The Narratives of Space Exploration

Article

The Narratives of Space Exploration

28.07.2021

Hilding Neilson Elena Cirkovic

Human space exploration has been part of the social and political consciousness since Dr. Werner von Braun published his seminal guidebook for a human settlement of Mars. The possibility of...

Article

Consulting Canadians on a Framework for Future Space Exploration Activities

28.07.2021

Hilding Neilson Elena Cirkovic

We would like to start this two-part post with a reference to two very different and recent news articles from Canada: First, the positive: The Walrus article on First Nations...

Article

Unlimited Brutality

26.07.2021

Fadel Abdul Ghany

Tens of thousands of Syrians have suffered arbitrary arrests, mainly by the Syrian regime’s security forces, in connection with the popular movement that started in March 2011. They all experienced at least...

Article

The Nijmegen Principles and Guidelines on Interim Measures (2021)

19.07.2021

Eva Rieter Rosa Möhrlein

Recently, scholars have paid considerable attention to interim (or provisional) measures (both in general [see here, here and here], and in the context of human rights adjudication [for a focus...

Article

Law’s Vulgar Silence

28.06.2021

Nadia Kornioti

In Völkerrechtsblog's editorial on 1 June 2021, the editors raised a concrete question to their readers, on the occasion on the most recent wave of violence in Israel and Palestine:...

Article

Of Missed Chances and Set Narratives

25.06.2021

Miriam Nomanni

“Far from surprising” one could call the latest and final judgement in the case of the former Bosnian Serb general Ratko Mladić. On 8 June 2021, the Appeals Chamber of the...

Article

Reducing is Caring

25.06.2021

Angelo Jr Golia Anneloes Hoff

The ‘Shell Climate Case’, on which the District Court of the Hague ruled on 26 May 2021, may well herald a new era for climate change litigation. The Dutch court...

Article

How Law Can Make War Inhumane and Banal

23.06.2021

Maryam Jamshidi

War is governed by laws—laws that demand those engaged in armed conflict value humanitarianism and minimize civilian harm. When civilians are disproportionately killed in armed conflict, it’s because involved parties...

Article

Extinguishing the Flares of Death

21.06.2021

Dorothy Puga

At 400 °C, around 447 gas flares, known as ‘flares of death,’ are constantly burning in the heart of the Ecuadorian Amazon. This is a long-standing practice by which the...

Article

Big Brother Watch v. UK

04.06.2021

Massimo Frigo

On 25 May 2021, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights issued a landmark ruling on the compatibility of systems of mass surveillance with the European Convention...

Article

Will Vienna Talks Put an End to the “COVID-19 Plus” in Iran?

20.05.2021

Khashayar Biria

The pandemic is still far from over. In its response to combat COVID-19, Iran has been facing significant difficulties “in part due to the weakening of the national health-care system...

Article

Germany’s “Fair Share” of Climate Change Jurisprudence

17.05.2021

Philipp Schönberger

Germany has now its own landmark climate case. In its recent decision on the Climate Protection Act (CPA), the Constitutional Court did not follow all of the claimant’s submissions and...

Article

The Selection of the “Worst of the Worst”

13.05.2021

Natali Gbele Salman Khan

“International law should not be wielded as the big stick by strong nations used to pummel the weak ones. We are against selective justice.” As quoted by Jean Ping, former...

Article

The Dreadful Night Goes On

12.05.2021

Santiago Vargas Niño

At times, words fail to describe the horrors of reality. That is until we have recourse to the language of international criminal law (ICL). While its use may be problematic,...

Article

A Case of MOX Plant 2.0 in the Pacific?

06.05.2021

Anh Nguyen

On 13 April 2021, the Japanese government formally authorised the release of 1.25 million tons of treated radioactive wastewater from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant into the Pacific Ocean....

Article

A Bill for Better Business

05.05.2021

Anneloes Hoff

On 11 March 2021, four Dutch political parties submitted a private members’ bill which introduces a new corporate duty of care for human rights and the environment. This proposal for...

Article

Vaccine Apartheid and the Unlikely Overcoming of the Pandemic by 2023

04.05.2021

Juan C. Herrera

The most important challenge for humanity is to end the pandemic within two years. However, as the largest vaccination rollout in history begins, it is doubtful that this goal will...

Article

Leaving the Pre-Digital Era, Finally!

04.05.2021

Stephan Gerbig

The UN human rights protection system has left the pre-digital era behind: The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child just released its new General Comment (GC) No. 25...

