Message of the President

- Christian J. Tams - 

It‘s been quite a start to the new year: US military action in Venezuela — aggressive claims to Greenland - a new Board of Peace launched at Davos which, according to its chairman, might one day supersede the UN - and now, since 28 February, massive strikes by the US and Israel against Iran, prompting responses across the region. And all this while conflicts in Sudan, Ukraine and Palestine continued unabated.

A new global security order?
In debates accompanying these escalations, the contours of a new global security order emerged into view, exciting some and frightening many — a reconstruction of international law very different from the one we envisaged at ESIL's last Annual Conference in Berlin. In the current “reconstruction effort”, international law typically appears weak: its prohibitions seem unable to constrain state conduct, and their violation is often passed over smugly.  But contrary to their own assertions, protagonists of the new order, including US President Trump, do need international law. The various presidential peace plans for Gaza, Ukraine, and DRC envisage binding treaties; the Board of Peace is founded on a 'Charter’ that sets up an international organisation with legal personality and immunity.  The functions of international law may evolve in its attempted reconstruction, but its forms persist. This is no cause for complacency; perhaps it is in fact a cause for concern. It helps deal with the 'end of international law' claims, though, which are as predictable as they are short-sighted.

Elsewhere, beyond global security, the start of the year has brought much international action that fits more easily with traditional patterns and functions, notably in the field of law-making.  Within a few days — barely a week from the launch of the Board of Peace at Davos — the BBNJ treaty entered into force (17 January), potentially transformative mega-deals between the EU, Mercosur, and India were announced (19/26 January), and negotiations towards the long-awaited Crimes against Humanity Convention began (19 January). In the very same week, the ICJ continued to hear genocide claims against Myanmar; ICSID released case-load statistics showing record numbers of investor-State dispute settlement; and judges in The Hague finalised the Bonaire judgment, the latest Dutch decision pushing the boundaries of climate change litigation.

Slogans and nuance
Coincidence? Synchronicity? 'Too early to tell', wise lawyers will likely respond. What seems clear is that in the feverish debates of early 2026, international law remains ubiquitous: at times guiding action, and often failing to; regularly providing benchmarks for assessing conduct; and throughout supplying the forms that solidify political agreement.  To present all this as a sudden move from ‘the rule of law to the law of the jungle’ - or a rupture marking the end of a rules-based order - has rhetorical appeal and may help channel anxieties. Yet it fails to capture international law’s evolving and enduring roles and offers slogans where nuance and reflection are called for.

ESIL is not a slogan society. Many ESIL members have reacted to the crises and developments of early 2026 by offering expertise, counsel, and nuance.  Without claiming to be either comprehensive or representative, let me list some recent interventions by ESIL members, from which I learned — and which may be worth your while:

• Jessica Schechinger’s succinct assessment of the BBNJ agreement, whose entry into force is by no means mere symbolism, but “has the potential to be practically relevant and impactful”;
   
• Jörg Polakiewicz’s take on the CAH treaty negotiations, which offer “a historic opportunity to close [a] gap” in international criminal law;
   
• Sophie Starrenburg‘s and Flore Heinrich's analysis of the Bonaire case, which highlights the district court’s recognition of violations of cultural rights resulting from climate change;
   
• finally, Antonios Tzanakopoulos’ engaging testimony before the (UK) House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee on the use of force in Venezuela: expert views offered in accessible language, almost entirely avoiding tortured legalese.

Rapid Response Roundtables and the Kraków Research Forum
Complementing these efforts at “promoting a greater awareness and understanding of international law” (see Article 3 of our Articles), ESIL organised two online panels to reflect on events of early 2026. In the first of these Rapid Response Roundtables, Daniel Peat chaired a discussion between Justina Uriburu, Astrid Kjeldgaard-Pedersen, Alejandro Chehtman, and André Nollkaemper about the implications of US actions in Venezuela and Greenland (‘What Next for International Law?’).  A few weeks later, I had the pleasure of moderating ESIL’s second Rapid Response Roundtable, in which Anne Peters, Simon Chesterman and Peter Quayle reflected on the launch, in Davos, of the new Board of Peace (‘Corporate Global Governance?’). Both Roundtables offered nuance, not slogans. Both were recorded, so if you missed them or want to re-watch, check out the new section on the ESIL website. Looking ahead, we aim to make Rapid Response Roundtables a regular feature, and I hope to be able to say more on this in the next Newsletter in June.

