New blog post out in @opiniojuris.bsky.social w/ @natasamav.bsky.social ! We contributed to a great symposium on Prosecuting "Heads of State", discussing "Punishing the powerful" and the allure and limits of the penal accountability paradigm ⚖️ Read here: opiniojuris.org/2026/03/27/s...

Symposium on Prosecuting Heads of State for International Crimes: Punishing the Powerful – The Allure and Limits of the Penal Accountability Paradigm

[Natasa Mavronicola is a Professor of Human Rights Law at Birmingham Law School, University of Birmingham; co-editor of Coercive Human Rights: Positive Duties to Mobilise the Criminal Law under the…

opiniojuris.org

Blog symposium started by Strasbourg Observers on whether and how the @coe.int's planned #ChisinauDeclaration can undermine @echr.coe.int authority on #ECHR prohibition of torture and inhuman, degrading treatment. Intro article by @natasamav.bsky.social strasbourgobservers.com/2026/03/30/s...

Symposium Introduction: Article 3 ECHR and the forthcoming Chișinău Declaration - Strasbourg Observers

By Dr. Natasa Mavronicola *** Over the next 10 days, Strasbourg Observers will be hosting a blog symposium on Article 3 ECHR and the forthcoming Chișinău Declaration on the ECtHR’s approach in migrati...

strasbourgobservers.com

I have a new blog post out on Article 3 ECHR and Chișinău, where I argue that what is being contemplated in relation to Art.3, far from tinkering with the right's edges, threatens the core of the right against torture, and the integrity of the human rights edifice. www.echrblog.com/2026/02/arti...

Article 3 ECHR and Chișinău: what are the stakes?

By  Natasa Mavronicola , University of Birmingham    Article 3 ECHR is under pressure. At a recent informal ministerial conference in Strasb...

echrblog.com

My chapter w/ @natasamav.bsky.social ‘Accountability for violations of civil and political rights: redress within and beyond the penal frame’ is published in the Research Handbook on Accountability for Human Rights Violations. DM me if you'd like a copy! www.elgaronline.com/edcollchap/b...

In this article @ljil-leiden.bsky.social, @mattia800.bsky.social and I challenge the punishment-as-justice perspective that dominates atrocity redress and prevention, examining, with a focus on Gaza, how it can undermine prevention and fuel problematic retaliatory impulses. bit.ly/48uKHJx

When a govt lets it be known that it's considering taking rights away from children with Special Needs, a minister doing the rounds saying he's ’not getting into the details’ has one big effect. People feel scared. They lose sleep. Once again: this is not how to do disability policy (or any policy)

Latest from me: on fears about the govt's plans for Special Needs education, with two key things that Labour ministers & MPs should think about www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

It's out and available open access! www.bloomsbury.com/uk/pathology...

Superstars!

Silvana Tapia Tapia@silvilunazul.bsky.social · last yr.

With my brilliant colleague, @mattia800.bsky.social, last week in Liverpool, at the @slsauk.bsky.social annual conference. The joy of sharing rigorous anticanceral scholarship and collectively building a critique of human rights penality 🤓

A must-read by @karengle.bsky.social!

International Law & Politics CRN@intllawpoliticscrn.bsky.social · last yr.

The Element is *FREE* to access online for the next 2 weeks and pre-order print copies can be purchased in advance of print publication in June at a VERY reasonable price: www.cambridge.org/core/element...

Terrific to see my book available online — and soon in print! Many thanks to series editors Nadia Lambek, @riclements.bsky.social, @leslava.bsky.social, and Markus Gunneflo! And congrats on the new series!

International Law & Politics CRN@intllawpoliticscrn.bsky.social · last yr.

The Element is *FREE* to access online for the next 2 weeks and pre-order print copies can be purchased in advance of print publication in June at a VERY reasonable price: www.cambridge.org/core/element...

I wrote for the Guardian’s Saturday magazine about my son Max, who changed how I see the world. Took ages. More jokes after the first bit. Thanks Merope Mills for being the most patient and generous editor. www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...

The boy who came back: the near-death, and changed life, of my son Max

It was, we were told, a case of sudden infant death syndrome interrupted. What followed would transform my understanding of parenting, disability and the breadth of what makes a meaningful life

theguardian.com

Covid inquiry: 180,000 lives could have been saved www.channel4.com/news/covid-i...

Covid inquiry: 180,000 lives could have been saved

If the government had listened to experts and implemented the same strategies used in other countries, 180,000 lives may have been saved during Covid, the UK Covid Inquiry heard today.

channel4.com

The UN says starvation and famine is imminent. Now some Israeli officers say the same. Mass, deliberate starvation of 2 million people. That's what's happening. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/13/w...

In Private, Some Israeli Officers Admit That Gaza Is on the Brink of Starvation

nytimes.com

Starmer: this is "incalculable damage"

Taraaaaaaaaggghhhhhhh Zombies@theblueststar.bsky.social · last yr.

