On 23 July 2025, the ICJ delivered its advisory opinion on the Obligations of States in Respect of Climate Change. Although much of the opinion is devoted to the clarification of an extensive set of primary obligations, it also addresses certain key questions in the law of State responsibility stemming from distinctive aspects of climate change,…

As at 16 March 2020, there were nearly 165.000 confirmed cases of COVID-19, and 6.470 deaths in 146 countries or territories. The outbreak was declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern by the Director-General of the WHO on 30 January 2020 which, according to the 2005 International Health Regulations, is an ‘extraordinary event’ which,…

In our previous post, we considered whether States could rely on the plea of force majeure in respect of non-performance of international obligations connected to their efforts to contain the COVID-19. We concluded that force majeure might not provide a defence to States since their measures in addressing the spread of the virus were voluntary measures. In this…