Where the Light Don’t Shine: Missing Opportunity in the Application of the Upcoming Crimes Against Humanity Treaty

By ilrdigit | March 22, 2026 |

Written by Oscar Cheng Special thanks to Professor Lena Raxter for providing invaluable comments and guidance in the development of this article. Introduction After several years of advocacy, a U.N. treaty on crimes against humanity is finally coming to fruition. Unlike other international crimes, there has not been a specific treaty focusing on crimes against humanity.…

Absolute Immunity or Absolute Resolve? How Maduro’s Capture and Indictment Challenges Head of State Immunity

By ilrdigit | March 18, 2026 |

Written by Ryan Meister   Introduction On January 3, 2026, American special forces conducted Operation Absolute Resolve. The United States launched a military strike in Caracas, Venezuela, where Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife were captured. Maduro and his wife were transported to New York City, where they now face narco-terrorism and drug trafficking…

Unequal Protection: Analyzing Australia’s Limitations on the Natural Justice Requirement for Non-Citizens

By ilrdigit | February 25, 2026 |

Written by Julia Potts Introduction In September 2025, Australian Parliament passed the Home Affairs Legislation Amendment, an amendment to the Migration Act of 1958. This legislation limits the natural justice requirement, the mandate of legal procedural fairness in Australia. It requires that a person facing government decision to have an opportunity to challenge it, be heard…

Whether the United States under Section 230 Does Enough to Comply with International Human Trafficking Laws by Combatting Deceptive “Fraud Factory” Recruitment Online

By ilrdigit | February 25, 2026 |

Written by Sophia Reinoso  Introduction While online financial scams impact societies worldwide, few people know that the perpetrators themselves are often victims of scams. The Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCOs) that operate online financial scams frequently do so through forced labor, recruiting victims on job-seeking websites through fraudulent posts for white-collar jobs. Once victims relocate for…

Reclassifying Contamination: The Basel Convention’s Plastic Amendments and Indonesia’s Response to Illegal Imports

By ilrdigit | February 25, 2026 |

Written by Paige Buckley Introduction Over the last fifty years, wealthy industrialized countries have generated massive amounts of plastic waste and exported it abroad to avoid domestic costs of handling it at the expense of less developed countries. This issue is primarily governed by the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous…

Recent U.S. Attacks on Alleged Drug Boats & the U.N. Charter: Law Enforcement or Warfare

By ilrdigit | February 1, 2026 |

Written by J’da Tyler *This blog post does not account for the recent escalation between the United States and Venezuela following Operation Absolute Resolve. Introduction Beginning in September 2025, the United States has carried out 20 airstrikes on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean Sea and Eastern Pacific Ocean, killing 80 people. The Trump administration…

Playing fair? How Sportswashing Exposes the Limits of Corporate Human Rights Accountability

By ilrdigit | January 28, 2026 |

Written by Madelyn Bryan  Introduction Sports have long been at the heart of pop culture, captivating audiences from every background and transcending language and cultural barriers. Beneath the passion for victory, displays of teamwork, and heartwarming moments of triumph, however, lies a darker reality: countries are exploiting sports to shield their violations of human rights. “Sportswashing”…

Catch & Revoke: How Trump’s AI is Silencing Student Activism

By ilrdigit | January 27, 2026 |

Written by Morgan McCann Introduction Following Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel and Israel’s devastating military reply—which has killed around 69,513 Palestinians and injured over 170,000—U.S. university campuses saw widespread pro-Palestinian protests calling for ceasefire and divestment. In response, the Trump administration has conflated pro-Palestine activism with support for Hamas, antisemitism, and anti-American extremism.…

Paper Tiger of the Seas: The South China Sea and the Enforcement Gap in UNCLOS

By ilrdigit | January 21, 2026 |

Written by Jonathan Alberts Introduction The South China Sea remains one of the most strategically significant and hotly contested maritime regions in the world, with nearly one‑third of global trade passing through its waters. China’s assertion of sovereignty over almost ninety percent of the area through its self‑declared “Nine‑Dash Line” (“NDL”) directly conflicts with the…

Who Counts as an Employer? Understanding ILO Convention No. 190 and Employer Liability

By ilrdigit | January 19, 2026 |

Written by Cecile Paquette Introduction The International Labor Organization (ILO) adopted Convention No. 190 (Convention 190) and its accompanying recommendation (No. 206) in 2019. Convention 190 sets forth the first international labor standard that provides a framework to prevent, remedy, and eliminate violence and harassment in the workplace, including gender-based violence and harassment. As of…