Journal of International Law and International Relations 2007 — N 2
Summaries
International Law
Refugee Law
The European Union and the Asylum Policy — Vladzimir Astapenka
Human Rights
The Rights of the Minorities: Some Theoretical Aspects» — Galina Mityurich
Intarnational Private Law
States’ Unilateral Measures on the Avoidance of Double Taxation — Alexey Lashuk
Comparative Law
The Role of Commercial Law In Slovak Legislation — Mojmir Mamojka Jr
International Relations
International Cooperation of the Department on Citizenship and Migration of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Belarus in the Sphere of Forced and Outward Labour Migration — Alexandr Tatura, Tatiana Tumashik
Formation and Development of the Conceptual Bases of Belarus Foreign Policy: Sources and Historiography — Uladzimir Ulakhovich
The FRG’s Policy Towards the Republic of Moldova (1991—1998) — Vladislav Froltsov
The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation’s Evolution in the Context of the Asian Security System Formation — Vitaly Voronovich
Russian Researchers About the US Foreign Policy in the Post-Cold War Period — Alexandr Kosov
Documents and Materials
Achievements and Gaps in the Development of Refugee Protection in Belarus (the Materials of the Round Table from December 21, 2006) — Yury Morgun (only russian)
Mixed Migration Flows and International Protection of Refugees (the Materials of the International Seminar from March 13—14, 2007) — Yury Morgun (only russian)
World Refugee Day — 2007 in Belarus — Yury Morgun (only russian)
International Economic Relations
International Practice of Structuring the Services Sector of Economy — Vyacheslav Perepyolkin
The Foreign Trade Financing as a Economic Development Factor in Transition Economy Countries — Vasily Uglov, Elena Davydenko
The Application of the Conception of the Ecological Footprint in Calculation of the Ecological Capacity Research to Determine Recreational Pressure in the National Parks of Belarus — Olga Mozgovaya
State Regulation of International Tourism in Modern Conditions — Elena Kiptsevich
FULL ISSUE 
English Summaries
«The European Union and the Asylum Policy» (Vladzimir Astapenka)
The article is devoted to the legal analysis of the EC secondary legislation in the field of asylum which was worked out on the basis and in view of the amendments introduced by the Treaties of Amsterdam and Nice. The author considers the material pre-conditions for the adoption of 3 regulatory acts of the EC Council aimed at harmonizing the national legislations of the member-states of the European Union which regulate the questions of granting the asylum. Special attention is paid to the provisions of all three directives which formulated the minimal grounds for the reception of the persons in need of international protection, established the criteria for granting the status of refugee or of those who need the subsidiary protection, set up in details the procedures for consideration of appropriate applications. It is stressed that within this context the particular function is to be implemented by the representatives of the UNHCR as well as the nongovernmental organizations acting on the territory of the member-state on behalf of the UNHCR.
«The Rights of the Minorities: Some Theoretical Aspects» (Galina Mityurich)
The article considers problem issues of the legal status of national minorities. The interest for this has been caused by the aggravating tension in most foreign countries, both the developed and the developing ones. The paper gives reasons for the necessity to provide not only the collective rights but also the individual rights of national minorities, for which various methods of their provision and protection are analyzed.
The article cites the fundamental international legal documents of universal and regional character, that underlie modern regulation of the national minority status, the main principles of which are equality and non-discrimination. In this light particular attention is given to «special» rights which safeguard national identity and culture as well as to the content of the right of the minorities to self-determination.
«States’ Unilateral Measures on the Avoidance of Double Taxation» (Alexey Lashuk)
At present, an increasing number of states faced with the escape of tax base to foreign jurisdictions unilaterally refrain from exercising their tax jurisdiction over certain foreign incomes of their residents. Effective application of unilateral methods for the avoidance of double taxation makes it possible for a state to become more attractive as a seat for international businesses.
Usually states apply the following three double taxation avoidance methods: the deduction method, the exemption method and the credit method. This article gives a brief description, provides an analysis of advantages and disadvantages and describes the scope of application of these methods by using the examples of the European Union member states.
The Republic of Belarus has recently excluded the application of unilateral double tax avoidance measures. Such position of Belarusian law-makers can be justified by the fact that there is a developed treaty network in the field of international taxation. At the same time, the examples of the leading developed nations show that the application of unilateral measures for the avoidance of double taxation proves to be effective.