I've just come from the hospital where my mam is at the moment having had a fall. The staff are Indian, Pakistani, African, Filipino, Irish, Spanish etc. in fact the hospital had an enormous drive to get people from the Philippines to move here to work.

📄 New article: Colonialism continues to shape the project of European human rights. In this article I trace the continuity of civilizational hierarchies in the ECtHR’s case-law on extraterritoriality and European consensus Available in EJIL @ejiltalk.bsky.social: academic.oup.com/ejil/advance...

We invite signatures from UK law people for our open letter on the aftermath of FWS. *Please sign and share with your networks* as we will send to the relevant parliamentary human rights bodies on closure of the letter.

Aoife O'Donoghue @aoifemod.bsky.social · last yr.

A group of us law academics put together a letter on FWS v Scottish Ministers UK Supreme Court ruling & we are asking other *UK based law folk* (academic activist practitioner etc) to sign More details 👇 #transrights #trans #transgender #lawsky #academicsky #UKlaw docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

The forensics don’t lie. Medics shot in the head, at close range, and more. Prima facia has to be considered a war crime. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/15/w...

Autopsies of Slain Gaza Medics Show Some Were Shot in the Head

The New York Times obtained autopsy reports for 14 of the 15 people killed in a March 23 attack on an ambulance and fire truck.

nytimes.com

getting a bit tiring to think "ah yay, the worst people you know are having a great day" several times a week, every single week

On what is a really difficult day, here are some resources for our trans friends and allies. Solidarity 💜 goodlawproject.org/resource/sup...

Support resources for our trans friends and allies | Good Law Project

At a time when anti-trans discrimination is rife and hate crime has reached record levels, it’s important to know what support is out there for trans, non-binary or gender-questioning individuals and ...

goodlawproject.org

Adolf Hitler's “Mein Kampf” is still on U.S. Naval Academy shelves. “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” and “Memorializing the Holocaust” are not. An order by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s office led to a purge of books that are critical of racism — but preserved volumes defending white power.

Who’s In and Who’s Out at the Naval Academy’s Library?

An order by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s office resulted in a purge of books critical of racism but preserved volumes defending white power.

nytimes.com

BREAKING: An immigration court determined our client Mahmoud Khalil to be removable from the U.S. based solely on his political speech. The fight isn't over — we'll keep fighting for Mahmoud's freedom and all of our First Amendment rights in federal court.

On 8th April, I'll be speaking at VERNAC TALKS by DIGNITY Vernacular Accountability Project. My talk, Restoring Harmony, explores how Nasa Indigenous justice in Colombia offers a restorative and collective model for human rights accountability. DM me for the Zoom link. @cahr-york.bsky.social

Including judgments against Greece for death of a migrant, and against Serbia for extradition to an unsafe country

European Court of Human Rights@echr.coe.int · last yr.

⚖️ La CEDH a communiqué aujourd’hui par écrit cinq arrêts de chambre tinyurl.com/yhmdc446 | ⚖️ The ECHR has today notified in writing five Chamber judgments tinyurl.com/ms7bstez ECHR CEDH ECHRpress

I am writing a textbook on International Human Rights Law with my amazing colleagues at bsky.app/profile/lsjl... and... it’s a bit special and I'm really excited about it. What’s so special? Well it will be completely free and open access. But for it to work I need some help...

400 years ago today, Charles I became king of England, Scotland and Ireland. It went really well for him.

An excellent piece from @johnharris1969.bsky.social in The @newstatesman.com on his family's SEND struggles. High praise for SNJ's "battle-hardened SEND veterans" ”Don’t take away children’s rights, because if you do, you'll have a hell of a fight on your hands.” www.newstatesman.com/politic...

The special needs trap

What one parent’s experience reveals about a system on the brink of collapse.

newstatesman.com

"No return to austerity" latest

New blog post: "Spatial Justice in Eviction Cases under the South African Constitution" -- indconlawphil.wordpress.com/2025/03/14/g... [A guest post by Rishika Sahgal.]

Guest Post: Spatial Justice in Eviction Cases under the South African Constitution

[This is a guest post by Rishika Sahgal.] Cases involving eviction from well-located land in the heart of cities and relocation to urban peripheries are common across the world, including in India …

indconlawphil.wordpress.com

Instructive to see the pushback judgment against Cyprus (M.A. and Z.R. v Cyprus) being deemed best ECtHR judgment of 2024 in the Strasbourg Observers poll: strasbourgobservers.com/2025/03/18/r... The judgment, finding violation of A3, A4P4, and A13, can be found here: hudoc.echr.coe.int?i=001-236141

Results of the 2024 Strasbourg Observers Best & Worst Poll - Strasbourg Observers

Dear readers, In February, we presented you with this year’s edition of our annual Strasbourg Observers Best & Worst Poll, where we asked you to vote for your preferred candidates as shortlisted for t...

strasbourgobservers.com