benjaminthorne.bsky.social - Profile | ThreadSky | a Reddit-style client for Bluesky

It has been said before and needs to be repeated: The attacks on Iran violated international law, no matter how often politicians and commentators claim that the question is open.

submitted 7 hours ago • 0 comments

Sunday reading: “How to abandon an archive. When an authoritarian regime collapses, what happens to the archives of its secret police?” europeanreviewofbooks.com/how-to-aband... on the archives of Syrian secret services (via @europeanreview.bsky.social, by @uungor.bsky.social and Ali Ajasem)

submitted 6 hours ago • 0 comments

The cultural artifacts in the game are based on real-world pieces in Western museums, such as the Ngadji drum, a wooden drum made by the Pokomo people in Kenya confiscated by the British in 1902 and has since remained in the British Museum. Relooted - youtu.be/BIWE7kx8SBM?...

submitted 7 hours ago • 1 comment

South African video game studio Nyamakop is creating a new video game which allows players to Repatriate African Artifacts by Looting Western Museums - tinyurl.com/4zc7zu3n #culturalrestitution

submitted 7 hours ago • 0 comments

Has the ‘12-Day War’ settled anything? - monocle.com/radio/shows/...

submitted 20 hours ago • 0 comments

A gentle reminder that States conditional support, and contradictory actions of support for international criminal law is not a contemporary challenge rather baked in from its inception - www.politico.eu/article/germ...

submitted 1 day ago • 0 comments

This type of training of generative AI also has potentially significant implications for legal atrocity archives and their materials (ICTR, ICTY, ICC etc...) and other publicly accessible atrocity archives.

submitted 2 days ago • 1 comment

2026 Annual Conference, University of Sussex 30 March-1 April Call for current topics open! Deadline is 18.00 (BST) on 28 August 2025. A current topic is a one-off contemporary topic of debate/ issue of emerging importance, attracting at least six papers. See more ⬇️ slsa.ac.uk/index.php/ne...

submitted 2 days ago • 0 comments

Hi Bluesky Law and Justice community, Is anyone aware of research in the context of digital criminal investigations (domestic or international) which have looked specifically at the psychological and/or cognitive impact of the use of AI Tools and systems on the investigators who use them?

submitted 2 days ago • 1 comment

Now in English: "IDF officers and soldiers told Haaretz they were ordered to fire at unarmed crowds near food distribution sites in Gaza, even when no threat was present."

submitted 2 days ago • 3 comments

#Syria [interview] - In post-Assad Syria, the “truth tents” offer a space for victims’ families to discuss #truth and #justice. Jad al-Hamada, one of the truth tents’ initiators, speaks to Justice Info about the demand for #TransitionalJustice in Syria.

submitted 2 days ago • 0 comments

Really interesting and powerful example of the role people's tribunals can play as part of responses to atrocity crimes. The Gaza Tribunal 👇

submitted 2 days ago • 0 comments

This type of training of generative AI also has potentially significant implications for legal atrocity archives and their materials (ICTR, ICTY, ICC etc...) and other publicly accessible atrocity archives.

submitted 2 days ago • 1 comment

The White House Office of Management and Budget has recommended that the State Department end funding for nearly two dozen programs investigating war crimes, including those focused on alleged crimes by Russian forces in Ukraine. meduza.io/en/news/2025...

submitted 2 days ago • 1 comment

Despite digital activism playing a very important role around mobilisation and communications for last year's Finance Bill and current protests, the violence and sacrifices suffered by Kenya's seeking justice and social change is all too real.

submitted 2 days ago • 0 comments

CNN (Larry Madowo) summary coverage from yesterday's deadly protests in Kenya. One year on from last year's Finance Bill deadly protest and continuing police abductions and killings, very little meaningful signs of accountability and justice - www.google.com/amp/s/amp.cn...

submitted 2 days ago • 0 comments

Despite digital activism playing a very important role around mobilisation and communications for last year's Finance Bill and current protests, the violence and sacrifices suffered by Kenya's seeking justice and social change is all too real.

submitted 2 days ago • 0 comments

CNN (Larry Madowo) summary coverage from yesterday's deadly protests in Kenya. One year on from last year's Finance Bill deadly protest and continuing police abductions and killings, very little meaningful signs of accountability and justice - www.google.com/amp/s/amp.cn...

submitted 2 days ago • 0 comments

He may not be in The Hague where he should be, but he can't do whatever he wants. Russian President Putin won' travel to next week's #BRICS summit in Brazil bc of an outstanding arrest warrant issued against him by the International Criminal Court: www.reuters.com/world/americ... #ICC

submitted 2 days ago • 8 comments

The SLSA mentoring scheme for 25/26 is now open for applications. This scheme supports us in delivering our EDI strategy to widen participation in the SLSA and the socio-legal community. Create connections by joining the scheme. Mentors needed too. Application details ⬇️ slsa.ac.uk/index.php/ne...

