International Law in Brief


International Law in Brief (ILIB) is a forum that provides updates on current developments in international law from the editors of ASIL's International Legal Materials.
Russia Withdraws from the European Convention Against Torture
| By: Özge Karsu : October 03, 2025 |

On September 29, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the law on Russia’s formal withdrawal from the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. This move has been widely seen as a retreat from Russia’s international commitments, particularly in the field of human rights protection.

The Convention, which was created and is overseen by the Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT), allows independent international experts to conduct regular, unannounced inspections of the detention facilities. The...

ICJ Delivers Unanimous Advisory Opinion on States’ Climate Change Obligations
| By: Alaa Hajyahia : July 24, 2025 |

On July 23, 2025, the International Court of Justice delivered its Advisory Opinion on the Obligations of States in respect of Climate Change, unanimously establishing that states have comprehensive binding obligations under multiple frameworks of international law to protect the climate system. The Court’s opinion responded to questions posed by the UN General Assembly through resolution 77/276, marking only the fifth unanimous advisory opinion in the Court’s nearly 80-year history.

In its Advisory Opinion, the Court identified specific obligations under various climate treaties,...

ECtHR Finds Switzerland Violated Fair Hearing Rights in Semenya v. Switzerland Sports Arbitration Case
| By: Alaa Hajyahia : July 16, 2025 |

The Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) ruled on July 10, 2025 that Switzerland violated Olympic champion Caster Semenya’s right to a fair hearing (Article 6 § 1 of the European Convention on Human Rights). The case involved Semenya’s challenge to World Athletics rules requiring female athletes with high natural testosterone to undergo hormone treatment to compete in women’s middle-distance races.

Semenya, a South African runner born with differences of sex development (DSD), first challenged the testosterone rules at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS...

ECtHR finds Russia Committed Grave International Law Violations in Ukraine
| By: Alaa Hajyahia : July 14, 2025 |

On July 9, 2025, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) issued landmark decisions finding that Russia has committed grave violations of international humanitarian law in Ukraine since 2014.

The court’s rulings addressed four inter-state applications brought by Ukraine and the Netherlands. The consolidated complaints concerned violations spanning from the 2014 conflict in eastern Ukraine through Russia’s full-scale invasion beginning February 24, 2022, including the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 (MH17), multiple violations of the Geneva Conventions,...

UK High Court allows continued export of jet fighter components to Israel
| By: ASIL Staff : July 03, 2025 |

On June 30, 2025, the High Court of Justice’s King’s Bench Division ruled that the UK’s “F-35 Carve Out” permitting continued export of F-35 fighter jet components through the multinational Joint Strike Fighter Program is lawful.

In a judgment by Justices Males and Steyn, the court refused permission for judicial review of the September 2, 2024 decision by the Secretary of State for Business and Trade. The Secretary of State suspended licenses authorizing the export of items that might be used in carrying out or facilitating Israeli military operations in Gaza, explicitly because...

Trump Establishes White House Office for Special Peace Missions
| By: ASIL Staff : July 03, 2025 |

On June 30, 2025, US President Donald Trump signed Executive Order 14311 establishing a White House Office for Special Peace Missions. The order creates a new office within the White House Office dedicated to “assist in bringing about the end of conflict and strife around the world.”

The Executive Order designates that the Office for Special Peace Missions will be headed by a Special Envoy for Peace Missions, who will be appointed directly by the President. The Special Envoy is tasked with advancing “efforts aimed at ending ongoing conflicts abroad” and will coordinate these efforts...

US Bombs Three Iranian Nuclear Sites: Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan
| By: ASIL Staff : June 25, 2025 |

On June 21, 2025, US President Donald Trump announced that American planes targeted and bombed three Iranian nuclear sites at Fordow, Natanz, and Esfahan, with Fordow receiving the “full payload” as the primary target. Trump declared that “now is the time for peace” and stated that the planes evacuated Iranian airspace safely.

In a subsequent national address, Trump declared the strikes “a spectacular military success” and stated that “Iran’s key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated.” Trump characterized the objective as “the destruction of Iran...

German Court Exercises Universal Jurisdiction for Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes in Syria
| By: Alaa Hajyahia : June 18, 2025 |

On June 16, 2025, the Higher Regional Court (OLG) Frankfurt/Main sentenced former Syrian doctor Alaa M. to life imprisonment for crimes against humanity, war crimes, and murder committed during the Assad regime’s persecution of opposition members.

The court found Alaa M. guilty of crimes against humanity in ten cases, including torture, sexual abuse, and killing two patients in his care. The defendant performed surgery without anesthesia, mutilated patients’ genital areas, and killed victims through lethal injection and deliberate medical neglect. The court emphasized that...

UN Human Rights Office Appeals for Urgent De-escalation as Israel-Iran Crisis Continues
| By: Alaa Hajyahia : June 18, 2025 |

On June 18, 2025, as the Israel-Iran crisis entered its sixth day, UN Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights Nada Al-Nashif called for urgent de-escalation and diplomatic negotiations to end the ongoing missile attacks and find a way forward. Speaking to the Human Rights Council in Geneva, Al-Nashif emphasized that “it is imperative that both sides fully respect international law, in particular by ensuring the protection of civilians in densely populated areas and of civilian objects.”

The escalation began when Israel targeted nuclear and military sites across Iran on June 13,...

Taliban Weaponize Afghanistan’s Justice System Against Women, UN Finds
| By: Alaa Hajyahia : June 17, 2025 |

On June 16, 2025, Richard Bennett, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan, presented a report to the 59th session of the Human Rights Council examining access to justice and protection for women and girls under Taliban rule. The report concludes that the Taliban’s transformation of Afghanistan’s legal and justice sectors “actively weaponizes the legal, judicial, and social order to oppress women and girls״ and constitutes an “institutionalized system of discrimination, oppression, and domination amounting to crimes against humanity.”

Since seizing...

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