In association with the International Commission of Jurists

Public International Law

03 Apr

[Ashira Vantrees is currently a practicing attorney in the United States and holds a JD from Florida International University College of Law.] Since the International Criminal Court’s (“ICC”) inception in 2002, it has been forced to continually evolve to address the complex nature of armed conflicts. This evolution has forced the Court to address how it includes crimes against and involving children; sexual...

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29 Mar

On March 17, 2023, the Pre-Trial Chamber II of the International Court of Justice issued two arrest warrants against Russian President, Vladimir Putin, and his Commissioner for Children’s Rights, Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova, for their alleged involvement in the “unlawful deportation of population (children) and that of unlawful transfer of population (children) from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation”. The announcement was made on Twitter, by...

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28 Mar

[Christian De Vos, JD, PhD, is the Director of Research and Investigations at Physicians for Human Rights; Anna Gallina, LL.M, Advanced LL.M, and Julianne Romy,  LL.M, LL.M, LL.M, are respectively the Associate Legal Advisor and the Legal Advisor at eyeWitness to Atrocities, initiated by the International Bar Association.] Introduction It has been a busy period for justice and accountability in Ukraine. Last...

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28 Mar

[Kushtrim Istrefi is assistant professor of international law and human rights at Utrecht University, substitute member of the Venice Commission, and senior peace fellow with the Public International Law and Policy Group (PILPG).] Philip Allot once said that an international agreement “is a disagreement reduced to writing… Parties to an international agreement enter into negotiation with different ideas of what they...

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27 Mar

[Chidi Anselm Odinkalu (Twitter: @ChidiOdinkalu) is a Professor of Practice in International Human Rights Law at the Fletcher School. Sharon Nakandha (Twitter: @SherryKyama) is a Program Manager, Accountability and Justice with Open Society-Africa.] At the establishment of the International Criminal Court, (ICC) 25 years ago, then Foreign Secretary of the United Kingdom, Robin Cook, famously said of it that it “is not a...

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23 Mar

Dr Mohsen al Attar and Dr Rafael Quintero Godínez** Modern legal education has been criticised for trying to make itself harmless. Law professors provide students with a sanitised view of the field that camouflages the cracks and contradictions on offer. This approach leads to the circulation of parochial knowledge that overlooks the nuances of the societies we inhabit and the struggles...

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13 Mar

[Relja Radović is an attorney at law based and qualified in Belgrade, Serbia, with an academic background in international adjudication and investment treaty arbitration.] Another episode in the saga on Kosovo’s status in the international community took place on 27 February 2023, when the EU announced that the President of Serbia and the Prime Minister of Kosovo have agreed on the...

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09 Mar

[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...

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07 Mar

[Stephen Rapp is a former US Ambassador-at-Large for Global Criminal Justice and former international prosecutor at Rwanda and Sierra Leone tribunals.] 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...

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04 Mar

Growing up in Lima, I heard the mythologized story of Columbus “discovering” America (the continent, sorry US) a million times: In a leap of faith, Queen Isabel of Spain sold her Crown jewels to finance a daring explorer’s expedition to unknown lands. Nobody believed in him, but Columbus persevered, proving everyone wrong and discovering a land no one else knew about, on three little caravels,...

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28 Feb

[Giulia Pinzauti is Assistant Professor of Public International Law at Leiden Law School’s Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies.] Advisory proceedings at the ICJ are witnessing a revival. Recent practice suggests that States increasingly use this route to bring before the Court contentious matters in the absence of consent to adjudication by interested States. This happened in three out of the four...

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