EJIL: Talk!
- Statelessness and the Rewriting of Rights: The Legal Development in Sweden as a Case in Point April 16, 2025Introduction Legal developments in several countries — Sweden among them — point to a growing willingness by governments to tighten the conditions for acquiring citizenship and, more critically, to limit its protections. Ultimately, such measures risk creating or exacerbating statelessness. A recent Swedish government inquiry, proposing a constitutional amendment that would allow for the revocation […]Petter Danckwardt
- Attacks on Submarine Cables and Pipelines: A Self-Defence Approach Complementary to Law Enforcement April 16, 2025Combating sabotage of submarine cables and pipelines is first and foremost a matter of law enforcement. The problem is that the international law of the sea, as traditionally understood, does not provide coastal States with sufficient authority to effectively respond to sabotage activities beyond their territorial waters (for an in-depth discussion, see here). The European […]Christian Schaller
- Pitfalls and Solutions to the Annulment Procedure of PMAC Arbitral Awards April 15, 2025This article discusses the newly established Patent Mediation and Arbitration Centre (PMAC) of the Unified Patent Court (UPC), highlights certain issues about the judicial review of PMAC arbitral awards in annulment proceedings, and suggests three workarounds. The PMAC was established in 2023 by the Agreement on a Unified Patent Court (UPCA) and it is expected […]Danilo Ruggero Di Bella
- US Withdrawal from NATO and Its Impact on Access to Greenland April 14, 2025The US has long expressed interest in acquiring Greenland. Most recently, President Trump indicated a desire to ‘get’ the island by whatever means necessary. While the motivations remain somewhat unclear, there is – despite political rhetoric – no doubt as to Danish sovereignty over the island. Refusals to rule out the use of force could […]Jacques Hartmann
- Holding the Leadership of the Islamic Republic of Iran Accountable for International Crimes in Syria April 14, 2025Following the fall of the Assad regime, calls for accountability for international crimes committed under Assad’s rule are gaining momentum. These calls have particularly focused on the brutal crackdown on protests that began in March 2011 and escalated into one of the bloodiest non-state armed conflicts in recent history. The final statement of Syria’s national […]Shadi Sadr
- Announcements: CfP Conference of Young Scholars of International Legal Studies; Asser-CSHR Online Summer Programme; Summer School on Human Rights in Theory and Practice; Summer School on EU Migration and Asylum Law and Policy April 13, 20251. Call for Papers: Conference of Young Scholars of International Legal Studies. On 4 – 5 December 2025, the Department of Law at the University of Ferrara (Italy) will host the XXII edition of the Conference of Young Scholars of International Legal Studies, dedicated to “The Principle of Good Faith in International and European Union […]Mary Guest
- Harnessing Military Investigations as a Tool for Civilian Protection in an ‘Era of Rearmament’ April 11, 2025Civilians today face unprecedented risks in armed conflict, with compliance with the laws of war in crisis. UN figures show civilian deaths rising since 2019 and skyrocketing in 2023, with the number of women and children killed doubling and tripling from the previous year. As Cordula Droege has argued, international humanitarian law (IHL) is ‘under […]Elizabeth Stubbins Bates
- “Detained or Not Detained”: The First General Comment of the UN Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture April 11, 2025The Optional Protocol to the UN Torture Convention (OPCAT) is unique amongst the UN human rights treaties and their Optional Protocols. Unique as it is not normative because it does not set out a new right which would be additional to those elaborated in the Torture Convention itself. Nor is it purely procedural as it […]Elīna Šteinerte
- Anti-war Protest: The Historic Case of Novaya Gazeta and Others v Russia April 10, 2025Born into a Jewish family in Ukraine, Vasily Grossman’s monumental account of totalitarian Stalinist Russia, Life and Fate, which included a remarkable portrayal of the battle of Stalingrad during World War II, was banned by the KGB before it could be published in the Soviet Union. In response, Grossman wrote to the then Soviet leader, […]Philip Leach
- Compliance through Enforcement in ISDS: What can UNCITRAL Working Group III learn from the ECtHR? April 9, 2025The ISDS reform process at UNCITRAL Working Group III provides a unique opportunity to consider new institutional dispute settlement designs. As EJIL:Talk! Readers will know from earlier blogs on this reform process, a standing mechanism to resolve investment disputes is one of the key proposals in the strengthening of the institutional design, with a Draft Statute […]Nicola Strain