In this episode of Called to the Bar: International Law Over Drinks, Tamsin Phillipa Paige (Deakin) and Imogen Saunders (ANU) are joined by Dimitrios A. Kourtis (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki) to discuss his new book, The Development and Application of the International Law of State Immunity: The Greek Perspective.

The conversation begins with a rich reflection on Dimitrios’ intellectual journey into international law - from rural central Greece to the study of genocide, sovereignty, and international criminal law - before turning to the doctrine of state immunity itself. What does it mean for one state to be immune from the jurisdiction of another state’s courts? Why has immunity historically been understood as an expression of sovereign equality? And how have these principles evolved in response to human rights claims, reparations litigation, and contemporary demands for accountability?

Drawing on the Greek experience, the episode explores how a so-called “semi-peripheral” state has played an unexpectedly significant role in shaping debates around jurisdictional immunity, enforcement immunity, and the relationship between sovereignty and justice. Along the way, the panel unpacks major doctrinal tensions, historical controversies, and the enduring question of whether immunity protects international order, or shields power from scrutiny.

Recommendations:

The Development and Application of the International Law of State Immunity: The Greek Perspective, https://www.sakkoulas.gr/en/editions/d-kourtis-the-development-and-application-of-the-international-law-of-state-immunity-2025/

Recipe Tin Eats: https://www.recipetineats.com/

Music: Sam Barsh, Oils of au Lait

In this episode Associate Professor Imogen Saunders is joined by Dr Rumyana van Ark and Professor Kim Rubenstein to discuss citizenship, security, and the rights of children in the context of Australians held in camps in North East Syria.

Prompted by recent debate over the so-called “ISIS brides”, the conversation asks what citizenship means when citizens are abroad, what obligations states owe to their nationals, and how those questions become even more urgent when children are involved. Kim Rubenstein explains the uncertain place of citizenship in Australian constitutional law, the limits of diplomatic protection, and the dangers of using citizenship deprivation as a tool of punishment or security policy. Rumyana van Ark examines the position of children in the camps through the lens of international children’s rights, counter-terrorism law, and the practical consequences of prolonged detention, repatriation delays, and statelessness.

Together, they explore the uneasy relationship between national security and human rights; the vulnerability of dual citizens; the gendered and racialised dimensions of citizenship stripping; and the risks of treating children associated with foreign fighters as security threats rather than rights holders. The episode also reflects on “security populism”, the limits of existing international legal frameworks, and why repatriation, prosecution where appropriate, rehabilitation, and reintegration may be not only more rights-compliant, but also better security policy.

Recommendations:

‘Security and Human Rights’ (2nd ed.) by Benjamin J Goold and Liora Lazarus (eds.)(https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/security-and-human-rights-9781849467308/)

‘Europe’s Guantanamo: The indefinite detention of European women and children in North East Syria’, Rights & Security International (https://www.e-elgar.com/shop/gbp/children-s-rights-foreign-fighters-counter-terrorism-9781800377110.html)

‘Children’s Rights, ‘Foreign Fighters’, Counter-Terrorism: Children of Nowhere’ by Rumyana van Ark, Devyani Prabhat and Faith Gordon (https://www.e-elgar.com/shop/gbp/children-s-rights-foreign-fighters-counter-terrorism-9781800377110.html)

'Allegiance and Identity in a Globalised World’ by edited Fiona Jenkins, Mark Nolan and Kim Rubenstein (https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/allegiance-and-identity-in-a-globalised-world/allegiance-and-identity-in-a-globalised-world)

Kim Rubenstien and Niamh Lenagh-Maguire, 'More or less secure? Nationality questions, deportation and dual nationality’ (https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/nationality-and-statelessness-under-international-law/more-or-less-secure-nationality-questions-deportation-and-dual-nationality)

'The vulnerability of dual citizenship in Australia | Kim Rubenstein | TEDxFulbrightCanberra’ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51B8aA1UCWM)

Music: Sam Barsh, Oils of au lait

In this episode Juliette McIntyre (Adelaide University) is joined by Phillip Drew (Queen’s University Centre for International and Defence Policy) alongside in-house maritime law specialists Tamsin Phillipa Paige (Deakin) and Douglas Guilfoyle (UNSW Canberra) to tackle a suddenly urgent topic: naval blockade.

