CIL Dialogues is the re-imagination of the existing blog of the Centre for International Law (CIL) of the National University of Singapore (NUS). The editorial team’s approach to CIL Dialogues reflects two shared commitments. First, we share a generalist perspective of international law, viewed as raising shared foundational questions across specialised fields, institutions, regions, and inquiries. Secondly, we are appreciative that CIL Dialogues is not based in (the virtual space of), or associated with institutions in the ‘Western European and Others States Group’. The blog will therefore be interested in international law broadly conceived and seek to be attentive to regional perspectives to questions of universal and general relevance, particularly relating to Asia Pacific, as well as the views and voices that may have been traditionally excluded. More...
Featured Symposium ...
Symposium: Use of force, territorial integrity, and world order: continuing the debate Use of force, territorial integrity and world order: a response by Professor Ingrid (Wuerth) Brunk and Professor Monica Hakimi Published on 29 March 2023 We are grateful for the challenging and interesting responses to our editorial comment on Ukraine and for the opportunity to …
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First hearings in climate change cases before the European Court of Human Rights: tackling the victim status By Celine Lange Published on 28 March 2023 In February 2023, the European Court of Human Rights (the ECHR or the Court) issued an update on the ‘status of climate applications’ pending before it. It had shortly before …
Symposium: Use of force, territorial integrity, and world order: continuing the debate Reflections on the Ukraine Moment and Western Selectivity: A Response to Ingrid (Wuerth) Brunk and Monica Hakimi by Dr Ardi Imseis Published on 27 March 2023 In their recent Americal Journal of International Law editorial on the war in Ukraine and the future of …
Symposium: Use of force, territorial integrity, and world order: continuing the debate On force, territory, and independence: how (not) to narrow down a rule by Anastasiya Kotova & Dr Ntina Tzouvala Published on 24 March 2023 In analysing the legal and political implications of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Ingrid (Wuerth) Brunk and Monica Hakimi suggest that …
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Symposium: Use of force, territorial integrity, and world order: continuing the debate Ukraine and Beyond: the need to reaffirm basic principles and to build a new consensus on the prohibition of the use of force in international relations by Professor Sâ Benjamin Traoré Published on 22 March 2023 A divided world In their introduction to the …
Symposium: Use of force, territorial integrity, and world order: continuing the debate Unpacking the comparison between Ukraine and Iraq by Professor Alejandro Chehtman Published on 20 March 2023 In a recent Editorial Comment in the American Journal of International Law (AJIL), Ingrid (Wuerth) Brunk and Monica Hakimi claim that the Russian invasion of Ukraine challenges …
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Symposium Introductory Blog Use of force, territorial integrity, and world order: continuing the debate by Dr Ntina Tzouvala (ANU College of Law) Published on 20 March 2023 “NO WAR – piece of art in the streets Berlin” by Etienne Girardet. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license. Few international …
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Piercing the glass ceiling at UNCLOS tribunals By Dr Lan Nguyen Published on 17 March 2023 While there has been progress in certain international courts and tribunals, the fact remains that female judges or arbitrators still constitute only a small minority in the international bench. The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea …
Navigating the Seas of Soft Law in the Implementation of the Law of the Sea Convention By Dita Liliansa* Published on 15 March 2023 This essay explores the role of regional soft law instruments in implementing the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) to protect endangered sea turtles and their habitats …
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Beyond a feminist approach to international law and diplomacy, reflections By Celine Lange Published on 8 March 2023 On 15 February 2023, the first Singapore Roundtable on Women Leaders in International Law and Diplomacy (‘Singapore Roundtable’) was held, gathering more than 80 law practitioners, members of the diplomatic corps and associations’ representatives. This event was …
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Might It Just Work? How To Interpret Customary International Law (Maybe) By Dr Massimo Lando Published on 6 March 2023 Green light, but only in principle The feasibility of interpreting customary international law has been a matter of much academic debate. Essentially, this debate concerns whether customary rules can be objects of interpretation, which is …
