Taking Care of Other People’s History?
08.11.2023
Eric Rücker
Kai Budelmann
In October 2022, Russian military vehicles pulled up in Kherson, then occupied by the Russian armed forces to surround and secure two buildings. This raid was not a counter-resistance operation...
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Israel and Gaza in the Heat of the Moment
02.11.2023
On 7 October 2023, Hamas militants staged an unprecedented attack on Israel, indiscriminately launching thousands of rockets from Gaza into Israel, rampaging through villages and a music festival site, and...
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Prohibition of Racial Discrimination is not Enough
27.09.2023
On 27 June 2023, 17-year-old Nahel M. was fatally shot by police during a vehicle stop in Paris, sparking nationwide riots. On the basis of video evidence, a number of...
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- Bofaxe
- Symposium
- Progress and International Law: A Cursed Relationship?
Towards a Feminist Interpretation of the ECHR’s Provisions on Access to Abortion
21.09.2023
While applications regarding the incompatibility of deadly restrictive abortion policies with the European Convention on Human Rights (‘ECHR’) are piling up before the European Court of Human Rights (‘ECtHR’, ‘Court’),...
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Kein Geld für die Taliban
15.09.2023
Am vergangenen Montag, wohl kaum zufällig am 11. September, forderte ein Minister der Taliban-Regierung in einem Interview mit der NZZ Reparationszahlungen von Deutschland und kündigte an, Deutschland und weitere Bündnispartner...
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Not You Again!
07.09.2023
Mass surveillance has been a recurring issue before courts around the globe, including the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). In the last cases brought before the CJEU,...
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A ‘Clear’ War Crime Against the Environment?
28.07.2023
On the morning of June 6, 2023, the first news agencies reported that the Nova Kakhovka dam in the Russian-controlled area in southern Ukraine was destroyed. The spilling water masses...
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Dissecting the Debate on Cluster Munitions
21.07.2023
On July 7th, the Biden administration announced that it would be sending 155mm dual-purpose improved conventional munition (DPICM), a type of artillery-fired cluster munition, in its next military assistance package...
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International Problems Require International Answers
12.07.2023
This year, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) is expected to deal with several climate change cases, through which the complainants seek to hold their countries of origin responsible...
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How the Committee on the Rights of the Child Paved the Way for Stronger Abortion Rights
05.07.2023
Spyridoula Katsoni
Vanessa Bliecke
On 13 June 2023, the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CtRC) published its decision in the case of Camila v Peru (pseudonymised), marking a significant milestone in the...
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Don’t Screen Us Out?
16.06.2023
Last month the legal team of Heidi Crowter, an activist with Down’s Syndrome who (so far unsuccessfully) challenged the British Abortion law, announced that they will take their case to...
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God Save the King – From “Annoying” Protesters?
07.06.2023
For peaceful protesters, the United Kingdom (‘UK’) has turned into difficult terrain over the last years. In the recent past, this has become increasingly obvious, especially by the way the...
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The Most Exciting Field of International Law
05.06.2023
Outer space has received a new high of attention over the last couple of years. Pop-culture, businesses and states have turned their gaze (back) up to the stars. Of course,...
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Trojan Horses with Emergency Lights
16.05.2023
Medical impartiality, the principle that during armed conflicts or civil unrest, no one should interfere with the access to or delivery of medical services, is of utmost importance for effective...
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Sea-Level Rise at the Security Council
08.05.2023
In what has been termed a ‘signature event’ of the Maltese Presidency of the United Nations Security Council (the Council), the latter held an open debate on the implications of...
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Trash or Treasure?
03.05.2023
What do you think happens with your phone after its approximately two years of usage? It will probably be on its way abroad together with other electronic equipment. With due...
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An Unneighborly Gift in Times of Need
20.04.2023
In February 2023, the news of devastating deadly earthquakes in Türkiye and Syria shook the globe. The horrifying effects of these earthquakes led to a death toll that has surpassed...
