New Volume: Max Planck Yearbook of United Nations Law

The latest volume of the Max Planck Yearbook of United Nations Law (Vol. 28, 2024) is out. Contents include:

• Thematic Forum: ‘Challenges and Opportunities for the Law of the Sea at a Time of Crisis’
• Alexander Proelss, Erika de Wet, Kathrin Maria Scherr & Sai Sathyanarayanan Venkatesh, Editorial Preface: Challenges and Opportunities for the Law of the Sea at a Time of Crisis
• Kathrin Maria Scherr & Sai Sathyanarayanan Venkatesh, Charting the Course: Reflections on the Foundations and Legacy of ITLOS: In Conversation with Rüdiger Wolfrum
• Alexander Proelss & Sai Sathyanarayanan Venkatesh, Steering the Law of the Sea Through Uncharted Waters: The Future of Maritime Governance and ITLOS’ Role in a Changing World: In Conversation with Tomas Heidar
• Payam Akhavan & Rozemarijn Roland Holst, COSIS’ Quest for Climate Justice: A Brief History of the ITLOS Advisory Opinion
• Ekaterina Antsygina, Interpreting the Non-Undermining Clause of the BBNJ Agreement: Restrictive or Complementary Roles for the COP within RFMO Competences?
• Masahiko Asada, Sea-Level Rise and the Law of the Sea: Challenges and Resolutions
• Laisa Branco de Almeida, Promoting the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits from Fish in Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction
• Birgir Hrafn Búason & Hendrik Daði Jónsson, From Ambition to Action – Addressing Key Challenges to Implementation and Compliance Under the BBNJ Agreement
• Arron N. Honniball, When High Seas Freedoms and Activities in the Area Confront: Human Rights and Law of the Sea Perspectives in Permitting Protests at Sea Against Deep Seabed Mining
• Vicky Kapogianni & Eric Loefflad, The Maritime Depths of Ex Aequo et Bono: Towards an Equitable Transcendence of the Terracentric Juridical Reproduction of the Falklands/Malvinas Dispute
• So Yeon Kim & Wonhee Kim, Consultation Mechanisms Between the Conference of the Parties of the BBNJ Agreement and Relevant Instruments, Frameworks and Bodies
• Niels Krabbe, Sharing Benefits of Genetic Resources Under the BBNJ Agreement – Resolving the North–South Divide by Legal Creativity
• Daniela Martins Pereira da Silva, Shifting Shores, Keeping Lines? Revisiting the Indonesia–Singapore Delimitation Treaty in Light of Subsequent Changes
• Juliana Moreira Mendonça, The Australia–Tuvalu Falepili Union Treaty: Addressing Human Rights and Climate Mobility in the Face of Sea-Level Rise
• Lan Ngoc Nguyen, A Piece of the Puzzle: Regime Interaction in the ITLOS Advisory Opinion on Climate Change
• Dimitris Panousos, Intersecting Legal Frameworks at Sea: The Continued Applicability of the Law of the Sea in Armed Conflicts
• Matilde Rocca, Search and Rescue Obligations Under the Law of the Sea: A Lesson in ‘Diplomatic Alchemy’
• Makoto Seta, Impact of the WTO Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies on the Rights and Obligations Under UNCLOS
• Yoshifumi Tanaka, Principle of Common but Differentiated Responsibilities and Respective Capabilities in the ITLOS Advisory Opinion on Climate Change: A Critical Assessment
• Constantinos Yiallourides & Aylin Yildiz Noorda, Law of the Sea, Climate Change and State Responsibility
• Articles on the Law and Practise of the United Nations (General Section)
• Tihao Zeng, Remedies Against the Security Council Sanctions Listing: Development of Remedial Mechanisms and Continuing Challenges
• Reports and Documents
• Update on the Law and Practice of the United Nations - Statement by Ms Elinor Hammarskjöld, Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs and United Nations Legal Counsel

Call for Submissions: Yearbook of International Disaster Law

The Yearbook of International Disaster Law has issued a call for submissions for its forthcoming eighth volume (2025). The General Section of the Yearbook provides an opportunity to interrogate a wide variety of aspects of the intersection of law and disasters, with a particular focus on issues relevant for international law. The Thematic Section will focus on “Vulnerabilities and Disasters.” The deadline for abstracts is March 6, 2026. The call is here.

