GPIL – German Practice in International Law

Published: 17 March 2026 Author: Patrick Marquardt

Largely unnoticed by the general public and experts alike, on 29 October 2025 Federal Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul deposited an amended optional clause declaration under Article 36, paragraph 2 of the ICJ-Statute submitting Germany to the compulsory jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice’s (“ICJ”). In amending its declaration, the Federal Government responded to the proceedings initiated by Nicaragua regarding Germany’s obligations concerning the situation in Gaza, which have been pending before the Court since March 2024. At the same time, Germany is recalibrating its relationship to judicial dispute settlement in international law in a more restrictive manner. The new Federal Government that initially committed itself to promoting the international rule of law is now beginning to shy away from it for reasons of expediency. (more…)

Published: 17 March 2026 Author: Christian Richter

Since the early hours of 28 February 2026, the United States and Israel have been attacking targets in Iran. The air strikes so far have targeted Iranian air defences, missile bases, nuclear facilities and the regime’s top personnel, including its supreme leader Ali Khamenei. Both Israel and the United States justify the attacks on the grounds of threats posed by Iran. The vast majority of commentators have been quick to condemn the military action as a clear violation of international law.
In contrast, Federal Chancellor Friedrich Merz spoke of a dilemma at the beginning of March with regard to the international legal classification of the war in Iran. In his statement on 1 March 2026, Chancellor Merz expressed his solidarity with Israel and the United States and emphasized that Germany would not criticize the attacks on Iran with regard to international law: (more…)

Published: 10 November 2025 Author: Stefan Talmon

On 1 March 2024, Nicaragua instituted proceedings against Germany before the ICJ for alleged violations by Germany of its obligations deriving from the Genocide Convention, the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their Additional Protocols, ‘intransgressible principles of international humanitarian law’ and other norms of general international law in relation to the Occupied Palestinian Territory, particularly the Gaza Strip. Nicaragua claimed, inter alia, that by its conduct Germany had not only failed to fulfil its obligation to prevent the genocide allegedly committed by Israel against the Palestinian people but had itself contributed to the commission of that genocide and to the illegal regime of apartheid imposed by Israel on the Palestinian people. At the same time, Nicaragua requested that the ICJ indicate provisional measures in order to preserve Nicaragua’s rights that were allegedly violated by Germany’s conduct. In its Order of 30 April 2024, the Court decided by fifteen votes to one that the circumstances, as they presented themselves to the Court, were not such as to require the indication of provisional measures. (more…)

Published 30 April 2025  Author: Stefan Talmon

On 1 February 2024, the National Assembly of Nicaragua approved a legislative declaration condemning the genocide and collective infanticide carried out by Israel against the Palestinians in Gaza and demanding from North American and European countries the immediate cessation of attempts at the ethnic extermination of the Palestinian people.

On 23 January 2024, Nicaragua became the first State to intervene in the case concerning the Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in the Gaza Strip (South Africa v. Israel), in which South Africa had instituted proceedings against Israel before the International Court of Justice for alleged violations by Israel of its obligations under the Genocide Convention in relation to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. (more…)

Published: 4 April 2025  Author: Stefan Talmon

In light of the unstable security environment marked by Russia’s aggression against Ukraine and its ongoing military threat to the Euro-Atlantic community, the Ministers of Defence of Poland and the three Baltic States – Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania – on 18 March 2024 announced their countries’ intention to withdraw from the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on Their Destruction (Ottawa Convention). At the time, the Convention had 133 parties. On 1 April 2025, Finland followed suit. The country’s prime minister wrote on the platform X: ‘Finland will prepare for the withdrawal from the Ottawa Convention.’ (more…)

Published: 2 April 2025  Author: Stefan Talmon

From 30 March to 2 April 2025, Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier paid the first official visit of a federal president to the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Azerbaijan. Upon his arrival in Armenia the presidential office posted a story about the visit on the President’s Instagram account. One of the images posted showed the flag of the ‘Republic of Artsakh’. The flag with its horizontal tricolour of red, blue, and orange with a white sideways zig-zag chevron in the fly, which is based on the Armenian tricolour of red, blue and orange, served as the national flag of the Armenian separatist entity that had existed in the Garabakh region of Azerbaijan between 1991 and 2023. In September 2023, Azerbaijan recaptured the Armenian-occupied area and the institutions of the self-declared ‘Republic of Artsakh’ announced their dissolution from 1 January 2024. (more…)

Published: 26 March 2025  Author: Stefan Talmon 

Since the autumn of 2022, Ukraine had accused Iran of supplying unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to Russia for its war of aggression against Ukraine. In January 2024, the United States announced that Russia also intended to purchase missile systems from Iran. Shortly thereafter, Germany joined the other G7 countries expressly cautioning Iran against providing ballistic missiles to Russia. On 15 March 2024, the G7 issued a statement saying: (more…)

Published: 24 October 2024  Authors: Rohan Sinha and Stefan Talmon 

In 2013, a new term entered German political discourse – ‘Völkerrecht des Netzes’, a term translated into English in official documents as ‘International Network Law’. Political parties expressed their wish for or their commitment to an ‘international network law’, and politicians vowed to work for an ‘international network law’. A translation better capturing the meaning of the term would have been ‘International Law of the Internet’ or ‘International Internet Law’ as the idea behind the term was that international law should be used to regulate the Internet, to protect the human rights and fundamental freedoms of citizens in the digital world and to augment opportunities for democratic participation in the global communications network. This led Germany, together with Brazil, to table a draft resolution at the UN General Assembly in December 2013 on ‘The right to privacy in the digital age’. The resolution, which was adopted unanimously, affirmed for the first time that ‘the same rights that people have offline must also be protected online, including the right to privacy.’ (more…)

Published: 22 October Author: Rohan Sinha 

On 19 May 2021, the Federal Government adopted a white paper setting out Germany’s engagement in international organisations. Published in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, the white paper sought to outline how the multilateral order could be adapted to the changed conditions and address the challenges of the 21st century. With this document, the Federal Government aimed ‘to take a stand, declare its position and justify why and how Germany is more prepared than ever before to invest, both politically and materially, in multilateral cooperation and the mechanisms and institutions that facilitate this collaboration.’ (more…)

Published: 17 October 2024  Author: Rohan Sinha

In recent years, Germany has repeatedly been the target of Russian cyber attacks, including cyber espionage. Such cyber attacks are often part of disinformation campaigns, for example when websites or well-known social media accounts are hacked in order to spread false information. The intention is to destabilise the target country by sowing uncertainty among its population, influencing public opinion, emotionalising controversial debates, amplifying social tensions and stoking distrust in State institutions and the government. When such disinformation campaigns are State-sponsored, the Federal Government speaks of a ‘hybrid threat’. When States like Russia combine such operations with traditional military action, economic pressure and subversive activities, the Federal Government refers to this approach as ‘hybrid warfare’. (more…)