State Responsibility

Russia does not forcibly relocate its civilians into the occupied territories of Ukraine. Instead, it relies on an array of incentives, including preferential mortgages, employment programmes and tax benefits to increase the attractiveness of relocation. This gives rise to a question under the law of occupation: when does voluntary settlement of the Occupying Power's civilian population amount to…

When the International Court of Justice (ICJ) delivered its Advisory Opinion on Obligations of States in Respect of Climate Change on 23 July 2025, commentators rightly called it a watershed for international environmental law. The Court unanimously confirmed that the customary rules of State responsibility, as reflected in many respects in the ILC’s Articles on State Responsibility…

Ceuta, a Spanish city on the North African coast with a population of approximately 80,000, experienced an unprecedented mass influx of people during the last week of July. Around 70,000 people, mostly Moroccan nationals but also persons from other countries, entered the territory irregularly. Although the precise causes remain uncertain, the immediate trigger appears to…

In August 2022, I co-authored a post on the English case of Al-Masarir v. Saudi Arabia [2022] EWHC 2199, where Knowles J held that Saudi Arabia had no immunity under Section 5 of the UK State Immunity Act 1978 (‘UK SIA’) for its use of Pegasus spyware to hack the devices of Mr Al-Masarir,…