Sources of International Law

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Magnifica Humanitas and the International Legal Technocratic Imagination

July 6, 2026

Gustavo Leite Neves da Luz

Pope Leo XIV's first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, is not a source of international law. It creates no treaty obligations, modifies no customary rules, and settles no legal status for artificial intelligence. However, its relevance lies not only in the fact that it exposes a difficulty that international AI governance has not fully confronted, but also in the fact that it reframes the legal question. It asks whether AI governance is becoming a law of managed technological expansion rather than a law capable of limiting, distributing and directing technological power. The encyclical belongs to the tradition of Catholic Social Doctrine. In that sense, it is an exercise of papal magisterium: authoritative theological and moral teaching for Catholics, but not a legal instrument for international lawyers. Its argument is built around the res novae of the present, especially digitalisation, artificial intelligence and robotics. It does not treat technology as evil in itself. The point is sharper: technology is never neutral, because it takes on the characteristics of those who design, finance, regulate and…

Genocide Modelling as Ladder and Ceiling: Ecocide and the Limits of the Rome Statute

June 15, 2026

Emma Bertipaglia

When Arthur Galston coined the term 'ecocide' in 1970, the choice to model it on 'genocide' was deliberate; the etymological echo was designed to generate political leverage and signal the gravity of environmental destruction caused by the US’ Operation Ranch Hand in Vietnam. The same analogy that gave ecocide its political traction has also constrained…

A Framework for the Weight of Treaty Body Output: The ICJ’s Right to Strike Advisory Opinion

June 8, 2026

Marius Emberland

On 21 May 2026, the International Court of Justice delivered its advisory opinion on the right to strike under ILO Convention No. 87, holding by ten votes to four that the right is protected by that instrument. The Opinion clarifies a long-running issue between workers’ and employers’ groups. But it is also significant as a methodological…

When Advice Should Have Turned Binding: A Missed Opportunity

June 1, 2026

Pranay Lekhi

On 21 May 2026, the International Court of Justice gave its advisory opinion on the Right to Strike under ILO Convention No. 87. By ten votes to four, the Court concluded that the right to strike of workers and their organisations is protected under ILO Convention No. 87 – one of the ILO’s eight “fundamental” Conventions. …

Treaty Interpretation in the ICJ’s Opinion on the Right to Strike

May 28, 2026

Julian Arato

Justina Uriburu

On 21 May 2026, the International Court of Justice delivered its advisory opinion on the Right to Strike under ILO Convention No. 87. The question before the Court was whether the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (Convention No. 87) protects…

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