International Court of Justice

On 19 March, the ICJ delivered a judgment allowing Guatemala to intervene as a non-party in Sovereignty over the Sapodilla Cayes/Cayos Zapotillos (Belize v. Honduras). In this case, Belize is seeking a declaration that, as opposed to Honduras, it “is sovereign over the Sapodilla Cayes”, a number of islands off the shores of Belize, Guatemala, and Honduras…

In the immediate aftermath of the Russian invasion on 24 February 2022, Ukraine and its allies turned to international adjudication with remarkable speed and intensity. This early legal mobilisation enabled Ukraine to seize the legal narrative surrounding the conflict, ‘using its smart-power assets in a case where there’s a hard-power disadvantage and the rule of law is…

“You know, because a boat landed there 500 years ago and then left, that doesn’t give you title.” So said the American President upon departing for Davos. It should come as no surprise that Donald Trump challenges Denmark’s title to Greenland. A favorite tactic of real estate magnates is to strip the owner’s title to property they…

On 5 December 2025, the ICJ delivered its order on the admissibility of Russia’s counter-claims in the Ukraine v. Russia genocide case. It is now the second decision by the Court in this unusual ‘reverse genocide case’ (see, on this blog, Raju, Milanovic, Weller) brought by Ukraine in which Ukraine has arguably suffered a setback,…