Lauterpacht Centre for International Law

There is a sandwich lunch at 12.30 pm in the Old Library at the Centre. All lecture attendees welcome. Sovereign debt crises have surged since the end of the Bretton Woods system and currently threaten a lost decade for many countries across the world. Indermit Gill, in the World Bank Group’s 2024 International Debt Report, describes the situation in many of the poorest countries as a ‘metastasising solvency crisis that continues to be misdiagnosed as a liquidity problem’. Despite their severe socioeconomic consequences, no comprehensive legal framework exists to address these crises—arguably the most significant gap in international economic law. This lecture, based on Dr Karina Patrício Ferreira Lima’s forthcoming book Governing Sovereign Debt Crises: The Case for International Sovereign Insolvency Law (Hart Publishing), makes the case for creating such a mechanism under international law. The book challenges prevailing narratives that attribute sovereign debt crises solely to debtor states’ mismanagement or misfortunes, instead arguing that sovereign insolvency is a systemic feature of the international monetary system. Current solutions—voluntary, ad hoc, and fragmented—fail to equitably allocate losses across an increasingly diversified sovereign creditor base, leaving many creditors worse off. At the same time, debtor states and their populations remain vulnerable to macroeconomic crises and enduring austerity, which often lead to long-term economic stagnation. Dr Karina Patrício Ferreira Lima is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Leeds. Her research focuses on the intersection of law, finance, and sovereign debt within the broader context of global economic governance. Her research portfolio covers the legal governance of sovereign debt crises, the law and policy of international financial institutions, and the macroeconomic impact of financial law and regulation. Dr Patrício advises public entities, NGOs, and leading law firms on various aspects of financial and monetary law, including sovereign debt restructuring, financial regulation, and the governance of international financial institutions. Her work has been recognised with prestigious awards, including the 2022 Society of International Economic Law-Hart Prize and the 2022 John H. Jackson Prize, conferred by the Journal of International Economic Law. She also serves as a peer reviewer for top law and social sciences journals globally. The Friday Lunchtime Lecture series is kindly supported by Cambridge University Press & Assessment .

There is a sandwich lunch at 12.30 pm in the Old Library at the Centre. All lecture attendees welcome. Register here if attending online Summary: Does international law place any constraints on a possible Ukraine-Russia peace agreement? While we can only speculate about its contents, two aspects appear certain: Ukraine will be asked to relinquish (at a minimum) territory now occupied by Russia, and it will only contemplate entering into an agreement because Russia invaded its territory. Professor Fox will examine the implications of these and other factors for the validity of an agreement. Gregory H. Fox is a Professor of Law at Wayne State University School of Law, where he is the Director of the Program for International Legal Studies. Professor Fox is an elected member of the American Law Institute. He has been a Visiting Professor at the University of Michigan Law School and the Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City, a Visiting Fellow at the Lauterpacht Research Centre for International Law at Cambridge University, a Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Public International Law and Comparative Public Law in Heidelberg, Germany, and a Fellow at the Schell Center for Human Rights at Yale Law School, among other institutions. The Friday Lunchtime Lecture series is kindly supported by Cambridge University Press & Assessment .

Register to attend Time: 5 pm - 6.15 pm This is an in-person event only. Lecture summary: At no time since the Second World War has the integrity of international law been so threatened, and at no time has there been so much recourse to it. The growing recourse to the ICJ, both in contentious and advisory matters, reflects this phenomenon. The Court, imperturbably - and sometimes courageously - states the law without having the means to ensure respect for it, even if its influence must be neither exaggerated nor neglected. Alain Pellet is Professor Emeritus at the University Paris-Nanterre (Centre de Droit International (CEDIN)). He is a former member and chairperson of the International Law Commission, an honorary President of the French Society for International Law, President of the Institute of International Law and former member of the Panel of ICSID Arbitrators. He is the author of several books and many articles in international law and has appeared before the ICJ in more than 60 cases including Nicaragua v. the USA, the first “Genocide case” (Bosnia and Herzegovina v. Serbia) and the more recent “Palestine cases”. Commentator: Sir Michael Wood KCMG KC , Honorary Fellow of the Lauterpacht Centre.

