International Law Behind the Headlines

Former Assistant Secretary-General for Legal Affairs Larry Johnson joins the podcast to explain the legal underpinnings of this year’s controversy at the UN General Assembly over visas and visa restrictions for diplomats from Palestine and Iran.

In the past year, three international courts and tribunals—the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS), and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR)—have issued advisory opinions on the obligations of countries with respect to climate change. In the context of the ongoing UN General Assembly in NYC, this episode features a conversation between Catherine Amirfar and Payam Akhavan, who have served as counsel to multiple countries in those proceedings, to discuss the opinions, their impact, and next steps, especially for climate vulnerable countries.

In this episode with speak with Katerina Linos of UC Berkeley and Mark Pollack of Temple University about their project to interview the judges of the EU’s primary court system, and the implications for European integration, international law, and our understanding of how international judges behave.

What does the law of treaties—and jus ad bellum—say about peace treaties? We discuss these issues, the history of peace treaties, and their possible future with Greg Fox, who has written widely on peace agreements and their evolution.

On this episode Samantha Rowe, partner in the London office of Debevoise and Plimpton, joins the podcast to discuss the recent Trump executive order aimed at jumpstarting deep seabed mining, the role of the International Seabed Authority, and evolving custom in the law of the sea.