Search: Symposium on the Functional Approach to the Law of Occupation
03 Feb Rule of Law or Law of Rule: UNSC Resolution 2803 as Anathema to International Law
[Nandini Bulchandani holds an LLM in international law from UCL and is an incoming foreign law clerk at the Constitutional Court of South Africa] Introduction On Monday 17 November 2025, the UN Security Council adopted a resolution that sidesteps crucial international legal norms to foist a foreign administration upon Gaza. Stripping law of effect and reanimating imperial hegemonies, UNSC Resolution 2803 is a legal instrument that replaces the rule of law with the law of rule. Deplorably, however, this Resolution is not the only instance of such a move. It...
15 Jan After the International Court of Justice: Business as Usual? Al-Haq and Others versus the Netherlands: District Court The Hague 13 December 2024
[Dion Kramer is Assistant Professor of European Law at Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam. Keri van Douwen is a PhD Candidate in Public International Law at Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam.] It has now been half a year after the International Court of Justice delivered its Advisory Opinion on the Occupied Palestinian Territories. In it, the ICJ not only unequivocally condemned Israel for its continuing and illegal occupation but also spelled out the erga omnes obligation on third States not to facilitate the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories in terms of political, diplomatic...
30 Jun The Annexation of Land in Occupied Palestine: Time for International Action
rationale under the law of belligerent occupation has been that the land is needed for a purpose connected to maintaining military control. Under the law of belligerent occupation, title to land may not be taken by the occupant. The use of land, however, may be taken for purposes related to the occupation. Use of (but not title to) land may be taken, for example, to billet soldiers of an occupying army. Residence by civilians brought in under the auspices of a belligerent occupant does not relate to military needs. But...28 Aug Symposium: Aeyal Gross’s “The Writing on the Wall”
Over the next three days we will be featuring an online discussion of my SOAS colleague and TAU law professor Aeyal Gross‘s new book for Cambridge University Press, The Writing on the Wall: Rethinking the International Law of Occupation (CUP, 2017). The book develops ideas that Aeyal discussed on Opinio Juris — in a symposium on the functional approach to occupation — more than five years ago. So it’s fitting that we discuss his book on the blog now! We are delighted to welcome a number of commenters, including Eliav...
26 Apr Symposium on Boyd van Dijk’s Preparing for War: The Geneva Conventions and the Future of International Humanitarian Law
So far, the 2020s have been a great decade for books on the history of international humanitarian law. 2020 saw the publication of Giovani Mantilla’s exceptional Lawmaking Under Pressure , on the history of Common Article 3; 2021 gave us Samuel Moyn’s Humane , a powerful critique on the idea that war can be humanised; and now 2022 starts off with Boyd van Dijk’s Preparing for War . I am extremely happy that we are showcasing his book in this symposium, as I am convinced it is an immediate must-read...
14 Jan Symposium: Internationalized Armed Conflicts–The Wars of Our Age
are subject to the law of IAC. However, their intra-state origin makes them an uneasy match for a body of law that has historically developed as a regulatory framework for inter-state wars. The principal legal questions lie with the regulation of combatant status and the law of belligerent occupation, both of which appear to be inextricably linked with “classic” IACs that are characterized by a duality of states, their territories, and populations—quite unlike the eponymous internationalized armed conflicts. I have structured the exploration of these issues into eleven chapters, with...10 Feb Melbourne Journal of International Law, Vol. 10-2: Opinio Juris Online Symposium
— issue 10(2) — which contains a symposium feature, entitled ‘Climate Justice and International Environmental Law: Rethinking the North–South Divide’. The symposium intends to analyse the intersections between law and emerging ideas of climate justice, and how international environmental law is shaped by and in turn reshapes (or fixates, or interrogates) our understandings of the North–South divide. As we state in the symposium’s Foreword: In focusing on ‘climate justice’, the symposium places questions of global equity and distributional justice at the core of international debates around climate change mitigation and...
29 Apr Symposium on Soldier Self-Defense and International Law: Highlighting and Framing the Issue
which law should the unlawful nature of the attack be assessed? Should we take into account the jus ad bellum in assessing the lawfulness of an attack against a soldier? (Attacks against soldiers of an aggressor State by soldiers of the territorial state would thus not be “unlawful.”) This question is also particularly relevant in the context of armed conflicts where the LOAC applies and alters the legality assessment: under the LOAC, it is not unlawful to attack a legitimate target. So is self-defense available to a soldier who is...
23 Sep Organizing Rebellion Symposium: Organizing Responses – A (Partial) Reply to the Blog Symposium
human rights – depends on the context in which the group operates (territorial control?) and the capacity or power of the group (is it exercising quasi-governmental authority?). While I tend to agree that respecting basic IHL and human rights law does not necessarily require a different kind of capacity, maintaining law and order or fulfilling the right to health under human rights law is a different ball game. Drawing on her excellent book on accountability of armed groups under human rights law, Katharine Fortin further suggests that when determining possible...04 Jul LJIL Symposium Vol 25-2: Introduction
[Dov Jacobs is the Senior Editor for Expert Blogging at the Leiden Journal of International Law and Assistant Professor of International Law at Leiden University] This post is part of the Leiden Journal of International Law Vol 25-2 symposium. Other posts in this series can be found in the related posts below. In the next couple of days, this second LJIL Symposium brings to you two exchanges on articles published in Vol 25(2) of the Leiden Journal of International Law, on Climate Change and Legal Pluralism. As recent discussions on...