New Issue: Global Governance: A Review of Multilateralism and International Institutions

The latest issue of Global Governance: A Review of Multilateralism and International Institutions (Vol. 31, no. 4, 2025) is out. Contents include:

• Max-Otto Baumann & Bernhard Reinsberg, Pathologies in the United Nations Development System The Role of Funding Structures
• Adam Kamradt-Scott, Inter-organizational Relations and Policy Coordination: The Quadripartite and Antimicrobial Resistance
• Fuzuo Wu, Failed Securitization of Climate Change on the Agenda of the UN Security Council: Time, Sovereignty and Institutions at Play
• Iver B. Neumann & Martin D. Eide, Beyond Actor Recognition: Peace and Reconciliation as Emergence of Global Governance
• Ana Izvorska, An Opportunity for the Humanitarian Reset: How Animal Welfare Actors Can Strengthen System Reform

PhD course: The legitimacy of international law in a time of uncertainty

On June 2–5, 2026, IntNatLaw at the University of Oslo will host an intensive interdisciplinary PhD course on the legitimacy of international law in a time of uncertainty. The course will be held in Paris at the Centre Universitaire de Norvège à Paris. Attendance at the course is tuition-free, but students will need to cover their own travel and accommodation. Details are here.

Call for Nominations: ASIL Intellectual Property Law Interest Group Award for Best Published Work

The Intellectual Property Law Interest Group of the American Society of International Law is welcoming nominations for its Award for Best Published Work for 2025. Details are here.

Mälksoo: Russia, the Soviet Union, and Imperial Continuity in International Law

Lauri Mälksoo (Univ. of Tartu - Law) has published Russia, the Soviet Union, and Imperial Continuity in International Law (Oxford Univ. Press 2025). Here's the abstract:

Russia, the Soviet Union, and Imperial Continuity in International Law explores the history of imperial ideas and practices in Russian and Soviet engagements with international law. This volume traces the role of international legal doctrines and arguments in facilitating the expansion of the Russian Empire, their transition into Soviet Russia post-1917, and their use after the disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Particular attention is paid to Russian and Soviet international legal doctrines concerning the termination of treaties (clausula rebus sic stantibus), identity and continuity of Russia in the context of state succession, hegemonic doctrines such as the great power status of Russia (or the Soviet Union), and various interpretations of balance of power and spheres of influence, including the doctrine of socialist international law. In building its narrative, the book draws extensively on previously under-studied international law periodicals published in Russia and the Soviet Union, including the Soviet Yearbook of International Law, Soviet State and Law and Moscow Journal of International Law.

Call for Nominations: ASIL International Legal Theory Interest Group Scholarship Prize

The International Legal Theory Interest Group of the American Society of International Law is welcoming nominations for its International Legal Theory Scholarship Prize. Details are here.

New Issue: Swiss Review of International and European Law

The latest issue of the Swiss Review of International and European Law (2025, no. 4) is out. Contents include:

• Robert Kolb, L’exigence du lien entre les mesures conservatoires à indiquer et les droits de fond revendiqués dans la jurisprudence de la Cour internationale de Justice
• Paulina Twardoch, Quelles règles de conflit de lois prévoir dans un éventuel règlement européen sur le sexe juridique ? – un regard polonais

Call for Expressions of Interest: ESIL Interest Group on the History of International Law Agora Panel Proposal for the ESIL Annual Conference 2026

The ESIL Interest Group on the History of International Law has issued a call for expressions of interest for an agora panel proposal for the ESIL Annual Conference 2026. The topic is: "Conflict, Crisis and Continuity – Historical Perspectives. The call is here.

Lecture: Grzebyk on "Weaponisation of Humanitarian Assistance"

On January 12, 2026, Patrycja Grzebyk (Univ. of Warsaw) will give the next lecture of the TwoLaW Lecture Series on the Laws of War. The topic is: “Weaponisation of Humanitarian Assistance.” Details are here.

Call for Papers: 33rd Annual ANZSIL Conference

The Australian and New Zealand Society of International Law has issued a call for papers for its 33rd Annual Conference, to be held July 1-3, 2026, at Victoria University of Wellington. The theme is: "Navigating Stormy Seas: People, Place and Perspectives in International Law." The call is here.

Calls for Papers: ESIL Interest Groups Workshops Preceding ESIL Research Forum 2026

In the context of the ESIL Research Forum 2026 in Kraków, ESIL Interest Groups are inviting submissions for online workshops occurring in the days preceding the Forum. Here are the calls:

• ESIL Interest Group on International Economic Law – Call for Online Workshop “Sustainability of Global Economic Governance” (Deadline: 15 January 2026)
• ESIL Interest Group on History of International Law – Call for Online Workshop “What could be the future of a sustainable international law? Lessons from history” (Deadline: 15 January 2026)
• ESIL Interest Group on International Legal Theory and Philosophy – Call for Online Workshop “Normalizing Sustainability. Theoretical Perspectives on Stability and Change in International Law” (Deadline: 2 February 2026)

New Issue: Journal on the Use of Force and International Law

The latest issue of the Journal on the Use of Force and International Law (Vol. 12, nos. 1-2, 2025) is out. Contents include:

