In association with the International Commission of Jurists

Recent Posts

30 Mar

[Frédéric Mégret is a Professor and William Dawson Scholar at the Faculty of Law, McGill University] One of the most characteristic symptoms of globalization was the fairly significant expatriation of large numbers of nationals for life, work and adventure. This was frequently coupled with a discourse emphasizing the fraying of national identification and the relativity of state affiliation. That discourse was deeply schizophrenic and remains so: it...

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30 Mar

[Philippe Sands is a Professor of Law at University College London and a barrister at Matrix Chambers.] The birth and transmission of the Sars-Cov-2 virus, and the COVID-19 illness it generates, and the response to it - are matters for international law. The full consequences will emerge over time, but certain observations may be proposed. It is plain that the health...

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30 Mar

[Barrie Sander is a Fellow at Fundação Getúlio Vargas, Brazil and Jason Rudall is Assistant Professor of Public International Law at Leiden University.] The entire symposium is accessible in PDF format here. As we write this introduction we are each sitting in different houses, in different countries, on different continents, and in different hemispheres. We could not be much farther apart. And...

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23 Mar

Recent weeks have witnessed the rapid global spread of a novel coronavirus known as COVID-19. At the time of posting (23 March 2020) the World Health Organisation has reported 294,110 confirmed cases and 12,944 deaths across 187 countries, areas or territories.  In response to the pandemic, Opinio Juris will host a symposium on COVID-19 and international law, kicking off next week on Monday, 30 March...

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22 Mar

Call for Submissions Cambridge International Law Journal: The Editorial Board of the Cambridge International Law Journal (CILJ) is pleased to invite submissions for Volume 9(2), to be published in December 2020. The Board welcomes long articles that engage with the timely theme of the Ninth Annual Cambridge International Law Conference, ‘International Law and Global Risks: Current Challenges in Theory and Practice’. Further information about the theme is available...

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17 Mar

[Todd Carney is a student at Harvard Law School. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Public Communications. He has also worked in digital media in New York City and Washington D.C.] Though most of the headlines regarding disputed territory in Eastern Europe focus on Crimea and Kosovo, there is another region in Eastern Europe that continues to be in question,...

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16 Mar

UN Audiovisual Library New additions to the UN Audiovisual Library of International Law: The Codification Division of the UN Office of Legal Affairs recently added the following lecture in Spanish to the Lecture Series of the United Nations Audiovisual Library of International Law (AVL) website: Mr. Rafael Prieto Sanjuán on “Crímenes de Guerra”.The Codification Division of the UN Office of Legal Affairs recently added the following...

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13 Mar

My colleagues and I really like the name of our blog. And so, apparently, do others! A new Italian blog has just started that also calls itself Opinio Juris. It appears to cover issues of international law and politics as well, which makes its name more than a little frustrating. You'd think the blog could have chosen a different name,...

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12 Mar

[M. Vagias is a Senior Lecturer of Law with The Hague University of Applied Science] Introduction: Amnesties in the latest Gaddafi Admissibility proceedings The debate on the compatibility of amnesties with the duty to prosecute human rights violations, including war crimes and crimes against humanity, is far from new in the realm of international criminal law. It has troubled first and foremost the Inter-American Court...

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10 Mar

[Jennifer Trahan is a Professor at the NYU Center for Global Affairs.] On March 5, 2020, the International Criminal Court’s Appeals Chamber issued an extremely significant ruling authorizing the opening of the Afghanistan investigation.  The decision is important in that it confirms the Prosecutor’s discretion in evaluating whether or not to proceed “in the interests of justice” under Article 53(1)(c) of the Rome Statute, thereby allowing the Afghanistan...

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05 Mar

On 3 March, news reports indicated that that the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (High Commissioner) filed an intervention at the Supreme Court of India, linked to petitions challenging the Citizenship Amendment Act of 2019 (CAA). This legislation – along with a population and citizenship register – has been the focus of nationwide protests across India.  In brief, the CAA seeks to ease a path...

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