Called to the Bar: International Law over Drinks

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is often misunderstood: What is its status under international law, what does it do, and why does it maintain neutrality in armed conflict? In this episode, Dr Tamsin Phillipa Paige is joined by Hannah Crothers and Professor Emily Crawford to discuss the ICRC’s origins, mandate and place within the wider International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. They explore the organisation’s operational work in conflict zones, its role in promoting compliance with international humanitarian law, and how its legal status gives it international legal personality and privileges and immunities that distinguish it from NGOs. The conversation also considers why confidentiality and neutrality are central to the ICRC’s work, and how they help the organisation maintain access to people affected by conflict. Hannah also outlines the Global Initiative to Galvanize Political Commitment to International Humanitarian Law and the work underway to update the ICRC’s commentaries on the Geneva Conventions and Additional Protocols. Dr Tamsin Phillipa Paige is an Associate Professor at Deakin Law School. Hannah Crothers is a Regional Legal Adviser in the ICRC’s Regional Delegation for the Pacific. Professor Emily Crawford is Deputy Head of School and Dean at the University of Sydney Law School. Art: Kat Weir (www.instagram.com/katweir/) Music: Sam Barsh, Oils of au Lait

In this episode, Dr Ntina Tzouvala speaks with Dr Rachel Killean about the United States’ unprecedented sanctions against the International Criminal Court (ICC) as an institution, and what they mean for international criminal justice. They examine the US’s jurisdictional arguments against the Court, including the ICC’s authority to investigate crimes committed on the territory of a state party, the principle of complementarity, and Israel’s separate argument concerning the Oslo Accords. They discuss the practical effects of sanctions on ICC officials, their families and the organisations that support the Court’s work, as well as the risks to witnesses and victims if that wider network is disrupted. Dr Rachel Killean is a Senior Lecturer and Associate Dean for Student Life at the University of Sydney Law School. \From 2027, she will be an ARC Future Fellow investigating the evolving role of criminal law in the climate crisis. Art: Kat Weir (www.instagram.com/katweir/) Music: Sam Barsh, Oils of au Lait

How we map the world shapes how we understand it. In this episode, Dr Olivia Lwabukuna, Senior Lecturer in International Human Rights and Development at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, University of London; Dr Sam Morgan, Lecturer at Manchester Metropolitan University; and Associate Professor Tamsin Phillipa Paige of Deakin Law School discuss the UN General Assembly’s adoption of the Equal Earth map projection. They explore the colonial histories and politics embedded in conventional maps, the significance of the African Union’s role in advancing the resolution, and how a different projection might shape education and our understanding of climate justice. The conversation also considers the sensitivity of borders and territorial claims, including Ukraine’s abstention over the map’s depiction of Crimea. Art: Kat Weir (www.instagram.com/katweir/) Music: Sam Barsh, Oils of au Lait

Imogen Saunders is joined by Professor Aoife O'Donoghue (Queen's University Belfast), Professor Colin Murray (Newcastle University) and Dr Sylvia de Mars (Newcastle University) to discuss the distinctive constitutional and international legal position of Northern Ireland. The conversation explores the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement, including self-determination, power-sharing, rights and equality, and the complex relationships between Northern Ireland, Ireland and the United Kingdom. The discussion then turns to Brexit, considering the Northern Ireland Protocol and Windsor Framework, the Irish Sea border, and the challenge of reconciling Brexit with the commitments made in 1998. The guests also examine Northern Ireland's post-Brexit human rights architecture, including the European Convention on Human Rights, EU law, and the Agreement's non-diminution commitment. Finally, Colin Murray and Sylvia de Mars discuss their work on governance and the politics of scale, and what Northern Ireland reveals about the relationship between international law, regional integration and local institutions. As always, the episode ends with discussion of the guests' current research - and whether anyone ever really escapes Northern Ireland and international law. Art: Kat Weir (www.instagram.com/katweir/) Music: Sam Barsh, Oils of au Lait

In this episode, Tamsin Philippa Paige is joined by Olivera Simić and Caitlin Biddolph to explore the international criminal courtroom as a site not only of justice, but also of punishment, power and violence. Drawing on their work on the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, the conversation asks what international criminal law is actually trying to achieve when it punishes perpetrators, and what may be lost when punishment is privileged over rehabilitation and accountability. It also considers the courtroom itself as a potentially violent institutional space, and examines feminist approaches to women who participate in atrocities, including the difficulties that can arise when assumptions about gender, victimhood and agency collide. The discussion also reflects on the very different personal and intellectual paths that brought Olivera and Caitlin to these questions, including Olivera's experiences of war and displacement in the former Yugoslavia and the relationship between lived experience, scholarship and the pursuit of justice. Recommendations Olivera Simić, Madam War Criminal https://www.hurstpublishers.com/book/madam-war-criminal/ Caitlin Biddolph, Queering Governance and International Law: The Case of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia https://academic.oup.com/book/59490 Art: Kat Weir (www.instagram.com/katweir/) Music: Sam Barsh, Oils of au Lait