The Italian Yearbook of International Law

This Volume features a focus on the international law issues raised by the fight against piracy, which includes a detailed analysis of the ongoing dispute between Italy and India arising from the Enrica Lexie incident involving the accidental killing of Indian fishermen in an anti-piracy operation (Ronzitti), an assessment of the impact of piracy on the development of the law of the sea (Treves) and a comment on recent Italian legislation authorizing the deployment of anti-piracy armed personnel on merchant vessels, with the attendant risk of escalation of violence and human rights violations. The doctrinal section of the Volume includes also a series of innovative articles on prior exhaustion of local remedies with regard to claims involving the international responsibility of the EU (Vezzani), the role of amici curiae in international adjudication (Crema), heritage protection and its pitfalls (Lixinski), and assisted procreation in a human rights perspective (Pavone). The Notes and Comments section contains a timely commentary on the constitutional law implications of the enforcement in Italy of the ICJ judgment in Jurisdictional Immunities of the State (Germany v. Italy) and a note on diplomatic immunities and the rights of domestic workers. Starting from this Volume, surveys on the activities of courts and tribunals are included in a dedicated section, which is occupied by reports and commentaries on the activities of the ICJ (this year focused on human rights), ITLOS, ICSID and international criminal justice, with a new survey, introduced this year, on the activities of the WTO dispute settlement body edited by Sacerdoti. The second part of the Volume covers Italian practice in the areas of i) judicial decisions, with special attention given to the judicial decisions implementing the 2012 ICJ judgment in Germany v. Italy; ii) diplomatic and parliamentary practice; iii) treaty and other international agreements practice; and iv) national legislation. The third part of the Volume includes the bibliographical index of Italian contributions to international law scholarship published in 2012, a book review section (edited by Gestri), and an analytical index for easy consultation and reference to the materials cited in the Yearbook.