RSS EJIL: Talk!

  • The UNEP Plastics Negotiations: Is There a Will and a Way? October 8, 2025
    Another round of plastics negotiations, another disappointment. The negotiations, now in their third year, are already in overtime. They were supposed to wrap up last December in Busan, South Korea, at the fifth  session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on plastic pollution (INC-5.1). But the meeting ended with delegations still far apart, so a resumed […]
    Daniel Bodansky
  • The Entry into Force of the Amendments to WHO’s International Health Regulations October 7, 2025
    Introduction The International Health Regulations (IHR) are, for the moment, the sole global binding legal instrument in force for the prevention and control of the international spread of disease.  They are the successor of the pre-WHO international sanitary agreements that were taken over by the newly established WHO and replaced by a single regulation originally […]
    Gian Luca Burci
  • Another Brick in the Wall of KlimaSeniorinnen: The Committee of Ministers’ September 2025 Monitoring Decision October 6, 2025
    1. Introduction It has been more than a year since the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) delivered its groundbreaking climate judgment in Verein KlimaSeniorinnen Schweiz and Others v. Switzerland. In this case, brought by a group of older Swiss women, the ECtHR established two violations of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) – […]
    Corina Heri
  • Trump’s 20 Points on Gaza – Liberal peacebuilding sans liberalism, or: Capitalism without a human face October 3, 2025
    On 29 September 2025, Donald Trump unveiled his 20 point peace plan (20 Points) for the conflict in Gaza in a joint press conference with Benjamin Netanyahu. The proposal has been welcomed by leaders both in the West and the Middle East. On the Palestinian side, reactions have been more mixed. The plan doubtlessly suffers […]
    Leon Seidl
  • Pinochet, Bashir, Putin, Netanyahu, Gallant, Herzog: Immunities for High Officials – the Importance of Getting State Practice Right October 3, 2025
    Immunities are back in vogue.  And the debate about them – their relevance, and whether they can shield wanted war criminals from investigation, prosecution or issued arrest warrants – is again front and centre. Of critical importance, is the question of how States react to these debates, and the warrants that presage them. Philippe Sands […]
    Max Du Plessis
  • The Uneven Application of Universal Jurisdiction: Living with Impunity vs. Living in Fear October 2, 2025
    This will be a busy fall for French courts.  Two major cases are testing France’s approach towards international justice. First, Roger Lumbala Tshitenga, a former Congolese warlord accused of crimes against humanity during the Second Congo War, is set to go on trial in November through December. Second, Eugene Rwamucyo, a former doctor accused of […]
    Natalie Bryce
  • Responding to the Pressing Financial Needs of the United Nations October 1, 2025
    As the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly (‘GA’) high-level week draws to a close, the time has come for the GA to get busy with discussing the pressing issues on the table. Among them is addressing the precarious financial position of the UN. The UN already broke the record in 2023, with uncollected […]
    Hosung Ahn
  • Proving Genocide: A Follow-up to Marko Milanovic October 1, 2025
    In his recent – as always highly inspiring – post on proving genocide, Marko Milanovic makes five points on the “correct legal position” of which I will challenge here the second and fifth one. 1. First of all, Marko correctly states that the only reasonable inference (ORI) standard is not limited to circumstantial evidence regarding […]
    Kai Ambos
  • Dystopian International Law September 30, 2025
    There is now a whole genre of scholarship in which international lawyers ruminate on the disastrous state of the world – Philippa Webb and Lydia Kim recently did a good survey of it here on the blog. Driven partly by a fear of missing out on all the angst, and partly by the need for […]
    Marko Milanovic
  • Xi’s, Putin’s and Trump’s (Not So) Competing World Orders September 29, 2025
    The 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), the world’s pre-eminent and most inclusive multilateral forum, started last week in New York. Rather than a cause for celebration, the gathering unfolded amid stark reminders of the present: a world riven by wars, growing geopolitical rivalries, and shifting power balances—compounded by President Trump’s unilateralism. […]
    Tatjana Papic