In this episode, Taylor Kate Woodcock, Researcher in Public International Law at the Asser Institute interviews Nani Jansen Reventlow, author and award-winning human rights lawyer specialised in strategic litigation at the intersection of human rights, social justice, and technology. Founder of Systemic Justice and the Digital Freedom Fund, Nani has overseen litigation worldwide, leading cases before national courts, the European Court of Human Rights, African Court on Human and Peoples Rights, and UN Human Rights Committee, amongst others.

Nani joins Taylor to explain strategic litigation, her trajectory in the field and experiences working with marginalized communities in trauma informed ways, providing practical insights and hope for the pursuit of material, structural change through strategic litigation.

For more information on Nani Jansen Reventlow’s recent and upcoming publications, see:

· N Jansen Reventlow - Radical Justice: Building the world we need – Available in Dutch and for Pre-order in English

· Read more about Intersectionality and Human Rights: Reimagining European Court of Human Rights Judgments – Edited by Nani Jansen Reventlow, Eddie Bruce-Jones, Lyn K. L. Tjoin Soei Len and Adam Weiss here.

In this episode, Flora Bensadon and Irem Cakmak are joined by Zoe Bantleman, Dr Kris van der Pas and Dr Annick Pijnenburg to discuss the externalisation of migration. What is meant by the externalisation of migration? What legal, political and moral considerations does it raise? And to what extent may contemporary externalisation efforts be seen as a wider pushback against international law?

Note: From 20:10 Dr Van der Pas discusses the upcoming changes to the connection requirement in EU law and from 30:18 Dr Pijnenburg briefly discusses the Italy-Albania deal and litigation and again the connection requirement. There have been some developments since the podcast was recorded: The European Commission published its proposal to change the connection requirement and the Court of Justice of the EU ruled on a preliminary question that affects the Italy-Albania deal.

Speakers

Zoe Bantleman – Barrister, Legal Director of the Immigration Law Practitioners’ Association (ILPA), and DPHil Migration Studies Student, University of Oxford

Dr Kris van der Pas – Postdoctoral Researcher, Tilburg University

Dr Annick Pijnenburg – Assistant Professor, International and European Law, Radboud University

Hosts

Flora Bensadon – Intern, TMC Asser Institute

Irem Cakmak – Intern, TMC Asser Institute

In a brand-new episode of JurisDictions, the Asser Institute’s international law podcast, researcher Dr Carl Lewis interviews Ammar Hijazi, Ambassador and Head of the Palestinian Mission to the Kingdom of the Netherlands and Permanent Representative of the State of Palestine to International Organizations in The Hague.

One year after the International Court of Justice delivered its Advisory Opinion on the legal consequences arising from the policies and practices of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem (19 July 2024), Ambassador Ammar Hijazi reflects on his role as ambassador, the importance of pursuing justice within existing international legal mechanisms, as well as the need for states to show commitment to international law.

“(…) today we see the final episodes of our erasure taking place in Palestine. These are now very clear, in terms of law. Everybody knows where everything stands. And it is up to States. Do they want this system to continue? Or do they want it to collapse on the basis of a few interests here and there, or on sheer power and bullying? That's a determination that is not up to the Palestinians. This is why it is a litmus test. Everybody's looking at Palestine.”

For the first time in history, a dedicated tribunal is being established to investigate and prosecute the crime of aggression. Join us in this episode, as Dr Gabrielė Chlevickaitė, International Criminal Law researcher at the Asser Institute, interviews H.E. Dr Anton Korynevych, Ambassador -at-large in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, on establishing the Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine.

Should you wish to read more, the Asser Institute has also released a Report on the Special Tribunal, offering the first legal analysis of the 'Council of Europe model,' as well as broader legal and policy considerations.

In this episode, we reflect on international sports law and the governance of football. Joined by Dr. Antoine Duval, we discuss the complexities of the football transfer system, particularly considering historical shifts following two landmark judgements: the Bosman (European Court of Justice, 1995) and the Diarra (Court of Justice of the European Union, 2024) rulings.

How have these landmark rulings offered the possibility for the football transfer system to shift in favour of players? What even is a football transfer? And, more broadly, what legal and ethical issues arise around the ‘world's game' and football mega events like the upcoming 2034 FIFA Men’s World Cup, which will be hosted by Saudi Arabia? In this episode, we discuss all of this and more.

Guest:

Dr Antoine Duval, Senior Researcher in International Law, TMC Asser Institute

Host and Editor:

Flora Bensadon, Research Trainee, TMC Asser Institute

Editor:

Dr Carl Lewis, Researcher in Public International Law, TMC Asser Institute

Further reading:

A Duval, 'Football at a Crossroads' (2024) Verfassungsblog

Bosman ruling (Case C415/93): Union royal belge des sociétés de football association ASBL, Royal club liégeois SA v Jean March Bosman and others and Union des associations européennes de football (UEFA) v Jean-Marc Bosman.