Article

All that Glitters Is Not Gold

03.05.2021

Jasper Mührel

On 29 April 2021, the German Federal Constitutional Court held that the provisions of the German Federal Climate Change Act “are incompatible with fundamental rights insofar as they lack sufficient...

Article

Three Hours from Paris to Karlsruhe

01.05.2021

Anna-Julia Saiger

Only two days after its publication, the German Constitutional Court’s decision on the 2019 Climate Protection Act has already given rise to significant repercussions both in political and legal debates....

Article

Case Concerning a Mysterious Maritime Delimitation Treaty

23.04.2021

Arpita Goswami Sachdeva

On 5 March 2021, the Press Office of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) announced that proceedings had been instituted in the Court by way of a Special Agreement between...

Article

Der Anfang ist gemacht!

22.04.2021

Merlina Herbach

Am 23. April 2020 begann am Oberlandesgericht Koblenz das Verfahren gegen zwei ehemalige Mitarbeiter des syrischen Geheimdienstes wegen Beihilfe und Mittäterschaft an Verbrechen gegen die Menschlichkeit. Das Syria Justice and...

Article

Don’t Settle For Less

22.04.2021

Nora Jauer Justine Batura

The German Parliament will debate today a draft for a due diligence act intended to protect human rights in global supply chains ('Lieferkettengesetz'), as submitted by the German government. The...

Article

A Violent Effort to Rewrite History?

19.04.2021

Sylvia Maus

The geographically small Nagorno-Karabakh is rich in cultural and religious heritage. It is therefore not surprising that the recent war between Armenia and Azerbaijan over this contested territory spurred not...

Article

Cyber Space, Sovereignty and the Intricacies of International Law-Making

16.04.2021

Florian Kriener

On March 5th, 2021, Germany published its position paper “On the application of International Law in Cyberspace”. The inter-ministerial document stipulates Germany’s views on the rules regulating state activity in...

Article

Maritime Delimitation, Non-Appearance, and Acquiescence

15.04.2021

Christoph Saake

From 15 to 18 March 2021, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) held oral hearings in the Case of Maritime Delimitation in the Indian Ocean (Somalia v. Kenya). Initially scheduled...

Article

No Rocket Science!

15.04.2021

Manasa S Venkatachalam

Outer space’s unique environment has been utilized to study and further a range of subjects, from colloid behavior to creating protein crystals for more effective disease control, often having enormous commercial application. For...

Article

Beware of Procedural Perils

14.04.2021

Pedro Villarreal

The global political momentum created by the COVID-19 pandemic recently led to a joint statement on 30 March 2021, signed by the World Health Organization (WHO)’s Director-General and twenty-seven heads...

Article

Time for an Update of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights

14.04.2021

Remo Klinger

On 25 March 2021, the European Court of Justice (‘ECJ’) dismissed as inadmissible the climate action brought by 10 families from the European Union, Kenya and Fiji, for the protection...

Article

Not Making the Cut

08.04.2021

Mariam Bezhanishvili

On 21 January 2021, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (the Court or ECtHR) adopted its judgement on the inter-state case Georgia v Russia (II). The judgement concerns...

Article

International Lawyers, Look to the Heavens – Before We Lose Them

07.04.2021

Cristian van Eijk

What kind of law do you ‘do’? Where would you place its outward bounds? Substantively, but also geographically; what lines do you draw in your imagination to encompass your field(s)...

Article

Eye on the Spy

31.03.2021

Russell Buchan

During the Covid-19 pandemic, more services and activities have migrated online. Digital supply chains have therefore emerged as the lifeblood of modern society and interferences with them can be hugely...

Article

Turkey’s Withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention

27.03.2021

İlayda Eskitaşçıoğlu

As the 65th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) is in progress, feminists from around the world are shocked by Turkey’s sudden decision to withdraw...

Article

“Sport Sex” before the European Court of Human Rights

22.03.2021

Michele Krech

Sport is the field par excellence in which discrimination against intersex people has been made most visible. Commissioner for Human Rights, Council of Europe Issue Paper: Human rights and intersex...

Article

The Ongwen case: A prism glass for the concurrent commission of gender-based crimes

15.03.2021

Alexandra Lily Kather Amal Nassar

In a long-anticipated judgment at the International Criminal Court (ICC), Trial Chamber IX found Dominic Ongwen, a former commander in the Lord Resistance Army (LRA), guilty of 61 counts of...

