This is a deceptively simple question. It has several possible answers, each of which rests on different (and highly contested) assumptions. In this post I will try to explain what these possible answers are, and what are their implications. I don’t myself know what the ‘correct’ answer here is. It is not my intention to argue for one.

With missile and aerial strikes across Ukrainian territory and Russian ground forces entering Ukraine from multiple directions, there is now no doubt that the Russian Federation has used ‘force’ in the sense of Article 2(4) of the UN Charter against Ukraine, and has done so on a large scale. The burden is now on Russia to attempt to…

Earlier today the International Court of Justice handed down its order on provisional measures in the genocide case brought by South Africa against Israel regarding Israel’s military operations in Gaza. The outcome was much as expected (I’ll refer readers in that regard to the discussion on the last episode of EJIL: The Podcast). Briefly, the Court…