Search: Symposium on the Functional Approach to the Law of Occupation
25 Jan Is the UN Becoming More Like the Pentagon?
...Republican-controlled Congress appears disinclined to look to closely at how US taxpayers money has been spent in a war effort it heartily supported. In order for criticism of UN practices to be taken seriously, the US needs to set the best example for the international community. The UN needs better oversight; so, apparently, does the US government. It all puts me in mind of a memorable, cynical quote from the movie Syriana (which, though a flawed film, has an interesting take on Washington lawyers) about the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act:...
09 Jan At World’s End: Palestine, the ICJ, and a New Dawn in International Law
...ended. *** The Palestinian struggle against Israeli settler-colonialism produced a final casualty: international law. Like other legal systems, international law’s core feature is ‘sanctioned regularity.’ Although international lawyers aspire to instil in the framework ideals such as freedom, justice, fairness, and humanity (sic), order is the driving force. A sense of regularity and predictability fosters confidence and compliance, the organised consent Antonio Gramsci theorised. What order did states commit to through international law? All violence as a means is either lawmaking or law preserving. Walter Benjamin’s quip highlights the symbiotic...
01 May The Brazilian Army in Haiti – Foreign Intervention and Domestic Politics
...area of favelas in Rio. And four years later, military intervention was authorized in the state of Rio de Janeiro, which lasted until after the start of the Bolsonaro government. The legal authority for armed forces to participate in domestic security issues (in so-called Guarantee of Law and Order (GLO) missions) derives from executive decrees issued under a 1999 law which in turn depended upon power afforded the military in Article 142 of the Brazilian Constitution. There have been dozens of such operations over recent decades to protect high-ranking officials...20 Apr Events and Announcements: 20 April 2025
...to cover a range of subject expertise and ideally with some reviewing experience. Some areas of expertise we are looking for are: public international law, international humanitarian law, international criminal law, human rights, environmental law, law of the sea and private international law, though those with expertise in other areas of international law/international relations are welcome to apply.To do so, please send your CV, motivation letter (with specific reference to any reviewing experience you may have) and a short excerpt of a writing sample relevant to the post (maximum 3...
03 Sep Critical Pedagogy Symposium: Teaching Palestine–Recognising and Responding to the Dangers of Online Learning
international law is sophisticated. When lecturing on the nature of the Palestine/Israel ‘conflict’ in Ireland, I tend to face a student body that is overwhelmingly white, European and/or American, liberal-minded, and whose predilections are evident from the first day. They expect to deliberate the applicability of International Humanitarian Law (IHL), legal arguments about state sovereignty and belligerent occupation, the legal outworkings of the defunct Oslo Accords, and the role of the United Nations. Some readers will be pleased to learn that the use of legal doctrine to critique Palestinian rights...16 Jul The Man Who Would Be King, Daddy’s Little Princess, and their Territorial Claim
...might not apply to, for example offshore islets. (p. 689, Sec. 251, note 2). Bir Tawil is habitable terrain, so settlement is probably required. Thus the issues of who is claiming the territory by occupation and the problem of settlement are two very significant problems for Heaton’s claim. (As well as potential domestic law issues, like a U.S. citizen trying to found a kingdom.) Perhaps obtaining recognition from Egypt, Sudan, and other countries would resolve any technical deficiencies. But while recognition is a political decision, it takes place within a...
05 Sep Iran’s Threat of Retaliation
[Sava Janković is an Assistant Professor of International Law and Visiting Scholar at Durham Law School.] [Volker Roeben is a Full Professor of International Law and Dean of Durham Law School.] [Francis Grimal is a Reader in Public International Law at the University of Buckingham and Co-Editor-in-Chief of the Journal on the Use of Force and International Law.] Introduction Towards the end of August 2024, Iran vowed retaliation after the prominent Hamas leader, Ismail Haniyeh, was killed in Tehran following his attendance at the inauguration of Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian,...
14 Jan Symposium on Kubo Mačák’s Internationalized Armed Conflicts in International Law
of factors that transform a prima facie non-international armed conflict (NIAC) into an international armed conflict (IAC) and the consequences that follow from this process of internationalization. It examines in detail the historical development as well as the current state of the relevant rules of international humanitarian law. The discussion is grounded in general international law, complemented with abundant references to case law, and illustrated by examples from twentieth and twenty-first century armed conflicts. In Part I, the book puts forward a thorough catalogue of modalities of conflict internationalization that...18 Jul Does the ICCPR Apply Extraterritorially?
that the US argument is rather weak (nor has it been consistent over the years), as it relies on an outdated notion of international law which is strictly divided into the law of war and the law of peace. The ICJ in Nuclear Weapons and in the Wall case did say that IHL was lex specialis, but that human rights law continues to apply. That is after all the basic idea of human rights, that you have them simply because you are human. As far as extraterritorial application goes, the...
21 Aug The Dangers of Depoliticizing Human Shields: A Response to Finkelstein and Votel
surrounding Israel’s war with Hamas, in which focus has been shifted towards justifying the large civilian cost of the war, instead of making clear assessments on the legality of how the actors conduct themselves. Misconstruing Human Shields under International Law The first issue that the post mis-constructs is the conception of human shielding within international humanitarian law, and how it has been used within its historical context. Finkelstein and Votel describe “two sets of hostages” within the current conflict, first being the Israeli hostages that were taken by Hamas during...