The rapid and ongoing development of the Internet has greatly affected new types and sources of conflict but also the ways conflicts are handled. Nowadays, more and more mediation service providers offer online tools to manage conflicts, going from fully e-supported mediations to hybrid mediations which are partly face to face (F2F) and partly computerized. Despite the increasing use of different types of e-supported mediation, practitioners and scholars know little about their effects or under which conditions different types of e-supported tools are best used. This contribution focuses on the role e-tools may play in text based mediations (mainly labor and divorce mediations) which are mediated by a human mediator. We hope to provide third parties of all sort (mediators, practitioners, consultants, managers, etc.) with practical guidelines for the use of e-supported mediation.

Criminological research on perceptions and behavior in an environmental context, scarcely uses virtual environments. Such virtual environments are available on the Internet or can be created. They can be presented to research participants either online or in a laboratory setting. This article gives a brief overview of criminological studies employing a virtual environment and describes a case study that used a virtual environment in order to investigate disorder. Despite the pitfalls, there are certainly possibilities for (criminological) research in virtual environments. The spatial context provided by a virtual environment, seems suitable for research in environmental criminology in particular.

All rights in the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) apply to all children, therefore they also apply to minor foreigners in the Netherlands. Nevertheless precisely for this group a continuous fight needs to be battled to make sure they receive the protection provided by the CRC. This article provides an overview of the most important articles of the CRC where minor asylum seekers and migrants can appeal to. The article also stresses the fact that children who reside unlawfully in the country may not be discriminated against their access to socio-economic rights. Furthermore, the question whether fully integrated children should have the right to a residency permit is dealt with. Subsequently the Dutch policy with regard to family reunification is assessed alongside the CRC. At last the article elaborates on the tension between the ‘ultimum remedium’ principle (article 37 CRC) on the one hand and the policy concerning children in alien detention on the other.

Eind november 2011 heeft de Europese Commissie een tweetal voorstellen op het gebied van de geschillenbeslechting voor consumenten gepubliceerd. Het betreft een voorstel voor een richtlijn betreffende alternatieve beslechting van consumentengeschillen (ADR)¹x COM(2011) 793. en een voorstel voor een verordening inzake online beslechting van consumentengeschillen (ODR).²x COM(2011) 794. In deze bijdrage worden de hoofdlijnen van beide voorstellen geschetst, waarbij de nadruk op het richtlijnvoorstel zal liggen. Bij dat voorstel doet zich de vraag voor of ons huidige stelsel van buitengerechtelijke geschillenbeslechting met de voorgestelde regulering verenigbaar is. Dat vergt een uiteenzetting over het huidige Nederlandse stelsel. De geschillenbeslechting in het buitenland blijft in deze bijdrage on(der)belicht. De hier te bespreken voorstellen alsmede de bijbehorende Impact assessment zijn te vinden op de website van de Europese Commissie.³x <ec.europa.eu/consumers/redress_cons/docs/directive_adr_nl.pdf>, <ec.europa.eu/consumers/redress_cons/docs/odr_regulation_nl.pdf> en <ec.europa.eu/consumers/redress_cons/docs/impact_assessment_adr_en.pdf>. Datzelfde geldt voor de voorbereidende studies die de Europese Commissie heeft laten uitvoeren.⁴x Zie het overzicht bij het voorstel voor de ADR-richtlijn, p. 3. Het ADR-voorstel sluit aan bij de Mededeling van de Commissie Akte voor de interne markt ⁵x COM(2011) 206 def, <ec.europa.ey/internal_market/smact/docs/20110413-communication_en.pdf>. en het ODR-voorstel bij het Europa 2020-vlaggenschipinitiatief Digitale agenda voor Europa. ⁶x COM(2010) 245 def, <ec.europa.eu/information_society/digital-agenda/documents/digital-agenda-communication-en.pdf>.

Noten

• * Deze bijdrage is geschreven op persoonlijke titel. De auteur dankt mr. H. Temmink voor zijn nuttige kanttekeningen bij een eerdere versie van deze bijdrage.

• 1 COM(2011) 793.

• 2 COM(2011) 794.

• 3 <ec.europa.eu/consumers/redress_cons/docs/directive_adr_nl.pdf>, <ec.europa.eu/consumers/redress_cons/docs/odr_regulation_nl.pdf> en <ec.europa.eu/consumers/redress_cons/docs/impact_assessment_adr_en.pdf>.

• 4 Zie het overzicht bij het voorstel voor de ADR-richtlijn, p. 3.

• 5 COM(2011) 206 def, <ec.europa.ey/internal_market/smact/docs/20110413-communication_en.pdf>.

• 6 COM(2010) 245 def, <ec.europa.eu/information_society/digital-agenda/documents/digital-agenda-communication-en.pdf>.

This article presents an overview of cyberwar from an international law perspective, in particular from the framework of the laws of war. It discusses some of the difficulties in applying these laws to cyberattacks, further complicated by the characteristics of the Internet. A distinction is made between cyberwar, -crime, -espionage and -terrorism, and the different fields of law that apply to these distinct ‘cyberevents’. Next to discussing several historic cyberattacks, the question is raised whether cyberwar is merely a hype or whether we should be taking this threat seriously. Rather than answering this question, the authors feel that the actual threat posed by ‘cyber’ is less important than the political and military prominence gained by this phenomenon in these past few years. The authors conclude by stating that a lot of work has yet to be done to address the issues raised by the occurrence of cyberwar.