International Law

The Irish government has announced a €750,000 increase in its annual funding for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). Ireland will now contribute a total of more than €5 million to the leading UN body for human rights, which has a unique mandate

Ukrainian refugees abroad have been invited to submit compensation claims to a Council of Europe initiative aimed at holding Russia accountable for the costs of its invasion for the past four years. The Register of Damage for Ukraine yesterday opened a new category of claims, A1.2, which covers "inv

Ireland remains a steadfast supporter of international law and human rights in the "changed global context", foreign affairs and trade minister Helen McEntee has said. In a speech to the Human Rights Forum at Iveagh House yesterday, Mrs McEntee said human rights "remain at the heart of our foreign p

Human rights campaigners have rallied behind the UN's top expert on Palestine, Francesca Albanese, following calls for her resignation based on a misreported speech. Ms Albanese has served since May 2022 as the UN's special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territory occ

The EU has agreed to contribute €10 million to support the establishment of a special tribunal to prosecute senior Russian political and military leaders for the crime of aggression against Ukraine. The Council of Europe is leading the joint project to prepare the institutional, logistical and

The Trump administration has announced the withdrawal of the US from dozens of international organisations, conventions and treaties "as soon as possible". A presidential memorandum yesterday named 31 UN organisations and 35 non-UN organisations which the US government now considers it is "contrary

The International Bar Association (IBA) has condemned the imposition of sanctions by the US on two more International Criminal Court (ICC) judges. On 18 December, the US administration imposed sanctions on Judge Lordkipanidze and Judge Damdin for "having directly engaged in efforts by the ICC to inv

Ireland has formally ratified the 2001 UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage. By ratifying, Ireland has become the 82nd party to the Convention, which was adopted in November 2001 at the 31st UNESCO General Conference.

Ireland has formally launched its campaign for membership of the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) for 2027-29. Yesterday's launch event in New York comes after the government set out its "thematic priorities" in September.

Sanctions and arrest warrants targeting the International Criminal Court (ICC) pose a "particularly grave and unprecedented challenge" to its independence, an ICC judge has told an audience in Belfast. Judge Beti Hohler was speaking at an event hosted by Irish Rule of Law International (IRLI), an NG

Israel is obliged to allow aid to flow into the Gaza Strip, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) has ruled. The UN's top court yesterday handed down a detailed advisory opinion on the situation in the occupied Palestinian territories (OPT) following a request from the UN General Assembly.

Professor Catherine O'Rourke has joined Dublin City University (DCU) to research the inadequacies of international law in capturing gendered experiences of harm. Feminist scholars have highlighted how the focus of international law on harm, particularly gender-based harm, fails to capture the broade

A senior leader of a Sudanese militia has been convicted at the International Criminal Court (ICC) on 27 counts of crimes against humanity and war crimes in the early 2000s. The conviction of Janjaweed leader Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman is the first conviction in the situation in Darfur, Sudan, a

Judge Beti Hohler of the International Criminal Court (ICC) is to speak in Belfast later this month. The Slovenian judge, who was among those sanctioned by the Trump administration in June 2025, will deliver the keynote address at the Irish Rule of Law International (IRLI) event on 13 October, title

The independent legal support boat sailing to Gaza alongside the Global Sumud Flotilla has published its first legal updates. Irish lawyers Gemma McLoughlin-Burke BL and Leigh Brosnan BL, as well as English solicitor Alexander Hogg, are on board the vessel, which began its journey earlier this month