Featured

Feature post image

The European Court’s Admissibility Decision in Ukraine and the Netherlands v Russia: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly – Part II

January 26, 2023

In the first part of this post I talked about the (many) good things about the European Court’s admissibility decision in Ukraine and the Netherlands v Russia. In particular, the conclusion that Russia controlled the separatist areas of Eastern Ukraine from 2014 up to the oral hearing in the case in 2022 and (as the Court will inevitably find) to this day is legally and factually unimpeachable. It will be applied in all future cases dealing with the Ukrainian conflict. In this good category we can also include, albeit with a bit of hesitation, the Court’s approach to the jurisdiction issue regarding the downing of the MH17. Essentially the Court found that the missile that downed the MH17 was fired from Russian-controlled territory and that the plane was hit in the airspace above Russian-controlled territory, so that the spatial model of jurisdiction could apply here as well. It is therefore clear from the ample evidence before the Court that, unlike in the case of the artillery attacks discussed above, both the…

Read more

Recent Comments

Read the full article Read the full article Read the full article Read the full article
◉ ◉ ◉ ◉

Recently Published
View All

The European Court’s Admissibility Decision in Ukraine and the Netherlands v Russia: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly – Part I

January 26, 2023

Yesterday the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights delivered its much-anticipated decision on jurisdiction and admissibility in the interstate case of Ukraine and the Netherlands v. Russia (nos 8019/16, 43800/14 and 28525/20 – decision; press release). The Court declared the applications admissible, in a clear win for the applicant…

Read more

US – Origin Marking Requirement: Did the WTO Panel Get the Balance Right between Trade Security and National Security?

January 25, 2023

On 21 December 2022, the WTO Dispute Settlement Panel ruled against the United States (US) on the product labeling requirement for all goods from Hong Kong to be marked “China” as their country of origin. This requirement came from the executive order that then US President Donald Trump signed on 14 July…

Read more

Announcements: EU-Charter of Fundamental Rights and National Fundamental Rights Conference; CfS Canadian Yearbook of International Law; Internally Displaced Persons and International Refugee Law Event; CfP Irish Yearbook of International Law; Armed Conflicts and the Environment Webinar

January 22, 2023

1. Online Conference On the Relationship Between the EU-Charter of Fundamental Rights and National Fundamental Rights. The Wilhelm Merton Center for European Integration and International Economic Order at the Goethe University Frankfurt is is hosting their Online Conference “On the Relationship between the EU-Charter of Fundamental Rights and National Fundamental Rights” on 2 February 2023. Find…

Read more

Trending Topics

Kosovo is a Country, and a Country Means a State, Rules the Court of Justice…

January 20, 2023

Kushtrim Istrefi

In September 2020, the General Court of the European Union (GCEU) examined whether the 2019 admission of Kosovo as a ‘third country’ to the EU Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC) amounted to recognition by the EU of Kosovo as an independent State.

Read more

The Weakest Link of the Troika? The Immunity of Heads of Government in Customary International…

October 27, 2021

Philippa Webb

There have been a flurry of cases in the English courts concerning foreign leaders in recent months. Permission has been granted to serve the President of Mozambique in a case involving claims challenging state guarantees of the financing for projects in Mozambique. The Fifth President of Ukraine…

Read more

A Dangerous Convergence: The Inevitability of Mass Surveillance in European Jurisprudence

June 4, 2021

Monika Zalnieriute

Recent Grand Chamber judgments in Big Brother Watch and Others v. United Kingdom and Centrum för Rättvisa v. Sweden held that some aspects of the UK’s and Sweden’s domestic surveillance regimes violated Articles 8 and 10 of the European…

Read more
View All

Polluter Doesn’t Pay: The Rockhopper v Italy Award

January 19, 2023

Toni Marzal

Last August, an ICSID tribunal handed down its much-anticipated ECT-based award in the dispute between Rockhopper, a British oil and gas company, and the Italian Republic. Rockhopper had been denied a licence to exploit an offshore oilfield, due to legislation banning oil production concessions within a certain distance…

Read more

The Forever Negotiations

December 19, 2022

Daniel Bodansky

A major question coming out of the 2015 Paris conference was whether the Paris Agreement represented a meeting of the minds and would provide a stable framework for international cooperation on climate change going forward, or whether it papered over differences and left crucial issues unresolved.  For twenty-five…

