Category: International Affairs
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COVID-19 and the Evolving Character of “Peace and Security” within the UN Charter
[This blog series was originally posted on the now-defunct website of American University, Washington College of Law’s Law and International Development Society in April 2021.] Over the past two decades, the world has seen a variety of epidemics (e.g., HIV/AIDs, SARS, MARS, and Ebola) as well as pandemics (e.g., COVID-19). Epidemics and…
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Fake It ‘Til You Make It: “Historic Title” as a Solution to the Legal Ramifications of Sea-Level Rise (Part III)
[This blog series was originally posted on the now-defunct website of American University, Washington College of Law’s Law and International Development Society in August 2020.] Under the provisions of the United Nations Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), States obtain territorial rights over the sea depending on baselines and the classification of landmasses…
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Fake It ‘Till You Make It: The Legal Duty to Financially Assist Developing Maritime States (Part II)
[This blog series was originally posted on the now-defunct website of American University, Washington College of Law’s Law and International Development Society in July 2020.] Under existing international law, a State is allowed to maintain existing maritime entitlements through artificial means, provided the state does not attempt to increase the rights derived…
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Fake It ‘Til You Make It: The Law of the Sea and Use of Artificial Measures to Maintain Island Status (Part I)
[This blog series was originally posted on the now-defunct website of American University, Washington College of Law’s Law and International Development Society in June 2020.] About 40% of the world’s population – roughly 2.4 billion people – live within 100km (60 miles) of a coastline. As sea levels rise, these…
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What is a “Uniting for Peace” Resolution and why does it matter?
Last week, the United Nations General Assembly held a “special emergency session” under its “Uniting for Peace resolution” power. Unfortunately, while this event was widely covered in international news, the news didn’t always get the details right. So, as the UN nerd that I am, I decided to set the…
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Made-For-Twitter, A United Nations SDG Rant
At work, I go through a disturbing amount of articles every day picking out the most relevant ones to tweet from our company accounts. And because my personal twitter is absolutely abysmal follower and activity-wise, I’ve been using the less company-relevant (but still thought provoking) articles for myself. Recently one…
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What is the Function of International Law?
What is the function of International Law? International law is the framework through which the world attempts to achieve far reaching goals – such as human equality – worldwide and increase the quality of life for the human population. While international decisions which are disregarded (such as that by the…
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The UN is an Amazing Organization – But It Still Has Many Problems
Three of the most striking observations made during my two weeks at two different UN conferences were: a) the amount of people at least in their 60s or 70s talking about issues which directly affect youth, while there are hardly any youth in the room for the discussion; b) the…
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What is An Nongovernmental Organization (NGO)? (AKA What Is Lena Working With This Week?)
When most people hear ‘the United Nations’ (and this applies to Model UN people too!), most will think: “A place where governments meet together and talk.” Well yes, on a basic level that is what the UN does. But it goes much deeper than that. The United Nations is composed…
Ginger Without Borders 