Tom Ruys

Ghent University | UGhent · Department of International Public Law

We live in an age of sanctions. For geopolitical reasons, powerful states and economic blocks increasingly impose unilateral measures restricting economic transactions with certain target states. These sanctions may apply to transactions between the sanctioning state and a target country but may at times also extend to transactions between third st...

We live in an age of sanctions. For geopolitical reasons, powerful states and economic blocks increasingly impose unilateral measures restricting economic transactions with certain target states. These sanctions may apply to transactions between the sanctioning state and a target country but may at times also extend to transactions between third st...

jats:title>Abstract In ‘When Should a Lawful War of Self-Defence End?’, Yishai Beer zooms in on the scenario where a state engaged in an act of aggression subsequently retreats from the victim state’s territory. In particular, Beer challenges the idea that such behaviour terminates the victim state’s right of self-defence since the key to ending a...

The 24 February 2022 Russian invasion of – or ‘special military operation’ in – Ukraine has sent shock waves across the globe. In this editorial the Editors-in-Chief of JUFIL examine in detail the legal justifications advanced by President Putin for Russia’s use of military force and subject them to scrutiny. Doing so highlights just how devoid of...

he Second Nagorno-Karabakh War, and its lingering aftermath, have put the fundamental and largely unsettled question of the jus ad bellum in the spotlight: when part of one state’s territory is occupied by another state for a prolonged duration, can the former state have lawful recourse to military force to recover its land? Prior to the 2020 confl...

Thirteen years after the French edition of the book (Le droit contre la guerre) first came out, the second edition of Olivier Corten’s The Law Against War appeared in 2021. Originally based on a collection of articles and book chapters, the book has become a staple for anyone working in this field. Written in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks and t...

Public interest litigation over erga omnes breaches is commonly associated with abuses that are widespread or systematic, such as cases of genocide or crimes against humanity. By contrast, the prospect of such litigation over more isolated breaches causing harm to specific individuals is mostly ignored. Imagine, however, inter-State proceedings ove...

In their article ‘Beyond Tehran and Nairobi’, Gábor Kajtár and Gergő Balázs examine whether attacks against embassies can qualify as ‘armed attacks’ and thus serve as a basis for the invocation of self-defence. Based on a survey of relevant state practice and opinio juris, and building on an impressive database encompassing more than 730 incidents,...

On a variety of international legal matters, relations between the US and European countries are evolving and even diverging. In an ever-changing world, understanding the reasons for this increasing dichotomy is fundamental and has a profound impact on our understanding of world dynamics and globalization and, ultimately, on our awareness of where...

On December 7, 2020, the Council of the European Union adopted two legal instruments, Council Decision (CFSP) 2020/1999 and Council Regulation (EU) 2020/1998, which together make up the new EU Global Human Rights Sanctions Regime (EUGHRSR). Similar to the U.S. “Global Magnitsky Act,” and in contrast with the EU's existing country-specific sanctions...

Between 2015 and 2018, the Dutch government has supported Syrian rebels fighting the regime of President Bashar al-Assad through a ‘non-lethal assistance’ (NLA) program. Pertinent questions have been raised regarding the program’s compatibility with international law and a joint commission was tasked with developing criteria to evaluate the legalit...

In September 2020, heavy fighting erupted between Armenia and Azerbaijan in and around Nagorno-Karabakh, a region of Azerbaijan long controlled by Armenia. After two months of military confrontations, a tripartite ceasefire was concluded, drastically altering the pre-existing territorial status quo. The "Second Nagorno-Karabakh War" brings to light...

In recent years, international law’s supposed “neutrality” toward rebellion has been challenged by authors who have argued for an ad bellum ban on the first resort to hostilities or, conversely, for an exceptional and conditional right of organized armed resistance for non-state actors only. This chapter revisits the proposed “internal jus ad bellu...

Necessity and proportionality hold a place in the international law governing the use of force by states and in the law of armed conflict (LOAC). However, the precise contours of these two requirements are uncertain and controversial. This book explores in 5 parts how necessity and proportionality manifest under the law governing the use of force a...

