Völkerrechtsblog
@voelkerrechtsblog.org
Academic Blog on International Law & International Legal Thought. Posts on new blog articles, events and our Völkerrechtspodcast. 🌐: https://voelkerrechtsblog.org
Following our series of interviews, Antonio Guzman Mutis has talked with @iftachco.bsky.social , co-founder and co-director of @front-lex.bsky.social , a legal hub challenging EU migration policies through strategic litigation at the ECHR, CJEU and ICC.
In conversation with Iftach Cohen, Co-founder and Co-director of Front-LEX
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On our latest edition of “the Person behind the Academic” Sissy Katsoni interviews Ioannis Ktistakis, judge at the European Court of Human Rights.
Chatting with Ioannis Ktistakis
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The ICJ found a right to strike in a Treaty that never mentions one by relying on other treaties via Art. 31 VCLT. S. Geiersbach & @juliusnpprt.bsky.social ask if the Court's "common understanding" test is common enough and show where its reasoning on State silence and the "relevant rule" runs thin.
(Un)Common Understandings
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Veronika Fikfak shares her experience on how to write a successful funding application for an ERC grant. This is the first post of our newest service: the resources section, a repository for different useful materials. 🛠️ Resources page: voelkerrechtsblog.org/services/res... 📝 Read the post:
How to Think Your Way to an ERC Project
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Today's post by Valerio Sinaj revolves around adaptation and victim status in ECtHR climate litigation, focusing on the role of adaptation and adaptability in determining victimhood, with a specific focus on the application challenging the UK's insufficient adaptation programme before the ECtHR.
Adaptation and Victim Status in ECtHR Climate Litigation
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📣 Call for Papers 📣 Una vez más, América Latina y el Caribe están en el punto de mira de los últimos debates. Völkerrechtsblog invita a académicos y profesionales a reflexionar sobre temas relativos a intervención e influencia,
📣 Call for Papers 📣 Latin America and the Caribbean are once again at the center of recent debates. Völkerrechtsblog invites scholars and practitioners to reflect on the themes of intervention and influence,
Read 黄健昀's post "Should AI Be Organized? The Case for a World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization" discussing why a dedicated international body, modeled on the IAEA, is needed to govern AI. voelkerrechtsblog.org/authors/jian...
Should AI Be Organized?
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Germany may have more legal latitude to acquire nuclear weapons than commonly assumed. Gabriel H. Heyl examines Article 3 of the Two Plus Four Agreement, the NPT, and the VCLT after the failed NPT Review Conference. voelkerrechtsblog.org/wind-of-nucl...
Wind of (Nuclear) Change
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Drawing on Macbeth, Gustavo Leite Neves da Luz argues that international law cannot let future demand justify present exploitation. Critical minerals are not a licence to bypass precaution, due diligence, and environmental protection. voelkerrechtsblog.org/macbeth-at-t...
Macbeth at the International Seabed Authority
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On 15 May 2026, the International Law Commission adopted the draft articles on Immunity of State Officials from Foreign Criminal Jurisdiction on second reading. Hua Deng examines how this swift agreement contrasts with nearly two decades of contentious debate. voelkerrechtsblog.org/of-continuou...
Of Continuous Controversies and Unfinished Tasks
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Michal Saliternik and Sivan Shlomo Agon discuss the potential implications of the SpaceX IPO on implementation and future evolution of international space law and its definition of outer space as "the province of all mankind". voelkerrechtsblog.org/the-trillion...
The Trillion-Dollar Frontier
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Paridhi Jhain writes on how IMF loan conditionality impacted Ecuador's 2026 mining framework, and quietly dismantled rights of Indigenous People. She calls for screening IMF benchmarks against human rights obligations. voelkerrechtsblog.org/mined-out-of...
Mined out of Rights
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More than 40 years after Brazil’s military dictatorship, can the country’s 1979 Amnesty Law still shield perpetrators of torture and enforced disappearance? This article by Marina Fonsêca and Thiago Moreira explores this question and its implications for international human rights law.
Amnesty or Accountability?
