In the last few months, suspicious fires in warehouses and aboard aircraft, the severing of undersea power and Internet cables, GPS jamming, cyber operations against critical civilian infrastructure, and allegations of influence operations and election interference have been depicted as ‘hybrid warfare’ by both politicians and the media. So-called ‘hybrid threats’ or ‘hybrid attacks’, as well as allegations of the use of proxies to project power while attempting to obfuscate attribution and legal as well as political responsibility are a symptom of worrying developments, in particular in Europe. The geopolitical environment today is characterized by increasing/ed tensions among states, a militarized security environment, instability within countries, projection of power through a range of covert and coercive measures, and – at the global level – an increasing number of armed conflicts.
Talk
At the Confluence of Fake News and Extraterritoriality – EJIL: Talk! – Go Health Pro
The dangers caused by the proliferation of misinformation – or ‘fake news’ – via social media platforms and instant messaging services are not easy to counteract. By the internet’s very nature, online communications are difficult to regulate as information shared by users in one jurisdiction can be easily made available to users in many others. In some cases, platforms themselves have acted to combat fake news beyond the superficial step of maintaining a misinformation policy. For example, Meta’s Oversight Board, a quasi-judicial body created by the parent company of Facebook and Instagram to review content moderation decisions on those platforms, has reviewed individual decisions by Meta concerning the moderation of misinformation, and has made policy recommendations regarding the management of misinformation.
Two Weeks in Review, 30 December 2024 – 12 January 2025 – EJIL: Talk! – Go Health Pro
International Humanitarian Law Anna-Christina Schmidl and Eitan Diamond assess the legality of Israel’s conduct in North Gaza, focusing on both the law of occupation and the rules governing siege warfare under international humanitarian law (IHL). The authors find Israel’s actions in Northern Gaza likely violate multiple IHL provisions, including those against the starvation of civilians … Read more
Trump’s Coercion of America’s Allies and the Prohibition of Intervention – EJIL: Talk! – Go Health Pro
Next week, Donald Trump will become President of the United States. Again. Even before his assumption of the presidency, he seems to have started setting his country’s foreign policy. Among the many items on his agenda, we have witnessed all these ideas and proposals about making Canada the 51st state, seizing the Panama Canal and … Read more
Ghandhi Research Seminar Series; CfS ASIL Interest Group; CfA Nordic Symposium on the Law of Armed Conflict; CfP Causal Inquiry for Finding Breaches of Human Rights Obligations ECHR; CfP ILA Committee on ADR in International Law; Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Seminar & Book Launch; CfP Polish Review of International & European Law; Research Methods in Fundamental Rights Workshop – EJIL: Talk! – Go Health Pro
1. Ghandhi Research Seminar Series 2024- 2025. Global Law at Reading (GLAR) is Reading’s research hub for public international law, EU law and human rights law, and it has a proud international reputation for research excellence in these areas. The Ghandhi Research Seminar Series was launched in 2015, named in honour of Professor Sandy Ghandhi, who taught at the School of Law from 1978 to 2013 and remains an emeritus professor at Reading. Anyone is welcome to attend these seminars, and attendance is free. Seminars as follows: 11 February, 13-13.00 – Professor Gregory Fox (Wayne State University), Civil War Peace Agreements: Inside or Outside International Law? – Palmer Building 107 or via Teams; 24 February, 12 – 13.00 -Dr Justina Uriburu (University of Manchester), Missing Pieces of Peace: A History of International Dispute Settlement – Palmer Building 106 or via Teams; 5 March, 11 – 12.00 – Katherine Reece-Thomas (City, University of London) The Commercial Activity Exception to State Immunity – Henley Business School G13 or via Teams; 19 March, 12 – 13.00 – Professor Nazila Ghanea (University of Oxford), Caught Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Parsing out Religion from Politics in the Work of the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief – Palmer Building 103 or via Teams; and, 12 May 12-13.00 -Professor Frédéric Mégret (McGill University), What is International Human Rights Law For? – Palmer Building 111 or via Teams.
2. Call for Submissions: The American Society of International Law Interest Group on International Legal Theory. The American Society of International Law (ASIL) Interest Group on International Legal Theory has issued its annual call for submissions for its International Refugee Law Student Writing Prize. More details about the award criteria and submission process are available in the attached call for submissions. The winner will be recognized at the ASIL Annual Meeting in April 2025, as well as receiving a free one-year ASIL student membership, free admission to the ASIL Annual Meeting, assistance with travel expenses, and a credit to purchase books from Oxford University Press.
