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The Undoing of Corporate Governance at Hyflux
Singapore-based corporate darling Hyflux made sure that it ticked all the right boxes when it came to governance and regulatory...

Andrew Leo
10 min read


‘Big Brother is Watching You’: The Use of Live Facial Recognition by Law Enforcement Agencies and International Human Rights Law
The voice came from an oblong metal plaque like a dulled mirror which formed part of the surface of the right-hand wall […]. The...

Udit Mahalingam
22 min read


Location, Location, Location: Jurisdiction and Enforcement in the Land where Location Does Not Exist
Introduction Legal dramas often focus on the climax of courtroom arguments and verdicts. In doing so, they gloss over crucial aspects...


On Rules-based Order
There is a certain irony in a prisoner of law receiving a prize given by lawyers. Something must have gone very wrong when one who...

Chow Hang-tung
17 min read


Jonathan Sumption’s Conceptual Gaps and Misconceptions on Historical Apologies and Judicial Diversity
I. Introduction Jonathan Sumption—once described by The Guardian as ‘the brain of Britain’—is a professional historian and former...

Alberto Alvarez-Jimenez
19 min read


Migrants in Tunisia—When Sovereignty Triumphs over Dignity
Preamble ‘Tunisia will remain a state that will fight for the oppressed (or stand with the oppressed) and prevail for the victims of...

Romdhane Ben Amor
30 min read


Conflict and Constitutionalism in Sudan: In Conversation with Abdelkhalig Shaib
Abdelkhalig Shaib is a Sudanese attorney and member of the American and New York Bar Associations, who specializes in constitutionalism...

Solomon Njombai
26 min read


Afghan Women’s Rights to Education and Health Care in a Culture of Impunity
In the aftermath of the Second World War, just over seventy-five years ago the international community embraced the Universal Declaration...

Sima Samar
15 min read


Advocacy for Afghan Women Judges: In Conversation with Marzia Babakarkhail
Marzia Babakarkhail, a former family law judge in Afghanistan during the 1990s, has dedicated her career to justice. In the wake of the...

Angelina Spilnyk
11 min read


The Airspace Tribunal and the Right to Live Without Physical or Psychological Threat from Above: In Conversation with Shona Illingworth and Nick Grief
Shona Illingworth is a Danish-Scottish artist and Professor of Art, Film and Media at the University of Kent, UK. Her work examines the impact of accelerating military, industrial, and environmental transformations of airspace and outer space and the implications for human rights. She is co-founder with Nick Grief of the Airspace Tribunal ( https://airspacetribunal.org/ ). Recent solo exhibitions include Topologies of Air at Les Abattoirs, Musée—Frac Occitanie, Toulouse (2022

Aidan Johnson
20 min read


Making the Case for Prosecuting the Taliban for Crimes Against Humanity and Gender Apartheid in the ICC for the Unlawful Imprisonment of Afghan Women and Girls
Since 15 August 2021, the Taliban Government continues to suppress the progression of women’s basic human rights in Afghanistan, resulting in their systematic oppression as a result of state sponsored crimes against humanity which has also encompassed gender apartheid. Gender apartheid has been defined as the economic and social sexual discrimination against individuals because of their gender or sex. This manifests itself as a system enforced by using either physical or lega

Kimberley Motley
20 min read


Children as a Vehicle of Genocide
Introduction The epitome of the 21st century’s Russian war against Ukraine manifested itself in Vladimir Putin’s speech on the morning of 24 February 2022.[1] In his address, the Russian President announced a series of wars against the collective West and the sovereign state of Ukraine. The massive Russian military attack on Ukrainian land, air, and sea was presented to the Russian public as ‘a special military operation’. According to President Putin, ‘The purpose of this

Iryna Zaverukha
34 min read


Potemkin Judges: Critical Reflections on the Continued Presence of Hong Kong’s Overseas Non-Permanent Judges
Introduction On 30 June 2020, the National People’s Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC) in Beijing imposed its ‘National Security Law’ (NSL) on the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.[1] Its provisions—drawn up in complete secrecy—criminalise conduct (including conduct outside Hong Kong) that would elsewhere be recognised as ordinary civic and political participation. Under the NSL, the territory is subject to two distinct state security apparatuses—one made up of Hong

Alvin YH Cheung
19 min read


Exposing Torture Crimes in Russian Prisons: In Conversation with Vladimir Osechkin
Vladimir Osechkin is a Russian-born human rights activist and founder of Gulagu.net, an NGO that documents and exposes crimes committed by Russian officials and the FSB. In November 2021, Osechkin was placed on a wanted list by the Russian state after leaking a large archive of documents, photos, and videos with hundreds of cases of rape and torture of inmates in Russian prisons directed by prison officials. Since August 2022, Osechkin has urged former Russian soldiers and di

