Latest blog articles

  • Before the World Court: What Is at Stake in the Advisory Proceedings on Israel’s Obligations in Relation to the United Nations and Other Actors in the Occupied Palestinian Territory

    This explainer provides essential context on the ICJ’s advisory opinion request on Obligations of Israel in relation to the Presence and Activities of the United Nations, Other International Organizations and Third States in and in relation to the Occupied Palestinian Territory. The hearings...

    icj hearings at law
  • Genocide in Gaza?

    A brief explainer about the ICJ case brought by South Africa against Israel

    On 29 December, almost three months after the 7 October Hamas attacks on Israel and the ensuing Israeli military strikes on the Gaza Strip, which had by then resulted in the deaths of more than 21,000 people and more than...

    international law
  • The fluke of international law that led to an accidental condominium

    Only a short drive from Maastricht, border stones still mark the borders of Neutral Moresnet, a small condominium that was the result of a very peculiar round of border negotiations and for over a hundred years was a tax haven, a gambling paradise and a would-be Esperanto state.

    aw_blog_aron_bosman_Moresnet
  • Democracy and Nihilism: denouncing contemporary populist rhetoric

    In this piece, I will use two memes to begin to unpack what I think is the common denominator of contemporary populist rhetoric. I will explain that the real substance of this rhetoric is the creation of a false moral equivalence, revealing a nihilism. Finally, I will suggest how this false moral...

    law_blog_foto_Artur Willemse_groot
  • The EU’s race to the bottom on asylum seekers’ rights

    Throughout the EU, the rights of asylum seekers come under pressure. Overdue policy changes remain stuck in negotiations because of lacking political will. It is up to the European Commission to step up and protect the fundamental rights of asylum seekers.

    law_migration_blog_aron_bosman
  • It has to be different?!

    On 8 September 2015 State Secretary for Justice and Security Klaas Dijkhoff announced that from now on only refugees who have applied for asylum in a safe place outside the EU would be accepted in the Netherlands. The government wants to put an end to asylum-seekers placing their fate in the hands...

    Bulgaria’s zero refugee integration policy and beyond