Search: Affective Justice: Book Symposium: A Response
21 Jul Symposium on Cyber, International Law and Artificial Intelligence in Armed Conflict: Piercing the Veil – Why Siloed AI Governance Is Untenable
...military and civil uses of technologies.” The second recognizes AI’s dual-use and transboundary nature and seeks to integrate responses across the broader peace and security domains. Most current efforts remain siloed. Following the recommendations of the UNSG High-level Advisory Body on AI, the General Assembly established the Independent International Scientific Panel on AI and the Global Dialogue on AI Governance in August 2025, yet their mandates are explicitly “limited to the non-military domain and do not refer to artificial intelligence for military purposes.” The EU AI Act explicitly states that...
08 Jul Customary International Law Symposium: Back to the Guillotine – Namely Hume’s Guillotine
[Martin Scheinin is a Professor of International Law and Human Rights at European University Institute and a former UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and Counter-terrorism.] Professor Monica Hakimi’s article ’Making sense of customary international law’ is both rewarding and thought-provoking. It fully merits this Symposium. She makes a convincing case that most if not all mainstream doctrinal writing on the topic has serious flaws. She rightly criticizes what she calls the “rulebook conception” of customary international law and convincingly demonstrates that in everyday practice it does not really work like...
10 May New Technologies Symposium: Technology, Synergy, and Regulation
[This post is part of our New Technologies and the Law in War and Peace Symposium .] Technology advances through synergy. Breakthroughs in one area of technology spurs developments in others. Advances in materials science led to the miniaturization of electronic components. Miniaturization led to a revolution in the architecture of computers. From ENIAC to iPhones. The computer revolution led to a revolution in, well, just about every other area of technology. Advances in electronics, robotics, and computerization each affects space tech. And so on, across a complex web of...
10 Dec Symposium: A Duty to Prevent Genocide–Due Diligence Obligations among the P5 (Part One)
[Dr. John Heieck is a criminal defense lawyer in the US and an independent researcher of genocide and human rights studies.] Before I begin, I would like to thank Opinio Juris and the International Commission of Jurists for hosting this online symposium on my new book A Duty to Prevent Genocide: Due Diligence Obligations among the P5. I would also like to thank the preeminent scholars who agreed to not only read my book but also provide their respective analyses of what is an admittedly controversial position on the possible...29 May Introduction to the Virginia Journal of International Law/Opinio Juris Online Symposium for Issue 52:3
...as a defense to liability in ICSID arbitration. In his Essay, Professor Yackee suggests a model framework for dealing with this new trend. Responding to his piece will be Jarrod Wong (Pacific-McGeorge School of Law). Andrea K. Bjorklund (UC-Davis School of Law) and Daniel Litwin (McGill University) will also offer a joint response. Although this online symposium focuses on the pieces mentioned above, VJIL would like to bring attention to two additional Articles published in our third Issue. First, in her excellent Article, “Unwilling or Unable: Toward a Normative Framework...
30 May Futureproofing Human Rights Symposium: Innovative Accountability Mechanisms for Addressing Human Rights Violations Abroad – A Case Study of the UK
...(POCA, Part 5, Ch. 1, sections 241(2A) and 241A). Notably, the definition of ‘gross human rights abuses or violations’ is narrowly defined. It applies exclusively to cases involving torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment inflicted on whistleblowers or human rights activists by public officials or with their instigation, consent, or acquiescence (Criminal Finances Act, s13(3)). This limited scope reflects the provision’s origin as a response to the death of Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, and hence it is commonly referred to as the ‘Magnitsky Clause’. The provision appears to be...20 May Symposium: The International Rule of Law – Defying Gravity?
[Heike Krieger is Professor of Public Law and International Law at Freie Universitaet Berlin and Co-Chair of the Berlin Potsdam Research Group on The International Rule of Law – Rise or Decline? This is the fifth post in the Defining the Rule of Law Symposium, based on this article (free access for six months). The first is here, the second, here, the third here, the fourth here and the fifth here. ] The awareness of a crisis of international law is widespread. The multiplicity of challenges which the international order...
15 Jul Intervention in Civil Wars Symposium: Intervention in Latin America
My friend Chiara Redaelli has produced an impressive volume, thoroughly analysing the topic of intervention in civil wars. As others in this symposium have already pointed out, it is usually difficult to offer comments on what one mostly agrees with. In this post, therefore, apart from congratulating Chiara for a fantastic book, I wanted to add to the conversation by briefly telling the story of intervention in civil wars she explores, though Latin American eyes. Latin America is not usually a region one thinks about when dealing with issues of...
23 Mar SCSL Symposium: Legacy of the Special Court for Sierra Leone–Creating Space for Non-Judicial Alternatives
[Linda E. Carter is a Distinguished Professor of Law Emerita at University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law. This essay was initially prepared at the request of FIU Law Review for its micro-symposium on The Legal Legacy of the Special Court for Sierra Leone by Charles C. Jalloh (Cambridge, 2020). An edited and footnoted version is forthcoming in Volume 15.1 of the law review in spring 2021.] Professor Jalloh’s excellent book on the legal legacy of the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) gives us a comprehensive view of...