The US is increasingly weaponizing economic sanctions to push through its foreign policy agenda. Making use of the centrality of the US in the global economy, it has imposed ‘secondary sanctions’ on foreign firms, which are forced to choose between trading with US sanctions targets or forfeiting access to the lucrative US market. In addition, the U...

On April 11, 1994, approximately two thousand men, women, and children were brutally murdered by armed Hutu extremists after a group of Belgian UN peacekeepers abandoned the school facility where they had sought refuge upon the outbreak of the Rwandan genocide. Almost a quarter of a century later, the Brussels Court of Appeal (Court) on June 8, 201...

This article addresses the degree of parliamentary involvement in decisions to deploy armed forces abroad. It observes how the recourse to force by the US-led military coalition fighting against the so-called Islamic State (IS, also known as ISIL, or Da’esh) in Iraq and Syria seems to fit into a broader trend of increased parliamentary control over...

Cambridge Core - Public International Law - The Cambridge Handbook of Immunities and International Law - edited by Tom Ruys

In early 2018, the Polisario Front and the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) obtained a favourable ruling from the South African Courts, granting the SADR ownership over a cargo of phosphate aboard the NM Cherry Blossom originating from a mine in the Moroccan-controlled part of the Western Sahara. Although hitherto largely unnoticed in legal...

The activation of Articles 8bis, 15bis and 15ter of the Rome Statute in July 2018 has once again fuelled debates over the prosecution of the crime of aggression. While various flaws and imperfections of the Kampala Amendments have attracted scholarly attention in recent years, the present article focuses on one particular source for concern – that...

The Digest of State Practice covers events relevant to the Journal between 1 January 2018 and 30 June 2018.

On 15 July 2016, an attempted military coup took place in Turkey, which left 246 dead and 2194 wounded, and sent a shockwave through Turkish society. The response from Ankara followed swiftly. On 21 July 2016, the Turkish Government imposed a nationwide state of emergency, and notified its intention to derogate from the European Convention on Human...

The international law on the use of force is one of the oldest branches of international law. It is an area twinned with the emergence of international law as a concept in itself, and which sees law and politics collide. The number of armed conflicts is equal only to the number of methodological approaches used to describe them. Many violent encoun...

The international law on the use of force is one of the oldest branches of international law. It is an area twinned with the emergence of international law as a concept in itself, and which sees law and politics collide. The number of armed conflicts is equal only to the number of methodological approaches used to describe them. Many violent encoun...

The international law on the use of force is one of the oldest branches of international law. It is an area twinned with the emergence of international law as a concept in itself, and which sees law and politics collide. The number of armed conflicts is equal only to the number of methodological approaches used to describe them. Many violent encoun...

The international law on the use of force is one of the oldest branches of international law. It is an area twinned with the emergence of international law as a concept in itself, and which sees law and politics collide. The number of armed conflicts is equal only to the number of methodological approaches used to describe them. Many violent encoun...

The international law on the use of force is one of the oldest branches of international law. It is an area twinned with the emergence of international law as a concept in itself, and which sees law and politics collide. The number of armed conflicts is equal only to the number of methodological approaches used to describe them. Many violent encoun...

The international law on the use of force is one of the oldest branches of international law. It is an area twinned with the emergence of international law as a concept in itself, and which sees law and politics collide. The number of armed conflicts is equal only to the number of methodological approaches used to describe them. Many violent encoun...

In spite of past efforts of the International Law Commission, the issue of enforcement by means of non-forcible measures is and remains one of the least developed areas of international law. Notwithstanding its importance, it remains plagued by a variety of delicate controversies and grey areas. The present chapter’s aim is to provide a broad overv...

Some 70 years after the first and, so far the only, criminal prosecutions pertaining to the ‘supreme international crime’ took place, the activation of the – long dormant – jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court (ICC) over the crime of aggression appears imminent. At the time of writing, 32 States Parties had ratified the Kampala Amendmen...

