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

June 8, 2026

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 case. The Court majority concludes that the ordinary meaning of the terms of the treaty, read in good faith, in the context, and in light of the object and purpose of the treaty indicates that ILO Convention No. 87’s freedom of association provision encompasses the right to strike. Participants throughout the proceedings cited various other material to support their competing claims, including a variety of ILO treaty body output, which is in focus here. In responding to these claims, the Court majority constructs a framework for situating pronouncements of the ILO treaty supervisory bodies in the landscape of Article 31(3) and Article 32 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties. The Court’s approach will likely…

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We Need A Global War Powers Resolution

May 28, 2026

The times has come to do something about the scourge of war. It is shocking that, in the twenty-first century, the interacting of the minds of two men could cause a world war affecting all human beings everywhere. Despite the notoriously impulsive nature of their personalities, much analysed by commentators, these two men could have known…

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From Opinion to Action: The General Assembly Votes to Operationalize the ICJ’s Climate Advisory Opinion

May 22, 2026

On 20 May 2026, the United Nations General Assembly adopted resolution A/80/L.65 welcoming the Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on the Obligations of States in Respect of Climate Change. The draft, tabled by Vanuatu and a cross-regional Core Group attracted 90 co-sponsors and was adopted by a recorded vote of 141…

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From Option to Methodology: The ILC’s Missed Opportunity on Judicial Precedent

May 21, 2026

The International Law Commission (ILC), during its seventy-sixth session in May 2025, provisionally adopted the first-reading draft conclusions on Subsidiary means for the determination of rules of international law. Among these, Draft Conclusion 6 [7] addresses the use of judicial decisions, provisionally stating: Draft conclusion 6 [7] Absence of legally binding precedent…

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Time, Form, and Coalitions: Reflections on the 53rd Session of UNCITRAL Working Group III

February 13, 2026

The 53rd Session of UNCITRAL Working Group III (WGIII), held in mid-January 2026 in New York, marked another modest but revealing step in the long road toward reforming investor–State dispute settlement (ISDS). The meeting delivered some progress, particularly in clarifying what kind of legal instrument(s) might eventually emerge from the cluster of partially linked reform options grouped together for discussion…

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