Boyd van Dijk

Starting today - for those who’re near Freiburg!

Sudan siege: War crimes alert as el-Fasher runs out of food Evidence of the intentional targeting of civilians in el-Fasher amounts to war crimes, researchers say.

War crimes alert as food runs out in besieged Sudan city

www.bbc.com/news/article...

Greta Thunberg: “They kicked me every time the flag touched my face” – Greta Thunberg on her days in Israeli captivity Beating, kicking, and threats of being gassed in cages. Greta Thunberg and several others from the flotilla ar

Horrific testimony by Greta Thunberg

www.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/a/25...

How the Pentagon sidelined lawyers while testing the legal limits of military action | CNN Politics For weeks earlier this year, the Army’s top uniformed lawyer had been raising legal concerns inside the Pentagon about some of the new policies being rolled out dictating how the military can be used ...

NEW: How the Pentagon sidelined lawyers while testing the legal limits of military action
New details here about how the Army’s top uniformed lawyer was fired just weeks after raising concerns about the use of the military domestically and mass firings of DoD employees www.cnn.com/2025/10/15/p...

a new monograph award in international law and justice has been established in honour of Georges Abi-Saab

fondationabisaab.net

While the perpetrators of Gaza’s genocide pose as its saviours, survivors return home – to a wasteland | Nesrine Malik Western leaders attending the Sharm el-Sheikh summit have enabled and sponsored this slaughter. They are in no position to build a Palestinian future, says Guardian columnist Nesrine Malik

While the perpetrators of Gaza’s genocide pose as its saviours, survivors return home – to a wasteland | Nesrine Malik

Really looking forward to the Paris launch of this extraordinary Cambridge history of rights project - honoured to be part of it, and congrats to all the editors

events.uchicago.edu/event/254562...

A very warm welcome to the @lauterpachtcentre.bsky.social for Prof Jan Klabbers as the new Whewell Professor of International Law @cambridgelaw.bsky.social @cam.ac.uk for his Friday Lecture before a very full house speaking on International Organisation law.

Same energy here

Please do take a look, and let me know what you think! A privilege to have the time and space to consider how displaced people exercise agency – and how to find them – in the records we do have.

The Narrative Fragmentation of International Legal History - by @hegemonikon.bsky.social

brill.com/view/journal...

new article on Lemkin's conceptions of aggression in late 1940s

brill.com/view/journal...

Call for Contributions: Special Issue on Global Disorder from the Global South We are pleased to announce the Open Competition Call for Papers for the Spring 2026 Special Issue of the Brazilian Journal of International Politics (Revista Brasileira de Política Internacional), …

interesting cfp for a special issue on global disorder from the perspective of the Global South

globaldisorder.uk/2025/09/12/c...

How Native Nations Shaped the Revolution The Founders were inspired—and threatened—by the independence and self-governance of nations like the Iroquois Confederacy.

New essay in the Atlantic today: How Native Nations Shaped the Revolution by Ned Blackhawk (with many lessons on how we ended up where we are as a nation, and a gift link) www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...

entirely missed the publication Nisha Shah's new article, looks great - on unnecessary suffering, the 1970s Protocols' drafting, and the making of a normal or superfluous injury.

www.tandfonline.com/doi/epdf/10....

A fascinating book that merits far more attention - especially now

global.oup.com/academic/pro...

The US and several countries show reduced numbers of jobs ads from 2024-Q1 to 2025-Q1. Only Syria jobs are more than last year.

A multiple line graph showing Jan to March 2025 the lowest for 12 years in terms of new job ads on aid job board ReliefWeb.

Line graph: New US-based humanitarian jobs used to be hundreds per month. That’s cratered to under 30 in Feb 2025.

Postings are cratering on aid job board ReliefWeb:

⬇️ Q1 2025 has the least new postings since 2014.

📉 In Feb, there were only 29 US-based vacancies.

🌐 Among major locations, only Syria has more jobs in Q1 2025 YOY.

Data: @unocha.org’s ReliefWeb

Me: posting in a personal capacity

Looking forward to joining @elisabeth-piller.bsky.social and others in Freiburg next week to rethink postwar-isms - in my case through the lens of the post-1944 laws of war.

uni-freiburg.de/frias/the-af...

Starving children screaming for food as US aid cuts unleash devastation and death across Myanmar U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has repeatedly said “no one has died" because of his government’s decision to gut its foreign aid program.

Horrific reporting from the AP on the Myanmar families watching their kids starve to death from Trump and Musk’s aid cuts apnews.com/article/myan...

Only a month 'til the publication of “Framing the First World War: How Divergent Views Shaped a Global Conflict”, edited by me, @mpmfinch.bsky.social & @dmorganowen.bsky.social!

US readers: get 30% discount (code: FRAMINGWWI) & free shipping if you order direct from @univpressofkansas.bsky.social

“The backlash of the powerful”: Two years of Israel’s war in Gaza and the crisis of international law We spoke to legal expert Tom Dannenbaum about accountability efforts and how the US’ response is threatening to break the system of international law.

.@tomdannenbaum.bsky.social: "there is a sense that emerging from this moment [for the ICC] is going to require more than just weathering the storm. It's going to require something more fundamental in terms of rehabilitating and reconstructing the system."

www.thenewhumanitarian.org/interview/20...

Very much looking forward to our conference next week at @friasunifreiburg.bsky.social and to discussing post-war times in the (early) modern period with @doctoressa.bsky.social @claudiussittig.bsky.social @andrekrischer.bsky.social @paulinastarski.bsky.social

Contrary to Reason Steven Pinker claims to champion Enlightenment values. But his latest book is an affront to them

There are some people whom the media has decided are "leading intellectuals", regardless of the views of their academic colleagues. Invariably they are people who justify - or at the very least do not challenge - economic power. Steven Pinker is a stand-out example.
www.monbiot.com/2018/03/09/c...

The Hague on Trial The chief prosecutor has obtained warrants against Israeli leaders for war crimes—but faces allegations of sexual misconduct.

On the making of the ICC arrest warrants against Israel's leadership and their tragic conflation with allegations of sexual misconduct against their author:

www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

Jervis Forum Roundtable 17-7 on Benton, They Called it Peace Roundtable Review 17-7 Lauren Benton, They Called it Peace: Worlds of Imperial Violence (Princeton University Press, 2024). ISBN: 9780691248479. 6 October 2025 | PDF: https://issforum.org/to/jrt17-7 |...

interesting Jervis forum on Lauren Benton's new book

issforum.org/roundtables/...

The Return of the Starvation Weapon The collapse of global norms fueling the catastrophes in Gaza and Sudan.

Alex de Waal: "The global consensus against the starvation weapon took decades to achieve. Now, international apathy risks letting it collapse at the moment it is most needed."

www.foreignaffairs.com/sudan/return...

The Pentagon Says It’s Conducting Strikes on Drug Smugglers. Critics Say Trump Needs Permission Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the strikes will continue “until the attacks on the American people are over.”

Spoke to @notus.com:

“The administration is trying to apply the legal framework from the war on terror to narcos and drug trafficking organizations in Latin America. The facts do not support that application. There has been no armed attack on the United States.”

www.notus.org/foreign-poli...

I completely missed this, but it's a great review of Immi Tallgren's volume - feel privileged to be part of it.

issforum.org/essays/PDF/E...

UVA invited to join select group of collaborationist universities