Security Council

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Might or Right? The Prospect of an ICJ Advisory Opinion on the Security Council Veto

December 30, 2025

The United Nations Security Council (“SC”) veto has once again become a focal point of debate. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and paralysis over the situation in Gaza have revived a familiar concern: the SC’s primary responsibility for maintaining international peace and security appears ill served when one permanent member (“P5”) can unilaterally block even minimal action in response to mass atrocity crimes. For decades, discussions about constraining the veto remained largely theoretical. This has shifted. In April 2022, the General Assembly (“GA”) adopted Resolution 76/262 (the “Veto Initiative”), which requires the GA to meet after a veto has been cast in the SC. Although this does not affect P5 powers, it reinforces the idea that veto use must be justified. Since then, the debate has intensified. Notably, in a speech before the GA, Slovenia called for the Assembly to seek an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice (“ICJ”) “on the legal limitations to casting a veto in [concerning] situations involving widespread atrocity crimes such as genocide and crimes against humanity…

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EJIL: The Podcast! Episode 40: Palestinian Legal Frontiers: SC Res 2803 and beyond

December 23, 2025

Palestine and the Palestinians are often the subjects of conversations in the news, on blogs and in judicial opinions, but not present in conversations themselves. The issues are treated episodically in connection with dramatic events or judicial processes or UN resolutions, and these can entrench an atomization of attention into the atrocities committed in the Israeli-occupied territories of…

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The Corporate Identity of UNSC Resolution 2803: Trump’s Gaza Plan as a Business Strategy on New Cities Construction

December 5, 2025

Building on the excellent post by Michelle Burgis-Kasthala on UNSC Resolution 2803 and President Donald Trump’s Comprehensive Plan to End the Gaza Conflict, annexed to this “deeply problematic Resolution”, we would like to explore here the background and context of the physical reconstruction proposals for Gaza contained in this Plan. Burgis-Kasthala rightly mentions that these plans…

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UNSC Resolution 2803

November 28, 2025

On 17 November, the UNSC by 13 votes passed an historic and deeply problematic Resolution relating to the future governance of Gaza. While China and Russia had expressed doubts and Russia had circulated an alternative draft in the run up to the vote, a flurry of US lobbying of non-member regional allies persuaded these two…

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Abstaining from Abstention: UNSC Resolution 2774 (2025) and Obligatory Abstention under Article 27(3) of the UN Charter

November 18, 2025

UN Security Council resolution 2774 (2025) was a long-awaited resolution on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, as non-procedural draft resolutions had been vetoed by Russia since the invasion. However, its content is very simple: it has only two preambular paragraphs and one operative paragraph, which urges a ‘lasting peace’ between Ukraine and Russia. Moreover, the vote was divided:…

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