What’s New in Public Law

—Benjamin Nurkić, PhD Candidate, Faculty of Law – University of Tuzla, member of the Constitutional Committee of the House of Representatives of the Parliament of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

In this weekly feature, I-CONnect publishes a curated reading list of developments in public law. “Developments” may include a selection of links to news, high court decisions, new or recent scholarly books and articles, and blog posts from around the public law blogosphere.

To submit relevant developments for our weekly feature on “What’s New in Public Law,” please email iconnecteditors@gmail.com.

Developments in Constitutional Courts

1. The Hungarian Constitutional Court has annulled a central provision of the country’s Climate Protection Act, calling it unconstitutional and insufficient to address the escalating climate crisis. 
2. On July 17th, the Belgian Constitutional Court decided to refer a preliminary question to the Court of Justice of the European Union on the validity of the UTPR rules implemented in Belgium through the transposition of the Pillar 2 Directive.
3. The Constitutional Court of the Republic of Kosovo, through a Facebook post, expressed its concern regarding what it described as the “reckless statements” of senior state officials and elected politicians.
4. On 11 September 2025, the South African Constitutional Court handed down a unanimous judgment authored by Justice Theron in an application for confirmation of an order of constitutional invalidity granted by the High Court of South Africa, Free State Division, Bloemfontein.
5. The Armenian Constitutional Court declared constitutional the obligations prescribed by the agreement on financial Cooperation of 2023 between the government of the Republic of Armenia and the government of the Federal Republic of Germany, signed on 31 March 2025.

In the News

1. A UN Commission of Inquiry concluded in a report that Israeli actions in Gaza met the definition of genocide, a conclusion fiercely contested by the Israeli government.
2. Iraq has taken a historic step by launching its first national plan on migration, a five-year strategy designed to promote safe, orderly and regular migration pathways for Iraqis. The plan creates opportunities for work, education and family reunification, while also strengthening Iraq’s overall migration governance and positioning migration as a driver of stability and development.  
3. UN experts warn that the promulgation of an amnesty law for security forces for crimes committed in 1980-2000 on 13 August 2025 in Peru breaches international human rights obligations.
4. Egypt warns Ethiopia’s Nile dam ‘violates international law’ in letter to UN Security Council.
5. In the United States, a late night talk show host was taken off the air for comments made in the aftermath of the death of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk, after the chairperson of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) threatened action against the network and said “[w]e can do this the easy way or the hard way.”

New Scholarship

1. Maja Sahadzic (2025) The Rule of Law, the Separation of Powers, and Big Tech (this article argues that for cooperation and coordinated governance between the state and Big Tech, ultimately concluding with final insights on the adaptiveness of the traditional concepts of the rule of law and the separation of powers).
2. Nedim Hogić (2025) Judicial Anti-Corruption Campaigns: Prosecutions in Italy, Brazil and Romania (this book offers a comparative analysis of cases of mass prosecutions for political corruption in Italy, Brazil, and Romania. The book outlines how judicial showdowns with political corruption emerge, what consequences they create, and whether they can be considered legitimate judicial operations or coups orchestrated by political forces with the assistance of the judiciary).
3. Hamza Preljević, Muhidin Mulalić, Emir Hadžikadunić, Mustafa Krupalija (2025) Shifting Paradigms: Three Decades after the Signing of the Dayton Peace Agreement (this book offers a comprehensive exploration and analysis of the multifaceted challenges and opportunities facing Bosnia and Herzegovina thirty years after the Dayton Peace Agreement (DPA). Through a series of thematic chapters, the volume delves into the country’s complex history, socio-political dynamics, and aspirations for integration. Themes such as the legacy of the Dayton Peace Agreement (DPA), transitional justice, collective memory and cultural identity, civil society activism, nationalism, economic development, and geopolitical shifts are examined to provide a nuanced understanding of the country’s past and present).
4. Naoual El Yattouti (2025) Sterile, religiously neutral, and colourblind: on religious symbols in healthcare (this article explores the right of caregivers to wear religious dress in Europe, focusing on four countries: France, Belgium, the UK, and the Netherlands. It highlights the varying approaches to secularism, with stricter scrutiny on prohibitions in the UK and the Netherlands, while France and Belgium lean towards a form of outward neutrality that prohibits religious symbols, particularly in public services).
5. Romanos Lyritas (2025) Politics of Victimhood and Hierarchies of Missing Persons in Cyprus (this article explores how Greek and Turkish Cypriot political leaders have politicized the issue of missing persons from the Cyprus conflict to further their respective agendas. Using transitional justice literature and drawing on interviews with relatives of the missing, it shows how Greek Cypriot leaders emphasized the 1974 Greek Cypriot missing persons as symbols of the unresolved dispute, while silencing the Turkish Cypriot missing persons, as well as the Greek Cypriot missing persons from the 1963–1964 intercommunal conflict).aa

Calls for Papers and Announcements

1. Call for Proposals: Constitutions for Peace Conference. The Hanley Center at the University of Miami has issued a call for proposals for its “Constitutions for Peace” conference which will be held on 15 – 16 November 2025 at the University of Miami, in Coral Gables, Fl. This conference is a continuation of a project started by a group of researchers working on Constitutions, transitional justice, and peace, hosted by the University of Barcelona. Find the call for proposals and more information about the in–person conference here.
2. Call for papers: Sustainability Law: Law’s Response to the Convergence of Crises. We invite scholars from around the world to respond to this call. We especially encourage scholars from low-income countries, of diverse backgrounds and in all levels of academia, including PhD candidates, to submit an abstract. Issues which we will wish to see discussed (separately or together) include, but are not limited to: Conceptual and theoretical developments of sustainability and law, interrogating mainstream and heterogenic concepts and theories; Critical perspectives, such as Indigenous, feminist, and postcolonial perspectives on sustainability and law; Governance, power dynamics and justice in sustainability transitions; Regulating for sustainability on international, regional, national and local levels, across all areas of societies, governance, and economies; Comparative, interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary approaches to regulatory analysis; Knowledge translation from sustainability in research to sustainability in practice, Integration of sustainability in teaching at all levels. Abstracts of maximum 500 words can be submitted by 9 January 2026 through this online form. Early submissions are encouraged. Responses will be provided by 9 February 2026. While the conference will run in a hybrid format, preference may be given to papers for in-person delivery. We therefore encourage potential presenters to reserve the conference days.
3. CfP: Workshop on The Role of the Causal Inquiry in Establishing State Responsibility in International Law.
4. CfP: 2026 National Conference of Constitutional Law Scholars 
5. CfP: University of Bologna Law Review: Volume 11 Issue 1 (2026)

Elsewhere Online

1. O’Connell, Mary Ellen, Killing For Show: The Killings in the Caribbean And Other Costs of Accommodating Law to Power, Verfassungsblog.
2. Marko, Joseph, A Fallen Curtain and Open Questions: The Grand Chamber Decision of the European Court of Human Rights in Kovačević v. Bosnia and Herzegovina, Verfassungsblog.
3. Maja Sahadzic, From Vertical Hierarchies to Horizontal Networks: Evolving Coordination in Multilevel Systems, Blog of the Montaigne Centre for Rule of Law and Administration of Justice.
4. Oleksandr Vodiannikov, Between Ethics and Fragility: Ukraine’s Constitutional Court Codifies Ethical Standards, IACL-AIDC Blog.
5. Karina Ansolabehere, Ante qué innovación judicial estamos. Un análisis de la reforma judicial en México desde otro prisma, IberICONnect.