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In 2021, the Space Systems Laboratory of the University of Pisa (UniPi) started a student-oriented high-altitude ballooning programme intended to provide an opportunity for hands-on experience in support of the teaching of scientific and technical courses. The programme provides mentoring on scientific, technical and management issues, along with financial support and assistance with integration and launch on a sounding balloon platform. The goal is to conduct flying experiments in the stratosphere, retrieve them after landing and process the results; by doing so, the students experience all phases of a scientific mission project, from conceptual design to realisation, operations and post-flight analysis. Following a call for proposal open to all students of the UniPi across all study areas, three experiments were selected featuring multidisciplinary teams. This paper summarises the features of the programme's first edition and presents the main lessons learned. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With Law No. 91/2021 Italy authorized the establishment of an exclusive economic zone, an epoch-making change in Italian foreign policy. For decades, the governments of the Peninsula, conditioned by the interests of national fishermen and by the advice of the Navy, have pushed for a limitation of the extension of jurisdiction in the Mediterranean. There is no doubt that in semi-enclosed seas the EEZ regime is more difficult to apply, but by now almost all the coastal States of this sea have declared an EEZ or are preparing to do so. The regime will coincide with the provisions of UNCLOS on the subject. The most delicate problem is undoubtedly that of delimitation. In the past, Italy has negotiated disadvantageous delimitation lines of the continental shelf, which are now being proposed, by the States with which such agreements have been concluded, as "all purposes" delimitation lines. The problem arises for the moment essentially with Tunisia, since in the other cases the agreements are with EU countries, and with Algeria, with which there are no agreements in force but which has declared an EEZ that overlaps with areas potentially subject to Italian (and other countries') jurisdiction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyzes the Enrica Lexie Arbitral Award, first of all, in relation to international law issues concerning the application of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). The article then focuses on the question of the functional immunity of the two marines, from the point of view of the Tribunal's assertion of its incidental jurisdiction to deal with the matter, as well as of the Tribunal's affirmation of the existence of a customary international law rule applicable in the present case. Both conclusions appear unconvincing, also in light of the role of the two marines on board a merchant ship. In any case, the fact remains that the judgment has the merit of finally putting an end to a long-standing dispute, to the satisfaction of the two parties involved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The debate on the existence of universal human rights is always alive and involves not only the international law regime but also the enforcement of national laws as well as the relationship between cultural diversity and protection of human rights. It is a fact that not all the principles on human rights included in the major conventions and international acts on human rights come under the same regime, and so the idea of a distinction between conditional human rights rules and absolute human rights rules is not alien to the international mechanism on human rights. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is therefore "potentially" universal, and for this reason its affirmation depends on the degree of acceptance of its principles. This acceptance has so far been much wider than one could imagine. Although it originally represented the point of view mainly of Western countries, the Universal Declaration has been successful as it immediately sought to give precise content to the commitments solemnly made by States with the approval of the United Nations Charter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses several articles published within issue on topics including Europe that the current migration crisis, problem regarding Malta, and consequences for the uncertainties related to the migrants.

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This article presents the author's introductory remarks presented at the international conference The South China Sea: An International Law Perspective (Brussels, 6 March 2015) during a panel dedicated to questions of navigation. It provides a general overview of the competing claims in the South China Sea and highlights relevant rules and principles of the law of the sea that are applicable to the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on the Law, involve Law of the sea is a body of international law governing the rights and duties of states in maritime environments. It concerns matters such as navigational rights, sea mineral claims, and coastal waters jurisdiction. Topic include a case against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air supplementing the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime – International Convention on Maritime Search and Rescue (SAR).

In judgment No. 238 of 22 October 2014, the Italian Constitutional Court ruled on the legitimacy of certain norms of the Italian legal order which relate to the implementation of the International Court of Justice's (ICJ) judgment in the Jurisdictional Immunities of the State case. In this case the Court found that customary international law concerning State immunity for war crimes and crimes against humanity could not enter the Italian legal order, as it was incompatible with the basic principles of the Italian Constitution. Judgment No. 238/2014 thus reveals a key connection between domestic fundamental values and internationally recognized values. If this connection exists, national courts should decline to give effect to an international decision if it contravenes a fundamental obligation under national as well as international law. Thus, domestic courts may play the role of defenders of the international rule of law from international law itself. According to international law, as well as Italian law, there is no doubt that enforcement of an ICJ decision is mandatory for the State to which the decision is directed. In the case under review, however, the requirement to implement the ruling of the ICJ was set aside in order to defer to the requirement to respect the fundamental values of the Italian legal system, in accordance with the theory of "counter-limits" as developed by the Constitutional Court. This conclusion appears also consistent with the German order, which renders quite weak any possible reaction, or protest, by that State. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]