«The Role of Commercial Law In Slovak Legislation» (Mojmir Mamojka Jr)
The author considers the problem of formation and development of commercial law in Slovak Republic as well as its interaction with other legal fields, mainly civil law.
Trade and civil codes are two private codes in Slovak Republic. While studying their correlation the author comes to a conclusion that the trade code is the entrepreneurship code giving subjects comparatively lower level of protection. However, it aims to establish conditions for fair competition. The civil code as a fundamental act of private law is a fundamental act of private law and rests upon a richer legal tradition.
«International Cooperation of the Department on Citizenship and Migration of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Belarus in the Sphere of Forced and Outward Labour Migration» (Alexandr Tatura, Tatiana Tumashik)
The Department on Citizenship and Migration of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Belarus pays significant attention to development and strengthening of international cooperation in the sphere of forced and outward labour migration with the aim to increase efficiency in the control of migration processes on the territory of the Republic of Belarus. The most fruitful cooperation in this sphere is connected with the UNHCR and the IOM. One of the most vivid examples of such cooperation is successful realization of the project of international technical assistance EU TACIS — UNHCR «Strengthening the National Asylum System in the Republic of Belarus».
A significant role in strengthening and improvement of cooperation in processes and problems related with granting asylum and migration between the states along the new border of the EU is given to Soderkoping process as well as to regular participation in the events held within this process.
At the same time active participation of the Nationality and Migration Department representatives in international meetings, scientific and educational events under the aegis of UNHCR, IOM and other international organisations plays an important role in global cooperation development.
«Formation and Development of the Conceptual Bases of Belarus Foreign Policy: Sources and Historiography» (Uladzimir Ulakhovich)
Formation of the bases of the state foreign policy should be viewed in terms of historical retrospective. The article analyzes the works by V. Snapkovsky, A. Tikhomirov, joint monographs, collection of documents on foreign policy of Belarus, and underscores that, after the break-up of the USSR and declaration of Belarus independence, this country has entered the international scene in two aspects: as a newly independent state, and as a state having historical traditions of statehood and foreign policy.
One of the main theoretical problems faced by the Belarusian diplomacy at the beginning of the 1990s was to identify priorities of the state foreign policy. In the first half of the 1990s, there appeared publications on the problems of conceptual framework and bases of the foreign policy (A. Rozanov, А. Chelyadinsky, А. Sharapo, I. Sachenko, V. Ulakhovich).
The second half of the 1990s saw the studies into the national interest-related issues within the problem of ensuring national security, Belarusian-Russian relations, and other aspects of the state foreign policy (Yu. Brovka, А. Sharapo, A. Rozanov, V. Snapkovsky, V. Melnik). A widely spread kind of publications were joint monographs, follow-up materials of conferences and seminars («Priorities of the Foreign Policy of the Republic Belarus», «Problems of the Formation of a New System of International Relations», «Global World Confronted by New Challenges», «Relevant Issues of International Relations and the Foreign Policy of Belarus») The article further analyzes the situation in the EU, European security, political, economic and social consequences of the EU enlargement for Belarus, bilateral relations of Belarus with the European states, etc. In recent years, there appeared the studies on individual aspects of the state foreign policy (Е. Dostanko, А. Daneyko, М. Kovalev, А. Mitskevich, L. Khukhlyndina, L. Orlov, V. Ulakhovich and others). Another direction of the research are bilateral relations of the Republic of Belarus (V. Matsel, А. Rusakovich, V. Skvortsov, V. Shikh, S. Ivanov, М. Chesnovsky). In the West, there is a growing interest in Belarus-related themes. The Belarus foreign policy line and its relationship with Russia are described in the publications of the famous Russian experts in international affairs V. Nikonov, S. Rogov, D. Trenin. Among the most important sources are official and unofficial political documents, and the documents from the present-day archives of state administration bodies, mass-media materials.
The topics of the Belarusian studies on international relation problems in 1990s can largely be subdivided as follows: post-Soviet themes (including the CIS and Russian-Belarusian relations); European, regional and subregional problems; national foreign policy as a sphere of state administration.
The Belarusian science in the field of foreign policy studies has been developing from a certain spontaneity of research in the first half of the 1990s, to a well arranged research in the second half of the decade. Over the recent 15 years, a circle of scientists constantly focusing on the research of the national foreign policy, its principles, priorities and mechanisms has taken shape in Belarus.
