Hundreds of Danish veterans and supporters staged a silent march on Jan. 31 from the historic Kastellet fortress to the US Embassy in Copenhagen as part of a “No Words” mobilization to protest recent US rhetoric that organizers said demeans Denmark’s combat contributions alongside American forces.

Organizers also linked the march to the status of Greenland, upholding the right of self-determination for the Danish island territory. Recent demands by President Donald Trump for US annexation of Greenland, and comments seeming to question the courage of Danish soldiers, have stirred a sense of betrayal for many in Denmark, particularly those who fought alongside US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The march gathered at the Monumentet for Danmarks Faldne (Monument to Denmark’s Fallen) inside Kastellet, began with one minute of silence before departure, and concluded with five minutes of silence at the embassy. Organizers advised attendees to wear their service medals and stated that flags and banners were welcome.

In published remarks, organizers stated that 52 Danish flags bearing the names of Danes killed in US-led post-9-11 operations would be planted in front of the embassy following the march. Participants then faced the embassy in silence to honor the fallen.

In an English-language address prepared for delivery outside the embassy, organizers recalled how Denmark “immediately” joined the international response after the invocation of NATO Article 5 following the World Trade Center attacks. Over 27,000 Danish soldiers served in US- and NATO-led operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, with over 200 wounded and 52 killed. Denmark’s Armed Forces separately noted that 44 Danish soldiers died in Afghanistan while serving in NATO-led missions.

Greenland is governed under Denmark’s 2009 Act on Greenland Self-Government, which recognizes Greenland native inhabitants as a “people” under international law, with a right to self-determination, and sets out procedures for any future change in status. The march invoked core international law constraints, including the UN Charter prohibition on threats or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of states, and the centrality of self-determination to the international system.

In a Jan. 14 statement, UN experts urged the US to respect international law and Greenland’s right to self-determination, warning that rhetoric suggesting plans to “take” or control the territory undermines the UN Charter and international order. Protesters similarly accused the US of failing to respect alliances and the rule of law, emphasizing Denmark’s sacrifices in post-9-11 coalition missions and Greenlanders’ right to determine their political future.

Denmark and Greenland leaders have adamantly rejected US designs on the territory following the US appointment of a special envoy to Greenland in December. Last month, President Trump threatened tariffs on EU and Nordic countries that do not support his efforts to annex Greenland, but has since walked back his threat.

From JURIST, Feb. 2. Used with permission. Internal links added.

Speaking at a press briefing, the Secretary-General’s spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric asserted that the UN’s position remains “consistent”  in calling for “full respect of states’ obligations under international law” amid mounting tensions between the US and Venezuela. He added that the Secretary-General is also “gravely concerned” about the airstrikes on Venezuelan civilian vessels at sea, which the US alleges were involved in drug trafficking.

He also noted reports of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk asserting that the strikes violate international human rights law, and called for transparent investigations into the attack. Türk described the strikes as “extrajudicial killings,” emphasizing that “the intentional use of lethal force is only permissible as a last resort against individuals who pose an imminent threat to life.”

UN human rights experts and a former prosecutor for the International Criminal Court, Luis Moreno Ocampo, have additionally claimed that the US airstrikes on boats suspected of smuggling drugs constitute war crimes under international law.

Since September, the US military has killed at least 83 people in strikes against 22 boats suspected of smuggling drugs. Last week, Trump also said that the US will “very soon” take action against Venezuelan drug traffickers on land. Trump also declared that the US is engaged in an “armed conflict” with drug cartels, suggesting further escalation. Experts, however, have argued that the intention to distribute drugs does not qualify as an armed attack under international humanitarian law.

The strikes come as the US has expanded its military operations in the Caribbean, deploying warships, submarines, drones and an aircraft carrier, constituting the largest US military build-up in the Caribbean since its 1989 invasion of Panama. Meanwhile, the Trump administration has increased pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, accusing him of running the “Cartel of the Suns” drug-trafficking organization, and placing a $50 million bounty on him.

The Venezuelan president has responded to the US strikes by demanding “unconditional respect” for the country’s sovereignty as a fundamental principle. He also strongly rejected Trump’s move to close the country’s airspace, claiming that it threatens Venezuela’s aeronautical security and sovereignty.

Article 1 of the Convention on International Civil Aviation, to which both the US and Venezuela are parties, recognizes each state’s “complete and exclusive sovereignty over the airspace above its territory.”