Lecture: 1 pm - 2 pm This is an in person event only. Lecture summary: The pollution of Earth's orbits by artificial debris is an environmental issue as pressing as it is overlooked. Given that geopolitical factors hinder the adoption of a multilateral solution, several experts advocate for a polycentric governance system, inspired by Elinor Ostrom's work on common goods. This presentation assesses the feasibility of such a proposal by analyzing 1,831 arrangements - including treaties, MoUs, guidelines, etc.—that govern outer space. It offers conclusions relevant to the governance of other global commons, such as the climate and the oceans. Jean-Frédéric Morin is a Full Professor of Global Governance at Université Laval in Québec City. His research focuses on international institutions, with a particular interest in their innovation, interaction, and evolution. He primarily examines institutions within trade, outer space, and environmental governance. Jean-Frédéric Morin is a fellow of the Trudeau Foundation and a member of the Royal Society of Canada. In 2023, he received the university award for excellence in graduate student supervision.

A Discussion on International Law and Palestine: Responsibility, Reparations & Reconciliation Organised by the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law in collaboration with the Cambridge Centre for Palestine Studies This event is in person only. No attendance online. 9.30 am - 1 pm. Register to attend in person Full...

2 day International Workshop Day 1: 1.00 pm - 4.45 pm, Monday 4 November 2024 Day 2: 10.00 am - 3.30 pm, Tuesday 5 November 2024 Workshop Programme Against the background of existing scholarship on climate law and governance which has been attracting an international interdisciplinary research community (Climate Law and Governance Day @COP28), this research focuses on the global opportunity structure for climate change (Aykut, Wiener et al. 2021; Wiener et al. 2023) in order to identify under which conditions climate agents are enabled or constrained to act: what are regulatory and customary conditions of agency in a global context? The research takes account of and follows up from Professor Wiener’s current research on climate litigation and social drivers of climate change which has been conducted at the Hamburg Excellence Cluster CLICCS (Wiener 2022) and on her well-renowned work on norm contestation in international relations (Wiener 2018). The workshop will also benefit from the research done in the CCE on mapping a climate atlas of legal rules and litigation challenges and research on climate change in EU trade law (Gehring et al, 2023). It will have space for graduate researchers from Law, Land Economy, Political Science and Cambridge Zero. Supported by the DAAD Cambridge Hub This workshop is organised as part of the research project funded by the DAAD between the University of Hamburg and the University of Cambridge and hosted by the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law, 5 Cranmer Road, Cambridge, UK and Hughes Hall in the University of Cambridge. The research has benefited from exchanges with our colleagues in the excellence cluster Climate, Climatic Change, and Society (CLICCS), especially the subproject B2 on Climate governance and the synthesis project, as well as from reviewers of the Hamburg Climate Futures Outlooks. Acknowledgment of funding: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), German Government’s Excellence Strategy. EXC 2037: Climate, climatic change, and society (CLICCS), award number 390683824. If you wish to attend in person please email Jellie Molino jmm278@cam.ac.uk to register your attendance.

2 day International Workshop Day 1: 1.00 pm - 4.45 pm, Monday 4 November 2024 Day 2: 10.00 am - 3.30 pm, Tuesday 5 November 2024 Workshop Programme Against the background of existing scholarship on climate law and governance which has been attracting an international interdisciplinary research community (Climate Law and Governance Day @COP28), this research focuses on the global opportunity structure for climate change (Aykut, Wiener et al. 2021; Wiener et al. 2023) in order to identify under which conditions climate agents are enabled or constrained to act: what are regulatory and customary conditions of agency in a global context? The research takes account of and follows up from Professor Wiener’s current research on climate litigation and social drivers of climate change which has been conducted at the Hamburg Excellence Cluster CLICCS (Wiener 2022) and on her well-renowned work on norm contestation in international relations (Wiener 2018). The workshop will also benefit from the research done in the CCE on mapping a climate atlas of legal rules and litigation challenges and research on climate change in EU trade law (Gehring et al, 2023). It will have space for graduate researchers from Law, Land Economy, Political Science and Cambridge Zero. Supported by the DAAD Cambridge Hub This workshop is organised as part of the research project funded by the DAAD between the University of Hamburg and the University of Cambridge and hosted by the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law, 5 Cranmer Road, Cambridge, UK and Hughes Hall in the University of Cambridge. The research has benefited from exchanges with our colleagues in the excellence cluster Climate, Climatic Change, and Society (CLICCS), especially the subproject B2 on Climate governance and the synthesis project, as well as from reviewers of the Hamburg Climate Futures Outlooks. Acknowledgment of funding: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), German Government’s Excellence Strategy. EXC 2037: Climate, climatic change, and society (CLICCS), award number 390683824. If you wish to attend in person please email Jellie Molino jmm278@cam.ac.uk to register your attendance.