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Prisoner of War Videos on Facebook
14.04.2023
Pierre Thielbörger
Jan-Phillip Graf
When violent clashes between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces reignited the international armed conflict (IAC) in Nagorno-Karabakh last year, social media was flooded with videos allegedly portraying the mistreatment of prisoners...
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Too Young to Be a Criminal?
13.04.2023
Tragic incidents and shocking crimes such as the recent murder of a 12-year-old girl in Germany (suspectedly) by her 12 and 13-year-old friends draw the public’s attention to a difficult...
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Just Like Ukraine, But Worse?
11.04.2023
Since the summer of 2022, the Chinese government has begun large-scale military drills and missile tests in the area around Taiwan - these exercises continue to this day. Those drills,...
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Heads of States Before the ICC
05.04.2023
On the 17th of March 2023, the International Criminal Court (ICC, Court) issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova, Commissioner for Children's Rights, for...
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Forcing Women to Deprioritize Their Health?
30.03.2023
Six of the sixteen countries in the world, which prohibit abortions under all circumstances, are located in Middle America. Yet it remains unclear whether absolute bans on abortions are compatible...
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When A Princess Causes a Nightmare
27.03.2023
On February 28, 2023, the tanker Princess Empress sank off the coast of Oriental Mindoro, Philippines as a result of engine damage. Since then, the loaded 800,000 liters of industrial...
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New Ways to Deal With Old Crimes?
15.03.2023
Do countries take responsibility for grave violations of current international law committed in the past? This question has once again been raised in the negotiations between Germany and Namibia over...
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Military Success > Global Food Security
20.02.2023
"The right to food is not the right to be nourished, but first and foremost the right to nourish oneself in dignity from one's own resources", Jean Ziegler However, the...
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When Silence Is Not Golden but Puzzling
11.01.2023
Tillmann Lindner
Giacomo Romis
On 22 July 2022 the ICJ issued its judgment regarding the preliminary objections raised by Myanmar in the case of the Application of the Genocide Convention on the Prevention and...
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Human Dignity Is Inviolable… Unless You Are a Prisoner?
22.12.2022
A vote on abolishing slavery in 2022 - really? Yes, that is exactly what happened in several states in the United States this November. On 8 November 2022 the citizens...
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Towards a Sustainable Agriculture
14.11.2022
Not least since Russia blocked Ukrainian grain exports and thereby endangered global food security has agriculture moved into the international spotlight. Between global environmental issues like climate change and food...
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Pitting Wildlife Conservation Against Indigenous Rights
09.11.2022
On 30 September, the East African Court of Justice (EACJ) issued a judgment that has been met with indignation by indigenous activists. It ruled that the Tanzanian government’s decision to permanently clear an area...
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Between Accuracy and Dignity
30.09.2022
Jan-Phillip Graf
Jannik Neumann
According to several news organizations, the Ukrainian forces use the facial recognition software Clearview AI to identify deceased Russian combatants in order to inform families about their kin’s death (here,...
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What Needs to Be Said
16.09.2022
Maximilian Bertamini
Tillmann Lindner
It seems these days that international law and its institutions are unable to keep power at bay. In recent times, the UN Security Council (SC) – one member in particular...
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Of Old Wisdoms and New Challenges
18.08.2022
At the end of July 2022, Volume I (Rules) of the long awaited McGill Manual on International Law Applicable to Military Uses of Outer Space (MILAMOS) was finally released. Drafted...
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Imploding Protection Through Exploding Norms?
12.08.2022
On August 4th 2022, Amnesty International published a report criticising the tactics of the Ukrainian Armed Forces (UAF) for endangering civilians by launching attacks and placing military targets in populated...
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No Purchase, No Requisition, No Seizure
27.07.2022
Grain plays a crucial role in the war in Ukraine. Not only is Russia blocking Ukrainian grain exports and thereby causing a risk of a world-wide food crisis. In addition,...
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Wofür kämpfen?
25.07.2022
Der russische Angriffskrieg gegen die Ukraine ist zu einem Zermürbungskrieg im Osten des Landes geworden. Seine Fortdauer kostet jeden Tag unzählige Menschenleben. Dennoch zeigt sich gerade in Hinblick auf die...
