In association with the International Commission of Jurists

General

17 Nov

[Kurt Mundorff is the author of A Cultural Interpretation of the Genocide Convention (Routledge, 2020)] Russia’s longstanding practice of removing Ukrainian children from occupied territories and transferring them to special camps or for adoption by Russian families expanded exponentially with its 2022 invasion. Scholars with the Yale Humanitarian Research Lab (YHRL) found that “[m]ore than 19,000 children from Ukraine have been deported to...

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17 Nov

[Kurt Mundorff is the author of A Cultural Interpretation of the Genocide Convention (Routledge, 2020)] Part 1 outlined the cultural genocide exclusion doctrine and conducted a textual interpretation of the Genocide Convention. As I discussed, most exclusionists bypass the convention’s text, and for good reason. Not only does the text omit any exclusionist language it also appears to support a more culture-centric idea...

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17 Nov

[Kurt Mundorff is the author of A Cultural Interpretation of the Genocide Convention (Routledge, 2020)] On 12 April 2022, former U.S. President Biden doubled down on an offhanded remark accusing President Putin of genocide in Ukraine, declaring “[y]es, I called it genocide. It has become clearer and clearer that Putin is just trying to wipe out the idea of even being...

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14 Nov

[Alessandra Spadaro works as Assistant Professor in public international law at Utrecht University. She is conducting a three-year project on “Business in and for war: the role and limits of international humanitarian law”, funded by the Dutch Research Council.] On 6 November 2025, The Hague Court of Appeal handed down its judgment in a case brought by a coalition of Palestinian...

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13 Nov

[Avi Singh is a Senior Advocate at the High Court of Delhi. Nalinaksha Singh is an Advocate] Introduction  A recent decision highlights a persistent tension within the ICC’s victim participation framework: whether Article 68(3) functions as a genuine procedural guarantee or remains dependent on narrow readings of statutory silence. On 21 November 2024, Pre-Trial Chamber I of the International Criminal Court (ICC)...

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12 Nov

[Jyoti Singh is a member of the Statelessness Asia Pacific Research Network at the Peter McMullin Centre on Statelessness (University of Melbourne). She is an advocate and researcher based in New Delhi] Understanding nationality and statelessness against the backdrop of armed conflict is crucial, given the mutually reinforcing relationship between the two. At present, more than 120 armed conflicts are ongoing...

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10 Nov

[Axana Soltan is a U.S. Eisenhower Scholar at the University of Oxford and a Global Affiliate of the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University. She is an international lawyer and legal scholar.] In July 2025, the International Criminal Court’s Pre-Trial Chamber II issued arrest warrants for Taliban leader Haibatullah Akhundzada and Chief Justice Abdul Hakim Haqqani on charges...

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07 Nov

[Amir Abbas Kiani is a collaborating researcher in International Law at Shiraz University, Iran] On July 23, 2025, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued its ‘historic’ Advisory Opinion on Obligations of States in respect of Climate Change. As part of its reasoning, the Court examined the issue of lex specialis derogat legi generali (lex specialis) to determine “…the relationship between...

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07 Nov

[Richard Mackenzie-Gray Scott is the author of State Responsibility for Non-State Actors: Past, Present and Prospects for the Future (Oxford: Hart | Bloomsbury, 2022, re-issued in paperback 2024)] This is the second part of a two-part post; see Part I here. But wait! How silly of me. Apologies for jumping the gun. There are other attribution tests under the ILC Articles...

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07 Nov

[Richard Mackenzie-Gray Scott is the author of State Responsibility for Non-State Actors: Past, Present and Prospects for the Future (Oxford: Hart | Bloomsbury, 2022, re-issued in paperback 2024)] This is the first part of a two-part post; see Part II here. Information operations can impact societies in many ways. Whether by undermining specific human rights, for example, as a result of crossing...

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06 Nov

[Dr Marika McAdam is an independent international law and policy advisor who works globally on human rights-based criminal justice responses to organized crime and other issues] As the United Nations Convention against Cybercrime opened for signature last month, one would like to imagine cybercriminals pulling their computers from their sockets, anxious about their doors being kicked down when that instrument enters...

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