TIme: 5 pm - 6 pm followed by drinks reception from 6 pm - 6.30 pm In-person event only The Indus Waters Treaty is often hailed as one of the most ambitious and successful riparian agreements of the 20th century. No matter how fractious the relations between its Parties, the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and the Republic of India, the Treaty has ensured that water rights have never become a flashpoint for further conflict as between them. Over time, however, the Treaty has become controversial, as multiple and compounding hydropower disputes between Pakistan and India are coupled with domestic calls for reform on both sides of the Line of Control. In this talk, Cameron Miles – counsel for Pakistan in the ongoing Indus Waters Treaty Arbitration and Neutral Expert Proceedings – offers an introduction to the Treaty and to the proceedings under it, before addressing how his own practice has been shaped by its contours. The talk offers insights not only for international lawyers interested in relations between Pakistan and India, but for those who might want to enter into the practice of such disputes themselves. Cameron Miles specialises in public international law and international commercial and investment treaty arbitration. His practice as a leading junior is split between domestic and international courts and tribunals. In England, he has developed a market-leading practice on state immunity and enforcement matters heard in the Commercial Court, that also takes him to the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court. He also advises on such proceedings in other common law jurisdictions, including Australia and New Zealand. Elsewhere, he has appeared in high-stakes proceedings before the Permanent Court of Arbitration, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, and the International Court of Justice. In the arbitral arena, Cameron has developed considerable expertise in investment treaty arbitration, appearing in 16 separate proceedings, whether during the initial arbitration, in relation to post-award remedies, or in relation to arbitration-related applications in the English courts.

This lecture is a hybrid event. There is a sandwich lunch at 12.30 pm in the Old Library at the Centre. All lecture attendees welcome. Register here if attending online Lecture summary: Grand corruption – the abuse of public office for private gain by a nation's leaders (kleptocrats) - has devastating consequences. As then UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said, the amount lost to corruption each year is enough to feed the world's hungry 80 times over. Grand corruption contributes to climate change and is a major impediment to ameliorating it. The refugees creating humanitarian and political crises around the world are largely fleeing failed states ruled by kleptocrats. Grand corruption is antithetical to democracy. Indignation at grand corruption has prompted uprisings in many countries and created grave dangers for international peace and security. Grand corruption does not thrive and endure in many countries because of a lack of laws. 186 UN member states are parties to the UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC). Virtually all of them have the laws required by the UNCAC criminalizing corrupt conduct, and international obligations to enforce them against their corrupt leaders. However, kleptocrats have impunity in the countries they rule because they control the police, the prosecutors, and the courts. Therefore, the proposed International Anti-Corruption Court (IACC) is urgently needed. It will be a court of last resort, to prosecute kleptocrats and their private conspirators, for violating treaty counterparts of the laws of countries that are unwilling or unable to do so themselves. Successful prosecutions, and civil suits, in the IACC will result in the recovery and repatriation of stolen assets. The imprisonment of kleptocrats, who are among the worst abusers of human rights, will create opportunities for the democratic process to replace them with leaders dedicated to serving their citizens rather than enriching themselves. It will also deter others tempted to emulate their example. The effort to establish the IACC is rapidly progressing. It has been publicly endorsed by: more than 350 world leaders, including 55 former Presidents and Prime Ministers; the European Parliament; the Netherlands, Canada, Ecuador, Nigeria, Moldova, and the UK Labour Party before it recently took office. Many other countries have privately expressed support for the IACC or strong interest in seriously considering the treaty being drafted to establish it that will be ready to be reviewed in early 2025. Mark L. Wolf, the Chair of Integrity Initiatives International, is a Senior United States District Judge and the former Chief Judge of the District of Massachusetts.

This lecture is a hybrid event although the speaker will attend online. There is a sandwich lunch at 12.30 pm in the Old Library at the Centre. All lecture attendees welcome. Register here if attending online Lecture summary: In this lecture Joanna Mossop will present research she is undertaking with Prof Richard Barnes (University of Lincoln). In the lecture Prof Mossop will argue that the commons nature of the ocean implies certain values including respecting environmental bottom lines, equity and accountability. She will argue that stewardship offers a framework to implement these values, and will evaluate how the performance of Regional Fisheries Management Organisations might be improved using stewardship as a guide. The Friday Lunchtime Lecture series is kindly supported by Cambridge University Press & Assessment .