This article suggests a new interpretative framework for Article 27(2) of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which prohibits sexual violence against women in armed conflict. One specific aspect of this norm is particularly controversial: the notion of ‘honour’ has often been criticised as an obsolete concept linked to an outdated view of female morality. In the absence of a definition of the term, this article examines whether the gendered limitations of the norm can be overcome and the extent to which an evolutive interpretation of the concept is feasible. It argues that the concept of ‘honour’ can be treated as a generic term that is subject to evolutive interpretation, allowing for a renewed and gender-sensitive understanding to be developed, aligned with the concept of human dignity.

This article challenges the justification usually offered by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights for its broad use of external sources when engaging in evolutive interpretation of the American Convention on Human Rights (ACHR). It analyses the Court's jurisprudence concerning international humanitarian law, the rights of the child, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transexual and intersex (LGBTI) rights, in addition to drawing on interviews conducted with lawyers of the Court. It argues that the discursive strategy used by the Court to justify its ‘import’ of external sources fails to provide a complete normative justification and remains open to the charge of ‘cherry-picking’. The article recommends that the Court tailors its discursive strategy to the specific type of external sources used and suggests that more attention be paid to searching for internationalized consensus when determining the relevance of non-binding sources to evolutive interpretation of the ACHR.

In June 2022, the International Labour Organization (ILO) decided to amend the 1998 Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work in order to include the right to a safe and healthy working environment among the core labour rights to which member States are committed by virtue of their membership. The amendment marks the successful completion of three years of negotiations initiated in response to the 2019 Centenary Declaration by which the ILO's tripartite constituency recognized that safe and healthy working conditions were fundamental to decent work. Adding occupational safety and health as a fifth pillar to the 1998 Declaration was generally welcomed as a commendable development although critics may still assert that as a soft law instrument the amended Declaration may not have decisive impact on workplace safety and health globally. Despite broad agreement about the timeliness and importance of recognizing occupational safety and health as a fundamental workers’ right—especially in light of the pandemic experience—concerns were raised about the possible implications of the amended Declaration on existing trade agreements, and in particular whether it would create, directly or indirectly, new obligations for member States. This article looks into the origins and negotiating history of the amendment to the 1998 Declaration and addresses the scope and legal effect of a saving clause by which the Conference sought to ensure that the amended Declaration would not impact obligations and commitments of States set out in labour provisions of free trade agreements currently in force and would not be subject to dynamic interpretation in the context of a trade dispute.

The UN General Assembly and the UN Security Council should amend their rules of procedure to create gender parity on the bench of the International Court of Justice. Only 3.7 per cent of all judges on the ICJ have been women. The UN Charter, ICJ Statute, and long-standing practice of the Court underscore the importance of representation, but the focus has been on geographical representation. Using the law of international organizations, combined with the law of treaty interpretation and international human rights law, this article argues that Article 9 of the ICJ Statute should be interpreted to include a requirement of gender parity. Established practice, subsequent practice, and the UN’s multi-decade gender parity in staffing policy establish an evolutive interpretation of what is required to fulfil equality at the UN and the ICJ. The nomination and election procedures for ICJ judges are sufficiently flexible to facilitate this interpretation.

What is the relation between law and time? How do international lawyers conceive law in time? This chapter aims to answer the question of how international law is situated in time in a paradigmatic fashion. Looking at social time—the common perception of time in society as opposed to individual or astronomical time—the law is an institution defining time but also relying on a temporal conception. The chapter establishes three basic paradigms of how international law has been situated temporally: the paradigm of atemporality, depicting law as eternal and unchangeable; the paradigm of temporality, defining law as ascertainable but changeable; and the paradigm of fluxus, defining the law as necessarily changing, unsteady and moving. The chapter shows how the understanding of international lawyers shifted from the paradigm of atemporality to the paradigm of temporality. It reviews the treatises of international legal scholars and the notion of peace in peace treaties from the 17th to the 20th century. The chapter then goes on to discuss whether there has been a second paradigm shift from the paradigm of atemporality to the paradigm of fluxus. For this purpose three cases are explored: the evolutive interpretation of the notion of security, the changing customary law on state immunities and the principle of sustainable development. The chapter concludes with the outlook of transcending the paradigmatic approach with a cubistic look at the relationship between law and time.

When interpreted, sometimes treaties have to go through a trial by fire and are found either to be ‘living instruments’ evolving alongside the relevant changes both in law and in facts or to have a ‘fixed’ meaning. The aim of the present article is to examine how intertemporal considerations find their way into the interpretative process and what the effects are on the treaties being interpreted. Do these changes in law and fact actually change the treaty itself, or do they merely trigger a latent quality already existing in the treaty itself? Does time change the treaty, or does it merely ‘unfold’ it? This question will be examined through the lens of the main philosophical theories on identity, persistence, time and change (endurantism, perdurantism and exdurantism), and by focusing on the ‘direct’ (principle of contemporaneity and evolutive interpretation) and ‘indirect’ (Article 31(3)(c) and the intertemporal application of the rules of interpretation) points of entry of intertemporal considerations in the interpretative process. Through this examination the elements that weigh upon the judicial interpretative process and tip the scales either in favour of an evolutive interpretation or in favour of the principle of contemporaneity, will be identified, as well as the limits of any such interpretation. In this manner, an answer will be arrived at as to whether, from an interpretative perspective, treaties endure, perdure or exdure.