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(Don’t) Call ‘Em Mercenaries
20.07.2022
Lorenz Rubner
Lisa M. Cohen
Much like the invasion of Iraq did two decades ago, the attack on Ukraine has yanked legal terminology and arguments from international law to the public forum, prompting legal academics...
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The Responsibility to Protect as a Responsibility to Deny
30.06.2022
Sophie Maria Martha Wollert
We live in a horrific reality in which governments are committing war crimes, crimes against humanity, ethnic cleansing, and even genocide against their people (the following are referred to as...
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Out of Sight, out of Mind?
27.06.2022
On June 14th 2022, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) issued an interim measure against the United Kingdom, effectively halting a deportation flight at the 11th hour that would...
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The Dangers of Hacktivism
15.06.2022
The Russian Federation (Russia) has turned almost the whole Western world against it by attacking and invading Ukraine. While States are intensively debating about the strictest yet legally sound ways...
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Turning the Tide
07.06.2022
By 2100 sea level will rise between 0.43 m and 0.84 m due to climate change. Doesn't sound like much to you? Then imagine living on an island with an...
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What Do We Do with the Non-‘White, Blonde, Blue-Eyed’ Asylum Seekers?
02.06.2022
Following the Russian invasion, it is estimated that over 6 million persons have fled Ukraine. Although this number is significantly higher than any other refugee wave reaching the EU since...
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COVID-19 Triage and the Persistent Problem of Disability Discrimination in Healthcare
20.04.2022
The COVID-19 pandemic continues to create major challenges for public healthcare. Numerous countries are faced with the difficult task of allocating scarce medical resources, e.g. ventilators, to COVID-19 patients (see, e.g., case studies concerning...
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Nachruf Knut Ipsen
05.04.2022
Professor Dr. Dr. h.c. mult. Knut Ipsen ist am 17. März 2022 im Alter von 86 Jahren gestorben. Als „wissenschaftlicher und hochschulpolitischer Macher“ hatte er eine beispiellose Karriere, die ganz...
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Of Legal Creativity and Plausibility of Rights
04.04.2022
Sebastian Wuschka
Elisabeth Hoffberger-Pippan
On 16 March 2022, the International Court of Justice rendered its provisional measures order on the request by Ukraine in the case concerning Allegations of Genocide under the Convention on...
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Humanitarian Visas to Escape from the Taliban?
30.03.2022
The Taliban’s seizure of power has led to the expectation of a sharp increase in the movement of Afghan protection seekers to countries of refuge. Although the international community tried...
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- Symposium
- Bofaxe
- Women in International Law Vol. 1
Abortion in Latin America Through the Lens of the IACtHR
08.03.2022
Lea Bilke
Vanessa Bliecke
Ella Schönleben
Discussing reproductive rights – and more specifically abortion rights – in a legal setting is challenging. Legal arguments blend with political, moral and religious discussions, blurring the line between lex...
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How Pressing ‘ENTER’ Gets You to The Hague
02.03.2022
Lisa M. Cohen
Lorenz Rubner
The offensive use of cyber capabilities is well documented. Most recently, the Russian invasion into Ukraine has been preceded and accompanied by multiple cyber operations both from State actors and...
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The Death of the Prohibition on the Use of Force
15.02.2022
Towards the end of 2021, Russia began a massive buildup of troops along its border with Ukraine and forecasts of a possible invasion started to circulate. Expectedly, the community of...
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Clean Up Your Mess!
11.02.2022
Vivien Wefringhaus
Maja Bergfort
Approximately eight million tons of plastic waste leak into the oceans every year. Our planet is literally drowning in plastic. It is estimated that every year one million birds and...
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Ecocide – Legal Revolution or Symbolism?
03.02.2022
Romina Pezzot
Jan-Phillip Graf
One year ago, the Stop Ecocide Foundation convened the so-called ‘Independent Expert Panel for the Legal Definition of Ecocide’ (IEP). Composed of 12 renowned international jurists and co-chaired by Dior...
