Sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) currently have more than 10 trillion USD in assets under management. The sheer size of these assets obviously makes them an attractive target for international creditors who have obtained a favorable arbitral award in a dispute with the state controlling the SWF. However, when executing the award against assets of a … Read more

In multiple countries, allegations of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church have led to lawsuits against dioceses and clergy, and the establishment of investigation and claims commissions. However, because of the relatively muted response of the Holy See to the scandals, in some countries, victims have also filed tort suits in domestic courts against the … Read more

Sinds enkele decennia gebruiken de Verenigde Staten (VS) economische sanctiewetgeving als een instrument van buitenlandbeleid. Deze sanctiewetgeving verbiedt bepaalde import- en exporttransacties dan wel investerings- en financieringsconstructies ten aanzien van landen die de VS politiek niet welgevallig zijn, zoals Iran en Cuba. Een aantal Amerikaanse sanctiewetten heeft een extraterritoriale dimensie, in die zin dat zij … Read more

Universal jurisdiction is a tool to provide accountability for international crimes, such as war crimes, genocide, crimes against humanity and torture. As these crimes shock the conscience of mankind, the universality principle allows any state to bring to justice perpetrators of such crimes, regardless of the place where the crimes were committed or the nationality … Read more

On 8 January 2021, the Seoul Central District Court of South Korea rejected Japan’s State immunity plea in a case brought by twelve ‘comfort women’ who were forcibly subjected to systemic sexual enslavement by the Japanese military before and during World War II (an English translation of the judgment is available here). The court held … Read more

Op 18 september 2020 stelde het Nederlandse kabinet Syrië middels een diplomatieke nota internationaalrechtelijk aansprakelijk voor grove mensenrechtenschendingen, in het bijzonder foltering, die door het Syrische regime sinds 2011 zouden zijn gepleegd. De Kamer werd hiervan gelijk op de hoogte gebracht. De Syrische regering reageerde afwijzend op de nota en beschuldigde Nederland er op haar … Read more

Five years ago, I wrote a Ucall blogpost on the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in Jaloud v the Netherlands (2014), which concerned the 2004 death of Mr Jaloud in southern Iraq. Mr Jaloud died from gunfire at a vehicle checkpoint which was at the time under the authority and control … Read more

On 14 September 2019, I gave a presentation on cosmopolitanism and extraterritoriality at the annual conference of the European Society of International Law in Athens, Greece (panel on extraterritoriality). In this post I restate the main points of my presentation. This post also serves as a wrap-up of two research projects which I have carried … Read more

On 13 June 2019, I was invited to speak in The Hague at the book launch of the new Commentary on the UN Convention against Corruption (Oxford University Press 2019, edited by Cecily Rose et al.). For this book, Friederycke Haijer and I (both Ucall) wrote a commentary to the jurisdictional article of the Convention … Read more

Op 10 juli 2018 bracht de permanente missie van Ecuador bij de Verenigde Naties een “sneuveltekst” (zero draft) uit van een juridisch bindend instrument over de impact van de activiteiten van transnationale ondernemingen op de mensenrechten. Een werkgroep van de Verenigde Naties zal de tekst nu verder bespreken. Die werkgroep had al in 2014 een … Read more