Public International Law

[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,...

[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...

[Malcolm Wu is an LL.M. candidate at the London School of Economics and Political Science.] Introduction As highlighted by Mudukuti and Gauci and Karageorgiou, the criminalisation of NGOs and human rights defenders (HRDs), notably within the context of search and rescue operations (SAR), has been on the rise in the EU since its migration crisis in 2015. A substantial role in this controversy belongs to the broadly-drafted Facilitation Directive 2002/90/EC which renders...

[Paul Bradfield is a Research Associate on human trafficking, forced migration and gender equality in Uganda at the Irish Centre for Human Rights, NUI Galway. This is the second part of a two-part series. Part I can be found here.] Pushing the Envelope – Prosecuting Trafficking as an “International Crime” in Uganda As highlighted in Part I, the crime of trafficking in persons as...

[Paul Bradfield is a Research Associate on human trafficking, forced migration and gender equality in Uganda at the Irish Centre for Human Rights, NUI Galway. This is the first part of a two-part series.] Introduction Next month on 15 November 2020, the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons Especially Women and Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime...

Judge Barrett is set to become Justice Barrett. Throughout her nomination process, I have been quite fascinated by the discussion surrounding her originalist views and originalism in general. As someone not used to originalism as a theory of Constitutional interpretation (it has not really caught on in Peru), this added exposure has offered me some new perspectives I had not previously considered, including originalism’s identity...

[Maria Xiouri is a Lecturer in Law at the University of Bedfordshire.] On 2 August 2019 the US Secretary of State, Michael Pompeo, announced that the US withdrawal from the Treaty on the elimination of the intermediate-range and shorter-range missiles signed on 8 December 1987 between the US and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (‘INF Treaty’) took effect.This post briefly analyses the factual and legal background...

[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...

[Helen Duffy  runs Human Rights in Practice (www.rightsinpractice.org), and represents Baltasar Garzón in proceedings before the UN Human Rights Committee. She is also Professor of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law at the University of Leiden.] Judicial independence is under serious attack around the globe. On 15 October 2020 the UN Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers presented his...

[Mona Ali Khalil is the Director of MAK LAW INTERNATIONAL and an internationally recognized public international lawyer with 25 years of UN and other experience, including as a former Senior Legal Officer in the UN and the IAEA, with expertise in peacekeeping, peace enforcement, disarmament and counterterrorism.] Today, 20 October 2020, is the tenth anniversary of the cholera outbreak in Haiti. On this sad occasion, it...

[Kawser Ahmed is an Advocate of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh. He is currently serving as a Consultant to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bangladesh on human rights and international law.] Introduction A few months back, the Government of Maldives declared that it would join The Gambia before the ICJ in challenging Myanmar’s treatment of the Rohingya population during an army crackdown in 2017 under the Genocide...