Santiago Vargas Niño
banner
santiagovargasn.bsky.social
Santiago Vargas Niño
@santiagovargasn.bsky.social
Colombian lawyer helping combat tax & financial crime • Lecturer at Uniandes • Int'l (Criminal, Humanitarian, Human Rights) Law • Formerly at the ICC (x5) • Adv LLM in PIL (Leiden, '16), LLB, & BA in PoliSci (Uniandes, '12) • Personal views
Join us at the upcoming @ayicl.bsky.social event series on the #prosecution of #heads_of_state for #core_international_crimes between 18 September and 4 December 2025!

Check the post to learn about the programme, register, and follow AYICL here and on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/ayicl/
September 9, 2025 at 6:56 PM
Why else would states request anonymity if not for the awareness that GHF is committing international crimes in Gaza that could trigger their own liability? Are they not aiding and abetting them by funding this operation?
GHF Spokesperson Chapin Fay: “We are funded by donor nations who have asked us for political and other reasons to not state who they are…”

Reporter: “Anonymous countries?”

GHF: “Yes, I can tell you they’re in Western Europe. Again they have asked us to keep this private.”
youtu.be/GMJWckbcXxU?...
GHF challenged on funding and Gaza aid site killings
YouTube video by Channel 4 News
youtu.be
August 15, 2025 at 12:00 PM
Reposted by Santiago Vargas Niño
“The AI in the study probably prompted doctors to become over-reliant on its recommendations, ‘leading to clinicians becoming less motivated, less focused, and less responsible when making cognitive decisions without AI assistance,’ the scientists said in the paper.”
AI Eroded Doctors’ Ability to Spot Cancer Within Months in Study
Artificial intelligence, touted for its potential to transform medicine, led to some doctors losing skills after just a few months in a new study.
www.bloomberg.com
August 12, 2025 at 11:41 PM
Slightly diminish a band:

My Chemical Situationship
Slightly diminish a band:

Pearl Jelly.
Slightly diminish a band:

Prince Crimson
August 13, 2025 at 4:00 AM
Reposted by Santiago Vargas Niño
For almost 2 years, the claim of mass aid diversion by Hamas has been the pretext for Israel's illegal policy of obstructing & restricting aid to Gaza.

It was never plausible.

Now, as deaths from starvation mount, senior Israeli military officials admit that it was a lie.
No Proof Hamas Routinely Stole U.N. Aid, Israeli Military Officials Say

"The military officials ... said that the original U.N. aid op was relatively reliable and less vulnerable to Hamas interference than the ops of many of the other groups bringing aid into Gaza”

www.nytimes.com/2025/07/26/w...
No Proof Hamas Routinely Stole U.N. Aid, Israeli Military Officials Say
www.nytimes.com
July 26, 2025 at 2:36 PM
“I have never in my entire military career... have I been a part of, allowed, or bystander to the use of force against unarmed innocent civilians. Ever. And I’m not going to do it now,” he said.

www.middleeasteye.net/news/us-cont...
US contractor recounts gruesome details of Gaza aid delivery
Man who claims to have worked for US Mercenary firm UG Solutions says he has never seen such violence inflicted on unarmed civilians
www.middleeasteye.net
July 24, 2025 at 12:29 AM
Reposted by Santiago Vargas Niño
I testified in EU Parliament two weeks ago about how tech platform execs and organized crime syndicate leaders of mafia states were challenging EU and other nations’ sovereignty.

youtu.be/y3QKtwFis-o?...
July 21, 2025 at 11:46 AM
Today's summit of The Hague Group in Bogotá marked a stark contrast with the EU's statement "welcoming" the Israeli decision to "expand humanitarian aid into Gaza". The world's moral compass has clearly moved south.
July 16, 2025 at 1:22 AM
Imho, when a person or group knowingly and continuously challenges the law, you enforce it instead of succumbing to their will and redefining it. The current crisis indicates something deeper than a semantic problem.
This raises an interesting question for law professors and political scientists: what is a law now? How do we distinguish *real* laws from “laws.” Does the Dual State idea help us? (So: a lawless world alongside a law-bound one.) Re-election prospects? Issue polling? You get the idea. (3/7)
July 15, 2025 at 1:15 PM
This article by @bermudezlievano.bsky.social is a must read if you're interested in transitional justice: after nearly 8 years, the Special Jurisdiction for Peace hasn't issued a single judgment and has a slim record of rulings concerning those least responsible: www.justiceinfo.net/en/147174-se...
Seven years of Colombia’s JEP
251 people charged, and 0 sanctioned. These two figures summarise both the amount of work involved and the still uncertain outcome of the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP) in Colombia, seven years ...
www.justiceinfo.net
July 15, 2025 at 12:06 PM
The best possible outcome of the ASP's review of the ICC's jurisdiction over aggression would be an amendment whose entry into force would depend on 110 ratifications (the aggression amendment itself has only gathered 48 since 2010) and that makes me sad. Should've honoured the Kampala compromise.
July 5, 2025 at 5:29 PM
Happy to have contributed to the @oecd-ocde.bsky.social's Task Force on Tax and other Financial Crimes during the development of its latest report on the design of a tax crime investigation manual: brnw.ch/21wTqU9
Designing a tax crime investigation manual
Tax crimes have a detrimental impact on all countries, hindering domestic resource mobilisation and eroding public confidence in government and financial systems. This can result in wide-ranging negat...
brnw.ch
July 3, 2025 at 12:17 PM
Unspeakable evil.
Laughing in front of cages designed to hold migrants and refugees, many of whom came to this country fleeing extreme violence and poverty, and hoping to raise their children in a more compassionate country. And many of whom followed all the legal procedures to enter the country.
July 2, 2025 at 11:48 AM
As an alumnus of @leidenlaw.bsky.social, it's a pleasure to contribute to the globally renowned @grotiuscentre.bsky.social - @ibanews.bsky.social ICC Moot Court Competition. Thanks for your tireless promotion of justice in an increasingly lawless world. Future generations will appreciate this effort
July 2, 2025 at 12:49 AM
Remember when, despite being on opposite sides of the PEV, incumbent Ruto and former president Kenyatta joined efforts to win the 2013 election and thus avoid their trials for eerily similar crimes against humanity before the ICC? I wonder if this would've happened had they been brought to justice.
Kenya’s Interior Minister Kipchumba Murkomen has been caught on video appearing to authorise police to shoot protesters.