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Is the Feministisation of the ECtHR’s Abortion-Related Jurisprudence a Realistic Expectation?
28.01.2022
Feminist legal theories have repeatedly highlighted the patriarchal bias in law and decision-making: Sexuality, biology and reproductivity have been parameters of persons’ positioning in the eyes of the law and...
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One Court at a Time: Challenges of Universal Jurisdiction and Enhancing International Justice
24.01.2022
When the Higher Regional Court of Koblenz convicted former Syrian State intelligence officer Anwar R. of crimes against humanity on January 13, 2022, survivors, activists, and lawyers unanimously praised German...
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Self-Defense or Self-Excuse?
20.12.2021
On 13 November 2021, the New York Times (NYT) published an investigative article revealing how the US military had hidden an airstrike which had killed dozens of civilians in Syria...
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Love Is Taboo
13.12.2021
Vanessa Bliecke
Rouven Diekjobst
Prison inmates are inherently subject to far-reaching interferences with their civil rights and liberties. Still, states increasingly tend to exceed their legal boundaries by imposing additional restrictions on them. Consequently,...
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Trampling Human Rights – and Getting Paid For It?!
08.12.2021
In early October shocking videos were released by Lighthouse Reports (a collaborative journalism platform) showing Croatian border police brutally beating young migrants with sticks and forcing them back into Bosnia....
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Is Your Dating App Swiping Left on Human Rights?
01.12.2021
Spyridoula Katsoni
Paul Philipp Stewens
TW // sexual violence, rape If you or someone you know experiences/has experienced sexual violence, please reach out for support here (for Germany; for an overview of national helplines see...
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Re-rethinking the Amicable Settlement of Inter-State ECHR Disputes
30.09.2021
The amicable settlement of inter-State disputes under the European Convention on Human Rights (‘ECHR’) was thoroughly discussed on Völkerrechtsblog earlier this year, during the ‘Inter-State Cases under the ECHR’ symposium....
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Refoulement Beyond Pushbacks
20.09.2021
Since the Taliban took control of Kabul, the news has abounded in heart-breaking images of people trying to flee Afghanistan. Following some sympathetic responses, however, the discourse has shifted to...
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Is ‘Cyberwar’ Fought with Weapons?
09.09.2021
How do – and should – we classify offensive cyber capabilities? Particularly in the context of international humanitarian law, the question whether offensive cyber capabilities are weapons, means of warfare,...
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Purge – Until There Is No One Left
30.07.2021
In February 2021, the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR) filed a complaint in Germany for crimes committed in Chechnya, allegedly by five perpetrators including the Chechen Deputy...
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International Law and Sand
21.07.2021
Vivien Wefringhaus
Maximilian Bertamini
Sand?! Yes, sand. Sand – or rather a lack thereof – is quickly becoming an increasingly pressing global issue. As the scarcity of this inconspicuous, yet crucial all-rounder of a...
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“Genetic Cleansing” Under the Guise of Women’s Rights?
16.07.2021
Nadine Grünhagen
Vanessa Bliecke
The fight for the protection and recognition of disabled persons’ rights frequently ends before it even starts. While about 25% of fetuses are generally aborted, this percentage rises to about 90% when the fetus is diagnosed...
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A House Divided
14.07.2021
In November 2020, tensions between Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region and the Ethiopian and Eritrean governments erupted into violent conflict, which is currently ongoing. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights...
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Feasting on the Back of the Harvester
12.07.2021
Germany’s 2021 asparagus season has just come to a close. Traditionally, 24 June, the so-called “Spargelsilvester”, marks the end of the jolly “Spargelzeit”. In 2019, Germans ate 1.7 kg of...
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The Kids Aren’t Alright
30.06.2021
People who walked along the East River in mid-March towards the UN’s headquarters in New York found a peculiar picture: 168 empty school tables with blue UNICEF school bags on...
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Burmese Amber
24.06.2021
“Jurassic Park” popularized the potential of amber for the research of extinct life forms: specimens of plants and animals can survive millions of years in a three-dimensional shape, with the texture of...
