The UK Supreme Court’s Unworkable Sex Definitions in For Women Scotland

Article

The UK Supreme Court’s Unworkable Sex Definitions in For Women Scotland

14.05.2025

Manon Beury Lena Holzer Electra Zacharias

On 16 April 2025, the UK Supreme Court decided in the case of For Women Scotland Ltd v. The Scottish Ministers that the term “woman” in the Equality Act 2010...

Article

The New European Convention for the Protection of the Profession of Lawyer

13.05.2025

Salim Amin

On March 12, 2025, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe unanimously adopted the European Convention for the Protection of the Profession of Lawyer (‘the Convention’). This instrument...

Bofaxe

From Denial to Accountability

12.05.2025

Spyridoula (Sissy) Katsoni Mariana Gkliati

A long-denied reality by the Greek authorities is now on court record. Through its judgement in A.R.E. v Greece the European Court of Human Rights (Court) has confirmed the longstanding...

Article

Will the Swiss Grandmas Travel the World?

12.05.2025

Liz Hicks Hannah Leoni Stahl Aylin Yildiz Noorda

Anticipation has run high for what some call the of the KlimaSeniorinnen ruling delivered on 9 April 2024. While it is too early to definitively assess the KlimaSeniorinnen ruling’s impact...

Article

Precaution as Obligation?

01.05.2025

Juan Auz

On March 14, 2025, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR) made public a landmark ruling holding Ecuador internationally responsible for the violation of various rights of the Tagaeri and...

Bofaxe

Are All Options Exhausted?

19.03.2025

Aylin Koymali

Following the European Parliament's resolution on the situation of Afghan women after implementation of the Virtue and Vice Law, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled on 4th October 2024...

Article

“Senator, I Can’t Give You a Yes or No Answer”

10.03.2025

Carlotta Manz

At the end of January, videos of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s confirmation hearings went viral. Kennedy – a controversial figure best known for his anti-vaccines rhetoric – was chosen by...

Symposium
Women in International Law Vol. 4

Introducing the Fourth Annual ‘Women in International Law’ Symposium

03.03.2025

Céline Chausse Rishiti Choudaha Polina Kulish Spyridoula (Sissy) Katsoni

On the occasion of International Women’s Day, celebrated annually on the 8th of March, Völkerrechtsblog hosts the 'Women in International Law' symposium. Held each year during this week, it features...

Bofaxe

Anti-Immigrant Rhetoric and Detaining the “Other”

27.02.2025

Fiza Lee-Winter Selin Altay

Not a day goes by without increasing discrimination against refugees around the world. Sometimes, this takes the form of a U.S. president making baseless claims about refugees eating other people’s...

Symposium
Rights of Nature: Obstacles and Challenges

Rights of Nature Through the History of Problematizations

26.02.2025

Nils Richterich

In 2022, the Spanish saltwater lagoon Mar Menor became the first ecosystem in Europe to be granted rights of nature. This widely celebrated success, which allows this ecosystem the “right...

Symposium
Rights of Nature: Obstacles and Challenges

A Ring of Hope

25.02.2025

Daniela Bañuelos Hinojos

The text examines the current environmental challenges threatening the cenotes within the ‘Ring of Cenotes’ natural reserve in Yucatán State, Mexico. It briefly analyzes a case involving a large-scale pig...

Symposium
Rights of Nature: Obstacles and Challenges

“Nature […] is Always Right”

25.02.2025

Camilla S. Haake

In recent years, the notion of “human interconnectedness” with the “non-human world” led to several legislative initiatives and court decisions granting legal subjectivity to nature and/or recognizing inherent “Rights of...

Symposium
Rights of Nature: Obstacles and Challenges

Revolution of Rights, Rethinking of Freedom

24.02.2025

Franca Emilia Lorber

The debate on inherent rights of nature (RoN) is no longer uncharted domain. What initially emerged as a theoretical concept in the 1970s through the work of Christopher Stone, who...

Symposium
Rights of Nature: Obstacles and Challenges

The Struggles of Rights of Nature

24.02.2025

Elena Ewering Andreas Gutmann Janina Reimann Tore Vetter

Social movements have always played a crucial role in determining the trajectory of world history. Today, all over the world, various actors of civil society demand for RoN). Ecuador’s pioneering...

#Ö: Our own News

Special Editorial: A Nation in Crisis

21.02.2025

Khaled El Mahmoud

The 19 February 2025 marks the fifth anniversary of the Hanau terror attack, a heinous act of violence perpetrated by a far-right extremist whose racist ideology culminated in the killing...

