International Law

[Emanuele Cimiotta is a Full Professor of International Law at the University of Perugia] Establishing a state’s genocidal intent is a hard task. Yet intent constitutes one of the building blocks of genocide: the so-called dolus specialis, whose presence is essential for a state to be held responsible. To this end, the violence that Israel has been perpetrating against Palestinian children...

[Larissa Kojoue is a researcher at the LGBT division with Human Rights Watch] Legislation that strips people of their rights is gaining momentum across Africa, in the name of “African Family Values” and “Sovereignty.” It is not driven by popular demands, but rather because domestic actors find it politically rewarding, and external forces find the African continent a strategic arena to advance a coordinated agenda of exclusion...

[Dr Sergey Sayapin is Professor of Law at KIMEP University (Almaty, Kazakhstan) and Distinguished Visiting Global Scholar at the NUS Centre for International Law (2025)] The discussion in Part I of this blog post has examined how contemporary economic interdependence generates structural vulnerabilities within financial systems, sovereign debt, and global production networks. Yet the significance of economic fragility extends well beyond these domains. The modern...

[Dr Sergey Sayapin is Professor of Law at KIMEP University (Almaty, Kazakhstan) and Distinguished Visiting Global Scholar at the NUS Centre for International Law (2025)] For much of the post-war period, international economic law was built around a promise of stability. The architects of the Bretton Woods order sought to prevent a recurrence of the economic catastrophes that had contributed to the Great Depression, nationalism, and...

[Roar Mikalsen is the Leader of the Alliance for Rights-Oriented Drug Policies (AROD)] The author is the lead applicant in the Mikalsen v. Norway applications before the ECtHR (app. no. 67078/10 and subsequent filings). This connection is disclosed for full transparency The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) serves as the ultimate arbiter of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), ensuring that state...

[Emmanuel U. Osayande is a JD/PhD candidate at Columbia Law School and Harvard University] National constitutions were among the most important sites where decolonization reshaped international law, alongside International Court of Justice decisions, United Nations General Assembly resolutions, and diplomatic conference proceedings.   Between the Enugu shootings of 1949 in British Nigeria and post-independent Nigeria’s first military coup in 1966, Nigerian independence leaders pursued what I call...

[Chantal Joris is a Swiss qualified lawyer and the acting Head of Law and Policy at ARTICLE 19. Dr Ilia Siatitsa is Programme Director at Privacy International. Tomaso Falchetta is Global Advocacy Coordinator at Privacy International.] On 15–17 June 2026, the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (ODA)  hosted the first Informal Exchange on Artificial intelligence in the military domain and its implications for international peace and security....

[Dr. Matthew Gillett is a Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) at the University of Essex and the Chair Rapporteur of the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention. Rohit Gupta is a PhD Candidate at the Institute for International Peace and Security Law at the University of Cologne and a Fellow at the Centre for International Law Research and Policy.] Introduction The first of...

[Dr. Matthew Gillett is a Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) at the University of Essex and the Chair Rapporteur of the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention. Rohit Gupta is a PhD Candidate at the Institute for International Peace and Security Law at the University of Cologne and a Fellow at the Centre for International Law Research and Policy.] Introduction Is it misanthropic...

[Rebecca Bakos Blumenthal is Starvation and Humanitarian Crisis Lead at Global Rights Compliance. Elise Lauriot Prevost is a legal advisor with Global Rights Compliance.] Siege Tactics in Syria This article traces Russia’s use of siege warfare and the deliberate starvation of civilians, field-tested across the Syrian conflict and then deployed against Mariupol. Part II examines the siege of Yarmouk camp, now the subject of pending criminal proceedings...

[Rebecca Bakos Blumenthal is Starvation and Humanitarian Crisis Lead at Global Rights Compliance. Elise Lauriot Prevost is a legal advisor with Global Rights Compliance.] I. Introduction In February 2022, as Russian forces encircled Mariupol and began systematically severing its electricity, water, and food supply, many observers described what was unfolding as unprecedented: a European city of nearly half a million people, deliberately starved into submission. It was...