Crimes Against Humanity

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A Third Category of Enforced Disappearance? The Committee on Enforced Disappearances’ Article 34 Resolution on Mexico

July 31, 2026

In April 2026, the Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED) adopted a resolution under Article 34 of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance (hereinafter “the Convention”) and urgently brought the matter before the UN General Assembly.  Article 34 empowers the CED to bring a situation to the attention of the UN General Assembly when it receives well-founded indications that enforced disappearance is being practised on a widespread or systematic basis.  A significant aspect of the Resolution is the Committee’s application of what may be described as a third scenario of enforced disappearance: disappearances committed solely by non-State actors as crimes against humanity under Article 5. Although previously recognized by the CED, the Mexico Resolution assessed this scenario in practice for the first time and within the exceptional Article 34 procedure. Mexico rejected this interpretation, arguing that Article 34 is limited to enforced disappearances involving direct or indirect State participation under Article 2.

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A peace treaty for Ukraine: Mini-symposium on international legal issues

July 10, 2026

In the four years since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, the prospects of a negotiated peace settlement have waxed but mostly waned. But the possibility of an agreement has been an ongoing focus for international lawyers. This is primarily because Russia has demanded territorial concessions from Ukraine that appear at odds with…

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Two(ish) Weeks in Review: 6 April—1 May 2026

May 3, 2026

In a slightly extended version of Two Weeks in Review, we take in fundamental questions about what happens when law and lawyers seek or refuse to justify illegal actions, “relocation orders” issued by Israel in Gaza and Lebanon, the closing of the Strait of Hormuz, Australian soldiers and Belgian consular officials in domestic courts for international crimes, the…

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Analysing Objections to the UN Declaration on the Trafficking of Enslaved Africans

April 28, 2026

On 25 March 2026, the UN General Assembly (UNGA) adopted Resolution A/80/L.48 titled “Declaration on the Trafficking of Enslaved Africans and Racialised Chattel Enslavement of Africans as the Gravest Crime Against Humanity”. 123 UN member states voted in favour, 3 (the United States, Israel, and Argentina) voted against, and 52 abstained. The abstaining states included all…

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Challenging Times Ahead: Australia’s War Crimes Prosecutions

April 27, 2026

On Tuesday, 7 April 2026, Australia’s most decorated living soldier, Ben Roberts-Smith, was arrested and charged with five counts of the war crime of murder. He is the second soldier charged following Australia’s Brereton Inquiry, which, in November 2020, found credible information of 23 incidents of unlawful killing and two incidents of cruel treatment by Australian…

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