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COVID-19 Vaccines and Work-Related Rights
22.06.2021
As States’ capacities to provide COVID-19 vaccines rise, questions on whether employers can lawfully require their employees to get vaccinated arise accordingly. As the lawfulness of States imposing compulsory COVID-19 vaccinations has been already...
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A Problem Bigger than Qatar
11.06.2021
With the European soccer Championship beginning this Friday, discussions regarding the human rights situations of host states rose once again, specifically concerning Azerbaijan’s oppression of the press and alleged war...
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Beyond Japan’s Decision
08.06.2021
Sonja Susann Schäfer
Stephan Schultz
On March 11, 2011, the strongest earthquake recorded in Japan and an ensuing tsunami killed nearly 19.500 people and destroyed the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station releasing radioactive materials over...
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The Future of “Climate Refugees” in International Law
05.06.2021
Spyridoula Katsoni
Jan-Phillip Graf
The issue of “climate refugees” has attracted scholarly attention for over a decade. The historic ruling of the Human Rights Committee (‘HRCtee’) in Ioane Teitiota v. New Zealand further increased...
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EU-Grundrechtecharta 2.0
21.05.2021
„Ich schreibe gerne und alles andere überlasse ich gerne anderen“, erklärte der Jurist und Schriftsteller Ferdinand von Schirach im Juni 2020, nachdem er die Idee eines Updates der Charta der...
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Now or Never
14.05.2021
“America is Back”! This is the central slogan of President Joseph Biden’s foreign policy and after the Trump presidency’s strains on the U.S. ties to its allies and on the...
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100 Days of Biden
27.04.2021
When Joseph R. Biden won the US Presidential election on 3 November 2020, the dawn of a new era seemed at our doorstep. 100 days after his inauguration, this post...
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What Does the Vavřička Judgement Tell Us About the Compatibility of Compulsory COVID-19 Vaccinations with the ECHR?
21.04.2021
On the 8th of April, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (‘the Court’) issued its widely-anticipated judgement on Vavřička and others v. the Czech Republic shedding some...
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The Right to Live under Threat
08.04.2021
Fiza Lee-Winter
Tonny Kirabira
Laura Collins
Just hours before Myanmar’s newly elected government sat in for their first parliamentary session on 1st February, 2021, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and other National League for Democracy (NLD)...
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#ManuelaJusticiayEsperanza?
19.03.2021
Vanessa Bliecke
Ella Schönleben
Jeremy De la Cruz Morales
On 10 and 11 March 2021, the public hearings on the historic case of Manuela and others v. El Salvador took place before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR)....
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The Right to Abortion and the European Convention on Human Rights
19.03.2021
Abortion bans are back in Vogue! Nearly 165 years after the first massive demonstration on women’s rights, discussions on the extent to which interference with female bodies falls within States’...
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Populism’s lethal effect on the respect for human rights
11.03.2021
The rise of populism in Europe is a fact. Along with it, discussions of the effects of populism on the rule of law have arisen. The purpose of the present...
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Alles richtig gemacht?
10.03.2021
Nun ist es endgültig: Der EGMR hat am 16. Februar 2021 entschieden, dass Deutschland seiner Aufklärungspflicht gemäß der Europäischen Menschenrechtskonvention (EMRK) im Zusammenhang mit dem Angriff im Kundus in ausreichendem Maße...
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Expansion in the Aegean Sea?
19.02.2021
For many years Turkey and Greece – the only coastal states on the Aegean Sea – have argued about the breadth of their maritime zones. The unique situation in the...
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Can Bangladesh preserve the Brahmaputra?
10.02.2021
Disputes between riparian states over their shared freshwater resources are as old as time and China and India have long been engaged in a race to exploit the Brahmaputra. The...
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Viel Lärm um nichts
09.02.2021
Am 28. Januar hat der Bundesgerichtshof keine Rechtsgeschichte geschrieben und das ist gut so. Denn alles andere als die ergangene Entscheidung wäre ein katastrophaler Rückschlag für die weltweite Verfolgung von...