Symposium
Advanced Digital Technologies in Migration Management: Data Protection and Fundamental Rights Concerns

Advanced Digital Technologies in Migration Management

10.02.2025

Spyridoula (Sissy) Katsoni Daniela Vitiello Giulia Raimondo Sara Arapiles

As migration management systems across the globe increasingly adopt advanced digital technologies, new challenges emerge at the intersection of technological innovations, human rights, and data protection. From artificial intelligence (dataAI)...

Interview

Collective Resistance, Ancestrality and Black Women’s Power

11.12.2024

Melody Dodoo Luna Borges Muskan Tibrewala Wellington 'Dinho' Gabriel

Wellington ‘Dinho’ Gabriel is a community leader from the Quilombo Pitanga dos Palmares community in Bahia, Brazil. In October 2024, Dinho spoke at an event at the United Nations, ahead...

Article

Remaining Tensions Between the “Global Souths” and the “Global Norths”

26.11.2024

Tejas Rao Renatus Otto Franz Derler

The Convention on Biological Diversity gained increased momentum with the establishment of the 2022 Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF) which aimed to address the limitations of the Aichi Biodiversity Targets...

Interview
Symposium
Climate Change Conference COP29

Setting the Scene for COP29

11.11.2024

Margaretha Wewerinke-Singh Khaled El Mahmoud

Dear Margaretha, we would like to express our gratitude for accepting our invitation and for agreeing to this interview. We are delighted to have the opportunity to engage in discourse...

Article

The Cost of Silence

22.10.2024

Ananya Bhargava

The recent comments by the Indian Government reaffirming the marital exemptions carved out within the provisions on rape in Indian criminal law is a distressing reminder of the appalling condition...

Interview
Symposium
International Law and the Political

The Private is Political

30.09.2024

León Castellanos-Jankiewicz Hendrik Simon

Despite its enormous growth in importance over the last 20 years or so, the History of International Law as an academic sub-discipline has so far widely neglected private international law....

Bofaxe

Beyond Atrocities

17.09.2024

Shlomit Stein

Priorities in international human rights are undergoing a significant transformation as a result of the growing preoccupation with “atrocity crimes”, argued recently New York University law professor and former UN...

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What Are Human Rights Worth to Bayer?

28.07.2024

Dilara Karmen Yaman

“Respect for human rights is a task for society as a whole, for which we all – governments and companies as well as individuals – must take responsibility,” states Bayer,...

Article

Louisiana’s Castration Law

28.07.2024

Inika Dular

While Louisiana’s new castration law aims to deter sexual offences, it raises ethical and legal concerns because it infringes upon international human rights norms such as bodily autonomy and informed...

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Hello, Can You Hear Me?

07.06.2024

Julia Heuwing

In March, the former Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights (“the Commissioner”), Dunja Mijatović, published a report, following up on her visit to Germany in November 2023, where she...

Symposium
Blögiversary: Celebrating Ten Years of Völkerrechtsblog

Revisiting “The Right to Land”

01.05.2024

Robin Ramsahye

First and foremost, I would like to thank Völkerrechtsblog for allowing me to rediscover and discuss my 2016 blog post. At the time of writing, I felt it was necessary...

Article

Is the Harmonisation of IHL and IHRL Eroding?

18.03.2024

Tabriz Musayev

Editor's note: a two-part rebuttal to this piece by Mischa Gureghian Hall has been published on Völkerrechtsblog (see Part I and Part II). On 19 December 2023, the European...

Symposium
Women in International Law Vol. 3

Staining International Law

08.03.2024

Lea Barbara Kuhlmann

“Women are born with pain built in. It’s our physical destiny – period pains, sore boobs, childbirth. We carry it within ourselves throughout our lives.” Belinda in Fleabag, Series 2,...

Interview
Symposium
International Law and the Political

Against the Historiographical Hierarchization of Human Rights

12.02.2024

Steven L.B. Jensen Hendrik Simon

Social and economic rights have often been considered part of so-called ‘second-generation rights’ – falsely, as Steven L. B. Jensen argues. Instead, he calls for a new historiography of social...

Bofaxe

Every Day Counts

06.02.2024

Dilara Karmen Yaman Sabrina Seikh

Globally, approximately every seventh pregnancy worldwide results miscarriage, prompting a notable gap in legal discourse. This deficiency is exemplified by a critical issue: women in Germany who suffer a miscarriage...

Article

Children as Agents of Change

05.10.2023

Stephan Gerbig

The Committee on the Rights of the Child (Committee) has recently published its new General Comment No. 26 (GC26) on Children’s rights and the environment with a special focus on...

