Tēnā koutou, yumalundi, and welcome to this edition of ANZSIL Perspective. Edition 40 features a timely article on the legal perspectives of the ICC’s application to arrest leaders of Israel and Hamas by Jack Holmes and a contemplative examination of the value of comparative approaches to international law scholarship by Ramona Vijeyarasa.
ANZSIL Perspective is currently seeking new members to join our editorial team. If you are interested in contributing your time and your knowledge of international law, please email: anzsil@anu.edu.au
The global communication outage on July 19, 2024, exposed significant vulnerabilities in our interconnected world. This event, along with the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) call for Israel to end its occupation of Palestinian territories, raises critical questions about international law, cyber security, and the responsibilities of states and private entities. For those sovereignty experts amongst our readership, the disruption, reportedly affecting major cloud service providers, underscores the importance of research regarding state conduct in cyberspace. Of course, if a cyberattack is found to be the cause, attributing responsibility becomes complex. International law must evolve to address whether such attacks constitute a breach of sovereignty and how states can lawfully respond. Similarly, if one youth in a basement mis-entered some code there are rich pickings for future articles on state duties to prevent harm other states and the transnational nature of cyber threats. In addition, with major disruptions stemming from the private sector, the role of corporations in international law comes into focus, especially those who have a quasi-public function, underscoring the complexities in international cooperation and the critical analysis needed for existing frameworks. Finally, the impact of the outage on individuals’ access to information and services must raise the antennae of our human rights lawyers. Almost simultaneously to the outage (and I am not saying the two are connected), the ICJ’s ruling calling for Israel to end its occupation of Palestinian territories marks a significant moment in international law. The court declared Israel’s occupation “unlawful,” emphasizing the Palestinians’ right to self-determination and condemning practices such as settlements and resource diversion. Reactions to the judgment will test our international legal frameworks in prolonged conflicts. Addressing both these challenges requires a concerted effort by states, private entities, and international organizations to develop and enforce comprehensive legal norms and cooperative mechanisms and some great articles for our future editions.
ANZSIL Perspective welcomes submissions from every level of post-graduate scholarship and legal practice for review and publication. We look forward to reading your perspectives on international law ahead of our next deadline: 23 August 2024.
– Felicity Gerry KC (Editor)
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Felicity Gerry KC
Dr Felicity Gerry KC is on the lists of counsel for the ICC and KSC, recently on the defence team for Mr Al Hassan at the ICC and leading the defence for Mr Bahtijari at the KSC. She is admitted in England and Wales and Victoria, Australia and specialises in homicide, terrorism and war crimes trials and appeals. She has a particular interest in complicity law. She led amicus briefs in the Radovan Karadžić appeal on the lack of foundation for JCEIII and in the Dominic Ongwen appeal on the non-punishment principle. She is a Professorial Fellow at RJ4All, an Hon Prof at the University of Salford and formerly Professor of Legal Practice at Deakin University. She has a long history of teaching topics around contemporary international legal challenges such as terrorism, modern slavery law, climate change law and war crimes. She is widely published in areas including women & law, technology & law and reforming justice systems.