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@annymatamorosp.bsky.social argues that the "crisis" of international law reflects its enduring ties to imperialism and colonialism, examining U.S. strategy and the shift to hard power in Latin America. voelkerrechtsblog.org/when-power-a...
When Power Asymmetries Become Evident
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Trump intensified the Cuban blockade with two Executive Orders issued in 2026. Aytekin Kaan Kurtul argues they deepen a longstanding policy of deprivation that amounts to crimes against humanity. voelkerrechtsblog.org/trumps-sanct...
Trump’s Sanctions on Cuba Are a Crime Against Humanity
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When Iran designated 18 US tech companies as “legitimate targets,” it raised a question whether the employees are protected civilians or lawful targets. Feyza Gül K. analyses the limits of DPH for the tech company employees, using Palantir as a case study. voelkerrechtsblog.org/who-are-legi...
Who Are Legitimate Targets in Modern Armed Conflicts?
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Lea Kayali speaks with Mais Abdallah of Völkerrechtsblog on the grassroots movement to enact an Arms Embargo, and the connection with legal advocates for Palestine.
“The Law Can Open Doors, but Movements Force Them Open”
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Weapons from Europe. Civilians killed. No accountability. Not because the law is silent — but because it's designed that way. New piece by Armaghan Naghipour on how procedural law excludes those most affected by arms exports from judicial protection.
War De Lege Artis
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Why do binding rules on arms transfers so often fail to become enforceable constraints in domestic courts? Miriam Heipertz shows how judicial gatekeeping insulates European decisions on arms exports to Israel—and how law narrows the space for movements contesting them.
Courts as Gatekeepers
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How does technofeudalism challenge the Right to Development? Dila Küçükali argues AI-driven data extractivism and corporate capture leave the digitally stateless and gig workers unprotected, exposing the structural limits of the UNGPs and Draft Convention on the RTD.
Digital Fiefdoms and Human Rights
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Shun OSHITA argues that widespread government victories in domestic courts do not affirm the legality of arms exports under the Genocide Convention. Understanding this structure of procedural dismissals reveals how this convention operationalizes judicial deterrence against illegal arms exports.
After Victory in Domestic Litigations
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Madalena Simões critically examines the GCFC's Gaza Case through the lens of international law’s emancipatory promise, reflecting on how the Court has dealt with Palestinian plaintiffs and German and Palestinian human rights organizations’ attempts to halt the arms trade.
Arms Trade Litigation before the German Federal Constitutional Court
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Aklavya Anand writes about the proposed Crimes Against Humanity Convention arguing that its promise will remain incomplete unless the Global North–Global South divides are meaningfully addressed.
From Spectators to Stakeholders
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Sué Gonzalez Hauck and Jens Theilen examine the GFCC’s decision to look away from the facts, law and substance of the complaint concerning the arms exports to Israel.
Nothing to See Here
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Mayar Darawasha addresses the GFCC’s decision in light of the ICJ’s advisory opinion on the Occupied Palestinian Territory (2024), and its decision in South Africa v. Israel, focusing on the jus ad bellum and its relevance to the legality of Germany's arms exports to Israel.
Doors Wide Shut
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Leonardo Shahin criticizes the German Federal Court's refusal to review arms exports to Israel. By hiding behind "judicial self-restraint" and complex loopholes, German courts defer entirely to executive discretion, undermining international law and enabling foreign policy double standards.
Höchstrichterlich besiegelte Doppelstandards
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For our Arms Export Symposium Vincent Holzhauer examines the high threshold for substantiating a complaint against arms exports and highlights the one-sideness of Völkerrechtsffreundlichkeit in the decision. Available in German: voelkerrechtsblog.org/judikative-s...
Judikative Selbstbeschränkung bei Schutzpflichten
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In today’s post, Mustafa Topiwala argues that the distinction between judicial and arbitral decisions in the EU-Russia sanctions package is indefensible under the mandate of the New York Convention and EU public policy.
Winning at All Costs
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Dr. Vera Strobel and Sabrina Ohm argue that the decision on arms exports follows the practice of German courts rather than acting as enforcers of international law, yielding to the government’s discretion without adequately reviewing standards of fundamental rights interconnected with IHL.
The Illusion of Compliance
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