In association with the International Commission of Jurists

Recent Posts

06 May

[Image by Freepik.] Introduction It is widely acknowledged that, without regulation, Private Military and Security Companies (PMSCs) can contribute to violations of international law and benefit from impunity. Both corporate actors and States increasingly rely on PMSCs to secure their operations in high-risk areas—whether through direct contracts, in-house security arrangements, or outsourcing military and law enforcement functions. Numerous UN reports have documented...

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06 May

[Klaudia Klonowska is a PhD Researcher at the Asser Institute and the University of Amsterdam, and is serving as Managing Director of the Manual on the International Law Applicable to Artificial Intelligence in Warfare. Sofie van der Maarel is Assistant Professor in Military Ethics and Leadership at the Netherlands Defense Academy and affiliated to Radboud University Nijmegen.] Introduction The concept of “deep sensing”...

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04 May

To have your event or announcement featured in next week’s post, please send a link and a brief description (1-2 paragraphs) to ojeventsandannouncements@gmail.com. Calls for Papers Early Career Conference on Humanitarian Disarmament: On 10-11 July 2025, the Asser Institute in The Hague will host a conference for young scholars on Humanitarian Disarmament. The organizers have issued a call for papers open to researchers working...

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02 May

[Dr Henrique Marcos is a lecturer at the Foundations of Law Department, Faculty of Law Maastricht University] This text is inspired by the discussions held at the event “Whatever Happened to TikTok” organised by the Law & Popular Culture Network at Maastricht University Faculty of Law in February 2025. In this post, I discuss the recent ban and subsequent unbanning of TikTok...

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01 May

[Eduardo Cavalcanti de Mello Filho is a Research Associate (Ocean Law and Policy) at the Centre for International Law, National University of Singapore] On 11 March 2025, ASCOMARE authored a legal opinion commissioned by the Palestinian BDS National Committee, answering the above question in the affirmative. The piece is well-written and insightful, but its findings are also innovative and perhaps too...

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29 Apr

[Gerhard Kemp is professor of criminal law at UWE Bristol, and extraordinary professor of public law at Stellenbosch University] On Monday, 14 April 2025, the high court in Johannesburg issued an important ruling in the historic first criminal prosecution of two individuals for the crime against humanity of apartheid. The ruling is a significant victory for the prosecuting authority, civil society...

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28 Apr

[Deniz Mykola Dirisu is an international OSINT consultant and co-founder of OSINT For Ukraine, with experience in building and leading diverse teams across borders within the context of digital investigations and justice. Manon-Catherine Balbinot serves as the War Crimes Task Force Leader at OSINT For Ukraine, leveraging OSINT techniques to uncover war crimes and bring perpetrators to justice. She is...

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27 Apr

To have your event or announcement featured in next week’s post, please send a link and a brief description (1-2 paragraphs) to ojeventsandannouncements@gmail.com. Call for Papers Climate Law in Europe - Taking Stock, Looking Forward: The European Association of Climate Law (EACL) invites submissions for its first conference - a platform to discuss current developments, future challenges, and intergenerational justice in climate...

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25 Apr

Introduction On 27 November 2024, Israel appealed two decisions of the Pre-Trial Chamber that were issued simultaneously with the arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant. The first decision rejected Israel's claim that it was entitled to a new Art. 18 notification because the OTP's s investigation after October 7 was substantially different than the investigation the OTP opened...

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20 Apr

To have your event or announcement featured in next week’s post, please send a link and a brief description (1-2 paragraphs) to ojeventsandannouncements@gmail.com. Call for Applications Assistant Editor: Come and join our team! Opinio Juris is looking for three Assistant Editors to help with reviewing and assessing content that comes to our blog. This would be a volunteer position with a time commitment of approximately...

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18 Apr

[Terje Einarsen is Professor of International Law at the University of Bergen and Chairperson of the Norwegian Section of International Commission of Jurists]  Part I of this post discussed why the jurisdiction should be extended and the current proposal to amend Article 15bis. An Alternative Proposal: Amending Article 5 Against this background (see Part I), it would presumably be better and more effective...

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18 Apr

[Terje Einarsen is Professor of International Law at the University of Bergen and Chairperson of the Norwegian Section of International Commission of Jurists] The Assembly of State Parties special session on the review of the amendments on the crime of aggression will be held at the United Nations, New York, 7 to 9 July 2025.  It comes with a challenging geopolitical...

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