Article

The impacts of climate change on the humanitarian system: towards truly long-term cooperative action

05.03.2021

Laura Kraft

On 1 December 2020, the German Federal Foreign Office hosted one of five virtual launches of the 2021 Global Humanitarian Overview (GHO) in Berlin. The GHO, which is published annually...

Article

Climate migrants – How German courts take the environment into account when considering non-refoulement

03.03.2021

Camilla Schloss

In a recent landmark decision concerning an Afghan national a German Higher Administrative Court declared a ban on deportation (non-refoulement) based on German immigration law in conjunction with international human...

Article

Dawn of a new era of global data protection?

02.03.2021

Aishwarya Natarajan Franziska Rinke Sebastian Weise

The recent survey of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development indicates that 128 out of 194 countries have put data privacy legislations in place. By implication, around 66%...

Article

Trump verlässt das Weiße Haus – und hinterlässt Chaos im Westsahara-Konflikt

19.02.2021

Mona El Abbadi

Mit Joe Bidens Amtszeit hat eine neue Ära im Weißen Haus begonnen. Doch Donald Trump hinterlässt ein umfassendes außenpolitisches Vermächtnis, welches sich auch auf den Nahen Osten und Nordafrika erstreckt:...

Article

The ICC Israel Palestine decision: Clear skies for an investigation but not without asterisks and further questions

18.02.2021

Solon Solomon

On February 5, the ICC rendered its long-awaited Decision on the case of Israel and the Palestinians. With a majority of 2-1, Pre-Trial Chamber I held that the ICC does...

Article

The unforeseeable future and the rule of law

17.02.2021

Philip Nedelcu

On December 22, 2020, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights delivered its judgment in the case of Selahattin Demirtaş v. Turkey (no. 2) concerning the pre-trial...

Article

Quand le vin est tiré, il faut le boire

16.02.2021

Liv Christiansen

Ansonsten drohen Konsequenzen, wie sich jetzt in einem Gerichtsverfahren vor dem Tribunal Administratif de Paris (Pariser Verwaltungsgericht) zeigte. 2018 haben sich Oxfam, Notre Affaire à Tous, Fondation pour la Nature et...

Article

The history of international law matters

12.02.2021

Ignacio de la Rasilla

Speaking about the ‘turn to history in international law’ has now become an embarrassing cliché in the specialized literature and this should be celebrated. Firstly, because the expression the ‘turn...

Article

Enforced disappearances in Turkey: an old habit or a new trend?

11.02.2021

Johan Heymans

Turkey has a long history of state-sponsored abductions and enforced disappearances, particularly in the 1980s and 1990s. At the beginning of this century, this grim trend seemed to be running...

Article

The earth system, hydrosphere, and outer space: Cosmo-legal approaches

09.02.2021

Elena Cirkovic

The law is an example of human design, which has imposed anthropocentric interests on everything considered non-human. With the example of the relationship between law, orbital space, and water, the...

Article

“We contributed to the respect for international law and the peaceful resolution of international conflicts”

08.02.2021

Julian A. Hettihewa Ina Heusgen

Last month, Germany’s two-year non-permanent membership in the Security Council of the United Nations ended (see here for Hannah Birkenkötter’s blog post). We seize this opportunity to reflect with Ina...

Interview
Article

„Wir haben in diesem Gremium zur Einhaltung des internationalen Rechts und zur friedlichen Konfliktlösung beigetragen“

08.02.2021

Julian A. Hettihewa Ina Heusgen

Im vergangenen Monat endete die nicht-ständige Mitgliedschaft Deutschlands im Sicherheitsrat der Vereinten Nationen (siehe hierzu bereits den Beitrag von Hannah Birkenkötter). Wir nehmen dies zum Anlass, um mit Dr. Ina...

Article

The Facebook Oversight Board and its Trump test

04.02.2021

Rishi Gulati

Facebook exercises extraordinary power over individuals in the digital world, and the grave consequences of what is said on Facebook can easily spill into the physical world too. There is...

Article

Informed dissent or misinformed rebellion? Making sense of India’s farmer protests

04.02.2021

Lys Kulamadayil

“We are food: we eat food, we are made of food, and our first identity, our first wealth, our first health, comes from the making, creating, giving of good food.”...

Article

Von Felsen und Fischen – Zur Frage der Fischereirechte um Rockall

02.02.2021

Nele Matz-Lück

Bei der steinigen 624 m² großen Erhebung, die 162 Seemeilen in westlicher Richtung entfernt vom nördlichen Teil des Vereinigten Königreichs aus dem Nord-Ost-Atlantik ragt und die unter der Bezeichnung „Rockall“...