In her comment on my piece in the latest issue of the American Journal of International Law ( The Meaning of “Force” and the Boundaries of the Jus ad Bellum: Are “Minimal” Uses of Force Excluded from UN Charter Article 2(4)? ), Mary Ellen O’Connell expresses strong objections to the piece’s central thesis, notably that small-scale or “targeted” for...

Aggression Against Ukraine: Territory, Responsibility, and International Law. By Grant Thomas D. . New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015. Pp. xxx, 283. Index. $105.50, £68. - Volume 110 Issue 3 - Tom Ruys

On 26 March 2015, a Saudi-led coalition launched ‘Operation Decisive Storm’ on the territory of the Republic of Yemen following a request by that country’s beleaguered government. Although it received no prior fiat from the UN Security Council and took place amidst a civil war, the intervention met with approval from numerous States, with only few...

Developments in the international arena have led to the widespread acceptance of the relevance and continued applicability of international human rights law (IHRL) during armed conflict, raising questions as to its relationship with international humanitarian law (IHL). These questions have become increasingly pressing in light of the expanding ext...

The goal of this chapter is to take a critical look at the alleged transatlantic divide with regard to the content and relevance of the jus ad bellum by means of a case-study, notably from the perspective of the recourse to force by the US-led military coalition fighting against the so-called Islamic State (IS, also known as ISIL, or Da’esh) in Ira...

This chapter aims at giving a broader overview of the concepts of sanctions and countermeasures and the overarching international legal framework. At the outset, a note of caution is due. In spite of the laudable efforts of the International Law Commission, the issue of enforcement by means of non-forcible measures is and remains ‘one of the least...

On 2 April 2015, the full International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) rendered its first advisory opinion in reply to a request of the Sub-Regional Fisheries Commission regarding illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing. Unlike any other court or tribunal with advisory competence, including the Seabed Disputes Chamber, ITLOS’ advisory...

Recent interventions carry important implications for, and challenges to, the international legal framework governing the use of armed force. Yet, as we are witnessing the futur imparfait of the jus ad bellum unfolding, it is worth taking a moment to pause and to look in the mirror of the past. In light of Agatha Verdebout's excellent piece in the...

The insistence of the Assad regime on treating members of non-State armed groups as terrorists that may receive grave sentences, and even the death penalty, upon capture may go some way in explaining the endemic disregard for the laws of war by all parties in the Syrian Civil War. It is broadly recognized that the threat of the death penalty for me...

In spite of legal objections, the European Union (EU) in May 2013 gave the conditional green light for the transfer of arms to the Syrian Opposition Council. The EU's decision is not a solitary move. Several other States, including Russia, the United States, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, have provided arms, funding and/or “non-lethal assistance” either t...

Are there forcible acts that, because of their small scale or confined purposes, are not covered by the prohibition of the use of force in Article 2(4) of the UN Charter?1 The argument that there exists a "gravity threshold,"2 below which the prohibition of the use of force is inapplicable, appears to be gaining ground in legal doctrine.3 In a simi...

In the summer of 2010, the US Army began the field-testing of a new weapon, the XM25 ‘Individual Semi-Automatic Airburst System’, which fires ‘airburst’ anti-personnel rounds that can be programmed to detonate at a certain distance. While the XM25 has been heralded as a ‘game changer’ for modern warfare, the question nonetheless remains to what ext...

This book examines to what extent the right of self-defence, as laid down in Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations, permits States to launch military operations against other States. In particular, it focuses on the occurrence of an ‘armed attack’ - the crucial trigger for the activation of this right. In light of the developments since 9...

In 1963 former US Secretary of State Dean Acheson addressed the annual meeting of the American Society of International Law. Commenting on the events surrounding the Cuban missile crisis, he declared to his audience that [l]aw simply does not deal with such questions of ultimate power power that comes close to the sources of sovereignty.1 Achesons...

Legal scholars as well as states have long disagreed on the compatibility with the UN Charter of the so-called ‘protection of nationals’ doctrine. This doctrine suggests that states are allowed to forcibly intervene in other countries for the protection of their nationals abroad, subject to the following (cumulative) conditions: (i) there is an imm...