International Law Weekend 2024 was held at the New York City Bar Association at 42 West 44^th Street, New York City, on October 24, 2024, and Fordham University School of Law on October 25 to 26, 2024. The theme of the Weekend was “Powerless Law or Law for the Powerless?” The American Branch of the International Law Association organized the Weekend. It featured thirty-five panels that discussed how international law can transcend perceptions and misperceptions of its powerlessness and fulfill its aspirations of balancing power through principles of justice, equality, and dignity.

Student Ambassadors and CCO Freya Doughty-Wagner

On Thursday, October 24, 2024, before the Presidential Opening Plenary, the Emerging Voices session was held at the New York City Bar Association. Irene Calboli (Regents Professor of Law, Texas A&M University School of Law), Christine C. Carpenter (PhD Student, University of Cambridge), and Asaf Lubin (Associate Professor of Law, Indiana University Maurer School of Law) moderated this session and provided feedback for participants. Speakers were Matei Alexianu (Associate, Foley Hoag), Anja Bossow (SJD Candidate, NYU Law), Eoin Jackson (PhD Student, London School of Economics and Political Science), Susan Ann Samuel (PhD Researcher, University of Leeds), Liline Steyn (PhD Candidate, Geneva Graduate Institute), and Anastasiia Zhuravel (PhD Candidate, Hertie School Berlin). The Emerging Voices program was sponsored in full by the Silicon Valley Community Foundation.

Presidential Opening Plenary, New York City Bar Association

The Presidential Opening Plenary was held on Thursday evening, October 24, 2024, and was titled “Powerless Law or Law for the Powerless: The Once and Future ICJ.” Leila Nadya Sadat and Muhammad U. Faridi (President, New York City Bar Association) gave welcome remarks. Presidential Opening Plenary speakers were Professor Lori F. Damrosch (Hamilton Fish Professor of International Law and Diplomacy, Columbia Law School), Professor Harold Hongju Koh (Sterling Professor of International Law, Yale Law School), Professor Sean D. Murphy (Manatt/Ahn Professor of International Law, George Washington University School of Law; Special Rapporteur for Crimes Against Humanity), and Dr. Nilüfer Oral (Director of the Centre for International Law, National University of Singapore). Michael P. Scharf chaired this panel.

Photos from the post-Presidential Opening Plenary Reception, New York City Bar Association

On Friday, October 25, 2024, the Friday Plenary Panel titled “Powerless Law or Law for the Powerless?” featured speakers from the European Journal of International Law. The Friday Plenary Panel speakers were J.H.H. Weiler (Joseph Strauss Professor of Law, NYU Law), Dapo Akande (Chichele Professor of Public International Law, University of Oxford; Member, UN International Law Commission), Diane Desierto (Professor of Law and Global Affairs, University of Notre Dame Law School), and Marko Milanovic (Professor of Public International Law, University of Reading School of Law). Joseph Landau (Dean and Paul Fuller Professor of Law, Fordham University School of Law) gave welcome remarks.

On Friday, October 25, 2024, the panels were:

• The Core Paradox of International Refugee Law (chaired by Rez Gardi)
• The War in Ukraine: Lessons Learned and Challenges Ahead for International Criminal Law (chaired by Gabor Rona)
• Has the President Become a National Security Threat? (chaired by Craig Martin)
• “The World Together” or a World Apart? Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response as Law of the Powerless (chaired by Ana Santos Rutschman)
• International Investment and Human Rights: How Does International Law Control Environmental Impact on Local Communities? (chaired by David L. Attanasio)
• South African Branch: Recent African Contributions to the Development of International Humanitarian Law (chaired by Clea Strydom)
• The Veto (a film) (chaired by Tim Slade)
• Protection of People at Sea: Human Rights on the Oceans (co-chaired by Coalter Lathrop and Carole Petersen)
• Does International Law have the Power to Limit Cyberwar? (chaired by Amanda Ghahremani)
• Hot Topics: The Middle East in Crisis (chaired by Frédéric G. Sourgens)
• The Pursuit of Gender Justice in Afghanistan and Beyond (chaired by Megan Manion)
• Closing the Chemical Weapons Impunity Gap: An International Tribunal? (chaired by Congressman (ret.) Luis Fortuño)
• Think Globally and Act Locally: Public and Private Sector Collaboration to Address Climate Change (chaired by Allan T. Marks)
• Empowering International Law to Address Rising Tensions in Outer Space: The Woomera Manual on the International Law of Military Space Activities and Operations (chaired by Jack M. Beard)
• Ocean (In)Justice in Planetary Futures (chaired by Angelina Fisher)
• Approaches to Capacity and Consent: Their Evolution and Implementation (chaired by Jessica Tueller)
• Crimes Against Humanity: From Draft Articles to New Treaty in a World on Fire? (chaired by Leila Nadya Sadat)
• Recognition and Enforcement of the Human Right to a Healthy Environment: Parallel Proceedings in International Courts – A Roundtable Discussion (chaired by Milena Sterio)
• Diplomatic and Consular Immunities: Time for Revisions? (chaired by David P. Stewart)
• The Evolving Geopolitical Landscape and Risks for Global Aviation (chaired by Marcelo L. Garcia)

Friday, October 25, 2024 Panels at Fordham University School of Law

On Friday evening, October 25, 2024, UNICEF hosted a reception at its headquarters in United Nations Plaza. Ann Skelton, Warren Binford, and individuals from the event’s sponsor, The Kempe Foundation, spoke. Additionally, International Law Trivia was hosted at Fordham University School of Law. Madaline George and Michael P. Scharf emceed the International Law Trivia.

