To provide context to the war in Ukraine, the Law Library has compiled a non-exhaustive list of (legal) resources that give insight into the current crisis. All sources are available online, either freely accessible or through the Library's subscription.
Research guides and reading lists
- JSTOR - a digital library that provides access to many academic journals - has published Russia and the Soviet Union: A Syllabus of Background Readings. The syllabus links to articles on JSTOR Daily. These articles are freely available for all readers.
JSTOR also published Ukraine, Russia, and the West: a background reading list with links to reports on international relations and foreign policy as well as scholarly articles on Western and Eastern European history. All material is free to read and download on JSTOR. - The Peace Palace Library offers a bibliography Russia, the West, and the Ukraine Crisis: A Bibliographic Survey and research guides on International peace and security, International humanitarian law, and War and peace. (Please note that some of the books mentioned are only available at the Peace Palace Library).
- Oxford University Press has published a selection of free chapters and articles on international humanitarian law and the law of armed conflict from across their academic books, journals and reference works. All featured publications are free to access until 31 March 2022.
- UNRIC (UN Regional Information Centre) published a Library Backgrounder: Ukraine.
- RULAC provides an overview of the international armed conflict in Ukraine on their website. RULAC is the Rule of Law in Armed Conflicts project of the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights.
Books
The books below are available within the UvA domain; log in using your UvAnet ID if necessary.
- The handbook of international humanitarian law / ed. D. Fleck (4th ed. 2021)
- The humanitarian civilian: how the idea of distinction circulates within and beyond international humanitarian law / Rebecca Sutton (2021)
- Law-making and legitimacy in international humanitarian law / edited by Heike Krieger (2021)
- Proportionality in international humanitarian law: consequences, precautions, and procedures / Amichai Cohen and David Zlotogorski (2020)
Blogs
- EJIL Talk! - blog of the European Journal of International Law has published several articles regarding the situation in Ukraine. This includes Aggression against Ukraine: Avenues for Accountability for Core Crimes written by Sergey Vasiliev (associate professor of international criminal law, UvA).
- Almost 25 years after its creation, the Russia-Ukraine conflict sadly shows the increasing irrelevance of the International Criminal Court, an article written by Göran Sluiter (professor of international criminal law, UvA) on Rethinking SLIC's website.
- Ukraine Transnational Justice & Documentation is a portal sponsored by the Public International Law & Policy Group (PILPG). It includes a page with resources on international justice and a page with expert commentaries on the war in Ukraine and the role of international law. One of the experts is Marieke de Hoon, assistent professor of international criminal law at the Amsterdam Law School.
- Human Rights Watch provides some background information in their article Russia, Ukraine & International Law: On Occupation, Armed Conflict and Human Rights. All news and reports on Ukraine can be found in this overview.
Newspapers
- The Library offers access to many international newspapers via NexisUni. Find out more about using NexisUni in this blog post.
- The Library has a subscription to The New York Times. UvA staff and students can also create an account via nytimes.com/grouppass (note that you must be within the UvA network). If you are a student, select the year in which you expect to graduate. Your account is active through the year of graduation. Staff members need to renew their registration every 1456 days.
- [Only in Dutch] Het journalistieke platform De Correspondent biedt aan de hand van allerlei vragen een overzicht van verschillende journalistieke bronnen: De belangrijkste vragen over de oorlog in Oekraïne – en de beste journalistiek om die te beantwoorden en De oorlog in Oekraïne escaleert. 14 nieuwe vragen en de beste journalistiek om ze te beantwoorden.