From JURIST, Dec. 2. Used with permission. Internal links added,

Photo: US Navy via Wikimedia Commons

“Not all countries bear equal responsibility for this collective failure,” added Ioualalen. “A handful of wealthy Western countries, led by the United States…have doubled down on oil and gas production for the past decade with no intention of changing course, mocking any notion of justice and equity in the transition.”

Meanwhile, Kenyan President William Ruto called for $56 billion to help Africa implement its NDCs. “Without affordable finance and without reform of the international financial architecture, the promise of climate action in Africa will remain constrained,” Ruto said.

From The New Humanitarian, Sept. 26. Internal links added.

Photo: United Nations Photo via Flickr

But the freed Belarusian prisoners are protesting that they were expelled to Lithuania in the US-brokered deal and not given the choice to remain in their own country. Additionally, many have noted that they were almost due to be freed anyway. Veteran dissident and one-time Belarusian presidential candidate Mikola Statkevich, released from prison on Sept. 11 as part of the deal, has been returned to a penal colony at Hlybokaye after refusing to accept exile to Lithuania. (The Guardian, The Insider)

The military maneuvers follow an alarming rise in brinkmanship on NATO’s eastern flank.

Poland requested an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council and invoked Article 4 of the NATO treaty—mandating urgent talks among alliance members—after an incursion of at least 19 Russian drones into the country’s airspace on Sept. 10. The drones were intercepted by Polish and Dutch fighter jets, but not before a private home was struck and damaged in Lublin province. Russia denied targeting Poland, while Belarus, where some of the drones entered from, said they had “lost their course” because they were jammed. Poland is calling for NATO to impose a no-fly zone over its territory. (AP, CNN, Politico, TVP World)

“Russia’s war is escalating, not ending,” European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas told reporters in Brussels after the drone incursion. “What Putin wants to do is to test us. What happened in Poland is a game changer.” (AP)

Three days later, Romania scrambled two F-16 fighter jets after detecting a drone that had breached its airspace during a Russian attack on Ukraine. The jets followed the drone until it returned to Ukrainian airspace. (France24)

This, in turn, followed new outbursts of Russian threats to use nuclear weapons.

Photo of Russian T-14 Armata tank via National Security Journal

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Map: UNHCR via ReliefWeb

Section 7, Chapter 1 of Finland’s Penal Code states that Finnish courts may “reach over” even to acts committed outside of the country, if the offense is based on an international agreement binding on Finland. This is otherwise known as “universal jurisdiction.” Finland ratified the 1949 Geneva Convention on the treatment of war prisoners in 1955.

Ukraine’s Prosecutor General saluted the conviction, and stated that the case marks a milestone for holding perpetrators of war crimes accountable. The Finnish Security & Intelligence Service (SUPO) has warned that the conviction could be dangerous for Finns in Russia, as they could be used as leverage in exchange for Petrovskyi.

In 2022, the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated Rusich a threat to the peace and national security of the United States and its allies. The designation states that Rusich members were accused of and filmed committing atrocities against deceased and captured Ukrainian soldiers.

Petrovskyi was expelled from Norway in 2016, after having lived there since 2004, for being a threat to the country’s national security. He was arrested in Finland in July 2023, when Ukraine demanded he be extradited there.

The demand was rejected by the Finland Supreme Court, due to concerns over rights violations in the Ukrainian prison system. Human rights violations were evident during the 2014 attack on Ukraine. According to an investigation by Amnesty International, there was “no doubt” that summary killings were executed by both sides in the conflict.

These concerns were also raised by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), which reported a number of human rights violations, such as killings and torture, throughout the 2014 conflict.

War prisoners must be accorded humane treatment under articles 13, 14, and 15 of the Geneva Convention “Relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War,” of 1949. Since 2014, numerous war crimes have been alleged in the conflict between Ukraine and Russia. In a 2020 statement concerning the conclusion of the preliminary examination of the situation in Ukraine, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court stated that there was “a reasonable basis” to conclude that there was a broad range of conduct amounting to war crimes and crimes against humanity within the jurisdiction of the court.

The UN’s Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine stated last year that Russia’s continuing breaches of international humanitarian law are causing severe civilian suffering. The Commission also found new evidence of war crimes committed by Russia.

From JURIST, March 16. Used with permission.

See our last reports on Rusich, Russia’s paramilitary network, and war crimes accusations against Russia.

