In association with the International Commission of Jurists

self-determination Tag

03 Aug

[Emmanuel U. Osayande is a JD/PhD candidate at Columbia Law School and Harvard University] National constitutions were among the most important sites where decolonization reshaped international law, alongside International Court of Justice decisions, United Nations General Assembly resolutions, and diplomatic conference proceedings.   Between the Enugu shootings of 1949 in British Nigeria and post-independent Nigeria’s first military coup in 1966, Nigerian independence leaders pursued what I call...

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15 May

[Harry Mwesigwa is an LLM candidate in human rights and democratisation in Africa at the Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria, and a research assistant at the Human Rights and Peace Centre, Makerere University] Introduction In March 2025, Uganda deployed its troops to South Sudan at the invitation of the South Sudanese government which requested ‘urgent military support in order to...

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20 Apr

[Dan Byam Shaw is a DPhil candidate in Law at the University of Oxford, writing on self-determination, who has previously worked as a teacher in London, as well as in refugee camps in Greece and Lebanon] The International Court of Justice’s recent advisory opinion – on the Obligations of Israel in relation to the Presence and Activities of the United Nations,...

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01 Apr

[Narin Salih is an LL.M. candidate in Public International Law (Conflict and Security) at Utrecht University] In light of the situations in Palestine and Ukraine, the question of whether occupied populations have a legal right to resist has never been more pressing. Yet the law of occupation faces a fundamental tension: it simultaneously acknowledges the factual reality of resistance yet consistently...

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17 Mar

[Qerim Qerimi is a professor of international law and former rector at the University of Prishtina (Kosovo), and is currently a member of the Council of Europe’s Venice Commission. He served as a member and coordinator of Kosovo’s legal team in the advisory proceedings before the International Court of Justice on Kosovo’s Declaration of Independence. The views expressed here are...

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04 Feb

[Elliot Dolan-Evans is a lecturer in law at Monash University and RMIT. Sophie Rigney is a senior lecturer in law at RMIT University and the author of Fairness and Rights in International Criminal Procedure (EUP, 2022).] On 22 October 2025, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) handed down its latest ruling concerning Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT). This Advisory Opinion was on...

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03 Feb

[Nandini Bulchandani holds an LLM in international law from UCL and is an incoming foreign law clerk at the Constitutional Court of South Africa] Introduction On Monday 17 November 2025, the UN Security Council adopted a resolution that sidesteps crucial international legal norms to foist a foreign administration upon Gaza.  Stripping law of effect and reanimating imperial hegemonies, UNSC Resolution 2803 is a...

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23 Aug

[Michelle Burgis-Kasthala is Professor of International Law and Global Governance at the University of Edinburgh Law School. Matilde Masetti Placci is a PhD candidate at the University of Edinburgh Law School, and her thesis focusses on the history and theory of international law.] On 19th July, the ICJ handed down its long-awaited advisory opinion examining the legal status of Israel’s occupation...

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24 Jul

[Amanda Alexander is a senior lecturer at the Australian Catholic University] The ICC’s delayed judgement in the Al Hassan case had been long-anticipated in the hope that it might contribute to some emerging areas of international criminal law - in particular gender-based crimes and the treatment of non-state actors’ governance. When, however, the long and complex judgement was published, it created...

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