[Dr Sergey Sayapin is Professor of Law at KIMEP University (Almaty, Kazakhstan)] More than eighty years after the adoption of the Charter of the United Nations, the legal framework governing the use of force by States remains plagued by ambiguity. While Article 2(4) of the Charter lays down a general prohibition on the threat or use of force, and Articles 39...
[Savalan Mohammadzadeh is a PhD candidate in public international law at Allameh Tabataba’i University, Tehran, Iran and secretary of the Youth Committee of the Iranian Association for United Nations Studies (holding special consultative status with the ECOSOC). Mohammad Mehdi Seyed Nasseri is a researcher at the Center for Ethics and Law Studies, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran and lecturer in international...
[Professor Jennifer Trahan is director of the Concentration in International Law & Human Rights at the NYU Center for Global Affairs and convenor of The Global Institute for the Prevention of Aggression] A Special Session of the Assembly of States Parties to the International Criminal Court (ICC) took place at the United Nations from July 7-9, 2025. At issue was whether...
[Arne Bardelle is a senior legal advisor at the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR). ECCHR has supported the reform process and is among the over 80 co-signatories of the Joint Civil Society Statement calling for harmonization of the ICC’s jurisdiction over the crime of aggression with that of the other three core crimes.] The commendable efforts to enable the International Criminal Court (ICC)...
[Isabelle Haßfurther is a senior legal advisor in the International Crimes and Accountability program at the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR). ECCHR has been supporting the reform process and is one of over 80 co-signatories of the Joint Civil Society Statement calling for harmonization of the ICC’s jurisdiction over the crime of aggression with jurisdiction over the other three core crimes.] In less...
[Terje Einarsen is Professor of International Law at the University of Bergen and Chairperson of the Norwegian Section of International Commission of Jurists] Part I of this post discussed why the jurisdiction should be extended and the current proposal to amend Article 15bis. An Alternative Proposal: Amending Article 5 Against this background (see Part I), it would presumably be better and more effective...
[Terje Einarsen is Professor of International Law at the University of Bergen and Chairperson of the Norwegian Section of International Commission of Jurists] The Assembly of State Parties special session on the review of the amendments on the crime of aggression will be held at the United Nations, New York, 7 to 9 July 2025. It comes with a challenging geopolitical...
[Ihsan Adel is the Founder and Chair of Law for Palestine and an international lawyer currently pursuing a PhD in Germany] The Israeli occupation of Palestine has long tested the limits and efficacy of international law. However, recent legal developments, particularly the ICJ's advisory opinion, have intensified the call to recognise this occupation not only as an illegal act but as...
[Miguel Lemos is an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Law, University of Coimbra] On 28 February 2024, Ukraine’s Supreme Court decided that only persons who play a “decisive role” in an aggressive state policy and those “directing” aggressive military operations are “capable of committing the crime of aggression” (all references to the judgment of the Supreme Court can be found...
[Mischa Gureghian Hall (X: @MischaGHall) is a Keck Research Fellow at the University of California, Los Angeles, researching international criminal justice and its intersections with international humanitarian and human rights law in conflict and post-conflict settings.] The author is grateful to Dr. Jared McBride for his assistance in the translation of Ukrainian documents. In an August 2023 essay, Russian-American journalist and activist Masha...
[Judge Zak (Zakeria M.) Yacoob is a Retired Justice of the Constitutional Court of South Africa.] The Court of the Citizens of the World – a peoples tribunal – was organized by the Cinema for Peace Foundation, relating to the crime of aggression in Ukraine. The tribunal considered charges brought against Vladimir Putin for the crime of aggression presented by...
The Court of the Citizens of the World’ - a peoples tribunal - was organized by the Cinema for Peace Foundation, relating to the crime of aggression in Ukraine. The tribunal considered charges brought against Vladimir Putin for the crime of aggression presented by a Prosecution team, and heard witness testimony from 20 - 23 February 2023 in public hearings...