Bofaxe

Prohibition of Racial Discrimination is not Enough

27.09.2023

Tobias Wirthle

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...

Symposium
Progress and International Law: A Cursed Relationship?

The “Responsibility to and for Progress” in International Law

22.09.2023

Martin Schwamborn

How do we achieve a responsible approach to progress and its consequences? This old question of humankind has been given new momentum by recent advances in artificial intelligence (AI): Numerous...

Symposium
Progress and International Law: A Cursed Relationship?

Border Dialectics: Progress, Regress, and Resistance

20.09.2023

Giulia Raimondo

Received knowledge about the protection of migrants in international law tells a story of progress. A story of expanded refugee definitions, complementary protection, and extraterritorial obligations. Yet a counternarrative has...

Symposium
Progress and International Law: A Cursed Relationship?

Locating Progress in the European Convention on Human Rights

19.09.2023

Jens T. Theilen

Progress may seem to be a temporal concept. That is certainly how it is usually understood in the literature on progress and international law. Statements of progress are said, for...

Article

A Serious Humanitarian Crisis Leading to Genocide in Nagorno-Karabakh

13.09.2023

Arnold Vardanyan

It is already more than 270 days since the blockade of the Lachin Corridor, also known as the "road to life,” which connects the Nagorno-Karabakh region to Armenia and the...

Article

Iran’s Appointment as the Chair-Rapporteur of the UNHRC Social Forum

08.06.2023

Reza Khabook

On 10 May 2023, the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council (HRC) President appointed the Islamic Republic of Iran to chair the 2023 Social Forum. The upcoming Forum focuses on...

Bofaxe

God Save the King – From “Annoying” Protesters?

07.06.2023

Jona Höni Linus Bergauer

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...

Bofaxe

Trojan Horses with Emergency Lights

16.05.2023

Lisa M. Cohen

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...

Bofaxe

Trash or Treasure?

03.05.2023

Vivien Wefringhaus

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...

Article

Beyond Property Relations

19.04.2023

Gabriele Wadlig

In December 2022, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR), the supervisory body of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) adopted General Comment No....

Article

The Future of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity in Human Rights

02.03.2023

Petra Sussner

Over the last decades, the regulation of gender and sexuality has undergone major changes in Europe. From Athens to Reykjavik, same-sex unions are legal reality. States must no longer require...

Article

The Future of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity in Human Rights

09.02.2023

Jens T. Theilen

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has a long history of adjudicating cases concerning sexual orientation and gender identity. Many of those cases involved the controversial interpretive approach known...

Article

Emergency Derogation or Curtailment of Human Rights?

06.02.2023

Shiva Sharifzad Reza Khabook

Following the killing of Mahsa (Jina) Amini in the so-called "Morality Police" custody due to the alleged non-compliance with Iran's hijab regulation, mass protests erupted all over the country in...

Article

The Vocal, yet Elusive Elephant in the Room of Supply Chain Regulation

20.12.2022

Jonas Hein

Sitting at the helm of the EU Council on 1 December 2022, Jozef Síkela, the Czech Minister for Industry and Trade, seemed astonished at the result of a vote count...

Symposium
Racial Profiling in Germany

Race and Empire in International Law

14.12.2022

Anna Hankings-Evans

The prohibition of racial discrimination has played a marginal role within the global human rights agenda. This corresponds to the subordination and neglect of ‘race’ in how international legal scholars...

Symposium
Adivasi Struggles in Chhattisgarh

India Trains Its Sights on Dissent in Chhattisgarh

28.10.2022

Allison West

Development in the form of profit-driven resource exploitation ventures in India’s central state of Chhattisgarh, led by corporations and facilitated by the state, have wreaked havoc on the lives and...

Article

Behind the Curtain

17.10.2022

Paolo Passaglia

It is increasingly difficult to form social relations, to work, or to get information about the work of government or public offices without having access to information and communications technologies...

Bofaxe

Wofür kämpfen?

25.07.2022

Niklas Reetz

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...

Media
Völkerrechtspodcast

#3 Bindung an Menschenrechte im Ausland

05.03.2021

Sophie Schuberth Erik Tuchtfeld Isabel Lischewski Philipp Eschenhagen

Wie man Staaten dazu bekommt, auch für ihr Handeln jenseits ihres Territoriums Verantwortung zu übernehmen, ist ein altes Problem des Völkerrechts – umso drängender wird es, wenn dieses Handeln Menschenrechte...