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,
EJIL: Talk!
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Announcements: CfP Austrian Review of International and European Law; CfP Solventia Journal of Insolvency & Bankruptcy Laws; Future of the United Nations Organisation Webinar; TwoLaW Lecture Series on the Laws of War
By Mary Guest
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…
The Chișinău Declaration in the Data: Non-Refoulement and States’ Insatiable Appetite for a Restrained Court
By Ezgi Yildiz
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…
One Step Forward, Two Steps Obscure: Jurisdiction over External Rules in M/T Heroic Idun (No.2)
By Lan Nguyen
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…
When Blockade Goes Global: The Sumud Flotilla Interceptions and the Legality of Israel’s Gaza Blockade
In the early hours of 30 April 2026, Israeli naval forces boarded 22 vessels of the Global Sumud Flotilla near Crete, roughly 600 nautical miles from Gaza and apprehending approximately 175 civilian activists. A few weeks later, on 19 May 2026, the Israeli Navy intercepted a second wave of 54 vessels about 70…
EJIL: The Podcast! Episode 44: One Strait, Many Chokepoints: International Law and the New Geopolitics of Energy
The war in the Middle East has plunged the world into yet another crisis. Days are paced by minute-by-minute updates: at first, tragic reports of civilian deaths and incendiary threats from US President Donald Trump, now fragile peace negotiations between the United States and Iran. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has spiked oil…
Genocide Modelling as Ladder and Ceiling: Ecocide and the Limits of the Rome Statute
When Arthur Galston coined the term ‘ecocide’ in 1970, the choice to model it on ‘genocide’ was deliberate; the etymological echo was designed to generate political leverage and signal the gravity of environmental destruction caused by the US’ Operation Ranch Hand in Vietnam.
The same analogy that gave ecocide its political traction has also constrained…
Two Weeks in Review: 1—12 June 2026
The last fortnight has been dominated by two major developments: the proceedings initiated by deep-seabed mining contractors before the ITLOS Seabed Disputes Chamber, and the ICJ’s Right to Strike Advisory Opinion. Interventions have also grappled with different institutional silences around Israel’s policies in Gaza and the West Bank, from Eurovision to the Human Rights Committee…
Announcements: CfP International cooperation under the ECHR; CfP International Business Law Scholars Roundtable; CfP Beyond the Gender Blind Spot; CfP Theorising the New Age of Environmental Human Rights Law Conference; The Relevance of ICJ Advisory Opinions Event; Postdoctoral Researcher Vacancy; Remembering Nuremberg Dialogue; Nuremberg Forum 2026; International Law & the Mind Workshop; CfA International Climate Change Law Conference; CfP Asymmetries in Public Policy Conference
By Mary Guest
1. Call for Papers: International cooperation under the European Convention on Human Rights. The University of Liverpool is organising a two-days conference on “International cooperation under the European Convention on Human Rights” (Liverpool, 15 – 16 October 2026). The conference relies on a dialogue of scholars and practicing experts from the European Court of Human
…
Pre-Exploitation Litigation: Cases No. 34 and 35 and the Timing of Deep-Sea Mining Governance
By Yinuo Kang
On 5 June 2026, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) announced two new proceedings before its Seabed Disputes Chamber (SDC). Nauru Ocean Resources Inc. (NORI) and Tonga Offshore Mining Ltd. (TOML) each instituted proceedings against the International Seabed Authority (ISA) and requested provisional measures. The cases have been entered as Case…