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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Flashbangs against empowerment
14.08.2020
The last weeks were turbulent in Belarus. For the first time in his 26 year-reign, president Alexander Lukashenko faces a meaningful challenge to his power in the form of a...
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Germany’s commitment to international justice
23.06.2020
Part I Six years after the so-called “Islamic State in Iraq and Syria” (ISIS) began persecuting and annihilating the Yazidis, an ethno-religious minority group in Northern Iraq, the first trial...
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“No quarter for insurrectionists”
12.06.2020
As protests against police brutality and systemic racism have broken out in the United States following the murder of George Floyd, American politicians’ rhetoric has taken on a militant tone...
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Bewaffnete Drohnen für die Bundeswehr?
11.06.2020
Die Bundeswehr setzt inzwischen regelmäßig Drohnen im Ausland ein. Ihr Arsenal umfasst eine Vielzahl von Modellen (darunter die Aufklärungsdrohne Heron 1 in Mali). Die bislang eingesetzten Drohnen dienen allerdings allein...
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Ohrenbetäubendes Schweigen
11.06.2020
Die aktuelle Covid-19 Pandemie präsentiert sich als globale Krise nationaler Alleingänge. Das liegt auch am Sicherheitsrat (SR) der Vereinten Nationen (VN), der sich seit Wochen nicht auf eine Resolution einigen...
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Follow the money and see where it goes – Unmasking the EU’s Libya programme
25.05.2020
Timeela Manandhar
Rouven Diekjobst
On 20 May 2020, Philipp Dann, Michael Riegner and Lena Zagst presented on this blog the complaint before the European Court of Auditors (CoA), which a group of NGOs led...
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Leaving no one behind?
24.04.2020
In the current COVID-19 pandemic, the rights and special needs of persons with disabilities are once again neglected dramatically. It is bitterly unsurprising that the topic arrived on the agenda...
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Mine, mine, mine!
23.04.2020
In an impressive display of questionable timing and priorities, the US President may just have rung in the first round of a new space age. While “non-viral” news currently fly...
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Wo kein Richter, da kein Wähler?
13.04.2020
Polen und die Rechtstaatlichkeit – das ist seit Längerem eine schwierige Beziehung. Am Abend des 6. April 2020 änderte der Sejm (eine der beiden Kammern des polnischen Parlaments) zum zweiten...
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Staat oder kein Staat unter dem Rom-Statut, das ist hier die einzige Frage!
17.03.2020
In dem kürzlich veröffentlichten Beitrag „Deutschland als amicus curiae“ habe ich Stellung für die Bejahung der Zuständigkeit des Internationalen Strafgerichtshofs (IStGH) im Palästina-Verfahren bezogen und dies im Wesentlichen mit dem...
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Deutschland als amicus curiae
24.02.2020
Palästina ist seit 2015 Mitglied des Rom-Statuts (RS) des Internationalen Strafgerichtshofs (IStGH). Durch seinen Beitritt spielte Palästina den Ball in der kontrovers diskutierten Frage der eigenen Staatlichkeit dem Gerichtshof zu,...
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Undermining past efforts?
18.02.2020
On 31 January 2020, White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham announced that the US government was planning to authorize high-level US military commanders, in exceptional circumstances, to employ “non-persistent” land...
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From persecution to poverty
31.01.2020
A 2019 ‘safe third country’ agreement between Guatemala and the US allows the US to send asylum seekers who arrived at the US-Mexican border to Guatemala. Under the agreement Guatemala...
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A significant opening
30.01.2020
The Human Rights Committee (HRC) has just added to the many important international legal developments of the young decade and issued its first ruling on the case of a “climate...
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All eyes on the Court
23.12.2019
Whilst Myanmar’s treatment of the Rohingya minority has long been subject to public scrutiny, in November news broke that The Gambia instituted proceedings against Myanmar before the International Court of...
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Trumping Mexico’s Sovereignty?
20.12.2019
Vanessa Bliecke
Rouven Diekjobst
President Trump reportedly planned to label Mexican drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, stating that the US considered to “go in and clear out”. The Mexican response was quick to...
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No voice, no rights, no protection?
18.12.2019
On 19th November, the animal protection organisation PETA filed a complaint with the German federal constitutional Court (BVerfG) against a law that legalizes the unanaesthetized castration of pigs for two...
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Does policy “Trump” international law?
11.12.2019
US secretary of state Mike Pompeo has announced a reversal of US policy on Israeli settlements in the West Bank. While the Obama Administration deemed Israel’s settlement activities illegal under...