Article

The Hague District Court on travel restrictions: A test for international human rights law?

29.01.2021

Rutsel Silvestre J Martha Kit De Vriese

On 31 December 2020, The Hague District Court issued its summary judgment in De Lugt v The Dutch Government, closing a tumultuous year which had started with the first confirmed...

Article

Enforced disappearances in Syria and the Al Khatib trial in Germany

27.01.2021

Lina Schmitz-Buhl

More than 100,000 Syrians have been subjected to enforced disappearances since 2011, when Syria descended into a civil war. The Syrian regime, operating through its four Intelligence Services, has used...

Article

The Judgement of Solomon that went wrong: Georgia v. Russia (II) by the European Court of Human Rights

26.01.2021

Kanstantsin Dzehtsiarou

On 21 January 2021, the European Court of Human Rights (the Court or ECtHR) delivered its long-awaited judgment in the inter-state case Georgia v. Russia (II). This case concerns the...

Article

Taking stock: A review of Germany’s two years on the Security Council

25.01.2021

Hannah Birkenkötter

Germany’s two-year membership in the UN Security Council ended on 31 December 2020. Starting with big expectations, it hit the hard realities of increasingly divisive world politics in times of...

Article

Withdrawing from the ‚Withdrawal Doctrine‘

21.01.2021

Sabrina Schäfer

Shortly after his election, President Joe Biden announced a number of issues he would tackle during his first days in office. Amongst others, this included reversing the effects of what...

Article

South Korea’s Denial of Japan’s Immunity for International Crimes

18.01.2021

Daniel Franchini

The issue of sexual enslavement of Korean women during Japan’s colonial rule of the Korean peninsula from 1910 to 1945 has been called ‘the most emotional historical dispute’ between South...

Article

Chaos averted or executive overreach?

15.01.2021

Jan Philipp Cludius

No “No-Deal Brexit”! On Christmas Eve 2020, a continent breathes a sigh of relief. The EU and the UK adopt the “EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement” (TCA) to resolve years...

Article

Universal jurisdiction without universal outreach?

13.01.2021

Alexander Dünkelsbühler Alexander Suttor Lea Borger

Creating a framework for the prosecution of international crimes under universal jurisdiction is clearly worthwhile. But as the intervention by the German Constitutional Court (BVerfG) in the Syrian war crimes...

Article

One man’s martyr is another man’s malignant nuclear missile designer

22.12.2020

Henning Büttner

‘Remember that name, Fakhrizadeh’, said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in 2018. On 27 November 2020, the world remembered. Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, a man who Israel and the United States have...

Article

The Energy Charter Treaty and its (in)compatibility with EU law

17.12.2020

Johannes Tropper

Belgium is on the move again. After having submitted a request to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) for an opinion on the compatibility of the Comprehensive...

Article

The M/V Roseline A incident

09.12.2020

Christopher Janz

On 22 November 2020, roughly 200 kilometres off the coast of Libya, the Turkish-flagged cargo ship M/V Roseline A was intercepted by the German naval frigate Hamburg. Soldiers boarded the...

Article

Saying Yes to development projects

07.12.2020

Ricarda Rösch

When a UN agency asked a rural community in Liberia about their development priorities after the civil war, the community asked for music instruments. Failing to understand the economic and...

Article

One step forward – three steps back: why the hellfire from Ramstein may continue after all

01.12.2020

Karoline Dołgowski

Maybe it is the time of the year that Ramstein Air Base looks even greyer and gloomier than usual in the cold November twilight, maybe it is the bitter thought...

Article

Guidance at a critical moment – thoughts on CERD’s General Recommendation on racial profiling by law enforcement officials

28.11.2020

David Keane

The term “racial profiling” is not found in the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD), but practices of racial profiling have long been of...

Article

Jurisdiction – who speaks international law?

26.11.2020

Julian A. Hettihewa

As it is the case with many productions, only a small fraction of the work is visible to the public. As organisers of next year’s international conference “Jurisdiction – who...

Article

Between fiction and reality: rights of nature in German television and before the ICJ

23.11.2020

Jasper Mührel

Last week, the German public free-TV channel ARD broadcast the film "Ökozid" ("ecocide"), commissioned by ARD and produced by the independent production company zero one film, set in 2034, in...

Article

Expanding the restricted realm of international trade law to animal welfare

19.11.2020

Deeksha Sharma Tushar Behl

Can products be banned for animal welfare? Intensive and unsustainable farming disregards animal welfare and represents a critical risk to both animals and humans. This article shows the relevance of...

