On 30 May 2026, two deep seabed mining exploration contractors—NORI and TOML (“the contractors”), both subsidiaries of Canada-based The Metals Company (TMC)—lodged an application and a request for provisional measures with the Seabed Disputes Chamber (SDC). The claims allege that the International Seabed Authority (ISA) violated international obligations relating to due process, transparency, and non-discrimination
EJIL: Talk!
Latest from EJIL: Talk! - Page 4
CERD’s May 2026 Statement on Israel’s Death Penalty Law: On the Silence of Other Treaty Bodies and On a Missed Rendez-Vous with The Hague
On 29 April 2026, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) expressed alarm at Israel’s “Death Penalty for Terrorists Law,” urging its immediate repeal, and situating the rolling back of a long-standing de facto moratorium on executions within a broader framework of racial discrimination.
CERD’s statement is significant per se, but…
From “Blinking Red” to AMIA: An Emerging Standard of Intelligence Failure Under the Right to Life
On 1 September 2004, more than a thousand people were taken hostage in School No. 1 in Beslán, North Ossetia. Three days later, at least 334 of them — including 186 children — were dead. On 18 July 1994, a vehicle laden with explosives detonated in front of the headquarters of the AMIA —…
Essential Supplies for Friends? AOTES, Export Restrictions, and WTO Non-Discrimination
When supply-chain disruptions interrupt access to essential supplies, small, highly open economies are particularly vulnerable. A familiar response has been cooperation and information-sharing, as reflected in the IPEF Supply Chain Agreement. New Zealand and Singapore have now taken a narrower and harder legal step. Their Agreement on Trade in Essential Supplies (AOTES), signed…
A Framework for the Weight of Treaty Body Output: The ICJ’s Right to Strike Advisory Opinion
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…
Announcements: Diversity and Teaching International Law Webinar; CfP Workshop on Neutrality in Legal Scholarship; Doctoral Workshop on Sustainability and Law; Evidence in Human Rights Law Conference; First International Congress on Human Rights
By Mary Guest
1. Diversity and Teaching International Law Webinar. On Wednesday 17 June at 14.30 – 16.00 CET, the ESIL Teaching Corner Webinar Series will host a webinar on ‘Diversity and Teaching International Law’ to address a wide range of perspectives on teaching and classroom practice on this subject, including cultural diversity, decolonisation, gender, the geographical diversity…
From Trade to Investment: Can the ACWL Model Travel?
By Bram Goede
UNCITRAL Working Group III has been seized with Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) reform for nearly ten years. Pursuing several initiatives in parallel, one project now entering its final stages is the Advisory Centre on International Investment Dispute Resolution (Advisory Centre). The Advisory Centre, as stated in Article 2 of its draft statute, aims to…
The Exacerbation of Longstanding Structural Tensions: The 11th NPT Review Conference Closes without an Outcome Document
From April 27 to 22 May 2026, the 11th Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) was held in New York amid a climate of considerable tension. In a context marked by the ongoing Russian war against Ukraine, the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran, concerns about a possible…
Eurovision, Non-Recognition and Bangaranga?!
Bulgaria won the 70th Eurovision Song Contest in Vienna with Dara’s “Bangaranga”; Israel finished second; and five countries, Ireland, Spain, the Netherlands, Slovenia and Iceland, stayed away in protest at Israel’s participation. That combination, spectacle, boycott and contested belonging, is a useful entry point into a wider legal problem. Eurovision is not the…
When Advice Should Have Turned Binding: A Missed Opportunity
By Pranay Lekhi
On 21 May 2026, the International Court of Justice gave its advisory opinion on the Right to Strike under ILO Convention No. 87. By ten votes to four, the Court concluded that the right to strike of workers and their organisations is protected under ILO Convention No. 87 – one of the ILO’s eight…