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International crimes in the age of social media
03.02.2021
Social media platforms such as Facebook are important for the dissemination of information. The platform can be a powerful tool for Sharing text messages, pictures, and videos via, and it...
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Trump’s deadly legacy?
11.01.2021
As lethal injection drugs are more and more difficult to obtain in the United States, the Department of Justice (DOJ) released an amendment to the federal execution protocols on November...
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Of crabbed age and bold youth
24.12.2020
Nadine Grünhagen
Rouven Diekjobst
On November 30th, news broke that the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) had decided to fast-track a lawsuit submitted by six Portuguese children and adolescents (“the application”), supported by...
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Diplomats vs. Robots
14.12.2020
"We reject autonomous weapon systems that are beyond the control of humans. We want to condemn them worldwide." This concise statement is part of the coalition agreement (para. 7027) of...
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A pushback against international law?
08.12.2020
Jan-Phillip Graf
Kai Budelmann
In late October, an international group of investigative journalists released a detailed report about the involvement of Frontex, the European border security agency, in so-called pushbacks in the Mediterranean. Though...
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Do compulsory vaccinations against COVID-19 violate human rights?
02.12.2020
As soon as the announcement of a vaccine against the coronavirus hit the news, discussions on the permissibility of compulsory vaccination multiplied. As anti-vaccination campaigns flourish and fake news spread...
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The new era of disinformation wars
30.11.2020
While the manipulation of photographs has traditionally been deemed a State intelligence privilege, today’s technological evolution allows anyone to effortlessly modify digital material – deepfakes being the newest, and arguably...
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Extensive violence instead of intensive protection
11.11.2020
Vanessa Bliecke
Nadine Grünhagen
“All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights” (Article 1 Universal Declaration of Human Rights). Even though the concept of universal human rights is more than...
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Collective self-defence or just another intervention?
02.11.2020
Following the recent escalation between Azerbaijan and Armenia in the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, multiplying voices note that Turkey, Azerbaijan’s closest ally, has been sending not only its military but also...
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The U.S. v. the rest of the world
14.10.2020
On October 18, an arms embargo on Iran imposed by the UN Security Council a decade ago will expire. As of that day, Iran will be allowed to deal with...
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A state obligation to allot land to minorities?
06.10.2020
Land rights are an important, but underexplored aspect of international law. Although a general right to land has been discussed for several years and appears to slowly take shape (see...
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Auch ein Versagen der Staatengemeinschaft
30.09.2020
Der Konflikt zwischen Armenien und Aserbaidschan um die Region Bergkarabach ist zum ersten Mal seit den frühen 1990er Jahren wieder auf breiter Front eskaliert, beide Staaten befinden sich im „Kriegszustand“...
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Return of the Rohingyas
29.09.2020
The rape and murder of 27-year-old Arakan Buddhist woman Thida Htwe in late May 2012, allegedly by three Muslim men, triggered multiple rounds of sectarian violence in Myanmar’s Rakhine state....
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Climate change and human rights: a next big step for the Human Rights Committee?
22.09.2020
In May 2019, eight Torres Strait Islanders filed a communication alleging that the inaction of the Australian government over climate change is resulting in violations of their rights under the...
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Anklägerin auf der Sanktionsliste
17.09.2020
Die Einleitung von Ermittlungen in Afghanistan durch die Chefanklägerin des Internationalen Strafgerichtshofs (IStGH), Fatou Bensouda, hat bereits mehrfach scharfe Reaktionen der USA hervorgerufen (dazu kritisch hier). Unter anderem drohte der...
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Where there’s smoke, there’s fire
10.09.2020
Although the higher risk of COVID-19’s contagion among those residing in overly-populated asylum-seeker centres has been underlined by cassandric voices since the early days of its outbreak, Moria Reception and...
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COVID-19 at the International Criminal Court
14.08.2020
On 27 July 2020, an umbrella group of Brazilian unions and social organizations filed a criminal complaint with the International Criminal Court (ICC). In the complaint, the group that represents...
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