The last weeks have seen a gradual increase of pressure on the Ukrainian leadership to succumb to Russia’s imperialist demands. In particular, the United States of America under the Trump Administration have repeated their calls for a “Peace Deal” between the two states at war. The Administration suspended military and intelligence aid to Ukraine after … Read more
Civilians today face unprecedented risks in armed conflict, with compliance with the laws of war in crisis. UN figures show civilian deaths rising since 2019 and skyrocketing in 2023, with the number of women and children killed doubling and tripling from the previous year. As Cordula Droege has argued, international humanitarian law (IHL) is ‘under … Read more
The Optional Protocol to the UN Torture Convention (OPCAT) is unique amongst the UN human rights treaties and their Optional Protocols. Unique as it is not normative because it does not set out a new right which would be additional to those elaborated in the Torture Convention itself. Nor is it purely procedural as it … Read more
Born into a Jewish family in Ukraine, Vasily Grossman’s monumental account of totalitarian Stalinist Russia, Life and Fate, which included a remarkable portrayal of the battle of Stalingrad during World War II, was banned by the KGB before it could be published in the Soviet Union. In response, Grossman wrote to the then Soviet leader, … Read more
The child is not dead not at Langa nor at Nyanganot at Orlando nor at Sharpevillenor at the police station at Philippiwhere he lies with a bullet through his brain…the child is present at all assemblies and law-givings… The reprise of South African place names at the heart of Ingrid Jonker’s poem, a poem recited first … Read more