Flying Too Low?
24.09.2025
Artificial islands have become central flashpoints in maritime disputes, particularly in the South China Sea. Their strategic use by coastal states raises difficult questions under international law, especially regarding the...
Read more
- Symposium
- Systemic Impacts and Structural Shifts: Climate Change and the Role of the ICJ Advisory Opinion
One Climate, Many Courts
13.08.2025
On 23 July 2025, the International Court of Justice (‘ICJ’) issued its advisory opinion on the Obligations of States in respect of Climate Change, marking a significant moment in the evolving...
Read more
- Symposium
- Systemic Impacts and Structural Shifts: Climate Change and the Role of the ICJ Advisory Opinion
Climate Change Law and the Law of the Sea
07.08.2025
From among the rich pickings of the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) unanimous advisory opinion on climate change, this post focusses specifically on the relationship between international climate change law...
Read more
A New Liability Frontier?
05.08.2025
Tajra Smajic
Gustavo Leite Neves da Luz
On 24 April 2025, the United States (U.S.) White House issued an Executive Order titled “Unleashing America’s Offshore Critical Minerals and Resources” (the Executive Order) aimed at accelerating the development...
Read more
Oceans and UNCLOS – Full of Life?
21.07.2025
Lukas Herich
Katharina Thiehoff
The International Law Commission (ILC) has adopted its report of the 76th session on 30 of May 2025 and since 9 June, an advance unofficial version of the 2025 ILC Report...
Read more
A Kantian Critique of SS and Others v Italy
15.07.2025
Last month, the European Court of Human Rights unanimously dismissed an application by survivors of a Mediterranean ‘pullback’ operation. Although Italian coast guard officials were the first to receive the...
Read more
Forgotten Crisis in a World in Turmoil
15.04.2025
While many in Europe are focused on the Russo-Ukrainian War, or perhaps on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and eroding transatlantic relations, one major contemporary issue has been left out of public...
Read more
Draft Rules on Deep Seabed Mining in a Critical Phase
11.03.2025
Andreas Kaede
Niels-Juergen Seeberg-Elverfeldt
The “Regulations on Exploitation of Mineral Resources in the Area” (hereafter: “Exploitation Rules”) are currently drafted under the auspices of the International Seabed Authority (ISA). It was established by the...
Read more
Steering the Tide
17.02.2025
The 2016 ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in favor of the Philippines marked a landmark moment in the geopolitical and legal disputes over the South China Sea...
Read more
The Signing Ceremony Begins
04.10.2023
In March 2023, the treaty text of the new Treaty on Biodiversity in Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (‘the BBNJ Agreement’) was approved at the United Nations in New York, marking...
Read more
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...
Read more