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India’s mosque that was and temple that will be
27.11.2019
“Mandir mein, masjid mein tu aur tu hi hai imaano mein” [You're there in the temples, in the mosques, and in all belief]. These lyrics, performed in a musical ode...
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In dubio contra bellum
29.10.2019
Maximilian Bertamini
Benedikt Behlert
What does Turkey’s operation “Peace Spring” against Kurdish militias in Northern Syria and the subsequent reactions of the international community mean for the prohibition on the use of force? “The...
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Playing with fire
18.09.2019
Rouven Diekjobst
Lennard Dute
“Our house is burning”, French President Macron found graphic words to address the wildfires in the Amazon rainforest, which have reached threatening levels in the past weeks. 80,000 fires this...
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Una-Fjord-able: Why Trump cannot buy Greenland
26.08.2019
Timeela Manandhar
Pierre Thielbörger
Many people thought it was a belated April’s Fools joke: US media reported that US President Donald Trump is considering to purchase Greenland, currently an autonomous region of the Kingdom...
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Alle Wege führen nach Dublin
22.08.2019
Stephan Koloßa
Shaira-Hena Osman
Im Jahr 2018 einigte sich Deutschland mit Griechenland in Form eines Verwaltungsabkommens darauf, dass aus Griechenland über Österreich nach Deutschland einreisende Flüchtlinge unter bestimmten Voraussetzungen unverzüglich nach Athen zurückgeführt werden...
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Land and identity
14.08.2019
“There will be chaos if our identity is compromised”. This statement by Mehbooba Mufti, former Chief Minister of the Indian State of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), shows that the long-simmering...
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Between policy and reality
12.08.2019
Since the violent events of August 2017, which triggered one of the most recent mass exoduses of Rohingyas from Rakhine state in Myanmar, the Rohingya diaspora continues to rise. Many...
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The international whaling regime – a law with no teeth?
04.07.2019
Hosting the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan has been at the center of international attention lately. Less prominent than the G20 summit, but not less noteworthy is the reintroduction of...
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Us & them
24.05.2019
Benedikt Behlert
Vanessa Bliecke
On 21 May 2019, the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe published a report following her visit to Hungary from 4 to 8 February 2019. The report...
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“Give me your money, you tired, poor and huddled masses!”
06.05.2019
On 29 April 2019, the President of the United States of America ordered new restrictions on asylum seekers. The restrictions include a fee for asylum applications. This BOFAX reflects on...
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“Nun sag’, wie hast Du’s mit der Gerechtigkeit?”
28.04.2019
Özgen Özdemir
Pierre Thielbörger
Viel ist darüber gesagt worden (s. hier und hier), wie moralisch enttäuschend und politisch besorgniserregend die Entscheidung des Internationalen Strafgerichtshofes (IStGH) ist, keine Situationsermittlung nach Art. 15 Abs. 3 Rom...
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Keeping it clean (part II)
12.04.2019
Maximilian Bertamini
Stephan Schultz
This Bofax is the second part of a two-part series - inspired by India successfully testing an anti-satellite (ASAT) missile against an Indian satellite and thereby causing space debris -...
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Keeping it clean (part I)
11.04.2019
Maximilian Bertamini
Stephan Schultz
On March 27th India successfully tested an anti-satellite (ASAT) missile against one of its own test satellites, creating a cloud of space debris which might collide with the International Space Station...
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New peak in the dispute concerning the Golan Heights
03.04.2019
Judith Prasse
Rouven Diekjobst
On Monday, 25 March 2019, US President Donald Trump accepted Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights by stating that “the United States recognizes that the Golan Heights are part of...
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Responsibility to punish
22.03.2019
Timeela Manandhar
Özgen Özdemir
Über 1000 deutsche Staatsangehörige haben sich dem sogenannten Islamischen Staat (IS) angeschlossen, davon befinden sich mittlerweile gut 40 im syrischen Kurdengebiet in Gefangenschaft. Einige von ihnen werden verdächtigt, sich wegen...
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Trading Blows
05.03.2019
Maximilian Bertamini
Rouven Diekjobst
On Wednesday, February 27th 2019 Pakistan reportedly shot down two Indian warplanes, after India conducted airstrikes on the Pakistani side of the disputed border region of Kashmir against training camps of...
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New Collaboration between Völkerrechtsblog and Ruhr University Bochum’s Institute for International Law of Peace and Armed Conflict (IFHV)
05.03.2019
From 2019 onwards, Völkerrechtsblog is regularly publishing Bofaxe: academic snapshots of up-to-the minute news in international law as produced by international law researchers at the Ruhr University Bochum’s Institute for International...
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