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The ICJ’s Unwritten Rulebook: Regional Succession and Institutional Equilibrium

For almost eighty years, United Nations Member States have behaved as if a mandate required them to maintain regional continuity in elections to the International Court of Justice. Yet, the Court's Statute contains no such rule. Article 9 requires only that the Court, taken as a whole, represent “the principal legal systems and civilizations of the world”; it allocates no seats among regions, establishes no geographic quotas, and nowhere requires that a departing judge be succeeded by a candidate from the same regional group. The practice has nonetheless persisted, unchanged, across dramatically different geopolitical conditions.

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The ICC, Arrest Warrants, and Peace Negotiations

Introduction On 9 June 2026, Pre-Trial Chamber II of the International Criminal Court issued a decision in response to a request by a State for consultations under Article 97 of the Rome Statute. Article 97 provides an avenue for State Parties to consult the Court where it ‘identifies problems which may impede or prevent…

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Towards a Fit-for-Purpose International Drug Control System

The Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) is the United Nations commission with primary responsibility for the application of the three drug conventions. At its 68th session in 2025, it adopted Resolution 68/6 on the establishment of an independent expert panel to review the implementation of those…

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

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…

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Red lines in a grey zone: the validity of a Russia-Ukraine peace treaty under international law

While peace still appears remote, the prospect of a negotiated end to the war in Ukraine raises difficult questions concerning the international law governing inter-state peace treaties. The unlawfulness of Russia’s use of force and the peace plans proposed to date point to issues of validity, particularly under Articles 46, 52 and 53 of the Vienna Convention…

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