Nadia Jahnecke
11 min read


Refugees in Europe from an International Criminal Law Perspective
This time, it feels like it is finally happening—until Abu Salah comes home with the dreaded news: ‘Wait another two days until the strong winds die down ’. Roliana cannot understand. ‘Daddy, why don’t we just take the airplane?’ she asks. [1] I. Introduction Seeking safety and entry into the territory of a state to initiate an asylum procedure, is often a life-risking and traumatising endeavour. Yet, thus far, the state parties to the 1951 Convention Relating to the St

Jens Dieckmann and Teresa Quadt
30 min read


Human Rights between Universality and Indivisibility: In Conversation with François Zimeray
François Zimeray is a prominent French diplomat, lawyer, former politician, and human rights activist. Zimeray previously served as France’s Ambassador-at-Large for Human Rights. He later became the French Ambassador for the Kingdom of Denmark in 2013. This interview was conducted on 14 September 2023. CJLPA : Welcome, Mr François Zimeray. We would like to begin by thanking you for taking the time to come and interview with The Cambridge Journal of Law, Politics, and Art

Nadia Jahnecke
18 min read


People Not Boats: Sacrificing Human Rights on the Altar of the Hostile Environment in the UK
If you tolerate this, your children will be next! Manic Street Preachers, 1998 Introduction The issue of immigration and human rights law, or more precisely, the human rights of people on the move, has become one of the most urgent challenges for many Western societies. Syrian refugees walking across Europe in 2015 almost faded away in the collective memory. They were replaced by the images of people clinging on the planes leaving Kabul, a mass exodus from Ukraine, people

Zrinka Bralo
27 min read


Harmonizing International Law and Political Power: In Conversation with Luis Moreno Ocampo
Luis Moreno Ocampo is an Argentine Lawyer and prosecutor who played a critical role in the Trial of the Juntas during Argentina’s democratic transition and later went on to serve as the first prosecutor at the International Criminal Court from 2003-2012. He is now a senior fellow at the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at Harvard University.

Aidan Johnson
13 min read


Lebanon, Ukraine, Gaza / Palestine / Israel, and the Rule of Law
International law faces two profound issues. Each involves Article 2 of the Charter of the United Nations prohibiting the use of force by one Member State against another. Both concern the roles of the Security Council and the International Court of Justice (ICJ). One—Ukraine and the Russian Federation (Russia)—is whether the armed entry into Ukraine on 24 April 2022 and since of Russia as a great power is immune from the rule of law. The other—Gaza/Palestine and Israel—c

Sir David Baragwanath
44 min read


Ammar and His Art: Death and Life at Guantanamo Bay
In January 2018, veteran actress Caroline Lagerfelt stepped into the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City. She was there to see ‘Ode to the Sea’, an exhibition of artwork by detainees at Guantanamo Bay, which at that point had been open for 16 years, with no end in sight. Lagerfelt had known about the atrocities committed at Guantanamo for some time. In fact, she had played British human rights lawyer Gareth Peirce in a play about Guantanamo 14 years earlie

Alka Pradhan
20 min read


Hunting Monsters: In Conversation with Eric Emeraux
Eric Emeraux is the former Head of the Central Office for Combating Core International Crimes and Hate Crimes (OCLCH), France’s war crimes unit. Prior to that, Emeraux spent five years in Sarajevo as internal security attaché at the French Embassy. His book Hunting Monsters , published in 2023 in the UK, recounts the considerable work achieved with his team to track down war criminals and put an end to impunity. This written interview was conducted in December 2023. CJLPA :

Anaëlle Drut-Desombre
20 min read


Directing The Mauritanian: In Conversation with Kevin Macdonald
Over his career, Kevin Macdonald has directed a plethora of documentaries and films which have garnered critical acclaim and popular success. Not one to shy away from sensitive and complex subject matter, Kevin’s work depicts unsanitised, thought-provoking stories, from a documentary on antisemitism to a film on a prisoner in Guantanamo. For the former, Kevin was awarded an Academy Award for Best Documentary feature. His latest film, The Mauritanian , explores the real story

Fabienne Marshall
13 min read


The Obligation to Undress and the Destruction of Personal Belongings: The Lesser Evil
1. The Obligation to Undress and the Destruction of Personal Property: Related Violations 1.1. Evidence of Confiscation and Destruction of Migrants’ Personal Belongings Denounced by International Organisations, Bodies, and Non-Governmental Organisations The requirements for migrants to undress and the destruction of their personal belongings—including documents and mobile phones—by border guards and Frontex [the European Border and Coast Guard Agency] agents, at both inte


Complementarity and Cooperation in International Criminal Law: In Conversation with Elsa Taquet
Elsa Taquet has been serving as a Senior Legal Advisor for TRIAL International’s program in the Democratic Republic of the Congo since September 2015. Before joining TRIAL International, she interned with the Emergencies Team at Human Rights Watch, focusing on the armed conflict in the Central African Republic. Commencing her legal career as a criminal law trainee handling legal aid cases in Quebec, Elsa is a qualified lawyer in the region. Possessing an LLM in International

Nadia Jahnecke
28 min read
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