In association with the International Commission of Jurists

Author: Kevin Jon Heller

06 May

[Image by Freepik.] Introduction It is widely acknowledged that, without regulation, Private Military and Security Companies (PMSCs) can contribute to violations of international law and benefit from impunity. Both corporate actors and States increasingly rely on PMSCs to secure their operations in high-risk areas—whether through direct contracts, in-house security arrangements, or outsourcing military and law enforcement functions. Numerous UN reports have documented...

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25 Apr

Introduction On 27 November 2024, Israel appealed two decisions of the Pre-Trial Chamber that were issued simultaneously with the arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant. The first decision rejected Israel's claim that it was entitled to a new Art. 18 notification because the OTP's s investigation after October 7 was substantially different than the investigation the OTP opened...

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08 Apr

On April 4, a group of five states -- Costa Rica, Germany, Sierra Leone, Slovenia and Vanuatu -- formally submitted to the UN Secretary-General the text of a proposed amendment to the Rome Statute. The amendment seeks to harmonise the ICC's jurisdiction over the crime of aggression with the jurisdictional regime that applies to the other crimes. It would do...

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01 Mar

The Centre for Military Studies (CMS), which is part of the Department of Political Science at the University of Copenhagen (KU), is advertising two positions at either the Associate Professor or Assistant Professor level. Associate Professor positions are immediately permanent, while Assistant Professor positions are for three years but can become permanent. The flexibility with level is designed to ensure...

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28 Jan

The inimitable Sam Moyn and I have a chapter on the Vietnam War and international law in the Cambridge History of the Vietnam War: Volume 3, Endings and Aftermaths, which was just published by Cambridge University Press. Here are the opening paragraphs: There have been thousands of histories of the Vietnam War, but none assigns a pivotal role to international law....

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27 Jan

I know Colombia kinda, sorta backed down in the end, but its President's response to Trump's mindless sabre-rattling over deportation flights deserves to be read in full by everyone. Here it is in Spanish: Trump, a mi no me gusta mucho viajar a los EEUU, es un poco aburridor, pero confieso que hay cosas meritorias, me gusta ir a los barrios...

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02 Jan

The Chinese Journal of International Law has just published a new article of mine, entitled "The 'Great Powers' and The Formation of International Law. Here is the abstract: The US, Russia, and China – the current “Great Powers” – often disagree over primary rules of international law, such as the scope of self-defence in response to an armed attack. Disagreements over...

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22 Dec

In my capacity as Special Adviser on War Crimes, I have been assisting the Prosecutor with the development of the OTP's forthcoming policy on Environmental Crimes Under the Rome Statute (ECP) -- a policy he announced in Paris last February. “Damage to the environment poses an existential threat to all life on the planet,” the Prosecutor said. “For that reason,...

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17 Aug

[I serve as the ICC Prosecutor's Special Adviser on War Crimes. This post is written in my academic capacity and does not reflect the position of the Office of the Prosecutor.] It is being widely reported that President Zelensky has submitted the Rome Statute to Ukraine's parliament for ratification. If so, that is great news: although Ukraine's two Art. 12(3) declarations...

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27 Jun

Note: although I serve as Special Adviser to the ICC Prosecutor on War Crimes, I was not involved in the Al Hassan case. The Trial Chamber released its 822-page (!) judgment in the Al Hassan case yesterday. Al Hassan was convicted of a number of serious crimes, including the crime against humanity of torture and the war crimes of torture and...

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24 Jun

Note: I serve as Special Adviser to the ICC Prosecutor on War Crimes. Twitter is awash with commentary about tweets issued by the Registry that explain the difference between arrest warrants and summonses. Many people have speculated that perhaps the tweets are related to the Palestine situation. Any such speculation is unwarranted, as the tweets are part of a long-scheduled series...

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