submitted 3 days ago • 0 comments

At least 16 people dead as anti-government protests grip Kenya - www.france24.com/en/africa/20...

submitted 3 days ago • 0 comments

ICC prosecutors have asked the court's judges to deny former #Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte's request for interim release, saying his rejection of the legitimacy of proceedings against him & his family's insistence he was "kidnapped" make him a flight risk www.philstar.com/headlines/20...

submitted 3 days ago • 0 comments

“A.I. is a technology of averages: large language models are trained to spot patterns across vast tracts of data; the answers they produce tend toward consensus, both in the quality of the writing, which is often riddled with clichés and banalities, and in the calibre of the ideas.”

submitted 3 days ago • 1 comment

The long-awaited draft of the statute for the #SpecialTribunal for the #CrimeofAggression is out. Search for it on the #CoE website. #Russia #Ukraine

submitted 4 days ago • 0 comments

Extraordinary spectacle here at NATO. Trump isn't being treated by Rutte and fellow leaders as a partner and fellow head of govt, but rather a sort of world king with themselves relegated as courtiers. Probably the only thing they can do in the circs, but deeply weird.

submitted 4 days ago • 98 comments

It is interesting how some international law institutions/organisations have started using the phrase 'harnessing' or 'to harness' in relation to implementing advanced tech & AI systems into their processes/work, in similar ways to how 'green' energy initiatives use it in reference to wind power.

submitted 4 days ago • 0 comments

Dear Academia.edu, Please stop providing me with AI generated reviews and podcasts of my articles. Yours Faithfully A human

submitted 4 days ago • 0 comments

Curiosity side note: Given Trumps attacks and hostilities against the ICC, I wonder if he is aware that the US has a Memorandum of Understanding with the Joint investigation Team (JiT) into alleged core international crimes committed in Ukraine which also includes the participation of the ICC.

submitted 5 days ago • 0 comments

Curiosity side note: Given Trumps attacks and hostilities against the ICC, I wonder if he is aware that the US has a Memorandum of Understanding with the Joint investigation Team (JiT) into alleged core international crimes committed in Ukraine which also includes the participation of the ICC.

submitted 5 days ago • 0 comments

In January 2026 a magistrate in #Belgium will decide if Étienne Davignon is tried for his involvement in the murder of #Lumumba. Davignon, 92, is the only one still alive of 10 Belgians accused of taking part in Lumumba's imprisonment, transport, & death. continent.substack.com/p/belgium-co...

submitted 5 days ago • 1 comment

“So, bottom line – all of these arguments are really trying to dress up purely preventative action into something more legally respectable. These arguments are not just weak, they are fatally weak.” Peak Marko. Hang it in the Louvre.

submitted 6 days ago • 2 comments

'But we all know it’s illegal. Just like we did with Iraq in 2003 or Ukraine in 2022. And any ambiguity here is entirely due to decades of efforts by the states concerned, some of their government lawyers, and some academic lawyers, to generate as much flexibility in the existing rules as possible.'

submitted 6 days ago • 0 comments

The Illegal Israeli-American Use of Force Against Iran: A Follow-Up | by Marko Milanovic

submitted 6 days ago • 0 comments

Digital Clarity: Why International Law Needs Clearer Application in the Digital Space opiniojuris.org/2025/06/23/d...

submitted 6 days ago • 0 comments

New from me on @opiniojuris.bsky.social today - some brief comments on the potential war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by the Wagner Group through sharing footage of crimes on social media opiniojuris.org/2025/06/23/t...

submitted 6 days ago • 1 comment

BREAKING: The UK and its NATO allies have agreed to increase spending on defence and related areas to 5% of GDP by 2035, two diplomatic sources have told Sky News news.sky.com/story/uk-and...

submitted 6 days ago • 48 comments

As the ICC starts to look for alternative longer term AI and digital management platforms, it is worth noting that the OTP Trust Fund for Technology, which was due to expire March 2025, provided the majority of the funding for the ICC's investment in technology &AI tools.

submitted 8 days ago • 1 comment

As I said a couple of weeks ago on this platform, Microsoft is walking a very thin line & increasingly fraying line between bending to US pressure, re US sanctions against the ICC, whilst simultaneously trying to reassure EU govs that they are still a reliable & trustworthy #ICC tinyurl.com/2ta3737f

submitted 8 days ago • 0 comments

As I said a couple of weeks ago on this platform, Microsoft is walking a very thin line & increasingly fraying line between bending to US pressure, re US sanctions against the ICC, whilst simultaneously trying to reassure EU govs that they are still a reliable & trustworthy #ICC tinyurl.com/2ta3737f

submitted 8 days ago • 0 comments