Photo: Yan Petrovsky (right) with Rusich founder Alexei Milchakov
Credit: KHPG

For two weeks, officers conducted border inspections, river patrols, and forest monitoring using helicopters and satellite technology. Their efforts were concentrated along key areas of the Paraná River, including regions near the Itaipu power plant, the International Friendship Bridge, the Integration Bridge and the mouth of the Monday River, as well as the Moisés Bertoni Natural Monument located south of Presidente Franco .

The Paraguayan government stated that the operation’s main goals were to reduce the impact of forestry crimes, strengthen control in the most vulnerable areas, and better protect the country’s natural resources. Authorities also prioritized strategic planning for future actions by mapping potentially vulnerable locations, ensuring more effective prevention of environmental crimes.

In the operation, Paraguayan authorities identified 28 distinct criminal offenses, resulting in the seizure of 1,000 logs and 250 posts of quebracho wood, a species known for its significant commercial value. INTERPOL facilitated extradition proceedings, successfully returning a fugitive wanted under an INTERPOL Red Notice for fraud to Brazil, while another individual was sent back to Brazil to serve a 15-year prison sentence for charges of drug and arms trafficking.

INTERPOL’s assistant director for environmental security, Kat Henn, stressed the need for multi-agency cooperation, stating:

Illegal deforestation, which ranges from document fraud to money laundering and corruption. We need continued cross-border cooperation and intelligence sharing to dismantle these criminal networks that profit by ravaging our environment.

The operation was carried out under the Law Enforcement Assistance Program (LEAP), a joint effort supported by Norway’s International Climate and Forests Initiative (NICFI) and the US Forest Service, demonstrating a strong international commitment to tackling environmental crimes that jeopardize biodiversity, harm communities, and threaten sustainable trade.

Deforestation in the Paraguayan Chaco, on the other side of the country, also remains a major concern. In 2019, it peaked with approximately 244,324 hectares lost, representing 78% of the forest at that time. This deforestation is driven by large-scale cattle ranching and soybean farming, threatening biodiversity, climate stability, and indigenous communities, such as the Ayoreo Totobiegosode. According to Global Witness, if current trends continue, the Chaco could disappear entirely by 2080, leading to severe environmental and social impacts.

From JURIST, Dec. 17. Used with permission.

See our last reports on the Tri-Border Region, the Chaco, and the Ayoreo.

Photo: Ilosuna via Wikimedia Commons

The basis for the prosecution was the play Finist the Brave Falcon. Its plot draws inspiration from the plight of Russian women who went to Syria in the mid-2010s to marry Islamist fighters and were convicted upon return to their home country. Berkovich and Petrychuk repeatedly stated that their play was intended to warn aainst of terrorism and not to justify it.

According to local media, the charges were based on contradictory statements by partially anonymous witnesses. After the prosecutor claimed the witnesses were threatened on social media, the judge conducted the interrogation of the accused and delivered the verdict behind closed doors. Journalists were barred from the courtroom from June 13 onwards.

In the eyes of the defense and human rights organizations, the real reason for the prosecution was retribution against the pair for their outspoken opposition to the war in Ukraine. Berkovic had published poems criticizing the war. Rachel Denber, deputy director for Europe and Central Asia at Human Rights Watch, stated on Twitter that the duo were convicted on “utterly absurd charges, in an unfair trial that is blatant retaliation against Berkovich for speaking out against Russia’s war on Ukraine.” Berkovich and Petriychuk said they will appeal the verdict.

The sentence comes amid Russia/s increasing persecution of cultural figures since the country’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

From Jurist, July 9. Used with permission.

See our last report on the crackdown on dissent in Russia.

Photo: StageRussia

Colombia’s move comes as Spain, Ireland and Norway have announced their recognition of Palestine as a state. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of course opposed these decisions, charging that “the intention of several European countries to recognize a Palestinian state is a reward for terrorism.”

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz also announced that Israel will bar the Spanish consulate in Jerusalem from providing services to Palestinians in the West Bank.

The Spanish second vice president Yolanda Díaz won special opprobrium when she posted a video saying that it was not enough to recognize Palestine, but to isolate Israel until Palestine is free “from the river to the sea”—a remark labeled anti-Semitic by Katz.

The 1933 Montevideo Convention on the Rights and Duties of States identify four conditions for recognition of statehood: “a permanent population, defined territory, government, and capacity to enter into relations with other states.” (Jurist, Jurist, Jurist, Anadolu Agency)

Some 140 countries have now recognized the state of Palestine. (DW)

Image: Nicolas Raymond via Flickr