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Sovereign Darkness: Iran’s Internet Blackout and the Four-Body Problem of International Law

May 20, 2026

By 21 April 2026, Iran’s internet blackout had entered its fifty-third consecutive day, the longest nationwide internet disruption ever recorded (NetBlocks; IODA Iran shutdown report). Connectivity remained at approximately one per cent of pre-war levels. The shutdown was costing the economy an estimated $35–40 million per day in direct losses, rising to $70–80 million when indirect effects were included, with approximately one billion dollars of accumulated damage by day fifty; online sales fell by eighty per cent (NPR). Hospitals operated in an information vacuum, reporting critical shortages of blood and supplies (The Lancet). People crossed the Turkish border for internet access (NPR). Starlink terminal users faced up to ten years’ imprisonment, or execution (IranWire).

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The Court That Built the Advisory Opinion It Refused to Complete: OC-30/25 on Arms Trafficking, Corporate Immunity, and the Reach of Advisory Jurisdiction

March 26, 2026

Mexico’s effort to hold the gun industry to account has now encountered an institutional setback in San José. Its request for an advisory opinion raised six questions before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR). This post examines, against a more expansive account of OC-30/25 offered here, whether laws granting public or private arms-industry companies…

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Advancing Corporate Climate Accountability Post the Inter-American Court Advisory Opinion on Human Rights and the Climate Emergency

July 21, 2025

Introduction There is much to analyse in the landmark Advisory Opinion on Human Rights and the Climate Emergency delivered by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights last week. The establishment of a new right to stable a climate and recognition of a jus cogens obligation not to generate irreversible damage to the climate and…

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Corporate Climate Responsibility After “Milieudefensie vs. Shell” Court of Appeal Decision

December 17, 2024

Introduction. Tort Law Climate Litigation The recent decision by The Hague Court of Appeal on 12 November 2024 in the case Milieudefensie vs. Shell was eagerly awaited in both legal academia and the oil and gas industry. It overturns the path-breaking initial 2021 judgment, in which the Shell group was ordered to reduce its aggregate annual…

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South Korea’s Plan to Compensate Victims of Forced Labour Employed in Japanese Factories During Colonial Rule: A Step Forward for Peaceful Relations, but not for Victims’ Rights

May 5, 2023

On 6 March 2023, the Republic of Korea, in the person of the Minister for Foreign Affairs Park Jin, announced a plan for South Korea to compensate South Korean citizens who were forced to work in Japanese factories under Tokyo’s thirty-five-year occupation of the Korean peninsula. The plan is an attempt to settle the long-standing dispute between South…

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