«The FRG’s Policy Towards the Republic of Moldova (1991—1998)» (Vladislav Froltsov)
The key features of the German policy towards the Republic of Moldova in 1991—1998 are considered. Their complex analysis allows to explain such phenomena in the framework of the bilateral relations as procrastinating of the decision of the FRG to establish the diplomatic relations with Moldova, striving of the government of H. Kohl to prevent a new escalation of the Transnistrian conflict, as well as a low dynamic of the economic and trade connections between two countries and some others. The results of this research could assist to define the common trends of the German policy concerning all postsoviet countries in the 1990s and their evolution in the early 2000s.
«The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation’s Evolution in the Context of the Asian Security System Formation» (Vitaly Voronovich)
The article considers the role the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation is playing in the emerging multipolar international relations system and the settlement of global problems. The author makes an attempt to outline the reasons for the emergence of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, the main directions and priorities of its activities and evolution. It studies the process of the formation of the treaty and legal base within the framework of this organization, the contents of its most important documents, interrelations with other international organizations, the main institutional and conceptual limitations of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation as well as the prospects of its development.
The main factors which hinder the expansion of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation activities and fostering of the Asian security regime are considered to be the contradictions in the perception of priorities in this sphere by the leading states, disproportions in the economic development of the member-states, the placement and state of the roads and telecommunications infrastructure, different levels of national currencies stability, incompleteness of political reforms, the existence of customs and other barriers, the aggravating problem of illegal migration, the problems of ecology and the factor of energy, various in its impact.
At the same time the author does not agree with the attempts to counterpose NATO and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, pointing out the primarily regional character of the activities of the latter organization as well as the difference in the objectives and tasks of these structures. In addition, the article explores the implementation in the multilateral regimes of transparency and trust measures and the limitation regimes (non-proliferation) within the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.
«Russian Researchers About the US Foreign Policy in the Post-Cold War Period» (Alexandr Kosov)
The article considers Russian historiography on the US foreign policy after the end of the Cold War. The author gives an analysis of opinions of Russian researchers on the current US global policy.
The article draws attention to the fact that there exist various points of view in Russian political and academic groups on a number of topical global problems. For example, Russian historiography sees many discussions about today’s global system. Some of the scientists believe that the multipolar world is replacing the bipolar world. Others insist on its unipolarity. Still others do not support either conception and speculate about the existence of some third type of the modern international system. The dymanics of its development is also perceived to be different: either from the multipolar to the unipolar one or vice versa. Depending on their vision of the current international system, the researchers disagree in their evaluation of the role of the USA in global processes. Various opinions also relate to the statement whether the USA are a superstate or not, though the absolute majority of Russian scientists give a positive answer to this question. At the same time, many of them emphasize that the USA are gradually losing their power which might lead to the loss of their global domination.
Most of the Russian authors have a critical attitude to the Washington foreign policy. The majority of studies focus on the US aiming to secure their supremacy in the world. Many of the re-searchers even speculate on the imperial nature of the US foreign policy. While assessing American foreign policy concepts and doctrines as well as real steps of the USA, many of the experts come to a conclusion that the USA act not as leader but rather as a predominant force. They believe that such policy of the USA in the international scene makes this country unpopular in different regions of the world. Therefore, many authors stand for changes in the foreign policy of the USA and intro-duce various scenarios since further development of the global community would depend much on the USA’s choice of their direction.
«International Practice of Structuring the Services Sector of Economy» (Vyacheslav Perepyolkin)
The current stage of the world economic development is characterized by globalization of international economic relations and establishment of close mutual relations between national economies. It requires provision of comparability of statistical data used during the interstate analysis and can be achieved only under the conditions of a single methodology base of statistics. The article is devoted to revealing the problem of development of general methodology base for organization of statistics on the global level and defining approaches to the solution with regard to structuring of the services sector.
The analysis of the «services» concept and its main characteristic aspects led to the statement about the absence of universal definition of this concept in scientific literature. Contradictions in notions about the inner content of the economic phenomenon at the conceptual level hindered the development of universally recognized criteria of differentiation of services in economic administration practice. On the basis of the analysis of empirical data on organization of the tertiary sector in a number of the leading countries of the West as well as in Russia the author revealed serious lack of coherence in the methodology of statistical registration of services, formulated proposals on bringing it to closer compliance with single standards.
