“Today, Ireland, Norway and Spain are announcing that we are recognising the State of Palestine,” Irish Prime Minister Simon Harris announced Wednesday. Though Palestinian statehood has been a contentious issue for decades, the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict has pumped renewed urgency into the debate surrounding international recognition. In this explainer, we outline the fraught history of [...]

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordered Israel on Friday to immediately halt its military offensive in the Palestinian city of Rafah — the last major population center in the Gaza Strip following months of violent conflict. In this explainer, we unpack the situation in Gaza, the case against Israel, Israel’s response, and the basics [...]

Former Gambian Minister of Interior Ousman Sonko has been convicted of crimes against humanity by the Swiss Federal Criminal Court (FCC). The court found him guilty of numerous crimes committed between 2000 and 2016 under the regime of ex-President Yahya Jammeh, sentencing Sonko to 20 years in prison. This conviction marks the highest-ranking official ever sentenced [...]

A chorus of US politicians including President Joe Biden has decried International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor Karim A. A. Khan’s decision to seek arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his defense minister, Yoav Gallant, alongside three senior Hamas leaders. US officials slammed the ICC’s perceived “equivalence” of Israel and Hamas, the latter [...]

To many, the idea of slavery evokes images of shameful policies from centuries past. But today, slavery continues to stain the moral fabric of our global society, emboldened by poor understanding and misinformation. Despite burgeoning political, media, and academic attention, an astonishing transparency deficit persists in the UK, particularly when it comes to the government’s [...]

A report released this week before the UK Parliament details how the Hong Kong authorities are using the reputations and prestige of overseas common law judges to draw a veil over their country’s deteriorating legal system. The report, issued by the Committee for the Freedom of Hong Kong presents a damning indictment on how the Chinese [...]

The 2024 US presidential election will be historic on several fronts. It will be the first rematch between presidential candidates since Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower faced down Democrat Adlai Stevenson in 1956. At 81 and 77 respectively, incumbent candidate Joe Biden and his adversary Donald Trump are the oldest major party frontrunners in the history [...]

The Hong Kong Legislative Council unanimously passed the Safeguarding National Security Bill recently. Both the Chinese National People’s Congress Standing Committee and the Hong Kong government have stressed that this enactment is a constitutional duty conferred on the government under Article 23 of the Hong Kong Basic Law, which serves as Hong Kong’s mini-constitution. The [...]

The US Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in Trump v. US on Thursday in a case entailing alleged federal election interference in 2020. Trump is enmeshed in multiple criminal and civil cases as he prepares to run for reelection in November. This will be the second time this term a case concerning former President [...]

In recognition of the grave events that unfolded in Srebrenica in 1995, the UN General Assembly (UNGA) on Friday held a briefing on a resolution that calls for the acknowledgment of the genocide that took place in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) and the dedication of July 11th as The International Day of Reflection and Remembrance [...]