Diarra ruling (Case C-650/22): Fédération internationale de football association (FIFA) v BZ.

For further information, news and readings on questions of transnational sports law please visit the Asser International Sports Law Centre webpage.

In this episode, we reflect on how Dharmic traditions, such as Buddhism and Hinduism, engaged with principles of humanity in warfare long before the codification of International Humanitarian Law (IHL) with the Geneva Conventions. Joined by Dr. Robert Heinsch, Dr. Raj Balkaran, and Dr. Christina Kilby, we consider key IHL concepts such as collateral damage and proportionality, while reflecting on what ancient philosophies, theologies and laws can teach us about ethical warfare today. By reflecting on various historical roots and traditions of humanitarian principles, the episode seeks to encourage engagement with the evolution and applications of the laws of armed conflict. What role do the principles of humanity, distinction and proportionality play in the law of armed conflict? How does the element of storytelling in the Sanskrit epics contribute to the dissemination of ethical values? How has religion influenced International Humanitarian Law, specifically the implementation of humanitarian principles?

Guests:  

Dr. Robert Heinsch, Associate Professor in International Law at Leiden University

Dr. Raj Balkaran, Scholar of Sanskrit Narrative Literature, Public Intellectual, Online Educator

Dr. Christina Kilby, Associate Professor of Religion at James Madison University

Editors: 

Host - Dr Carl Lewis, Researcher in Public International Law, TMC Asser Institute 

Co-host - Wamika Sachdev, Intern, Asser Institute 

Flora Bensadon, Intern, Asser Institute

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has now provided two orders of provisional measures in the Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in the Gaza Strip (South Africa v. Israel) case, following the further deterioration of the humanitarian situation in Gaza since the 26th of January 2024. But what are provisional measures? What does it mean to invoke a breach of an obligation owed to the ‘international community’? What implications follow from these proceedings beyond the peace palace? And in what sense could it be argued that the ICJ may be denying reality? In this episode, we discuss all of this and more.

Guests:

Dr León Castellanos-Jankiewicz, Senior Researcher in International Law at the TMC Asser Institute

Dr Shahd Hammouri, Lecturer in Law at the University of Kent

Dr Giulia Pinzauti, Assistant Professor in International Law at Leiden University

Dr Sarah Thin, Assistant Professor in International and European Law at Radboud University

Host:

Dr Carl Lewis, Researcher in Public International Law, TMC Asser Institute

Why do states take maps so seriously? What role do they play in the international legal order? And how do international courts take them into consideration? We discuss all of this and more, with an eye to the ongoing Arbitral Award of 3 October 1899 (Guyana v. Venezuela) case at the International Court of Justice. 

Guests: 

Dr Yusra Suedi, Lecturer in International Law at the University of Manchester. 

Dr Brendan Plant, Hopkins–Parry Fellow and Director of Studies in Law at Downing College, University of Cambridge. 

Prof Krista Wiegand, Professor in International Relations at the University of Tennessee,  

Mr William Worster, Senior Lecturer at The Hague University of Applied Sciences 

Hosts: 

Dr Carl Lewis, Researcher in Public International Law, TMC Asser Institute 

Ms Miranda Lalla, Student in the Advanced LLM in Public International Law, Leiden University and Intern, TMC Asser Institute 

Related Works:  

Bendel J and Suedi Y, Public Interest Litigation in International Law (Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group 2024).  

Plant B, ‘Arbitral Award of Oct. 3, 1899 (Guy. V. Venez.) (Decision on Jurisdiction) (I.C.J.)’ (2021) 60 International Legal Materials 1112.  

Powell EJ and Wiegand KE, The Peaceful Resolution of Territorial and Maritime Disputes (Oxford University press 2023).  

Riddell A and Plant B, Evidence before the International Court of Justice (British Inst of Internat Comparative Law 2011).  

Suedi Y, ‘Man, Land and Sea: Local Populations in Territorial and Maritime Disputes before the International Court of Justice’ (2021) 20 The Law & Practice of International Courts and Tribunals 30. 

——, ‘Man, Land and Sea: Local Populations in Territorial and Maritime Disputes before the International Court of Justice’ accessed 8 February 2024. 

Worster WT, ‘The Frailties of Maps as Evidence in International Law’ (2018) 9 Journal of International Dispute Settlement 570.  

——, ‘Maps Serving as Facts of Law in International Law’ (2018) 33 Connecticut Journal of international law 278.