The doctrine of discovery is one of the most consequential legal ideas in the history of colonial international law. It allowed European empires, and later settler states, to convert arrival in Indigenous territories into claims of priority, sovereignty, land control, and political superiority.

Jus cogens is one of the few doctrines in public international law that openly challenges the idea that State consent can validate almost any legal arrangement.

Artificial Intelligence Ethics is now a central phrase in debates about automated decision-making, biometric identification, predictive analytics, generative systems, and autonomous functions.

Subjective and Objective Territorial Jurisdiction addresses a central question in public international law: when is a cross-border event sufficiently connected to a state’s territory to justify the application of that state’s law? The answer turns on a disciplined distinction.

The drug cartels terrorist designation has turned a familiar organized crime problem into a difficult question of public international law. Drug cartels have long been prosecuted through criminal law, extradition treaties, drug-control conventions, asset-freezing regimes, and police cooperation.

What is a Refugee is often answered too quickly. Public debate tends to use the word as a broad description of suffering, flight, or vulnerability. International refugee law uses it differently.

Climate Change is now a security risk because it weakens the material conditions that allow states, communities, and legal systems to function: stable coastlines, predictable water supplies, reliable food production, habitable territory, public health, and effective institutions.

Raul Castro Indictment under international law: civil aviation rules, U.S. jurisdiction, immunity, state responsibility, and enforcement limits.

The death penalty under international law became harder to defend after Amnesty International’s Death Sentences and Executions 2025 report recorded at least 2,707 executions in 2025, the highest figure Amnesty has reported since 1981, excluding China.

Diplomatic Immunity sits at the point where sovereign equality, peaceful relations, and individual accountability collide. The rule is easy to state but difficult to defend in hard cases: a diplomat may be protected against local prosecution or civil proceedings even when the alleged conduct appears private, harmful, or morally indefensible.

Common Article 3 is the treaty provision that provides minimum humanitarian protection to people caught in a non-international armed conflict. It applies when violence is no longer mere disorder, criminality, riot, or isolated terrorism, but has reached the level of armed conflict involving State forces and organized armed groups, or organized armed groups fighting each other.

State Responsibility explained clearly: attribution, breach, reparation, countermeasures, and how international law holds States accountable.

On 18 March 2026, Colombia’s defence minister, Pedro Sánchez, said Colombia and Ecuador were jointly examining whether Colombian sovereignty had been violated after President Gustavo Petro alleged that Ecuadorian military action had crossed the border and caused deaths on Colombian territory.

The protection of journalists in armed conflict lies at the intersection of civilian protection, military operations, public accountability, and control over wartime information. Journalists document facts that parties to conflict may prefer to conceal, including civilian casualties, detention practices, sieges, forced displacement, attacks on protected objects, and alleged international crimes.

The Minab School Strike has already emerged as one of the most legally significant incidents reported during the 2026 Iran war. On 28 February 2026, during the opening phase of joint United States and Israeli attacks on Iran, the Shajareh Tayyebeh primary school in Minab was struck during school hours.

The Right to Nationality is one of the basic legal guarantees of contemporary international law because it defines the formal bond between the individual and the State. That bond is not merely symbolic.

The Strait of Hormuz Closure is a legal problem before it is a strategic one. The Strait of Hormuz is not merely a sensitive shipping route. It is a strait used for international navigation, and that legal character places it within a specialized body of rules governing passage, coastal-State powers, and the protection of international maritime traffic.

Cross-Border Data Flows are now a structural feature of economic life, public administration, and social interaction. Data moves across borders when businesses process payroll in foreign cloud environments, when banks clear international payments, when hospitals rely on remote data storage, when social media platforms route user content through distributed server networks, and when law-enforcement authorities seek electronic evidence held abroad.

The Principle of Non-Refoulement is one of the most fundamental safeguards in contemporary public international law because it imposes a clear legal limit on the sovereign power of States to remove individuals from their territory, borders, jurisdiction, or effective control.

Neutrality in International Law refers to the legal status of a state that abstains from participation in an international armed conflict while maintaining defined rights and duties toward the belligerents. It is not simply a political choice but a structured legal regime grounded in treaty law, customary rules, and judicial recognition.