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A hollow—and slightly homophobic—victory for LGBTIQ+ rights? Fedotova and others v Russia By Professor Lucas Lixinski Published on 22 February 2023 The European Court of Human Rights’ (ECtHR) Grand Chamber consolidated its jurisprudence on the legal recognition of same-sex relationships in Fedotova and others v Russia (Fedotova). In doing so, it advances a key cause …
The Alibis of History, or How (not) to Do Things with Inter-temporality By Ntina Tzouvala* Published on 8 February 2023 Photo Credit Reconstruction of the Signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, Marcus King, Archives New Zealand Efforts to confront the imperialist, colonial and racist foundations of contemporary wealth and prosperity in the capitalist West are …
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Concordance Legalization as an Alternative Regional Trading Arrangement to the EU and USMCA Models: ASEAN’s Intergovernmental yet Dynamically Expansive Way By Dr Tan Hsien-Li Published on 25 January 2023 This essay conceptualizes the Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ (ASEAN) integration model, which I term ‘Concordance Legalization’, in the regional trading arrangement landscape that holds two …
The World Trade Organization Fisheries Subsidies Agreement: A Critical Assessment on the Impacts to Developing Fishing Nations and the Way Forward By Dr Trung Nguyen Published on 17 January 2023 The Fisheries Subsidies Agreement of the World Trade Organization (‘the Agreement’) was adopted at the 12th Ministerial Conference in June 2022 as part of the …
What does the Indonesia–Vietnam EEZ Agreement mean for the region? By Aristyo Rizka Darmawan* Published on 12 January 2023 Introduction On the 23rd of December, during Vietnamese President Nguyen Xuan Phuc’s visit to Jakarta to meet President Joko Widodo, Indonesia and Vietnam finally signed an Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) delimitation agreement after 12 years of …
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Symposium: Human Rights Day 2022 Feature: Encouraging (and Personal) Counsel for Aspiring Human Rights Scholars and Practitioners in Asia Reflections for emerging scholars and practitioners working in human rights in Asia by Priya Gopalan Published on 16 December 2022 I am a Malaysian lawyer specialising in international criminal law, human rights law, and gender. Over …
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Symposium: Human Rights Day 2022 Feature: Encouraging (and Personal) Counsel for Aspiring Human Rights Scholars and Practitioners in Asia My work as a Member of the UN Human Rights Council Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances by Tae-Ung Baik Published on 13 December 2022 I just concluded my seven-year term as a member of …
Symposium: Human Rights Day 2022 Feature: Encouraging (and Personal) Counsel for Aspiring Human Rights Scholars and Practitioners in Asia Some Reflections of Professor Surya P. Subedi KC Published on 9 December 2022 My mission in life has always been, and will remain, to promote fairness in international relations; to strengthen the rules-based international order; and …
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Symposium: The Theory, Practice and Interpretation of Customary International Law (Cambridge University Press, 2022) Symposium Concluding Blog The Theory and Practice of Customary International Law: What’s Interpretation Got to Do with It? By Nina Mileva Published on 25 November 2022 In the introduction to this symposium, Kammerhofer and Merkouris end their post by reminding us that …
Symposium: The Theory, Practice and Interpretation of Customary International Law (Cambridge University Press, 2022) Methodologies for the identification of customary international law from the perspective of a government legal advisor By Kristi How Published on 23 November 2022 In this short blog post, I aim to provide my views on the methodologies for the identification of …
Symposium: The Theory, Practice and Interpretation of Customary International Law (Cambridge University Press, 2022) Between theory, practice, and ‘interpretation’ of customary international law by Michael Wood and Omri Sender Published on November 2022 Customary international law remains a principal source of international law, and it comes therefore as no surprise that it continues to capture the …
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Symposium: The Theory, Practice and Interpretation of Customary International Law (Cambridge University Press, 2022) Conceptual and Practical Problems in the Change or Termination of Rules of Customary International Law by Alvin Yap Published on 18 November 2022 Once in existence, how do rules of customary international law change or terminate? This topic was intentionally not dealt …