Photos from International Law Trivia, including the Winning Team: Filip Andrei Lariu, Amber Lewis, Matei Alexianu, and Ariella Katz Miller

Saturday, October 26, 2024, opened with a Member’s Meeting and the ABILA Annual Award Presentations. The Honorable Charles N. Brower received the ABILA Outstanding Achievement Award and gave a keynote address. Professor Philip Moremen received the Charles Siegal Distinguished Service Award. The ABILA Book of the Year Award went to Laurence Burgorgue-Larsen for The Three Regional Human Rights Courts in Context: Justice that Cannot be Taken for Granted; the ABILA Award for a Book on a Practical or Technical Subject went to Sean D. Murphy and Edward T. Swaine for The Law of United States Foreign Relations; the ABILA Book Award for a First-time Author went to Patryck Labuda for International Criminal Tribunals and Domestic Accountability: In the Court’s Shadow; and the ABILA Best Edited Volume Award went to Melissa J. Durkee for States, Firms, and Their Legal Fictions: Attributing Identity and Responsibility to Artificial Entities. Read more about the awards here.

A Selection of 2024 Award Winners

Ann Skelton (Chair, UN Committee on the Rights of the Child; Professor and UNESCO Chair in Education Law in Africa, University of Pretoria) gave the Saturday lunch keynote. She was introduced by Warren Binford (W.H. Lea for Justice Endowed Chair in Pediatric Law, Ethics and Policy, University of Colorado).

Ann Skelton

On Saturday, October 26, 2024, the panels were:

• Centering Race and Empire in Human Rights Scholarship (chaired by S. Priya Morley)
• The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child as “Law for the Powerless” Children in America (chaired by Barbara Stark)
• Hypocrisy and Double Standards in International Law (chaired by David Hughes)
• Empowering International Space Law: Old Laws, New Powers, and Possible Futures (chaired by Valerie Oosterveld)
• The Rights of Children to Be Free of Labor and Exploitation: To What Extent Are They Now Protected by Customary International Law? (chaired by Brian D. Lepard)
• Incidental Proceedings Before the ICJ: Enforcing International Law or Exposing its Limits? (chaired by Melina Lito)
• Powerless and Unlawful? Protecting the Rights of Climate Refugees (chaired by Sumudu Atapattu)
• David v. Goliath: Harnessing the Power of Artificial Intelligence in International Arbitration (chaired by Joseph L. Choe)
• WIPO Treaty on Intellectual Property, Genetic Resources and Associated Traditional Knowledge (chaired by Sean Flynn)
• Power to the People: Collaborative Digital Investigations into Protest-Related Violence in Iran (chaired by Jessica Peake)
• Claiming Power: Centering Justice for Victims in International Law (chaired by Rajika L. Shah)
• Beyond Compliance: Reflections on a Protective Environment for Children in War (chaired by Warren Binford)
• The Legitimacy of Power and the Power of Legitimacy (chaired by Ioanna Tourkochoriti)
• Arbitrating with International Organizations (chaired by Michael J. Moffat)
• Hot Topics: State Responsibility and Remedies Under International Law
• Pathways to Employment in International Law (co-chaired by Angela Benson and Michael Peil)

Saturday, October 26, 2024 Panels at Fordham University School of Law

The American Branch extends its gratitude to the 2024 ILW Program Committee, composed of: Warren Binford (Co-Chair; University of Colorado), Madaline George (Co-Chair, White & Case LLP), Frédéric Sourgens (Co-Chair, Tulane Law School), Diane Maria Amann (University of Georgia Law School), Michael Garcia Boechenek (Human Rights Watch), Chloe Baldwin (Steptoe LLP), Christine Carpenter (Dechert LLP), Rez Gardi (Refugees Seeking Access at the Table), Preston Lim (Villanova University, Charles Widger School of Law), Asaf Lubin (Indiana University Maurer School of Law), Viren Mascarenhas (Milbank LLP), Jessica Peake (UCLA Law), Douglas Pivnichny (UN Legal Affairs), Naomi Rothenberg (King County Department of Public Defense), Hadley Rose Staley (or Friends of the Public-Private Partnership for Justice Reform in Afghanistan), Achinthi Vithanage (Pace University Law), and Elisabeth Wickeri (Fordham University School of Law).

American Branch Board Members, 2024 Award Winners, Emerging Voices, and Student Ambassadors

The American Branch also gratefully acknowledges the generous support of the following sponsors of ILW 2024: American Bar Association International Law Section, the American Society of International Law, ArbitralWomen, University of Baltimore School of Law, Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, Brill Publishing, California Western School of Law, Case Western Reserve University School of Law, University of Chicago Law School, Columbia Law School, Fordham University School of Law, Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Georgetown Law, George Washington Law, University of Georgia School of Law, Harvard Law School, University of Hawai’i William S. Richardson School of Law, Hofstra University Maurice A. Deane School of Law, International Law Students Association, The Kempe Foundation, NYU Law, Oxford University Press, University of Pennsylvania Carey School of Law, University of Pittsburgh Law, Lucy Reed LLP, Seton Hill Law School, The Silicon Valley Community Foundation, UC Davis School of Law International Programs, UCLA School of Law International & Comparative Law Program, and USC Gould School of Law.