Space exploration has been an international endeavour since the 1950’s. It used to be a project for nations, driven by government programmes. However, and more recently, it is probably being pursued just as forcefully by private corporations like SpaceX. However, there are a number of other less glamorous, but functional, activities that routinely take place in outer space. Satellites are presently the dominant commercial activity. They operate in various fields such as telecommunication, navigation, remote sensing of the earth’s [...]

The massive influx of illegal immigrants into the UK is understandably a problem for the UK itself. Many argue that there are already too many people and not enough jobs and other resources for everybody. The continuous stream of asylum seekers into the UK, which compounds this problem, has led to a relatively innovative solution: an MoU between the UK and Rwanda, in terms of which, broadly, Rwanda will accept some of the asylum seekers that have made their way [...]

We know that Julian Assange is an enemy of the US government. The US government, persuasively, says that Mr Assange’s actions impermissibly put the lives of millions of US citizens in grave danger. Under international law, however, the question arises whether he can be extradited to the US to stand trial before the US judiciary for the criminal offences with which he has been charged: essentially that he received and disseminated protected national defence information and state secrets. If these [...]

The Russian assets referred to in this article are worth a fortune. Rebuilding Ukraine will require massive financial resources. Whilst we are seeing more and more states seizing assets belonging to Russian oligarchs, and whilst this may be a creative way to raise money to rebuild Ukraine, is it lawful under public international law? There is certainly some doubt under the current rules of international law where there are at least two potential concerns: the existing rules that regulate expropriation [...]

It is absolutely fundamental to the rule of law, to the right to a fair trial, to the right to liberty and security of person, and to the right to effective remedy for violations of human rights, that individual judges and the judiciary as a whole must be independent and impartial. Politicians must not tamper with the judiciary. Judges must have security of tenure. They need to be free from political interference. According to the Human Rights Committee of the [...]