I just had the pleasure of a sharp exchange on Twitter with my dear friend Mark Kersten, one of the most insightful commentators on the ICC. The exchange was motivated by the ASP making it "officially official" (Mark's nicely turned phrase) that the process for electing the next Prosecutor will be opened up to include (at a minimum) any longlisted...
[Vanessa Sant'Anna Bonifacio Tavares is a PhD candidate in Interdisciplinary International Studies (IIS) at the Vienna School of International Studies. The views expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect any official position.] In about 90 days, the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) shall enter into force, proscribing nuclear weapons use, threat of use, testing, development, production, possession,...
[Ezequiel Heffes is a Thematic Legal Adviser, Geneva Call. PhD Candidate, Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies, Leiden University; Marcos D. Kotlik is an Associate Legal Officer at the International Court of Justice, the Academic Coordinator, Observatory of IHL, Universtiy of Buenos Aires and a PhD Candidate, IHEID. The views expressed in this article are personal to the authors and do not necessarily reflect those...
[Marko Svicevic is a post-doctoral research fellow at the South African Research Chair in International Law, University of Johannesburg.] Introduction The growing insurgency in Mozambique continues to worry its neighboring states and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) alike. Known as Ansar al-Sunna, the insurgency first arose in 2017 in Mozambique’s northern province of Cabo Delgado. By July 2019, it had pledged allegiance...
Announcements The Latest Volume of the Nuremberg Academy Series The Tokyo Tribunal: Perspectives on Law, History and Memory is out now. With the third volume of the Nuremberg Academy Series, the Nuremberg Academy offers a publication on The Tokyo Tribunal: Perspectives on Law, History and Memory, edited by Viviane E. Dittrich, Kerstin von Lingen, Philipp Osten and Jolana Makraiová. This publication combines perspectives from law,...
[Dapo Akande, Antonio Coco, Talita de Souza Dias, Duncan B. Hollis, Harold Hongju Koh, James C. O’Brien and Tsvetelina van Benthem.] Election insecurity constitutes a dangerous global threat. Thirteen prominent intelligence experts stated, in a brief filed in U.S. federal court, that: “Over the last several years, evidence has emerged that Moscow has launched an aggressive series of active measure campaigns to interfere...
[Adriano Iaria is a Humanitarian Advocacy Officer for the Italian Red Cross and a faculty member of the Master’s course in Intelligence and Security for Link Campus University in Rome, Italy. The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in the text belong solely to the author, and not necessarily to the author's employer, organization, committee or other group or individual.] Last May, in the midst of the ongoing...
[Chris Jenks is the Director of the Criminal Clinic and Associate Professor of Law at SMU Deadman School of Law.] How is ‘attack’ defined under international humanitarian law (IHL), particularly in the context of cultural property and hospitals? Opinio Juris readers will likely have already answered the first part of the question by referring to Article 49 of Additional Protocol I (AP I) to the 1949...
[Verity Robson is the Legal Counsellor at the Permanent Mission of the United Kingdom to the United Nations and other International Organisations in Geneva.] Accuracy counts. It is therefore necessary to provide a short response to the recent critique by John Heieck of my post on the scope of the duty in Common Article 1 of the Four Geneva Conventions of 1949 to ensure respect for those...
[Robert Heinsch is an Associate Professor of Public International Law at the Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies of Leiden University, and is the Director of its Kalshoven-Gieskes Forum on International Humanitarian Law as well as the founder of the Leiden IHL Clinic. Sofia Poulopoulou, LL.M. is a PhD Candidate at the Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies at Leiden University, and staff member...
[Tun Khin is the founder and President of the Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK, which works to highlight the plight of the Rohingya around the world.] On 13 November 2019, the Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK (BROUK) brought a landmark case to the Argentinian judiciary regarding atrocity crimes against the Rohingya minority in Myanmar. BROUK asked for a case to be opened against...
[Anne Schintgen is currently the Head of the Europe Liaison Office of the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict. She previously worked in New York as a Political Affairs Officer with the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict. Photo © Anne Schintgen – OSRSG-CAAC Field Mission to Wau Shilluk South Sudan in August 2017 - Military use of a school ] The...