Latest blog articles

  • international 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...

  • Written by Yu Yan & Michael Faure.

    The Chinese word “economy” is originated from a famous idiom called “经世济民” (jing shi ji min), which suggests that a prosperous society is not only about economic success but also about the financial well-being of the general population. Microinsurance (the...

  • Hugo Grotius

    To any international lawyer, Hugo de Groot (10 April 1583 – 28 August 1645), usually referred to by his Latin name as Hugo Grotius, does not need any introduction. He is generally seen as the “father of public international law”, often together with Francisco De Vitoria (1483-1546) and Alberico...

  • Het is wellicht wat eigenaardig reflecties over de rol van de EU op het terrein van de volksgezondheid, en de huidige corona-crisis in het bijzonder, te beginnen in 1952, maar toch doe ik het. In december van dat jaar organiseerde de Franse regering een conferentie in Parijs waaraan...

  • Today, on Human Rights Day, the Peace Palace in The Hague will be the venue of the somewhat ironic spectacle of a Nobel Peace Prize laureate and global icon of human rights leading her country’s defence against allegations of genocide, the most serious violation of human rights possible.

  • Why would the EU at all consider unilaterally offering a new status to British (or other former EU) citizens without there being any reciprocal status or legal protection for EU citizens living in the UK (or any other exiting Member State)?

  • The entire structure of Article 50 TEU implies that it is up to a Member State to withdraw from the Union without there being any limitation imposed by EU law as to the reasons for the withdrawal, how this decision is taken or the extent to which that Member State takes into consideration the...

  • Recently it was brought in the news that families of Americans killed by ISIS in Belgium and France sued twitter for allegedly failing to keep members of the terrorist organisation of its platform. Lawsuits concerning American victims who were killed in Europe raise a number of interesting and legal...

  • Nuclear accidents such as the one in Fukushima; or potential nuclear incidents/accidents in Belgium nuclear plants such as the one close to Maastricht in Tihange. One of the questions that always arises in the context of a nuclear accident of the Fukushima type is why nuclear operators are largely...

  • Published on LBM. As the attack on the Twin Towers on 9/11 has shown, terrorism can lead to large-scale damage, massive property damage, thousands of cases of personal injury, pain and suffering and enormous consequential damage, including billions in lost profits. Can the security industry be...