Critical Approaches

[Fia Hamid-Walker is a PhD candidate in disaster jurisprudence and postcolonial theory at Melbourne Law School and human rights lawyer] Disaster means a calamitous event or series of events resulting in widespread loss of life, great human suffering and distress, mass displacement, or large-scale material or environmental damage, thereby seriously disrupting the functioning of societyArticle 3(b) of the Draft Articles on...

[Jane Ezirigwe is a G.F Henderson Fellow at the Human Rights Research and Education Centre, University of Ottawa and an associate professor of law at the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies] Introduction  Allegations of double standards frequently surface in multilateral forums, influencing debates on diverse issues, ranging from the Security Council’s role in maintaining international peace to the fairness of climate...

As I write these lines, the United States is fighting for the very soul of its democracy. Under dispute is whether their government can forcibly transfer a lawful resident – in this case a Latino with a tattoo – to a forced labour camp in El Salvador without any due process. For now, the US Supreme Court’s answer seems to be “no”, provided the...

Israel's consolidated interpretation of ceasefires: "you cease, I fire" (cit.).Francesca Albanese Israel recently stopped bombing Gaza, sort of, offering a moment of respite for Palestinians. This is a welcome development, to be sure. Having brutalised the enclave for nearly 18 months, collapsed the delivery of aid, obliterated health, education, and housing infrastructures, slaughtered tens of thousands, maimed tens of thousands more,...

Every juristic tradition has at least one point in common: they seek to distinguish between lawful and unlawful behaviours, usually extrapolating a normative parallel between right and wrong or, with ecclesiastical fervour, between good and bad. Tied up with this narrative are notions of accountability (for wrongdoers) and restoration (for those wronged). Of course, morality almost always morphs into moralisation,...

[Hüseyin Dişli is a PhD candidate at the University of Kent and convening Legal History and Legal Philosophy modules at Boğaziçi University Faculty of Law. He serves as a legal counsel to the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC). Ömer Erkut Bulut is an Assistant Professor at Boğaziçi University Faculty of Law in Istanbul, Türkiye. Hasan Basri Bülbül works as an Assistant Professor of...

[Ihsan Adel is the Founder and Chair of Law for Palestine and an international lawyer currently pursuing a PhD in Germany] The Israeli occupation of Palestine has long tested the limits and efficacy of international law. However, recent legal developments, particularly the ICJ's advisory opinion, have intensified the call to recognise this occupation not only as an illegal act but as...

[M Beheşti Aydoğan holds a PhD from the University of Warwick’s School of Law and is a member of the Istanbul Bar Association. Ömer Erkut Bulut is an Assistant Professor at Boğaziçi University Faculty of Law in Istanbul, Türkiye.] It is common to hear claims about trade’s value in preventing conflicts. It is a central notion of liberal theories of international relations:...

[Dr Brendan Ciarán Browne is an Assistant Professor Conflict Resolution and Fellow of Trinity College Dublin] Introduction At this time of ongoing ‘scholasticide’ against our colleagues in the Gaza Strip, resulting in the destruction of all 12 universities, the murder of thousands of university staff and students, and with restrictions placed on access to campuses across the West Bank, the need to speak up...

[Bana Abu Zuluf is a Palestinian PhD researcher in International Law at Maynooth University, Ireland] In Gaza, the sky continues to rain fire as international law remains paralyzed. The scholars and institutions that uphold its legitimacy—those who claim to champion justice—are biding their time. They await the ICJ’s judgment as though a ruling from the Hague could stop the Gaza omnicide...

[Victor Kattan is Assistant Professor in Public International Law at the University of Nottingham School of Law] The conference “Rethinking International Law After Gaza” held at Boğaziçi University’s Faculty of Law in Istanbul in early August marked a significant engagement by Türkiye with the Question of Palestine. The conference was noteworthy for bringing together distinguished scholars from the Global South and Global...