• Alexander Orakhelashvili, Use of force and international lawyers
• Jasmin Johurun Nessa, Agata Kleczkowska & Seyfullah Hasar, Digest of state practice: 1 July – 31 December 2024
• Dior Anna Ndiaye, Which legal framework for wars of national liberation? Addressing the thorny question of qualification under international humanitarian law through the cases of Palestine and Western Sahara
• Felix Lange, Between ‘Elevation' and ‘Dethronement' of the ‘God’ – The Ambivalent History of the Right of Self-Defence
• Emmanuel Chukwuagozie Odoemena & Fochi Amabilis Nwodo, Assessment of the UN Security Council use of military intervention for human rights protection; Libya as a case study
• J. R. G. Álvarez, Drug trafficking and the international law on the use of force
• Eduardo Cavalcanti de Mello Filho, Operations for the protection of foreign-flagged vessels at sea against Houthi attacks: a case of collective self-defence?
• Aritz Obregón-Fernández, Turkey’s intervention in Syria and Iraq (2014–2024): a study of the legal grounds claimed
• Faramarz Yadegarian & Mohammad Razavi, The evolution of the international criminal court’s judicial policy on issuing arrest warrants: from Uganda to Palestine
• Kimiaki Kawai, Nuclear deterrence and the threat of force: a legal reassessment under jus ad bellum
• Rowan Nicholson, How future actions might affect the lawfulness of an attack on Taiwan

AJIL Unbound Symposium: The Identity and Recognition of Governments: What Role for International Law?

AJIL Unbound has posted a symposium on “The Identity and Recognition of Governments: What Role for International Law?” The symposium includes an introduction by Jean Galbraith, Danae Azaria, and Niko Pavlopoulos, and contributions by Scott R. Anderson, Seyfullah Hasar, Niko Pavlopoulos, Christiane Ahlborn, Réka Àgnes Papp, and Patrick Dumberry.

New Issue: International Criminal Law Review

The latest issue of the International Criminal Law Review (Vol. 25, no. 6, 2025) is out. Contents include:

• Emma Charlene Lubaale, The Enduring Imperial Character of International Criminal Law: The ICC’s Conviction Cases
• Edita Gzoyan, Thomas Hochmann, & Edgar Meyroyan, Beyond the Defective Gas Chamber: Rediscovering the Crime of Attempted Genocide
• Leanid Kazyrytski, Russian Aggression and the Crime of Genocide in Ukraine
• Mohamed Elewa Badar, Laying the Groundwork for Prosecuting ISIS for Core International Crimes before an Iraqi Criminal Tribunal 2.0
• Ava Schuster, Ukraine and Article 124 Rome Statute—a Jurisdictional Dilemma Through the Lens of Selectivity
• Mathias Holvoet, Effectuating ‘Negative’ and ‘Positive’ Horizontal Complementarity: Exploring the Potential of The Ljubljana–The Hague Convention

Greenberg: Justice in the Balance: Democracy, Rule of Law, and the European Court of Human Rights

Jessica Greenberg (Univ. of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign - Anthropology) has published Justice in the Balance: Democracy, Rule of Law, and the European Court of Human Rights (Stanford Univ. Press 2025). Here's the abstract:

Established as a post-World War II response to conflict and fascism, the European Court of Human Rights is routinely characterized as the most successful human rights institution in the world. Based in Strasbourg, France, its jurisdiction extends to over 700 million people on European soil across the 46 Council of Europe member countries. The Court is the crown jewel of the Council, an international organization dedicated to human rights, democracy, and the rule of law. And yet, for years, European institutions have been haunted by the specter of failure. In the shadow of rising populism, inequality, and war, faith in democracy and the rule of law has been shaken to its core. Drawing on extensive fieldwork conducted over eight years with human rights advocates, lawyers, and judges at the European Court of Human Rights, this book asks: What kind of justice is possible through law?

Drawing on participant observation, in-depth interviews, and archival research, Jessica Greenberg tracks two paradoxical experiences of the European human rights system and the Court: on the one hand, the Court as a bureaucratic "machine;" on the other, the Court as the "conscience of Europe." She argues that human rights frameworks fuel imaginative approaches to social change, and compel legal actors to creatively navigate institutions through advocacy, persuasion, and innovative interpretation of what the law is and what it should be.

