In association with the International Commission of Jurists

Recent Posts

01 May

[Eduardo Cavalcanti de Mello Filho is a Research Associate (Ocean Law and Policy) at the Centre for International Law, National University of Singapore] On 11 March 2025, ASCOMARE authored a legal opinion commissioned by the Palestinian BDS National Committee, answering the above question in the affirmative. The piece is well-written and insightful, but its findings are also innovative and perhaps too...

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29 Apr

[Gerhard Kemp is professor of criminal law at UWE Bristol, and extraordinary professor of public law at Stellenbosch University] On Monday, 14 April 2025, the high court in Johannesburg issued an important ruling in the historic first criminal prosecution of two individuals for the crime against humanity of apartheid. The ruling is a significant victory for the prosecuting authority, civil society...

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28 Apr

[Deniz Mykola Dirisu is an international OSINT consultant and co-founder of OSINT For Ukraine, with experience in building and leading diverse teams across borders within the context of digital investigations and justice. Manon-Catherine Balbinot serves as the War Crimes Task Force Leader at OSINT For Ukraine, leveraging OSINT techniques to uncover war crimes and bring perpetrators to justice. She is...

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27 Apr

To have your event or announcement featured in next week’s post, please send a link and a brief description (1-2 paragraphs) to ojeventsandannouncements@gmail.com. Call for Papers Climate Law in Europe - Taking Stock, Looking Forward: The European Association of Climate Law (EACL) invites submissions for its first conference - a platform to discuss current developments, future challenges, and intergenerational justice in climate...

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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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20 Apr

To have your event or announcement featured in next week’s post, please send a link and a brief description (1-2 paragraphs) to ojeventsandannouncements@gmail.com. Call for Applications Assistant Editor: Come and join our team! Opinio Juris is looking for three Assistant Editors to help with reviewing and assessing content that comes to our blog. This would be a volunteer position with a time commitment of approximately...

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18 Apr

[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...

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18 Apr

[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...

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17 Apr

[Safia K Southey is a student at Columbia Law School, with experience at Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the Center for Justice and Accountability, and the International Center for Transitional Justice. She focuses on international law, Middle East policy, and alternative justice mechanisms.] On March 11, 2025, something unusual happened—the International Criminal Court (ICC) secured the arrest of a former head...

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17 Apr

[Laura van der Hoeven holds academic degrees in Public International Law and Business Administration. Her work focuses on the intersection of foreign relations and international law, with particular interest in security alliances, soft power diplomacy, and the application of international law to territorial disputes.] The ongoing conflict in the Gaza region has resulted in severe humanitarian and environmental losses. While international...

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16 Apr

11 April 2025 We, Hungarian international lawyers, observing with great concern the recent international and domestic events, guided by the best of our knowledge, professional convictions, and social responsibility, issue the following statement on certain current issues with international law relevance. 1. Bowing our heads before the victims who suffered horrors shocking the conscience of humanity, we declare our firm commitment to...

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16 Apr

[Dr Andrew Forde is an Assistant Professor of European Human Rights Law at Dublin City University] In his famous poem, The Road Not Taken, Robert Frost laments the fact that travelling one road precludes travelling another but acknowledges that taking the road less travelled can make all the difference. The journey towards accountability for the crime of aggression has begun but we have reached a...

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