Symposium: The Theory, Practice and Interpretation of Customary International Law (Cambridge University Press, 2022) Treaties and Determination of Customary International Law by Courts and Tribunals: Are There Limits to the Use of Methodological Shortcuts? by Xuexia Liao (Peking University Law School) Published on 16 November 2022 The significance of treaties for the identification of customary …
Symposium Introductory Blog What is the Point of The Theory, Practice, and Interpretation of Customary International Law? by Jörg Kammerhofer & Panos Merkouris Published on 15 November 2022 I. In early 2018, we started planning a conference on the theoretical aspects of customary international law (CIL) as the first instalment of the European Conference Series …
A first look at the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework: What’s in it for Indo-Pacific participants, and can it succeed? (Part 1) By Celine Lange Published on 10 November 2022 In February 2022, the President of the United States announced the launch of a new Indo-Pacific Strategy, characterised as heralding a US re-engagement with the region, which …
A first look at the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework: What’s in it for Indo-Pacific participants, and can it succeed? (Part 2) By Celine Lange Published on 10 November 2022 Part 2 of the blog series on the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF), launched in May 2022 by President Biden, examines the possible benefits of the Framework for …
Climate Litigation and the Limits of Legal Imagination: A Reply to Corina Heri By Benoit Mayer (Associate Professor, The Chinese University of Hong Kong) Published on 4 November 2022 Corina Heri’s article in the European Journal of International Law argues that ‘protection against the human rights impacts of climate change under the ECHR (European Convention …
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We Read 22 Intervention Declarations So You Don’t Have To Reviewing Key Themes and Arguments in Ukraine v. Russia* by Juliette McIntyre, Ori Pomson & Kyra Wigard Published on 27 October 2022 Introduction If you follow the activity of the International Court of Justice (Court or ICJ) at all, you will not have failed to …
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What to Expect in Upcoming Provisional Measures Proceedings in Equatorial Guinea v France (No. 2) by Cecily Rose, Assistant Professor of Public International Law, Grotius Centre, Leiden University Published on 19 October 2022 These days, it seems that applications instituting proceedings before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) are almost always accompanied by a request …
Symposium: Climate Change in an Unequal World: Does International Law Matter? Our Islands, Our Home: How Eight Torres Strait Islander Peoples Held the Australian Government Accountable for Climate Inaction by Zoe Nay (University of Melbourne) Published on 30 September 2022 Introduction As the adverse impacts of climate change are becoming more frequent and intense, affected countries …
Symposium: The Second World War in Asia: Justice Efforts, War Memory, and Reparations Memory-Making on the Ground: Peace Boat and Japanese World War II Narratives by Lim Jia Yi (Research Fellow, Singapore War Crimes Trials Project) Published on 7 October 2022 No one country is ever simply either a victim or an aggressor… What is immoral …
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Symposium: The Second World War in Asia: Justice Efforts, War Memory, and Reparations Digital Humanities and World War Two in Asia: the Battle of Hong Kong 1941 Project as Example by Associate Professor Kwong Chi Man (Hong Kong Baptist University) Published on 5 October 2022 On 8 December 1941, as part of the larger conflict between …
Symposium: The Second World War in Asia: Justice Efforts, War Memory, and Reparations Words Matter, Translation Matters by Professor Kayoko Takeda (Rikkyo University) Published on 3 October 2022 Translation creates opportunities for a state to promote its narrative of war memories while meeting potentially conflicting political expectations of different parties, domestic and international. This was the …
Symposium: The Second World War in Asia: Justice Efforts, War Memory, and Reparations Northeast Asia’s War Reparations Movement: Towards the Messy Uncertainty of Democracy, Civil Society and Rule of Law by Professor Timothy Webster (Western New England University School of Law) Published on 30 September 2022 For the past thirty years, domestic courts in the Asia-Pacific …
Symposium: The Second World War in Asia: Justice Efforts, War Memory, and Reparations Problems of Justice in the Post-War Allied War Crimes Trials of Japanese Suspects by Professor Robert Cribb (Australian National University) and Professor Sandra Wilson (Murdoch University) Published on 28 September 2022 After the Second World War in Asia finally ended in August 1945, …
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