Read more

The Competence of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea in its New…

December 16, 2022

Brian McGarry Francis Chávez Aco

On the sidelines of last year’s COP26, Antigua and Barbuda and Tuvalu concluded the Agreement for the Establishment of the Commission of Small Island States on Climate Change and International Law (‘the Agreement’ establishing ‘the Commission’). The Agreement is open to signature by all 39 members of…

Read more
View All

Amending the Amendment: In Search of an Adequate Procedure for a Revision of the Jurisdictional…

January 13, 2023

Fiona Abken Paulina Rob

In the wake of Russia's aggression against Ukraine, the so far often neglected crime of aggression is receiving increased attention. While this attention is currently centred primarily on the establishment of a Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine, there is also growing support for…

Read more

ICC Investigation in Georgia: A Success Story?

January 9, 2023

Mariam Bezhanishvili

The conclusion of the investigation phase in the Situation in Georgia by the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has once again brought into the spotlight the often overlooked conflict between Georgia and Russia that took place in August 2008 over the occupied territory of…

Read more

Mitigation of Dominic Ongwen’s sentence: Gaps in the justification

January 5, 2023

John Cubbon

On 15 December 2022 the Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Court (ICC) upheld the conviction and sentence of Dominic Ongwen. Mitigation of Ongwen’s sentence because of his past as a child soldier was not the subject of any of the grounds…

Read more
View All

The Law of Immunity and the Prosecution of the Head of State of the Russian…

January 16, 2023

Miguel Lemos

The debate on how to prosecute the international crimes linked to the aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine is ongoing (for example, here, here and here). One of the most prominent aspects of the debate concerns the question of how to prosecute the persons…

Read more

One Year On – Remembering the Al-Khatib Syrian Torture Case and Reflecting on the Documentation…

January 12, 2023

Patrick Kroker Felix Lüth

One year ago, on 13 January 2022, the Higher Regional Court of Koblenz, Germany, convicted Anwar R, a senior member of the Syrian General Intelligence Service, of at least 4,000 cases of torture, the murder of 27 people and multiple cases of sexual violence as a crime…

Read more

ICC Investigation in Georgia: A Success Story?

January 9, 2023

Mariam Bezhanishvili

The conclusion of the investigation phase in the Situation in Georgia by the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has once again brought into the spotlight the often overlooked conflict between Georgia and Russia that took place in August 2008 over the occupied territory of…

Read more
View All

The Law of Immunity and the Prosecution of the Head of State of the Russian…

January 16, 2023

Miguel Lemos

The debate on how to prosecute the international crimes linked to the aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine is ongoing (for example, here, here and here). One of the most prominent aspects of the debate concerns the question of how to prosecute the persons…

Read more

Amending the Amendment: In Search of an Adequate Procedure for a Revision of the Jurisdictional…

January 13, 2023

Fiona Abken Paulina Rob

In the wake of Russia's aggression against Ukraine, the so far often neglected crime of aggression is receiving increased attention. While this attention is currently centred primarily on the establishment of a Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine, there is also growing support for…

Read more

One Year On – Remembering the Al-Khatib Syrian Torture Case and Reflecting on the Documentation…

January 12, 2023

Patrick Kroker Felix Lüth

One year ago, on 13 January 2022, the Higher Regional Court of Koblenz, Germany, convicted Anwar R, a senior member of the Syrian General Intelligence Service, of at least 4,000 cases of torture, the murder of 27 people and multiple cases of sexual violence as a crime…

Read more
View All

Trending Topics

Archives

View All

The (Non-)Judicialisation of War: German Constitutional Court Judgment on Rescue Operation Pegasus in Libya of 23 September 2015 (Part 1)

October 21, 2015

Editor’s Note: This is the first of two posts discussing the ‘Rescue Operation Pegasus’ Judgment of the German Federal Constitutional Court. In the middle of the civil war in Libya in 2011 (before the start of the UN authorised military operation), the German…

Read more

Yanukovych Confirms He Invited Russian Intervention

April 2, 2014

In an interview with AP today, the ousted Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych confirmed that he invited Russian military intervention in Ukraine. Readers will remember the Russian ambassador waiving of a letter to that effect in the Security Council, without actually making the copies of the letter available.