«The Foreign Trade Financing as a Economic Development Factor in Transition Economy Countries» (Vasily Uglov, Elena Davydenko)
This paper examines one of the key issues of foreign economic policy of CIS, CEE and the Baltic states — the problem of setting up the competent and long-term mutually beneficial trade policy.
Trade financing should be reviewed not only as a specific banking operation or a kind of banking activities, but as a structural element of a country’s trade policy which plays a crucial role in economic growth promotion
Trade financing has a set of indisputable advantages both for exporters and importers (provision of possibilities for production and sales’ growth, speeding-up the accounts receivable turnover, improvement of financial statements’ structure, the rise of competitiveness) and financial intermediaries (risk minimization, additional fees and service revenues, possibility of cross-selling) as well as for authorities (legal ability of promotion of the country’s economic interests in other countries, rapid overcoming of consequences of economic and financial crises).
There is a recent evolution in views towards trade finance — from the relations of exporters, importers and financial intermediaries to the necessity of a strong state policy. The extent to which governments and financial intermediaries are sensitive to the needs of national companies is one of the most important factors influencing the health of exports and imports in transition economies.
«The Application of the Conception of the Ecological Footprint in Calculation of the Ecological Capacity Research to Determine Recreational Pressure in the National Parks of Belarus» (Olga Mozgovaya)
Starting from the analysis of the international experience the author shows the methodology of the calculation of the «Ecological Footprint» for 2005 in Belarus. The article stresses the importance of the study of the «Ecological Footprint» concept which allows to give adequate assessment of the impact humans make on environment.
To determine «the Ecological Footprint» of Belarus the author presents detailed calculation of its six elements: cropland footprint, grazing land footprint, fishing ground footprint, forest footprint, energy footprint and built-up footprint.
The author has made the assessment of the ecological capacity necessary to compare the consumption volumes with the biosphere possibilities to satisfy the demand without disrupting ecological stability.
On the basis of the calculations the author makes the conclusion that Belarus has a proficit of the ecological capacity of the territory which allows to export it not as a goods flow but through the export of the ecological tourism services.
The author goes on to present the calculations of the ecological footprint left as a result of economic and recreational use of the most protected nature territories (MPNT) calculated in world hectares of the ecological capacity of the MPNT, of the acceptable parameters of the tourist arrivals growth rate, the permissible limit of number of tourist arrivals, the limiting amount of tourist pressure on natural territorial complexes for every national park to determine the resources of ecological capacity for the development of ecological tourism services in the national parks of the Republic of Belarus.
The article presents the conclusions of the studies carried out according to the above-mentioned methodology.
«State Regulation of International Tourism in Modern Conditions» (Elena Kiptsevich)
The article reveals the essence of international tourism, its role on a global scale and importance for national economies of some countries. The author explores the necessity and specific features of state control of international tourism at the current stage of world economy development. The necessity in regulation of international tourism field of industry by government bodies is substantiated by characteristic features of tourism as a form of economic activity (seasonality, heterogeneity, the static character of supply and dynamic nature of demand, labour-intensiveness etc.) and current main trends of its development (the rapid growth of this field of industry, emergence of new points of destination, new requirements of tourists, differentiation, individualization and diversification of tourist product etc.). The topicality of this issue is also proved by the necessity of providing sustainability in international tourism development, which is impossible without control from the state.
The tourist policy of a country is aimed at raising the attractiveness and competitiveness of the tourist region. The author reveals the theoretical aspects of these notions and emphasizes fundamental differences between them. Competitiveness is considered as capability of the point of destination to produce a high-quality tourist product, to hold its positions in the international tourist market and, if possible, to expand the sphere of its influence without violating the principles of sustainable development. Attractiveness of the point of destination is determined by its ability to attract attention and be of interest to potential tourists. The author also gave the analysis of the factors determining competitiveness of a tourist region and offered a new conception of the criteria of attractiveness of a national market for the international tourism.
The author made a conclusion that tourist policy of a state should include all particular features and take into consideration qualitative and quantitative changes in the international tourism sphere in the modern conditions of transformation of its structure.
This publication was prepared in the framework of EU AENEAS — UNHCR project “Strengthening the Protection Capacity in the Republic of Belarus”
