General

[Dr David Keane is Assistant Professor in Law at Dublin City University, Ireland. His research is in international human rights law with a particular focus on the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.] On 27 October 2023, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD/the Committee) acted under its Early Warning and Urgent Action...

“In April 2017, the Human Rights Committee had reiterated its concerns about the Irish performance  regarding the accountability for Church-related institutional abuses, and had recommended that Ireland  conducted an independent and thorough investigation and prosecuted and punished the perpetrators of  abuse and ill-treatment at the Magdalene Laundries.” Committee against Torture considers report of Ireland, 28 July 2017 Victims of Magdalene Laundries have...

In her book "Justice for Some: The Role of International Law in the Palestinian Struggle," Noura Erakat makes a provocative claim: that international law, often hailed as a neutral guardian of justice, has actually strengthened Israeli settler-colonialism. Erakat contends that international law's supposed neutrality is but a mirage, shaped and coloured by global power imbalances. In this episode,...

[Aakash Chandran is the Legal Advocacy and Communications Manager at Asia Justice Coalition. He tweets at @ChandranAakash] Introduction The support for the International Law Commission’s (ILC) Draft Articles on Prevention and Punishment of Crimes Against Humanity (“Draft Articles”) is growing across the board at the United Nations General Assembly’s Sixth Committee (“Sixth Committee”). In 2019, the Draft Articles were adopted by the ILC and submitted to the...

To have your event or announcement featured in next week’s post, please send a link and a brief description to ojeventsandannouncements@gmail.com! Calls for Papers Genocide and the Ocean: Conceptualising their Relationship: From the seemingly ceaseless drowning of refugees to mass deprivation caused by naval blockades to the devastation of coastal areas through climate change and its contribution to patterns of forced migration,...

[Michelle Burgis-Kasthala is a Senior Lecturer in Public International Law at the University of Edinburgh. Her work explores practices of statehood, territoriality and criminal accountability across the Middle East.] Turning and turning in the widening gyreThe falcon cannot hear the falconer;Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere   The ceremony of...

[Matheus Gobbato Leichtweis is a PhD Candidate in International Law at Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Porto Alegre, Brazil.  He holds a Master’s Degree in Legal Studies at UFRGS and an LLM in Environmental Law at University of Dundee, UK.] Introduction The first ‘Third World superstar, Bob Marley rose to become one of the most important voices of resistance...

[Devina Srivastava is an international development practitioner and researcher, intrigued by the multifaceted interactions between humans, culture, society, and technology.] Picture a pristine, ethereal landscape, where the serenity of the snow-capped mountains meets the hustle and bustle of bustling local markets, a place synonymous with an untouched, heavenly beauty - this was the Kashmir etched in the hearts and minds of audiences through...

[Alonso Gurmendi is a Lecturer in International Relations at King’s College London’s Department of War Studies and a Contributing Editor of Opinio Juris] It is easy to approach The Lord of the Rings as a simple black and white, “good guys vs. bad guys” story. In fact, in a now (in)famous 1956 review, Edmund Wilson complained that the series was “a...

[Chiara Gabriele works as a Legal Advisor at TRIAL International, a Geneva-based NGO fighting impunity for international crimes and as a consultant for multiple organizations. She works with national lawyers to bring mass crimes cases to trial before different jurisdictions. Her favourite The Mandalorian quote is: “I like those odds”.  Ana Srovin Coralli works as a Teaching Assistant in the International...

[Sarah Zarmsky is an Assistant Lecturer and PhD Candidate at the University of Essex Human Rights Centre with a focus on the intersections between new and emerging technologies, human rights, and international criminal law. She was also a Visiting Scholar at the Human Rights Center at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law.] [Franka Pues is a PhD Candidate at...