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Twitter as Enforcer of the Geneva Conventions

April 6, 2022

Marko Milanovic

Yesterday Twitter announced a change in its content moderation policies regarding the war in Ukraine. In response to the widespread dissemination of videos and images on the platform of Russian prisoners of war in Ukraine – a reasonably straightforward violation of Article 13(2) of Geneva Convention III, which prohibits exposing PoWs to public curiosity – Twitter adopted the following policy: In the development and enforcement of our rules, we remain focused on enabling public conversation, and protecting the safety of people both online and offline. We are guided by international humanitarian law, specifically Article 13 of Geneva Convention III (on protecting prisoners of war (PoWs) from any physical or psychological abuse or threat thereof, and encompasses a prohibition on humiliating them) and do not want Twitter to be used by state actors to infringe this law. Our work to protect the conversation is informed by consultation with a wide range of trusted partners, including international human rights organizations, to ensure our…

The EU Ban of RT and Sputnik: Concerns Regarding Freedom of Expression

March 30, 2022

Igor Popović

On 2 March, the EU imposed sanctions against RT and Sputnik (Russian state-owned media outlets) because ‘RT and Sputnik are essential and instrumental in bringing forward and supporting Russia’s aggression against Ukraine’ In this essay, I wish to discuss whether the ban of these outlets in the EU is…

The Legal Death of Free Speech in Russia

March 8, 2022

Marko Milanovic

‘[W]hat made me particularly happy was to see that the Committee’s decision [to award him the Nobel Peace Prize] stressed the link between defense of peace and defense of human rights, emphasising that the defense of human rights guarantees a solid ground for genuine long-term international cooperation. … Granting the award to a person who defends political…

Tackling Football-Related Online Hate Speech: The Role of International Human Rights Law: Part II

July 30, 2021

Talita de Souza Dias

Sahil Thapa

Part II: The UK’s response to football-related online hate speech In the first part of this post, we argued that the various expressions of online racial hatred directed at England’s black football players following the country’s defeat in the recent European Championship final, as well as earlier instances of football-related online racial abuse, fall under…

Tackling Football-Related Online Hate Speech: The Role of International Human Rights Law: Part I

July 30, 2021

Talita de Souza Dias

Sahil Thapa

Part I – A pattern of online racist speech Introduction When Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka missed crucial penalties to seal England’s defeat to Italy in the final of the European Championships, a dread began to consume many football fans as well as less enthusiastic observers. This dread was much darker than…

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In the Dock, in Paris

January 25, 2011

Joseph Weiler

My entire professional life has been in the law, but nothing had prepared me for this. I have been a tenured faculty member at the finest institutions, most recently Harvard and NYU. I have held visiting appointments from Florence to Singapore, from Melbourne to Jerusalem. I have acted as legal counsel to governments on four continents, handled cases…

In the Dock, in Paris – The Judgment

March 4, 2011

Joseph Weiler

UPDATE: The full text of the Judgment is now available below; some minor technical issues were fixed. UPDATE 2: An unofficial translation of the Judgment into English is now available here. On March 3, 2011, the Tribunal de Grand Instance de Paris issued its decision in the Criminal Libel Case brought against…

The Dissent in Bayev and Others v. Russia: A Window into an Illiberal World View

July 7, 2017

Gabriel Armas- Cardona

A previous post discussed the majority opinion in Bayev and Others v. Russia, where the ECtHR found that Russia’s anti-gay propaganda law violated the European Convention on Human Rights. I want to focus on the dissent. While the majority is important for its legal impact, the dissent is important for the window it provides into a non-Western…

Can a Peaceful Protest Ever be Banned Because Others Threaten It with Violence?

August 26, 2020

Marko Milanovic

What do you think, dear readers, that the answer to the question above should be under international human rights law? Any comments would be very much appreciated. To start us off, let me write out a hypo; imagine we are in happier times before (or after) Covid: Krakatowia is a country in which LGBT rights…