The last two weeks have primarily grappled with the implications of the Chişinău Declaration, along with Israel’s continued policies concerning occupied Palestine: the establishment of ad hod military courts and its blockade of the Sumud Flotilla. Criminal proceedings in Iranian courts around the Minab school bombing raise questions about the prosecution of war crimes in…

In May 2025, the infamous “letter of the nine” was published. In it, the governments of nine European states laid out their vision of various anti-migrant policies and called for “a new and open minded [sic.] conversation about the interpretation of the European Convention on Human Rights”. The case-law of the European Court…

For decades, Israel prided itself on an ostensibly independent and professional civilian legal system, but when it came to prosecuting the accused of the October 7 attack, it chose to establish an ad-hoc military court. The Law for the Prosecution of October 7 Massacre was recently passed by an exceptional majority of the Israeli Knesset,…

1. Call for Papers: The Austrian Review of International and European Law. The Austrian Review of International and European Law (ARIEL) has issued a Call for Papers for its Volume 31 (2026) and is inviting all interested persons to submit contributions. The ARIEL is an annual publication that provides a scholarly forum to discuss issues…

There is a striking hidden controversy at the heart of the recent Chișinău Declaration issued by the members of the Council of Europe on May 15, 2026. All 46 member states have adopted a coordinated demand, asking that the European Court of Human Rights (the Court, the ECtHR) in particular to narrow their interpretation of…

On 27 May 2026, the ITLOS Special Chamber rendered its judgment in M/T Heroic Idun (No. 2). Brought by the Marshall Islands against Equatorial Guinea, the case concerns the lawfulness of the latter’s arrest and detention of the vessel and its crew. At first glance, the case appears to fall squarely under UNCLOS, as…