Drone verdict. Lumumba's assassination. War of starvation.
Newsletter
2025
Legal interventions often unfold at a pace of their own. Some cases can take more than a decade to conclude, while others take much longer even to begin. But when courts are called upon to address injustice, this scrutiny itself can forge new tools to tackle such harms in the future – whether or not the case is won.
In a case that could shape legal history, a Belgian court has decided to examine the circumstances surrounding the assassination of Congolese President Patrice Lumumba more than 60 years ago. The Lumumba family has appointed ECCHR and its General Secretary Wolfgang Kaleck to be directly involved in the proceedings.
In support of our Yemeni plaintiffs, ECCHR lawyers argued their case against German complicity in the US drone program before Germany’s highest court. Although the court did not rule in their favor, the case itself sets a crucial precedent for future redress for civilians abroad affected by militarized conflict. At a time when the coupling of drone warfare and AI is exhibiting alarming advances, this is urgently needed.
Deadly Algorithms (only available in German) is also the title of one of our recently published podcasts, which you can learn more about in this newsletter, along with Migration Narratives.