Lifshits: The Elusive Beauty of the General Principles of Law Recognized by Civilized Nations

Ilya Lifshits (Russian Foreign Trade Academy; EDAS Law Firm) has published Ускользающая красота общих принципов права, признанных цивилизованными нациями (The Elusive Beauty of the General Principles of Law Recognized by Civilized Nations) (HSE Univ. Journal of International Law, Vol. 3, no. 3, 2025). Here's the abstract:

In April and May 2025, the UN International Law Commission at its 76th plenary session considered the Fourth — final — report of the Special Rapporteur on general principles of law. The Drafting Committee prepared the draft Conclusions for second reading. It is expected that in 2026 the draft general principles of law conclusions will be adopted as finalised and not significantly modified from the existing text. The hearings in the Commission, the reports of the Special Rapporteur, including an extensive bibliography, as well as the results of the States' discussions in the Sixth Committee of the UN General Assembly, provide rich research material and allow some conclusions to be drawn today. Firstly, the Commission unambiguously classified the general principles of law as an autonomous source of international law, and the representatives of States in the Sixth Committee almost unequivocally agreed with this. Secondly, the Commission divided the general principles of law into two categories: those derived from national legal systems and those formed within the international legal system, and proposed a methodology for their identification. Thirdly, the functions of the general principles of law were defined: contribute to the coherence of the international legal system, including as a means for interpreting and complementing other rules of international law; although general principles of law mainly resorted when other rules do not address a particular issue, the Commission emphasised, that this third source is not in a hierarchy below the other sources. Finally, the last version of the draft had been supplemented by the general principles of law with a limited scope of application, which may include regional principles. The Commission did not define "general principles of law" and the methodology for identifying them, which consists of inductive and deductive methods, often does not allow for distinguishing this source from rules of customary international law. However, the discussion of the "third" source of international law referred to in article 38 of the Statute of the International Court of Justice has reached a very high level of doctrinal and inter-State debate, which allows us to expect that it will continue to be an "engine" of international law, offering for the latter possible rules to be borrowed from national systems. The confirmation of the existence of general principles of law emanating from the international legal system makes it possible to consider the basic principles of international law, proclaimed in the Declaration by the UN General Assembly in 1970, not only as an elucidation of the treaty provisions of the UN Charter, and not only as rules of customary international law, but also as the "third" source of international law. The annex to the article contains a chart giving the author’s understanding of the relationship between the various generally recognised principles and norms of international law, as well as examples of general principles of law referred to in the Commentary on the Draft Conclusions. However, the Commission’s work suggests that the romantic idea of using moral imperatives, divine revelation, or natural law to address inter-State disputes has finally become history.

d'Aspremont: The Epistemology of the Secret: International Law as Revelation

Jean d'Aspremont (Sciences Po & Univ. of Manchester) has published The Epistemology of the Secret: International Law as Revelation (Cambridge Univ. Press 2025). Here's the abstract:

In this groundbreaking work, Jean d'Aspremont undertakes the first study of the epistemology of the secret of international law, which is a specific intellectual posture whereby international law is considered to be replete with secrets that international lawyers ought to reveal. In addition to arguing that the epistemology of the secret of international law is everywhere at work in international legal thought and practice, d'Aspremont demonstrates why this posture must be scrutinized, given how much it enables certain sayings, thoughts, perceptions and actions while simultaneously disabling others, making it complicit with the worst forms of capitalism, colonialism, racism, bourgeois ideology, phallocentrism, virilism and masculinism. This book should be read by anyone interested in how international law came to do what it does and why it must be rethought.

New Website of the Rivista di diritto internazionale

The new website of the Rivista di diritto internazionale is now online here. Regularly updated by the Editorial Board under the supervision of the Editor-in-Chief, the digital platform allows users to search and read all issues of the Rivista published since 1975 through an innovative interface and streamlined navigation. It also offers access to selected short contributions made available online ahead of their print publication. The website further enriches the Rivista’s traditional content with a dedicated “news” section featuring original documents, summaries, and case notes. This section is organized into five observatories focusing on significant developments from the International Court of Justice; the European Court of Human Rights and UN Treaty Bodies; the International Criminal Court; the Court of Justice of the European Union; and Italian courts. Multimedia materials, such as podcasts and video interviews, are also available.

New Issue: Korean Journal of International and Comparative Law

The latest issue of the Korean Journal of International and Comparative Law (Vol. 13, no. 2, 2025) is out. Contents include:

• Seokwoo Lee & Yen-Chiang Chang, The Legacy of Japan’s Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant Radioactive Wastewater Discharge
• Wonmog Choi, President Trump’s Tariff Policy and International Law
• Gyooho Lee, Applicable Law Related to Joint Work: Focus on Actoz Soft Co. Ltd. v. ChuanQi IP Co. Ltd.
• Seryon Lee, An Overview of Korea’s AI Framework: Main Features and Challenges
• Yoshifumi Tanaka, Regulation of Ship-to-Ship Transfer Operations in the Exclusive Economic Zone: Possible Actions on the Dark Fleet?
• Lowell Bautista & Seokwoo Lee, Historic Rights in the Law of the Sea: Clarification, Continuity, and Contestation