What exactly is a blockade in international law, and when is it lawful? The panel traces the doctrine from its historical roots to its modern regulation under the law of naval warfare, where blockades remain a recognised, but tightly constrained, act of war requiring effectiveness, notification, and impartiality toward neutral shipping . From there, the discussion turns to current events, including the US blockade of Iran and Iran's attempt to close the Strait of Hormuz, raising difficult questions about freedom of navigation, the legality of closing international straits, and the broader implications for the global trading system.

Recommendations:

- Drew, The Law of Maritime Blockade: Past, Present, and Future, https://academic.oup.com/book/11044

- The Newport Manual on the Law of Naval Warfare, https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/ils/vol101/iss1/1/

- The San Remo Manual on Armed Conflicts at Sea, https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/en/ihl-treaties/san-remo-manual-1994

- Guilfoyle, The Mavi Marmara Incident and Blockade in Armed Conflict https://doi.org/10.1093/bybil/brr002

Sound editing: Jamie Guilfoyle

Music: Sam Barsh, Oils of au lait

In this episode of Called to the Bar: International Law Over Drinks, Tamsin Phillipa Paige (Deakin Law School) and Douglas Guilfoyle (UNSW Canberra) are joined by Alonso Gurmendi Dunkelberg (LSE) and Emma Lush (University of Adelaide) to unpack the legal status of assassination in contemporary warfare and statecraft.

From Cold War plots to modern drone strikes, the panel explores the apparent resurgence of targeted killing as a tool of state power. What explains this shift? How has the logic of war changed in an era of precision targeting, AI, and pre-identified “target lists”? And does the law meaningfully constrain these practices?

The discussion moves across key legal frameworks, including the UN Charter’s prohibition on the use of force, the threshold for armed attack, and the rules of international humanitarian law governing targeting. Along the way, the episode interrogates blurred lines between peace and war, the expansion of lawful targets, and the troubling implications of a model of conflict where violence is increasingly individualized and pre-programmed.

In this episode of Called to the Bar: International Law Over Drinks, Dr Juliette McIntyre is joined by Mykola Yurlov (Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs) and Mark Ellis (International Bar Association) to unpack one of the most ambitious current projects in international criminal law: the proposed Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine.

Blending personal insight with institutional perspective, the conversation traces the rapid emergence of the tribunal idea following Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, and the legal gap it seeks to fill. While the International Criminal Court remains central to global accountability efforts, its jurisdictional limits over aggression have prompted states and legal practitioners to explore alternative mechanisms—reviving, in many respects, a form of accountability not seen since Nuremberg.

The discussion explores how the tribunal is being constructed in practice: from the role of the Council of Europe and the “core group” of states, to difficult negotiations over immunities, jurisdiction, and the possibility of trials in absentia. The episode also addresses institutional tensions, including early resistance from within the ICC system, and the broader political sensitivities of targeting senior state leadership.

Recommendations:

"An Anxious Generation": https://www.penguin.com.au/books/the-anxious-generation-9781802063271

"UN Charter - 5 Pillars": https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-94866-4

Music: Sam Barsh, Oils of au lait

In this episode of Called to the Bar: International Law Over Drinks, Ntina Tzouvala (UNSW) is joined by Zohra Ahmed (Boston University School of Law) and Nasia Hadjigeorgiou (University of Central Lancashire, Cyprus) to examine the law, history, and politics of foreign military bases.

Against the backdrop of escalating conflict in the Middle East, the conversation explores how the US and UK came to maintain extensive global networks of military bases: from post-colonial enclaves like Cyprus and the Chagos Archipelago to status of forces agreements (SOFAs) that underpin US bases worldwide. The episode unpacks the legal distinctions between these models and what they reveal about sovereignty, consent, and enduring forms of imperial power.

Drawing on recent developments in international law, including the ICJ’s Chagos Advisory Opinion, the discussion considers whether existing legal frameworks offer meaningful avenues to challenge the continued presence of foreign bases. It also reflects on the evolving uses of these spaces - from warfare to detention - and what they tell us about the relationship between international law, militarism, and political economy.