Article

Another brick in the wall?

17.11.2020

Alina Funk

Following several military operations by the Kingdom of Morocco, the Polisario Front is no longer committed to the 1991 ceasefire agreement. This marks the end to an almost thirty-year-absence of...

Article

COVID-19, people, and other animals

12.11.2020

Katharina Braun

The ongoing pandemic has put a spotlight on the interface between the health of humans, animals, and the environment. COVID-19 is a zoonosis: a disease that is naturally transmissible from...

Article

Sorry, Elon: Mars is not a legal vacuum – and it’s not yours, either

05.11.2020

Cristian van Eijk

On October 28th, Elon Musk’s company SpaceX published its Terms of Service for the beta test of its Starlink broadband megaconstellation. If successful, the project purports to offer internet connection...

Article

Democracy in Latin America under COVID-19

28.10.2020

Mariela Morales Antoniazzi Alina Maria Ripplinger

Just like all over the world, Latin America’s current state of emergency concerns saving the health, integrity and lives of people. Nevertheless, in the context of COVID-19 the region is...

Article

Three years after the Rohingya genocide in Myanmar: Has the ASEAN changed?

26.10.2020

Dominique Virgil Tuapetel

August 2020 marked the three-year commemoration of mass atrocities towards the Rohingya minority in Myanmar, causing around 730,000 Rohingya to flee to the neighbouring Bangladesh and other countries. This post...

Article

Bridging the gap: the MPIA as a valuable short-term solution to the impasse of the WTO’s Appellate Body?

12.10.2020

Caroline Glöckle

“At the core of a well-functioning multilateral trading system is an effective dispute resolution mechanism”, emphasized Appellate Body Member Peter Van den Bossche in his farewell speech. Reality in the...

Article

Thou shalt not ‘break international law in a very specific and limited way’

15.09.2020

Stefan Talmon

On 9 January 2020, the House of Commons – one part of the British Parliament – passed the European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Act 2020, which enabled the United Kingdom (UK)...

Article

The Aegean Sea dispute on the edge of escalating

09.09.2020

Marianthi Pappa

The feud between Greece and Turkey in the Aegean Sea counts several decades but has lately sparked international concerns about the region’s peace and stability. On 27 November 2019, the...

Article

Invitation to sign: Note on the United States’ Claim to activate the snapback mechanism under Security Council Resolution 2231

03.09.2020

Pierre-Emmanuel Dupont

On 20 August 2020, the United States attempted to launch the mechanism often referred to as the ‘snapback’ mechanism provided for by the Iran nuclear agreement, the a (JCPOA) of...

Article

Creeping diversion from secularism in Turkey

24.08.2020

Arınç Onat Kılıç

On 10 July 2020, the Turkish government published its decision to re-transform the Hagia Sophia into a mosque in accordance with the decision of the highest administrative court. Since then,...

Article

Violating international law through onerous procedural law

18.08.2020

Brian D. Lepard

On June 15, 2020, the United States Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, and the Department of Justice Executive Office for Immigration Review issued proposed regulations that...

Article

A turn to youth in international law?

17.08.2020

Julian A. Hettihewa

And they did it again. On 14 July 2020, the UN Security Council voted unanimously in favour of Resolution 2523. The resolution, being the third of its kind, focuses on...

Article

The complacency of constitutional courts: India’s Supreme Court and the Citizenship Amendment Act

12.08.2020

Medha Srivastava

It is a common assumption that Constitutional courts in a democracy perform the role of protecting citizens’ rights against arbitrary use of government power. This is an important limb of...

Article

How is COVID-19 affecting Amazonia?

10.08.2020

Maria Antonia Tigre

COVID-19 has spread throughout the world as a health crisis with deep socio-economic consequences. While the focus of the effects of COVID-19 often lie in urban centers, Indigenous people have...

Article

“Stop quarantine, start war”

06.08.2020

Julia Emtseva

National clashes between Armenians and Azerbaijanis have recently taken over media headlines again. In the ECHR’s Chamber judgment on the Makuchyan and Minasyan v. Azerbaijan and Hungary case of 25...

Article

A bridge too far: Polish-Czech border incident

05.08.2020

Agata Kleczkowska Martin Faix

On 28 May 2020, when the Polish and Czech borders were closed due to the pandemic, two Polish soldiers, assigned to assist the Polish Border Guard, decided to relocate their...

Article

Orbit tax – mitigating space debris or aggravating economic disparity?

