In association with the International Commission of Jurists

Public International Law

27 Oct

[Paul Philipp Stewens (Twitter: @PStewens) is a master’s student of international law at the Geneva Graduate Institute and holds a BA in International Relations from Technische Universität Dresden.] “Parents need to know that The Rescuers isn’t as accessible to the youngest viewers as many other Disney features – its dark story (a suspenseful tale of child kidnapping and slavery) may be...

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27 Oct

[Santiago Vargas Niño, LL.M. is an independent legal consultant and lecturer in international protection of human rights at Los Andes University in Bogotá D.C., Colombia.] Introduction Hideaki Anno’s Neon Genesis Evangelion offers an unexpected opportunity to reflect upon the future of warfare. Taking the first two episodes as my starting point, I will analyse the rules under which the UN has authorised its peace enforcement operations...

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26 Oct

[John Hursh is a lawyer, writer, and researcher focusing on the use of force, human rights, and international humanitarian law. He was a Visiting Scholar at the Center for Human Rights and Humanitarian Studies at Brown University in 2021 and 2022.] Earlier this summer, after much anticipation, heightened by production issues and prolonged delays, Top Gun returned to the theater after a 36-year...

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26 Oct

[Dimitrios A. Kourtis has a PhD from Aristotle University and is an Adjunct Lecturer at Hellenic Police Academy.] *TW: This piece contains mention of rape and sexual assault as is depicted in the Netflix Series, The Club (Kulüp). Identities and Narratives Narratives can articulate and perpetuate identities, both individual and collective. They tend to ‘index’ a set of practices, meanings, and symbols...

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25 Oct

[Samantha Franks is an associate at a law firm in Washington D.C., where she specializes in international trade. She is a former Frederick Douglass Fellow, a former Fulbright postgraduate scholar, and a current member of the Department of Health and Human Services Office on Trafficking in Person’s working group.] For many fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the 2021 release of Black Widow felt...

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25 Oct

[Alonso Gurmendi Dunkelberg is a Departmental Lecturer in International Relations at the University of Oxford, in association with Somerville College, as well as Visiting Professor at University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor.] *Spoiler Warning for Avatar (2009), Prey (2022) and The Woman King (2022) Hollywood is very (very) white. According to recent figures by the consulting firm McKinsey, “less than 6 percent of...

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24 Oct

[Catherine Butchart is a recent Deakin University graduate with a Bachelor of Laws (Honours) and Bachelor of Arts.] [Tamsin Phillipa Paige is a Senior Lecturer with Deakin Law School and periodically consults for the UN Office on Drugs and Crime in relation to Maritime Crime.] Introduction The legal profession is notorious for burnout, competitive and antisocial conduct, growing rates of mental illness and addiction, along with...

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24 Oct

For the average (Western) person, October might be synonymous with Halloween, but for us at Opinio Juris, October has now become International Law and Pop Culture Month. As readers may remember, last year we hosted the first edition of this symposium, in collaboration with our friend Rachel Jones, with great success. Back then, we set out rather ambitious objectives: “[W]e hope to imagine alternatives of...

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22 Oct

[Raquel Vazquez Llorente is the Head of Law and Policy, Technology Threats & Opportunities, at WITNESS. Wendy Betts is the Executive Director of eyeWitness, initiated by the International Bar Association.] Traditionally, international justice has adjudicated abuses and crimes that occurred well in the past. For the first time in history, we are seeing active and cooperative investigations from the beginning of a...

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19 Oct

[Dr. Thomas D. Grant is a Fellow of the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law at the University of Cambridge and a Visiting Fellow of the National Security Institute at George Mason University.] Remedy for the Breach: Seating Ukraine Part One of this blogpost proposed that the anomaly of Russia’s presence as a Security Council Permanent Member be addressed through Rule 17 of the Provisional Rules of Procedure of...

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18 Oct

[Dr. Thomas D. Grant is a Fellow of the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law at the University of Cambridge and a Visiting Fellow of the National Security Institute at George Mason University.] When then-Nazi ally and co-aggressor Soviet Russia invaded Finland in 1939, the League of Nations went a good step further than the UN has done to date in response to Russia’s aggression against Ukraine: the League expelled the USSR. However, expulsion of Russia...

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