The HRCtte’s general comment is pretty clear about the standard for such interference: the State must be “manifestly unable to protect the participants from a severe threat to their safety” and such a claim must survive strict scrutiny
"Amidst a longstanding pattern of serious violations of international humanitarian law by Israeli forces in Lebanon...if war crimes unit prosecutors open an investigation into this complaint, this would offer a rare opportunity to examine Israel’s actions in a European court" (Heba Morayef, Amnesty)
i’m glad the Supreme Court said what we’ve all been thinking: lawyers should be in charge of medicine
“Fighting for justice means fighting against being forgotten... This verdict was achieved through the courage and determination of the Yazidi survivors who attach great value to this first conviction of a French Isis member for genocide and crimes against humanity.”
hanks Hon @andymcdonaldmp.bsky.social for hosting me this week to talk about the Crime and Policing bill and its problematic clauses on 'cumulative disruption' and 'extremist criminal protesting groups'. I hope that these can be removed from the bill that will be adopted soon.
Our report “The Death Penalty for Drug Offences: Global Overview 2025” is out and the findings are catastrophic. Drug-related executions nearly doubled in 2025.
1. Purpose: to inform you that a public statement you made on Mar. 13, 2026, may be construed as counseling, commanding, encouraging, ordering, or threatening the commission of a war crime”
www.justsecurity.org/133970/legal...
The violent ICE surge didn’t come out of nowhere. “The lack of reckoning and accountability for past abuses led directly to what we see currently taking place. It has been allowed to take place,” writes Yumna Rizvi, CVT senior policy analyst.
www.cvt.org/articles/wha...
Terrific essay on inter-generational fairness from John Lanchester, that brings up some of the discomforts of the past but still broadly accepts the problems now faced. www.theguardian.com/inequality/2...
Can’t help thinking this is as much about avoiding the hypocrisy of still inviting the US
"To prevent the US from leading the world down a dangerous slide from which there is no return, governments at the Convention on Conventional Weapons should use this week’s meeting to support and strengthen the draft treaty banning and regulating autonomous weapons systems."
- @verityc.bsky.social
Hospital admissions of young people for knife assault have almost halved since I set up London’s Violence Reduction Unit in 2019.
London's Violence Reduction Unit director Lib Peck spoke to The Crime Agents about how prevention has played a key role in the progress we’re making:
Apollo with the dodgeball of prophecy
Years ago in another life I gave a guest lecture at The Hague warning “AI weapons” could be invoked to remove accountability for war crimes from the chain of command. I said “there are no autonomous weapons, only unsupervised ones,” and sadly it seems I was cooking with that one
Today's presentation of evidence and victim's testimony underlines @elainepearson.bsky.social 's remark that this "really shows the power of human rights documentation to hold perpetrators of abuses to account"
Before: Duterte’s Fans Rally in The Hague as the I.C.C. Weighs Evidence Against Him After: Duterte Won’t Appear at Hearing as I.C.C. Weighs Evidence Against Him
Change in Headline
The targeting of vital body parts would certainly be unlawful, but the weapon itself is also proscribed. International law is very clear: "birdshot" is never a legitimate weapon for police to use in crowd-control contexts (see UN's Guidance on Less-Lethal Weapons, §7.5.6).
Of course if it’s not Anthropic it’ll be just another AI company who will gladly acquiesce, but it’ll be interesting to see how firm Anthropic’s red lines will be now. The bar is already quite low www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
Honoured to be invited to speak at this morning's convening organised by SA's Dept of Justice about the human rights obligations to protect individuals from sexual violence in places of detention, alongside powerful presentations from @justdetention.bsky.social -SA #JusticeBehindClosedDoors
geneva-academy.ch/wp-content/u...
reposting both for underlying insight and for solid use of "zugzwang"
The second phase of the SA Human Rights Commission's inquiry into Operation Vala Umgodi is due to get underway next week, including hearing evidence from the police
Would be interested to see that data… I assume a study looking at the relative (in)effectiveness of different types of additional or remedial training on top of a certain baseline?
Postgraduate students sat around a table in discussion.
We’re delighted to offer bursaries covering the cost of delegate fees and accommodation for up to 16 PhD students to attend the LEPH2026 conference (6-9 September) and Postgraduate Day (5 September 2026).
Deadline: Monday 9 February 2026, 17:00 GMT
Read more and apply:
leph2026.org/funded-places/
Today Dr Kwanele Pakati, Head of #SouthAfrica's National Preventive Mechanism, will discuss their detailed new position paper on how NPMs can more robustly address the tools of torture, including their manufacture and trade, in line with obligations under the UNCAT & the Robben Island Guidelines
I am 100% certain that this is standard partisan views of the economy stuff. Just our partisanship is so age-structured this is how it manifests
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
LONDON'S HOMICIDE RATEIS LOWESTIN RECORDED HISTORY Targeted measures led by the Mayor to tackle violent crime have helped London achieve its lowest per capita homicide rate on record in 2025, despite a growing population. 3.0 Г Homicide rate per 100,000 residents 55% LOWER THAN 1997 2.5 V 2.0 - 1.5 T 1.0 1997 2001 2009 2013 2017 Source: MPS recorded homicide data for period 1s January to 31s December, 1997 to 2025 Population Source: ONS Mid Year Population Estimates for London, 2024 2025
Lowest murder rate in London since records began.
