In association with the International Commission of Jurists

Law of the Sea

06 May

[Himanil Raina is a final year PhD candidate and teaching assistant in the Department of International Law at the Geneva Graduate Institute (IHEID). He completed his B.A. LL.B (Hons) from the NALSAR University of Law and is also an Honorary Adjunct Fellow at the National Maritime Foundation.] In mid-February, the frigate IRIS Dena (75), the oiler IRIS Bushehr (422) and the...

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06 May

[Konstantinos Deligiannis-Virvos is a PhD Research Fellow with the Norwegian Centre for the Law of the Sea (NCLOS) at the Law Faculty of UiT-The Arctic University of Norway] The illegal armed attack against Iran by Israel and the US on February 28, 2026 prompted Iran to “close” the strait of Hormuz to international navigation. The attack against Iran clearly contravenes Art....

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14 Jan

[Davit Khachatryan is an international law expert and lecturer specializing in public international law, alternative dispute resolution, investment law, international humanitarian law, and security] A short video clip circulating online appears to show a US strike on a small vessel at sea, followed by imagery that has been read as suggesting that there were survivors in the water. The clip has...

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15 Dec

[Mr Mark Douglas is a Maritime Domain Analyst at Starboard Maritime Intelligence. He qualified as a Marine Engineer Officer while in the Royal New Zealand Navy. He later concurrently served as New Zealand Assistant Defence Advisor to Singapore and the New Zealand International Liaison Officer to the Singapore Information Fusion Centre. Dr Trung Nguyen is a Research Fellow at the Centre...

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14 Dec

[Jessica Dorsey is an Assistant Professor of International Law at Utrecht University School of Law, an Executive Board Member of Airwars, and the Managing Editor of Opinio Juris.] In a New York Times essay published last week, Jeh Johnson, General Counsel of the Department of Defense in President Barack Obama’s first term and Director of Homeland Security in his second, seeks...

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04 Aug

[Konstantinos Deligiannis-Virvos is a PhD Research Fellow with the Norwegian Centre for the Law of the Sea (NCLOS) at the Law Faculty of The Arctic University of Norway (UiT)] On 9 June 2025, the UK-flagged ship Madleen (officially the Barcarole), operated by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, was intercepted by Israeli forces on the high seas, approximately 100nm from Gaza. Twelve activists onboard were arrested,...

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14 Jul

[The Legal Opinion Expert Group: Ademuni Odeke is a professor of international maritime law and policy and special advisor to the National Centre for the Sea and Maritime Law, at the Department of Maritime Law, University of Ankara (Türkiye). Alice Ollino is an assistant professor in international law and ricercatore at the University of Milano-Bicocca (Italy). Andrea Caligiuri is an associate professor of...

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22 Jul

[Sindhura Polepalli is a Maritime Legal Consultant to the Directorate General of Shipping (Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, Government of India)] This post is written in the author's personal capacity. On May 21, 2024 the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) confirmed in its Advisory Opinion (AO) that climate change poses an existential threat (ITLOS AO, para 66)....

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20 Jun

[Luciana Maulida holds an LLM (Environmental Law) from Melbourne Law School and is an incoming PhD student at King's College London, focusing on the intersection of international law and climate change] The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS or the Tribunal) issued a landmark unanimous Advisory Opinion (the Opinion) on climate change, on 21 May 2024. The Opinion addressed states' obligations under...

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23 Apr

[Eduardo Cavalcanti de Mello Filho is a Research Associate (Ocean Law and Policy) at the Centre for International Law, National University of Singapore] The Context Between 22 November and 4 December 2023, Greenpeace launched high seas protests against the Danish-flagged MV Coco, involved in deep seabed exploration and operated by Nauru Ocean Resources Inc (NORI). Sponsored by Nauru, NORI was exercising its...

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12 Dec

[Dobrin Dobrev is a recent graduate from Utrecht University’s master’s program in International Law from the Conflict and Security track] Introduction Commercial shipping in the Black Sea has encountered restrictions ever since the full-scale invasion by Russia towards Ukraine began. One of the issues revolves around the rising number of sea-mines in the Black Sea, which are negatively impacting not only the belligerents...

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10 Nov

[Dobrin Dobrev is a recent graduate from Utrecht University's master's program in International Law from the Conflict and Security track.] 1. Introduction On the 24th of February 2022, the Russian Federation launched a full-scale invasion against Ukraine, marking the beginning of the biggest European conflict in the 21st century. Since the invasion began, the Black Sea has received significant attention due to its...

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