In light of recent declarations of war in several countries and the severe environmental impacts that accompany armed conflicts, it is imperative to recognize the disproportionate vulnerabilities faced by women and children. Despite their significant contributions, women’s roles often go unrecognized within a predominantly masculine legal framework. This article seeks to shed light on the overlooked vulnerabilities and resilience of women, exploring the intersection of gender dynamics with environmental concerns within the legal regulation of armed conflicts. The Burden of Invisible Labour: G ..read more

Introduction The territorial conflict of over 30 years between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh escalated in the late 1980s and early 1990s after the collapse of the Soviet Union, concluding with the forcible displacement of over 120,000 ethnic Armenians from the territory in September 2023. This long-lasting conflict, also involving Russia and Türkiye, marked by four major wars and numerous documented and undocumented violations of international law, has resulted in multifaceted consequences that currently impede the establishment of peace and sustainability in the region. This b ..read more

Conflict-related sexual violence in recent times, whether in the context of Ukraine or Gaza, has captured global attention and elicited fervid reactions. The international community has staunchly opposed and condemned sexual violence in recent conflicts but only concerning sexual violence against women (see e.g., here,  here, and here). This demonstrates how the discussion of sexual violence and armed conflict, often overlooks the possibility of men being sexually violated. Male victims of sexual violence tend to remain an overlooked category especially when  ..read more

The Red Sea is in turmoil. As a result of the conflict in Gaza, the rebel group – Houthis, in support of Hamas, has started attacking commercial vessels in the Red Sea. These attacks may have a severe adverse effect on global trade. This is because Red Sea is the only route to the Suez Canal. Consequently, the Red Sea region handles about 12% if the global sea-borne trade. Hence, to safeguard this important trade-route, the United States has recently launched Operation Prosperity Guardian. In light of the current tumultuous situation, international law can play a vital role in addressing the ..read more

While jurisdictional limitations may have initially restrained the International Court of Justice (ICJ) from contributing to the development of international human rights law, it appears that its advisory function has and continues to pave the way for the further mainstreaming of human rights within its work. Pending requests for advisory opinions—including the Right to Strike under ILO Convention  No. 87, Obligations of States in respect of Climate Change, and Legal Consequences arising from the Policies and Practices of Israel in the OPT, including East Jerusalem—have signalled the inc ..read more

Introduction Within the general obligation to ensure the free and full exercise of rights recognized by the American Convention on Human Rights (ACHR) for every person under its jurisdiction, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) has condemned several states in the region for failing to provide effective judicial remedies (ACHR, Article 25) in accordance with due process (ACHR, Article 8.1) in cases of violence against women. Further, Article 7.b of the Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment, and Eradication of Violence against Women (Belem do Para Convention) spec ..read more

The ocean is progressively transforming into the last frontier to pursue ambitious climate objectives, including deploying a broad spectrum of renewable energy technologies, e.g., wind, tidal, wave, solar and thermal energy. Yet the ocean is already a crowded space, and several conflicts may accompany the development of large-scale offshore electricity infrastructure. Those conflicts may be environmental (user-environment conflicts) or competition may ensue over the use of the same space (user-user conflicts).  These trade-offs are not always evident in policy instrum ..read more

On the 19th of September 2023, Ukraine declared that it would be filing a complaint at the WTO against Slovakia, Hungary and Poland after all three states continued to impose an import ban on grain and other agricultural goods originating from Ukraine, despite the EU Commission lifting the ban. Grain and other agricultural products in transit are exempted from this ban. All three states, which are also part of the Visegrad Group, support their grain ban with the argument that an outright grain ban is necessary to protect domestic grain production – prim ..read more

Introduction The death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland has sparked many conversations on decolonization, colonial legacy, accountability, criticism of the monarchy, and more. One topic that has come up frequently, but is now, perhaps, being discussed with renewed vigour is the  acknowledgement of  harm caused by colonization and reparations that former colonial powers owe to  countries they oppressed and colonised.  Recently, countries such as Germany and Belgi ..read more

Introduction With heightened global scrutiny pertaining to environmental issues and domestic policy reforms, environment-related counterclaims have been on the rise. This rise of environment-related counterclaims in international arbitration reflects a significant shift towards the need for a fairer framework in Investor-State Dispute Settlement (“ISDS”) mechanisms. Counterclaims emerge as a promising tool within the framework of international arbitration, having far-reaching consequences as compared to a defence on the merits. They constitute an independent cause of action, which implies tha ..read more