In association with the International Commission of Jurists

International Law

19 Jun

[Geoff Gilbert is a Professor at the School of Law and Human Rights Centre, University of Essex, Senior Adviser to PPLA, DIPS, UNHCR and Head of Research for the Criteria Volume of the new Handbook] The 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees is celebrating its 75th birthday. In the same way as if it were a human being, after...

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19 Jun

[The Honourable Russel W. Zinn is a retired Justice of the Federal Court of Canada and President of the International Association of Refugee and Migration Judges] The Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees [the Convention] was adopted on July 28, 1951.  It is the foundational international treaty defining who a refugee is and their rights.  Originally limited to European refugees...

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17 Jun

[Karolína Babická is a Senior Legal Adviser with the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ). Rosa Tibbetts is a Legal Intern with the ICJ. Stavros Papageorgopoulos is a Senior Legal Officer with the European Council on Refugees and Exiles.] Across Europe, some political actors are nowadays questioning the ability of the international legal order, including instruments such as the 1951 Refugee Convention and the...

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17 Jun

[Liliana Lyra Jubilut and James Milner are Co-Chairs of the Global Academic Interdisciplinary Network from the Global Compact on Refugees] The global refugee regime is experiencing two relevant 75th anniversaries: first of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) last year; and, second, of the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees in July 2026. Celebratory...

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17 Jun

[Guy S. Goodwin-Gill is Emeritus Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, Emeritus Professor of International Refugee Law, University of Oxford, and Honorary Professor, Faculty of Law & Justice and Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law, University of New South Wales, Sydney. Jane McAdam is an Australian Research Council Laureate Fellow and Scientia Professor of Law at the Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law,...

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16 Jun

[Elizabeth Tan is the Director of UNHCR’s Division of International Protection and Solutions] In 1951, in the aftermath of one of the most devastating wars the world had ever known, the international community recognized the need for international cooperation, grounded in law and humanity, for people who had fled their countries in need of safety and protection. In response, States adopted...

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16 Jun

[Massimo Frigo is a Senior Policy Officer in the Protection Policy and Legal Advice Section (DIPS) at the UNHCR. Cornelis (Kees) Wouters is a Senior Refugee Law Adviser in the Protection Policy and Legal Advice Section (DIPS) at the UNHCR.] Seventy-five years is a veteran age for everyone; even for a multilateral treaty. It is sufficient time to live through paradigmatic changes,...

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12 Jun

[Jessica Dorsey is an Assistant Professor of International Law at Utrecht University School of Law; Zena Assaad is an Associate Professor at the School of Engineering, Australian National University; Elke Schwarz is a Professor of Political Theory at Queen Mary University London; Ingvild Bode is a Professor of International Relations, University of Southern Denmark. The authors are all members of the Independent Advisory Board on Legal Reviews...

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12 Jun

[Pearce Clancy is a Research Fellow in Trinity College Dublin, funded by Research Ireland’s Postdoctoral Fellowship Programme] 2026 has not been a peaceful year. Armed conflicts continue to wage across the world, with a number of the most high-profile conflicts plunging the global economy into a state of crisis or otherwise posing direct threats to the rights of states not party to the conflict. More...

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11 Jun

[Frederik Rogiers is a PhD researcher and teaching assistant at the Ghent Rolin-Jaequemyns International Law Institute and Ghent Maritime Institute, Faculty of Law and Criminology, Ghent University] On 12 April 2026, following the collapse of the Islamabad talks, President Donald Trump announced on Truth Social that the United States Navy would impose a “naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz”. Within...

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10 Jun

[Lavinia Stoppani is a recent graduate of the LL.B. programme in International and European Law at the University of Groningen, with research interests in environmental law and treaty interpretation] Introduction In a dissenting opinion to the 1977 Gabčíkovo-Nagymaros case, Judge Herczegh argued that where uncertainty exists between short term economic loss and potentially irreversible environmental harm, the latter ought to carry greater weight;...

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