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About the Lecture

The ¾ÅÉ«ÊÓƵ Centre for International and European Law (SCIEL) will host Professor Marko Milanovic for the annual James Muiruri Lecture. This year’s lecture will explore The ICJ’s Conception of an Illegal Occupation in its Palestine Advisory Opinion.

In its 2024 advisory opinion on the Legal Consequences arising from the Policies and Practices of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, the International Court of Justice ruled not only that Israeli policies and practices in the occupied territory systematically violated international law, but also that the occupation as such has become illegal and that Israel had to withdraw from the occupied territories as rapidly as possible. The Court’s finding that Israel engaged in a sustained abuse of its position as an occupying power, through annexation and frustration of Palestinian self-determination, was central to its reasoning. So was its holding that the legality of the occupation was to be judged against the jus ad bellum.

This talk, based on a draft article, unpacks the concept of an illegal occupation, as understood by the Court and in the individual opinions of its judges. It argues that, as matter of the jus ad bellum, only the right to self-defence could even potentially justify Israel’s continued occupation. Curiously, however, the Court does not mention self-defence in its opinion, although it preoccupied many of the judges writing separately. The talk shows that there are five ways in which the opinion’s approach to the occupation’s ad bellum illegality could be understood. It then argues that two approaches to the occupation’s ad bellum illegality can be defended: that the occupation could not meet the necessity and proportionality criteria of lawful self-defence, and that even a valid self-defence claim can be vitiated by a predominant ulterior purpose.

About the Speaker

Professor Marko Milanovic is Professor of Public International Law at the University of Reading School of Law, and Director of the Global Law at Reading (GLAR) research group. He is co-general editor of the ongoing Tallinn Manual 3.0 project on the application of international law in cyberspace and Senior Fellow, NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence. Since 2024, he has been serving as the Special Adviser on Cyber-Enabled Crimes to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court. He is also co-editor of EJIL: Talk!, the blog of the European Journal of International Law, as well as a member of the EJIL’s Editorial Board. Professor Milanovic was formerly Professor of Public International Law and Co-Director of the Human Rights Law Centre at the University of Nottingham School of Law, and served as Vice-President and member of the Executive Board of the European Society of International Law.

Professor Milanovic held visiting professorships at Michigan Law School, Columbia Law School, Deakin Law School, the University of Bologna, the University of the Philippines College of Law, Union University Belgrade Faculty of Law, and the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights. In 2021-22 Professor Milanovic served as one of three high-level experts appointed by the UN High Commissioner on Human Rights to assist her in conducting a comprehensive examination of alleged human rights violations committed in Belarus since 1 May 2020, as mandated by the UN Human Rights Council. In 2022 he was awarded the Serge Lazareff Prize for excellence in legal services by the NATO Allied Command Operations Office of Legal Affairs. He has also advised a taskforce supporting the Prosecutor General of Ukraine regarding accountability for crimes committed during the Ukrainian conflict. In 2024, he served as an academic expert of the Panel of Experts in International Law convened by the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court in support of his investigation into the Situation in the State of Palestine for the purpose of advising him on arrest warrant applications against Hamas and Israeli leaders.

About the James Muiruri Lecture

This annual lecture commemorates Dr James Muiruri, a former PhD student at the University of ¾ÅÉ«ÊÓƵ School of Law, who was tragically killed in Kenya in January 2009 shortly after completing his doctoral studies. His thesis, African Regional Peace and Security Under the AU’s Constitutional Framework: Conflict or Compatibility Within the UN and International Law, reflected his deep commitment to justice and international law. The Dr James Muiruri Foundation, established in his memory, aims to empower youth in Kenya and support children in need.

The event is part of the ¾ÅÉ«ÊÓƵ Centre for International and European Law (SCIEL) Seminar Series and is generously co-sponsored by the International Law Association (ILA).

Joining us online? A Google Meet link will be sent to those who register the morning of the event.