International Human Rights Law

[Ekaterina Aristova is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Bonavero Institute of Human Rights, University of Oxford and Carlos Lopez is a Senior Legal Advisor at the International Commission of Jurists.] The much-awaited judgment by the UK Supreme Court (SC) in Okpabi and others v Royal Dutch Shell Plc and another (Okpabi) was handed down in an online hearing on Friday 12 February 2021 some five years...

[Qetevan Qistauri is research assistant at the Regensburg University (Germany) with the main focus on International Human Rights Law.] ECtHR, Grand Chamber, Georgia v. Russia (II), No. 38263/08 Thursday 21 January 2021, the ECtHR decided on the interstate case under Article 33 ECHR Georgia v. Russia (II) in relation to the war in 2008, which had been dealt with by the Grand Chamber for several years. Although this...

[Andrew Forde  just passed his PhD viva at the Irish Centre for Human Rights focussed on The Application of the ECHR in Contested European Territories, with extensive professional experience in post-conflict regions in south eastern Europe and the south Caucasus principally with the Council of Europe.] Throughout the brutal six-week war in and around Nagorno-Karabakh which began on 27 September 2020, the former Human Rights Ombudsman of...

[Quazi Omar Foysal is a Lecturer in Law at American International University-Bangladesh (AIUB).] Introduction The atrocity crimes allegedly committed against Rohingyas in Myanmar have attracted unprecedented efforts to ensure justice and accountability at international and domestic levels. These efforts include but not limited to International Criminal Court (ICC), International Court of Justice (ICJ), two UN Human Rights Council bodies, an Argentine universal jurisdiction case, and several so-called military trials in Myanmar. Very...

The news from Myanmar since 1 February 2021 has been stark – the Myanmar military or the “Tatmadaw” has detained politicians and activists including Aung San Suu Kyi, declared a year-long state of emergency in which the senior general and head of the army, Min Aung Hlaing is essentially in charge of the country. There are reports coming in of force being used against...

[Coline Schupfer is an Associate Policy Officer at the Open Society Justice Initiative. You can find Coline on Twitter @colineschupfer. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author alone and do not represent the position of any organisation.] The United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons Especially Women and Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized...

Few things bother me more than journalists who seemingly cannot be bothered to accurately describe what the ICC does. Here is what Isabel Kershner, a Jerusalem correspondent for the New York Times, wrote about the Pre-Trial Chamber's recent decision that the Court has jurisdiction over the situation in Palestine (my emphasis): Dealing a severe diplomatic blow to Israel, the court ruled...

[Brianne McGonigle Leyh is an Associate Professor of Human Rights Law and Global Justice with Utrecht University and a Senior Legal Advisor with PILPG, working on transitional justice and human rights documentation. Milena Sterio is The Charles R. Emrick Jr. - Calfee Halter & Griswold Professor of Law & LLM Programs Director and Managing Director at the PILPG, working on transitional justice and human rights documentation. Gregory...

Call for Papers Second call for inputs: report on the role of PMSCs in humanitarian action: Twice a year, the United Nations (UN) Office of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) Working Group (WG) on the use of mercenaries issues calls for inputs to inform its thematic studies to be presented at the Human Rights Council in...

Call for Papers Call for inputs: UN OHCHR Working Group on the use of mercenaries: Twice a year, the United Nations (UN) Office of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) Working Group (WG) on the use of mercenaries issues calls for inputs to inform its thematic studies to be presented at the Human Rights Council in its...

Featured Announcement BIICL Training Courses Spring 2021 The British Institute of International and Comparative Law (BIICL) now offers training courses in a virtual format. BIICL virtual courses are led by the Institute's leading researchers, together with external experts and distinguished practitioners. The course format consists of a series of sessions in which live teaching is offered via Zoom. Participants are able to...

[Hayley Evans (@HayleyNEvans) is a 2019 J.D. graduate of Harvard Law School and an incoming Research Fellow at the Max Planck Foundation for International Peace and the Rule of Law. Priscyll Anctil Avoine (@Cyppp_) is a PhD candidate in Political Science and Feminist Studies at Université du Québec à Montréal (Canada) and the director of Fundación Lüvo, a feminist and antiracist collective.] In Colombia, the COVID-19 crisis has seriously complicated an already tense humanitarian setting. As of...