03.08.2020

Urvisha Kesharwani Atika Chaturvedi

Since the launch of Russian satellite Sputnik-1 in 1957, the space industry has never looked back. Currently, there are about 20,000 satellites orbiting the earth, and with the private players...

Article

Ungleichheit ist die wahre Pandemie

29.07.2020

Alejandra Ancheita

Die aktuelle, durch COVID-19 verursachte globale Krise hat nicht nur die Schwäche des hegemonialen globalen Wirtschaftsmodells, sondern auch die dringende Notwendigkeit aufgezeigt, die Verteidigung der Menschenrechte aus einer transnationalen Perspektive...

Article

Inequality is the real pandemic

27.07.2020

Alejandra Ancheita

The current global crisis caused by COVID-19 has highlighted not only the weakness of the hegemonic global economic model, but also the dire need to rethink the defense of human...

Article

Incidental jurisdiction in the award in “The ‘Enrica Lexie’ Incident (Italy v. India)” – Part II

24.07.2020

Valentin J. Schatz

After having addressed the existence, requirements and limits of incidental jurisdiction of UNCLOS tribunals under Article 288(1) UNCLOS in the first post, this post turns to the approach taken by the...

Article

Incidental jurisdiction in the award in “The ‘Enrica Lexie’ Incident (Italy v. India)” – Part I

23.07.2020

Valentin J. Schatz

On 21 May 2020 the arbitral tribunal constituted under Annex VII of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) in the The ‘Enrica Lexie’ Incident (Italy v....

Article

An Islamic legal scholar as judge at the ICC: In conformity with Islamic law?

22.07.2020

Fajri Matahati Muhammadin

On 6 July 2020, Juliette Rémond Tiedrez wrote a fantastic article on Völkerrechtsblog titled Time for an Islamic legal scholar at the ICC? She suggested that there should be an...

Article

Turning Hagia Sophia into a mosque (again)

21.07.2020

Lando Kirchmair

The announcement by Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to change the status of Hagia Sophia and to turn it into a Mosque last Friday, 10 July 2020, has provoked a worldwide outcry....

Article

Die türkischen Operationen Claw-Eagle und Claw-Tiger im Irak – Zeit für Widerspruch!

20.07.2020

Martin Hock

Militärische Interventionen des türkischen Militärs in die kurdisch bewohnten Gebiete des Iraks haben eine erschreckende Regelmäßigkeit angenommen. Am 14. Juni dieses Jahres begann – unterstützt durch iranische Artillerie am 16....

Article

Collective punishment in the Indian-administered Kashmir

15.07.2020

Adhil Saifudheen

On 19th May 2020, Indian security forces destroyed at least fifteen houses during a military operation against two separatist militants in Kashmir. This destruction of houses is merely a part...

Article

The governance of disease outbreaks in international health law

14.07.2020

Pedro Villarreal Leonie Vierck Katarina Weilert

In the first part of this two-part post, we broadly addressed the legal framework provided by the International Health Regulations (IHR), a binding legal instrument within the aegis of the...

Article

The governance of disease outbreaks in international health law

13.07.2020

Pedro Villarreal Leonie Vierck Katarina Weilert

A deadly virus starts spreading in several communities. Reports are issued warning of the potential fallout if no action is taken. Yet both national authorities, as well as the WHO,...

Article

Swapping livelihood with electricity

09.07.2020

Amogh Sharma

Guinea’s Souapiti dam which is slated to start functioning in September 2020, is seen as a systematic means to provide urgent electricity access to the country. The construction of the...

Article

Time for an Islamic legal scholar at the ICC?

06.07.2020

Juliette Rémond Tiedrez

2020 will be a busy year for the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) Assembly of State Parties (ASP) as three elections are coming up in December: The elections of six judges,...

Article

A crisis (not) averted

22.06.2020

Sana Ahmad

The COVID-19 led humanitarian crisis in India has resulted in, what journalist P. Sainath calls, ‘the discovery of its migrant workforce’. The number of internal migrants in India is estimated...

Article

Robert Koch, research and experiment in the colonial space

10.06.2020

Thamil Ananthavinayagan

German colonialism is an inherent part of both German and global history, yet largely neglected and transcended into the vast depths of oblivion. As Jutta Blume wrote recently in an...

Article

“Play it once, Sam. For old times’ sake”

09.06.2020

Rachel Behring

The parallelism of different international proceedings examining atrocity crimes committed against the Rohingya in Myanmar has been welcomed by many commentators. Indeed, international law (IL) appears to be showing its...