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I am an assistant professor of international law and international relations at Central European University. I was previously an assistant professor at the University of Amsterdam, and have held positions at the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights, New York University School of Law, the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, University of Zurich, the Polish Academy of Sciences, and Free University of Berlin.
My work lies at the intersection of international law, peace and security studies, and global history. My two main areas of expertise are: 1) how global governance institutions, especially international criminal tribunals and UN peace operations, impact domestic law and politics, with a focus on central Africa; 2) double standards in international law and Second World approaches to international law, which inform my work on shifts in the global order from a post-colonial Global South-East(ern European) perspective.
I have also published on various doctrinal legal debates, ranging from the troika's immunities and the UN Security Council’s Chapter VII powers to double jeopardy and complementarity at the International Criminal Court.
As a former rule-of-law practitioner, I support justice initiatives and promote exchanges between the Global South(s) and Global East(s), drawing on over a decade of work and research experience in several African countries (with a regional focus on the law, politics and history of the DR Congo, Central African Republic, and the Sudans).
In 2024, I was elected to a four-year term on the Board of the European Society of International Law.
Je travaille en français et en anglais. Wykładam po polsku.
Photo credit: International Nuremberg Principles Academy
My writing consists of over 30 publications and 50 shorter pieces, including an award-winning book with Oxford University Press (2024 ABILA 'Best Book Award for a First-Time Author') and an award-winning article in the Yale Journal of International Law (2025 ASIL 'International Criminal Law Scholarship Prize'). My research has also featured in prestigious journals like the Leiden Journal of International Law, European Journal of International Law, Journal of International Criminal Justice, Max Planck Yearbook of United Nations Law, Journal of Conflict & Security Law, Journal on the Use of Force & International Law, and leading presses (here).
I am a regular contributor to the mainstream and social media. My journalism, blog posts, interviews, and podcasts can be found here.
Follow my work on LinkedIn, X (former Twitter), BlueSky, or sign up below for my newsletter.
Al Jazeera
Radio France Internationale
Just Security
Justice Info
Photo credit: ASIL International Criminal Law Interest Group (Ryan Liss)
Winner of the 2025 American Society of International Law 'International Criminal Law Scholarship Prize' for the article:
'Countering Imperialism in International Law: Examining the Special Tribunal for Aggression against Ukraine through a Post-Colonial Eastern European Lens', in: 49 (2) Yale Journal of International Law (2024), 271-310
Abstract: Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine has been widely condemned, but a proposed special tribunal for the crime of aggression has received mixed reactions. In assessing the arguments for and against a special tribunal from a post-colonial, Eastern European perspective, this Article foregrounds Ukraine's history of foreign subjugation to illuminate the counter-hegemonic potential of aggression prosecutions and argues that Russia's "de-Nazification" rhetoric speaks in favor of a reckoning with Nuremberg's distorted legacy and neo-imperial phantasies of a Russkiy mir. The Article nuances critiques of selectivity that overlook Ukraine's liminal place in the global order as a postcolonial state straddling boundaries between North and South, East and West, Europe and Asia. By emphasizing small and weak states' advocacy for the criminalization of aggression, it suggests that the special tribunal may provide inspiration for anti-imperial and counter-hegemonic struggles in other parts of the world while decolonizing myths about the Soviet Union's benevolent role in the Second World War and the Cold War. Against the backdrop of the "semiperipheral" status of the Global East, the Article also considers why Ukraine has embraced international law as an emancipatory tool in its struggle against Russia and how this relates to Eastern European states' advocacy of an international tribunal over a hybrid tribunal.
BOOK
BOOK
Winner of the 2024 ABILA 'Best Book Award for a First-Time Author', my first book International Criminal Tribunals & Domestic Accountability. In the Court's Shadow (2023) can be ordered at OUP and Amazon. More at book project and a few blurbs:
'Labuda’s work is to law what Caravaggio’s chiaroscuro is to the canvas – Labuda illuminates, places candles in the darkness, and reveals what is obscured.' Mark A. Drumbl, Class of 1975 Alumni Professor of Law, Washington and Lee University
'deftly exposes the paradox of the increasing turn to domestic prosecutions of international crimes... a must read for anyone interested in the future of international criminal law.' Charles C. Jalloh, Distinguished University Professor, Florida International University
'In offering both broad historical context and fine-grained case study illustration, Labuda expands our understanding of complementarity in both theory and practice... an eye-opening and essential read.' Kim Thuy Seelinger, Research Associate Professor, Washington University and Special Adviser on Sexual Violence in Conflict to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court
'a superlative study that needs to be engaged with by analysts, policy-makers and practitioners of international criminal justice.' Tim Murithi, Institute for Justice & Reconciliation, Cape Town, Professor of African Studies, University of the Free State and Stellenbosch University in South Africa
CURRENT PROJECTS
CURRENT PROJECTS
In searching for SWAIL, this project takes as its point of departure that Eastern Europe occupies a liminal space within the discipline of international law. Neither of the ‘core’, nor of the ‘periphery’, the region occupies a liminal, semi-peripheral, and largely invisible mental space, that results in its ‘dual exclusion’ from both mainstream Western and non-Western approaches to international law. In recovering Eastern Europe’s place and role in international law, this project not only aims to develop a more nuanced understanding of international law’s past, present and future, and to unsettle some mainstream and critical narratives that have come to dominate the discipline in the last two decades; it aims also to foster bridges with scholars from other regions and is geared to countering imperialism by addressing epistemic injustice in international law vis-à-vis Eastern Europe.
Second World Approaches to International Law (SWAIL)
Second World Approaches to International Law (SWAIL)
Double Standards and International Law
Double Standards and International Law
Double standards are ubiquitous within the study and practice of international law. Examples abound as states speak abstractly about the need for accountability and their commitment to international law but in practice act inconsistently in applying human rights standards, combatting transnational and international crimes, or making and enforcing the rules that govern trade and development. As wars continue to grip parts of Africa, Europe, and the Middle East, many openly question or seek to remake features of the international system, resurrecting old and raising new challenges for global governance and multilateralism.
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