International Human Rights Law

[Clara Sandoval is an international human rights lawyer, Honorary Professor at Essex University, and founding member of the Essex Transitional Justice Network. She is also a visiting professor at the Geneva Academy, and Director of Programmes at the Global Survivors Fund where she works on reparation.] The author served as expert in this case, providing analysis on Peru’s reparations framework, including...

[Sarah Shoker is a Senior Non-Resident Fellow in artificial intelligence at U.C. Berkeley Risk and Security Lab and former Geopolitics Team Lead at OpenAI. Jessica Dorsey is an Assistant Professor of International Law at Utrecht University School of Law and Managing Editor of Opinio Juris.] What began as a quiet contract dispute between the U.S. Department of Defense and the AI...

[Larissa Kojoue is a researcher at the LGBT division with Human Rights Watch] Legislation that strips people of their rights is gaining momentum across Africa, in the name of “African Family Values” and “Sovereignty.” It is not driven by popular demands, but rather because domestic actors find it politically rewarding, and external forces find the African continent a strategic arena to advance a coordinated agenda of exclusion...

[Roar Mikalsen is the Leader of the Alliance for Rights-Oriented Drug Policies (AROD)] The author is the lead applicant in the Mikalsen v. Norway applications before the ECtHR (app. no. 67078/10 and subsequent filings). This connection is disclosed for full transparency The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) serves as the ultimate arbiter of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), ensuring that state...

[Patrick Brian Smith is an Assistant Professor and University Fellow at the University of Salford, where his research critically examines how evidence is mediated with a particular focus on open-source investigation, AI, and human rights] Human Rights-focused OSI OSI (open source investigation) practices involve the collection and analysis of information drawn from publicly accessible sources to examine specific events, individuals, and organisations. Although...

The following post is based on a keynote lecture I delivered at the Global Sumud Flotilla conference. Uniquely, the conference took place at Muğla University the weekend the flotilla launched from Marmaris and was attended by a blend of activists and scholars, more activists than scholars admittedly. The context is relevant for the tone of my remarks. While the essence...

[Yaroslav Halieiev is a second-year PhD Candidate at the University of Tartu (Estonia)] The Context: Maymulakhin and Markiv v. Ukraine  In June 2023, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR or Court) issued a landmark decision in the case of Maymulakhin and Markiv v. Ukraine in which the Court addressed the lack of legal protection for same-sex couples under Ukrainian law. Rooting...

[Harry Mwesigwa is an LLM candidate in human rights and democratisation in Africa at the Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria, and a research assistant at the Human Rights and Peace Centre, Makerere University] Introduction In March 2025, Uganda deployed its troops to South Sudan at the invitation of the South Sudanese government which requested ‘urgent military support in order to...

[Dr. Eray Acar is an independent researcher with a PhD in public law from Ankara University. He has worked as a researcher in Ankara University Law School and as a lecturer at Hitit University.] The Steering Committee for Human Rights of the Council of Europe (CDDH/Steering Committee) published an Outcome Document containing elements for a political declaration, which is expected to...

[Dr Julie Ada Tchoukou is an Assistant Professor at the University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Law and a licensed lawyer in Ontario. She was previously the Allan Rock Visiting Professor and a Shirley Greenberg Fellow in Women and the Legal Profession.] In February 2025, the African Union adopted the Convention on Ending Violence Against Women and Girls (CEVAWG), the first binding...

[Hakan Kaplankaya is a former Turkish diplomat, lawyer and instituDE member] On 16 December 2025, the European Court of Human Rights (“ECtHR” or “the Court”) found violations of Articles 7 and/or 6 § 1 of the Convention in respect of 2,420 applications in Yalçınkaya follow-up cases. The applicants are (perceived) members of the Gülen Group, which has been targeted by the...

[Sakhawat Sajjat Sejan is Assistant Professor at the Department of Law, UITS and Founder of the Bangladesh Center for Refugee Law Studies. Md. Omar Farque is a Lecturer in Law at Eastern University, Bangladesh and the Executive Director of the Bangladesh Center for Refugee Law Studies.] Bangladesh is neither a party to the 1951 Refugee Convention nor its 1967 Protocol, yet it...