Recommendations:

-Nasia's EJIL piece: https://academic.oup.com/ejil/article/33/4/1125/6825293?guestAccessKey=

-Nasia's blog post: https://verfassungsblog.de/why-us-sovereign-bases-in-greenland-would-violate-international-law/

-Zohra's YJIL piece: https://scholarship.law.bu.edu/faculty_scholarship/3712/

-Daniel Immerwahr, How to Hide an Empire: https://www.penguin.com.au/books/how-to-hide-an-empire-9781473545335

Sound production: Jamie Guilfoyle

Music: Sam Barsh, Oils of au lait

In this episode Juliette McIntyre (Adelaide University) is joined by James Devaney (University of Glasgow) and Cecily Rose (Leiden University) to explore the often-overlooked world of evidence and fact-finding in international adjudication.

Why does the International Court of Justice have so few formal rules on evidence? What does it actually do with the mountains of annexes submitted by parties? And what exactly counts as proof in international litigation? Drawing on James’s leading work on ICJ fact-finding and Cecily’s experience across arbitration and international courts, the episode examines the Court’s traditionally reactive approach, recent efforts at reform, and how it compares with more interventionist practices in investment arbitration and human rights courts.

The conversation also unpacks practical issues - from expert evidence and adverse inferences to the strategic dynamics of litigation - offering insights into how international courts construct “facts” in the absence of strict evidentiary frameworks.

Sound production: Jamie Guilfoyle

Music: Sam Barsh, Oils of au lait

In this episode of Called to the Bar: International Law Over Drinks, Ntina Tzouvala (UNSW) is joined by Dr Maria O’Sullivan (Deakin Law School) to unpack the legal frameworks governing the right to protest at a time of increasing global restriction.

Drawing on Maria’s research expertise - spanning international human rights law, domestic law, and public policy - the conversation explores how the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) protects freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, and how those protections are being tested in practice. From escalating state violence to the proliferation of restrictive protest laws, the episode examines the widening gap between formal legal guarantees and lived realities on the ground.

The discussion also reflects on Maria’s broader career in international human rights law, the influence of key mentors, and the challenge of translating international legal norms into domestic contexts.

Recommendations:

Azadeh Dastyari, Maria O’Sullivan, International Law and the Regulation of Protest (2026) https://www.routledge.com/International-Law-and-the-Regulation-of-Protest/Dastyari-OSullivan/p/book/9781032863573

Music: Sam Barsh, Oils of au Lait

In this episode of Called to the Bar: International Law Over Drinks, Tamsin Phillipa Paige is joined by Professor Ben Saul (Sydney Law School; UN Special Rapporteur on Counter-Terrorism and Human Rights) and Dr Pichamon Yeophantong (Deakin University; Member of the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights) to demystify the UN’s Special Procedures system.

What exactly are Special Rapporteurs and Working Groups? How did these mechanisms emerge from the late-1960s human rights movement, and how do they function today within the Human Rights Council system? Drawing on their lived experience as mandate holders, Ben and Pichamon explain the independence, authority, and limitations of these roles: from fact-finding missions and urgent communications, to producing reports that carry the weight of being issued by the UN.

The conversation also explores the practical realities behind the mandates: underfunding, reliance on volunteer labour, political pushback from states, and the delicate balance between independence and institutional affiliation. In a moment of growing authoritarianism and multilateral strain, the episode asks whether Special Procedures are one of the UN’s most powerful, or most precarious, human rights tools.

In this episode, Douglas Guilfoyle and Tamsin Phillipa Paige are joined by Dr Tara Davenport (NUS Centre for International Law) and Dita Liliansa (UNSW Sydney) for a deep dive into the law, history, and strategic significance of submarine cables, the quietly critical infrastructure underpinning the modern internet (and increasingly, power grids). From the colonial origins of telegraph cables to the oddly antique legal framework still doing duty today (hello, 1884), the panel unpacks who regulates cables across territorial seas, EEZs, archipelagic waters, and the high seas, and why “grey zone” sabotage in places like the Baltic keeps raising hard jurisdictional questions (including a certain provocative word: piracy). They also tackle cable geopolitics in the South China Sea, the rise of “smart” sensing cables, and why the law of armed conflict is alarmingly undercooked for something this essential.

Music: Sam Barsh, Oils of au Lait