News Item #1

New Zealand has become the first state to ratify an amendment to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. The Amendment to Article 8 makes intentionally using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare in non-international armed conflicts a war crime.

News Item #2

24th October marked a historic occasion in the fight against the banning of nuclear weapons. The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) has finally reached the threshold for entering into force. With the latest entry of Honduras, 50 States have now ratified the Treaty, meaning that it will enter into force as legally binding instrument of international law in 90 days.

News Item #3

On 12th October, The General Assembly and the Security Council of United Nations elected five Members of the International Court of Justice for a term of office of nine years, starting from 2021. Judges Xue Hanqin (China), Peter Tomka (Slovakia), Julia Sebutinde (Uganda) and Yuji Iwasawa (Japan) were re-elected as Members of the Court. Whereas, Georg Nolte (Germany) was also elected as a new Member of the Court.

News Item #4

The International Nuremberg Principles Academy has formally announced the start of its Nuremberg Academy Lectures . Professor Philippe Sands will deliver the inaugural lecture on 24 November 2020. In his lecture titled, ‘International Justice and Personal Stories: From East West Street to The Ratline, and Beyond’, Professor Sands will discuss the origins of international criminal law in light of the 75th anniversary of the opening of the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg and address contemporary developments of international criminal law.

News Item #5

The Sixth Annual T.M.C. Asser Lecture will be held online for the first time on 26th November. Prof. Andrew Murray, a leading thinker on information technology and regulation, will discuss the challenges that artificial intelligence and big data pose for human agency and the rule of law.

In this episode, we talk to Mohit Khubchandani, Kritika Sharma and Claire O'Connell about the International Court of Justice's Judicial Fellowship Program. They talk to us about their experiences with applying, and about their time at the Court.

In our 17th episode, we talk to 4 young, dynamic individuals and former fellows at the International Court of Justice - Amir Farhadi, Beatrice Walton, Camila Mariño Venegas and Shashank P. Kumar. They chat with us about the Court's fellowship program, the application period and their experiences.

In this episode, Prof. Charles Jalloh joins us to deconstruct and dissect the Draft Convention on Crimes Against Humanity. The conversation is based around Prof. Jalloh's analysis in his article "The International Law Commission’s First Draft Convention on Crimes Against Humanity: Codification, Progressive Development, or Both?: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3620370

In this episode, Anna Ventouratou from Oxford Law joins us to discuss the ins and outs of defences and indispensable incidental issues under international adjudication.  Anna's article: https://www.ejiltalk.org/defences-and-indispensable-incidental-issues-the-limits-of-subject-matter-jurisdiction-in-view-of-the-recent-icj-icao-council-judgments/

In episode 14, a leading voice on public international law Dr. Priya Pillai guides us through the ebbs and flows of the case of The Gambia v. Myanmar a.k.a the genocide case involving the Rohingyas at the International Court of Justice.  

 Dr. Pillai's article on the provisional measures in The Gambia v.s Myanmar is useful for the discussion : http://opiniojuris.org/2020/01/24/icj... #internationallaw #genocide #rohingyas #myanmar #icc #icj #podcast #juscogens

In episode 13, Bruno Gelinas-Faucher passionately dissects the ICJ Judges election season of 2020.  Link to Article: http://opiniojuris.org/2020/07/29/election-season-at-the-icj-dawn-of-a-new-era/

In this episode, Dr. Annyssa Bellal from the Geneva Academy breaks down the international legal framework that is applicable to armed-non-state actors (ANSA) and highlights the role of semantics in shaping the global narrative on ANSAs.  #juscogens #publicinternationallaw #ihl #nsag #podcast 

Articles discussed:  From cockroaches to rosebuds: changing the international community’s perception of non-State armed groups  https://armedgroups-internationallaw.org/2020/05/21/from-cockroaches-to-rosebuds-changing-the-international-communitys-perception-of-non-state-armed-groups/

 What Are ‘Armed Non-State Actors’? A Legal and Semantic Approach https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3596144

In this episode, Professor Simon Chesterman joins us to share his thoughts on Asia's historical, current and potential relationship with International Law, in light of his work  "Asia's ambivalence about international law", published in The Oxford Handbook of International Law in Asia and the Pacific and also the European Journal of International Law.   Link to the EJIL piece: https://academic.oup.com/ejil/article...Link to the Oxford Handbook of International Law on Asia and the Pacific: https://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/law/9780198793854.001.0001/law-9780198793854

In this edition of the Jus Cogens Podcast, we revisit basic assumptions and conceptual foundations of customary international law as it develops and applies. Professor Monica Hakimi of Michigan Law presents her case to let go of the rulebook theory of understanding CIL through her article "Making Sense of Customary International Law", published in the Michigan Law Review and later debated during Opinio Juris's Customary International Law Symposium.  Link to Opinio Juris Symposium: http://opiniojuris.org/2020/07/06/symposium-on-hakimis-making-sense-of-customary-international-law/ Link to Professor Hakimi's Article :https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3627905

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