Murkomen made the comments after at least 16 people were killed during protests over police brutality on Wednesday.
June 29, 2025 at 3:23 PM
There are no words left to describe the sheer evil of those Western leaders who stand by Netanyahu's genocidal regime irrespective of human decency, international law or the lessons of history.
German interior minister Dobrindt just met Netanyahu. No word about Gaza, not a single one.
June 29, 2025 at 2:56 PM
The depravity of the Zionist establishment and its minions is bottomless.
“Gaza deserves death. The 2.6 million terrorists in Gaza deserve death! … Men, women, and children – in every way possible, we must simply carry out a Holocaust on them – yes, read that again – H-O-L-O-C-A-U-S-T! For me, gas chambers. Train cars.”

- Israeli channel 14 TV producer
June 29, 2025 at 1:14 PM
1/3 Milanović's "lex lata" assessment (i.e. that Israel's armed attack against Iran was unlawful) is entirely right. However he also relies on slightly more doubtful "lege ferenda" reasoning on "anticipatory self-defence", which I don't share. Below are two alternative views:
1/4 | "... even if the broadest possible (legally plausible) understanding of anticipatory self-defence was taken as a correct, Israel’s use of force against Iran would be illegal."
Is Israel’s Use of Force Against Iran Justified by Self-Defence? | by Marko Milanovic
June 29, 2025 at 2:59 AM
1/4 | "... even if the broadest possible (legally plausible) understanding of anticipatory self-defence was taken as a correct, Israel’s use of force against Iran would be illegal."
June 29, 2025 at 2:21 AM
Reposted by Santiago Vargas Niño
Man wanted on war crimes charges denounces reports that his soldiers were ordered to commit war crimes.

A tale as old as war crimes. www.npr.org/2025/06/28/n...
Israel's leaders slam a news report on a Gaza 'killing field' near food sites
Israel's prime minister denounced a report in Israeli newspaper Haaretz quoting Israeli soldiers saying commanders ordered them to fire at unarmed crowds near food distribution sites.
www.npr.org
June 28, 2025 at 3:45 PM
Imagine impeding the movement to grant the only permanent int'l criminal tribunal in history jurisdiction over any crime of aggression, whether committed by nationals of or against their member states, only then to create a tribunal tasked specifically with investigating your enemy's aggression...
June 26, 2025 at 7:09 PM
Convicted felon shows animosity towards judges. Colour me surprised.
June 6, 2025 at 3:20 AM
Very proud to have presented the DIAN's 2024 prioritisation strategy during the Third Ibero-American Congress on Criminal Tax Law hosted by Buenos Aires University (🇦🇷), Complutense University (🇪🇸), and Pontificia Javeriana University (🇨🇴) in Bogotá, D.C.
May 27, 2025 at 1:07 AM
Reposted by Santiago Vargas Niño
Following news that the #ICC prosecutor has stepped aside amid an enquiry into alleged sexual misconduct? Then check out today’s podcast. We go into the broader issues of culture at the ICC and the plethora of current rules to understand.
Episode out now👇
www.asymmetricalhaircuts.com/episodes/epi...
Episode 133 – What’s next after ICC’s Karim Khan steps aside? with Alix Vuillemin and Danya Chaikel
Now that Karim Khan the ICC prosecutor has stepped aside amid an investigation into alleged sexual misconduct, we discuss with Alix Vuillemin and Danya Chaikel what next. Do like, subscribe and lea…
www.asymmetricalhaircuts.com
May 20, 2025 at 11:53 AM