CIPL Conversations is a short research paper series run by the Centre for International and Public Law at The Australian National University.
It aims to increase understanding of contemporary international and public law issues, providing expert commentary and space for ongoing conversations.
Essays
Are we living in the Anthropocene, the ‘Human Age’, an era characterised by human impacts on the Earth? The International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS) announced on 21 March 2024 that proposals to recognise the Anthropoceneas a new geological epoch have been rejected. Epochs are a formal unit of time on the geological timeline of the Earth.
Earlier this month, Nicaragua initiated proceedings against Germany in the International Court of Justice (‘ICJ’) alleging facilitation of, and failure to prevent, ongoing genocide in Gaza. The fact it is the 60th anniversary year of the Monetary Gold case is coincidence: but it is this case that may be pivotal for Nicaragua’s success.
On 29 March 2023, the United Nations General Assembly adopted by consensus a resolution which requested the International Court of Justice to give an Advisory Opinion on the obligation owed by States concerning climate change. This resolution came at the request of Vanuatu, and was first the initiative of law students at the University of the South Pacific who formed the Pacific Islands Students Fighting Climate Change.
The shooting down on 4 February 2023 by the United States off the Carolina coast of a Chinese high altitude balloon (HAB) sparked a series of claims and counter claims from China and the United States. It was also the catalyst for the shoot downs between 10-12 February of three other objects over the United States and Canada.
Hardly a week goes by without calls for Australia to wield its sanctions powers in a more vigorous fashion.
The world is on the cusp of an energy transformation, in which Australia is poised to become a renewable energy superpower, thanks in large part to the potential of renewable energy sources in its vast maritime zones—and in particular, offshore wind.