations served as a basis for the debate: the first focusing on the issue of the secession which took place in several regions in the world at the end of the XX th century or in the beginning of XXI st century; the second dealing with the issue of succession of property abroad based on the example of the Yugoslavian mausoleum in Olomouc. Especially the last mentioned presentation highlighted the practical aspects of state succession which can occur in a local context. In the case of the almost forgotten Yugoslavian mausoleum in Olomouc, the fact that it is a state property for specific (funeral) purposes and none of the successor states of socialist Yugoslavia acknowledge it as its possession brings up a lot of questions about treatment and maintenance. The first panel was closed by presentations dealing with a topic which is currently heavily debated in the international community and the academy as well – namely what are the