June 14, 2021

Dr. Haim Abraham

The last round of belligerency between Hamas and Israel claimed a significant toll from civilians, with many arguing that some of the more devastating activities conducted by the IDF were in breach of the laws of war (for example, here, here, and here). Just days…

May 31, 2021

Jan Eiken

After its decision on jurisdiction of December 2019 with regard to the inter-State communication brought by Palestine against Israel (CERD/C/100/5) under Art. 11 (1) Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD), the CERD Committee now declared said communication admissible. In this remarkable…

May 19, 2021

Itamar Mann

According to numbers The Guardian published on May 17, 2021, the current Israeli attack on Gaza has killed 200 Palestinians, including 59 children. 34,000 have been displaced from their homes. It is hard to assess the accuracy of these numbers. Very likely, the death toll…

June 11, 2021

Emma O'Brien

Global momentum is growing for a collective meaningful effort to be made to tackle the increasing urgency of the climate emergency. In corporate boardrooms, shifting business priorities can be seen in recent shareholder action at ExxonMobil, Chevron and Total.

June 8, 2021

Jelena Bäumler

In a decision published on 29 April 2021, the German Federal Constitutional Court joined other Courts around the world in their criticism of governments for failing to take efficient measures against climate change. The Court ruled that Germany’s Climate Protection Act of December 2019 is not sufficient to…

May 5, 2021

Maximilian Bertamini

Thinking aloud When it comes to climate change, there is a disparity between causers of effects and the ones having to endure them. Virtually all states and many large businesses contribute to climate change, whereas the resulting damage does not affect everybody equally and at the…

June 2, 2021

Dapo Akande Antonio Coco Talita de Souza Dias Duncan Hollis James O'Brien Tsvetelina van Benthem

The Internet has allowed the dissemination of content across the globe in a matter of seconds. Recommendation algorithms, found in social media platforms and search engines, have also dangerously amplified the reach of false, misleading, and violent content (see here, here, and…

March 9, 2021

Tilman Rodenhäuser Kubo Mačák

In today’s digitalizing world, States and non-State armed groups increasingly employ cyber capabilities in their military operations, and their use is likely to grow. Still, there is a debate – most prominently in the framework of the two multilateral processes under the auspices of the United Nations –…

February 23, 2021

Robin Geiß Henning Lahmann

Adversarial military cyber operations carried out during armed conflict can affect the functioning of civilian societies in unprecedented ways, challenging the protective reach of international humanitarian law (IHL). In light of this, we argue for a recognition of new protection needs to shield critical societal processes from military…

June 1, 2021

Callum Musto

On 11 May the chair of the World Trade Organization (WTO)’s fisheries subsidies negotiations released a draft text designed to spur the final stage of negotiations toward final agreement. Talks on fisheries subsidies have been on the WTO’s ledger since 2001 and have been conducted in earnest since…

February 17, 2021

Anthea Roberts Taylor St John

To text or not to text? That is the question. Or, rather, that was the question at UNCITRAL when Working Group III resumed its deliberations online last week. The Working Group’s focus was structural reforms, first selection and appointment of permanent or fixed-term adjudicators, then an appellate mechanism.

February 9, 2021

Mark Konstantinidis

On December 30, the European Commission announced that the European Union and China had reached an agreement in principle on investment, nearly seven years after negotiations began. This was met with shock, if not fury— and that was even before the agreement was published. Those hoping for…

June 16, 2021

Alexandra Hofer

As already commented upon on various occasions on EJIL Talk!, on 5 June 2017 Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain and Egypt (the ‘quartet’) severed economic and diplomatic ties with Qatar, which included airspace restrictions, maritime restrictions, and travel bans on Qatari nationals. Four years later,…

June 14, 2021

Dr. Haim Abraham

The last round of belligerency between Hamas and Israel claimed a significant toll from civilians, with many arguing that some of the more devastating activities conducted by the IDF were in breach of the laws of war (for example, here, here, and here). Just days…

June 13, 2021

Mary Guest

1. ECHR Protocol 15 – Brighton Revisited Lecture. On Monday 14 June at 6pm BST, the Convenors of the Essex Public International Law Lecture Series (Dr Meagan Wong and Dr Emily Jones) are hosting a lecture by Judge Erik Wennerström, European Court of Human Rights,…