Read more

Holding States to Account for Gender-Based Violence: The Inter-American Court of Human Rights’ decisions in López Soto vs Venezuela and Women Victims of Sexual Torture in Atenco vs Mexico

January 21, 2019

In two recent decisions, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR) has affirmed the existing binding obligations of States to address gender-based violence against women by State and non-State actors. The López Soto vs Venezuela decision (published in November 2018) is the IACtHR’s first ruling on State…

Read more

Prolonged Occupation and Article 6(3) of the Fourth Geneva Convention: Why the International Court Got It Wrong Substantively and Procedurally

June 16, 2015

I recently gave a paper on prolonged occupation at a UN Roundtable on Legal Aspects of the Question of Palestine.  In the law of armed conflict, the notion of “prolonged occupation” is absent from the governing international instruments.  It has been little discussed…

Read more

Beyond the State: Our Shared Duties to Cooperate to Realize Human Rights during the Evolving Risks of a Global Pandemic

August 20, 2020

I was not expecting my University to land in global news reports this week (see here, here, here, and here, among others), because of its decision yesterday to temporarily move to online instruction after seeing a surge in COVID-cases barely two weeks into reopening…

Read more

Secondary Sanctions: A Weapon Out of Control? Part II: The legality of secondary sanctions under conventional law and the IMF’s tacit approval procedure for payment restrictions inspired by security concerns

September 30, 2020

The legality of so-called ‘non-UN’ or ‘autonomous’ sanctions has been amply debated in recent years. Discussion has arisen, for instance, on their compliance with the principle of non-intervention (see here), or their potential qualification as ‘third-party countermeasures’ (see e.g. here and…

Read more

Announcements
Article Image

On a weekly basis EJIL:Talk! posts a blog giving details of announcements and events that have been submitted to us. This may feature Calls for Papers, conference, workshops and other event announcements, EJIL:Talk! and EJIL related announcements, vacancies, competitions, and other relevant international law related items. In order to find out how to contribute please review details on how to contribute to the blog.

Find out more

Symposia
Article Image

In addition to blog posts, EJIL:Talk! also hosts Symposia on international law topics. These symposia might focus discussion from multiple contributors around a particular recent issue or recently published book. This has included a Symposium on the Genocide Convention, UN Global Compacts on Migration and Refugees, and Proportionality in the Conduct of Hostilities. EJIL:Talk! often co-hosts these symposia with other international law blogs or institutions.

Find out more

EJIL:Live!
Article Image

EJIL: Live! is the official podcast of the European Journal of International Law (EJIL). Launched in May 2014, EJIL: Live! podcasts are released in both video and audio formats to coincide with the publication of each quarterly issue of the Journal. Video episodes feature an in-depth discussion with one of the authors whose article appears in the issue. Audio episodes include a variety of news, reviews and interviews with the authors of articles.

Find out more

Explore

View All Topics
Brexit Climate Change Consular Relations Customary International Law Cyber Warfare Diplomatic Asylum Economic Development Extradition Global Health Human Rights International Criminal Court International Economic Law International Organisations Jurisdiction Migration Non-State Actors Peace Keeping Sanctions State Responsibility War Crimes

Explore

Brexit Climate Change Consular Relations Customary International Law Cyber Warfare Diplomatic Asylum Economic Development Extradition Global Health Human Rights International Criminal Court International Economic Law International Organisations Jurisdiction Migration Non-State Actors Peace Keeping Sanctions State Responsibility War Crimes

EJIL: Talk! Editorial Team

View All

Dapo Akande

Editor

Marko Milanovic

Editor

Diane Desierto

Editor

Devika Hovell

Editor

Tal Gross

Associate Editor

Mary Guest

Associate Editor

Gail Lythgoe

Associate Editor

Francisco-José Quintana

Associate Editor

Freya Baetens

Contributing Editor

Michael Fakhri

Contributing Editor

Douglas Guilfoyle

Contributing Editor

Monica Hakimi

Contributing Editor

Lorna McGregor

Contributing Editor

Anthea Roberts

Contributing Editor