By then, in June, the next big event in the ESIL year will be behind us. Next month, on 9-10 April, the Jagiellonian University in the wonderful city of Kraków will host this year‘s ESIL Research Forum on 'Sustainable International Law‘. The programme looks great: 36 panel presentations have been selected from the 106 abstracts that were sent in, and between them - and the keynote (by Professor Petra Minnerop) and concluding roundtable - the Research Forum will offer a deep dive into sustainability law. While registrations have now closed, this video shows what those not joining will be missing. Many thanks to the local team led by Lena Helińska and Piotr Szwedo!

More on ESIL events
A few updates on conferences and their fallout:

Papers presented at last year's ESIL Research Forum in Catania have now been published in our Working Paper series and are freely available here. Many thanks to all presenters, and to Patryk Labuda, Federica Paddeu, Armando Rocha, and Paulina Rundel for their work!

Thanks also to Kyra Wigard, who reflects on the theme of ESIL's last conference ('Reconstruction') in a thoughtful essay now published in the EJIL. It is a short piece that distils key themes and challenges of the 3 days of wide-ranging debates, and that brought back memories. One of the essay’s concluding thoughts to me seemed particularly resonant: that the conference offered a "space, however temporary, where the foundations could be examined, the cracks acknowledged and the possibilities of rebuilding imagined". Perhaps, indeed, "reconstruction begins there".

Alongside the regular, annual events, we have continued the tradition of joint events in collaboration with international courts: On 6 March, ESIL and the ICC co-hosted a conference on 'Artificial Intelligence and International Criminal Justice‘ in The Hague (details). This was the first conference co-organised by judges of the ICC, and ESIL is delighted to have played a part in this ‘first’. I am grateful to the convenors, Judges Iulia Motoc and Gocha Lordkipanidze, and ESIL‘s Vice-President, Ganna Yudkivska, for making it happen!

Looking ahead, our series of joint events continues, with the first ESIL-SLADI Junior Faculty Forum: following up on a similar ESIL-Leuphana event held last year, this forum aims to enable in-depth engagement with the work of early-career scholars. It is the next step in ESIL’s collaboration with our sister society, the Latin American Society of International Law, which we hope to deepen and broaden in the coming years. Check out the call for papers here.

Finally, our next annual conference: in early September, we will meet in Málaga for discussions on the theme of 'International Law and Conflict'. The conference website is now live, and committees are sifting through abstracts to select agora presenters. Registration will open soon — please block 3-5 September, and let's make this a big event.

The time of plans and projects
I am writing this in the dying days of winter, as crocuses and a milder sun already herald the arrival of spring — 'the time of plans and projects': may yours be bold and fulfilling, and crowned with success.

Christian J. Tams

IPLR Hub: Beyond Bilateralism?
Trends in International Adjudication and Procedural Manifestations

The recent undermining of multilateral institutions has left them ill-equipped to deal with the pressing issues of our time. Whether it be Security Council inaction on Ukraine and, until recently, on Gaza, the UN liquidity crisis, or the failure to make progress on common concerns such as climate change or plastics, there is no shortage of examples of the frustration of multilateral coordination.
 
Curiously, however, international courts appear to be bucking this trend. Perhaps as a result of the unavailability of multilateral institutions, States appear to be increasingly pursuing multilateral goals through international courts. At the International Court of Justice, for example, States have intervened en masse with regard to fundamental legal norms such as the prohibition of genocide, and participated to an unprecedented extent in the Court’s advisory proceedings relating to climate change, and the legal consequences of Israel’s continued occupation of Palestinian territory. There are even real attempts to create new dispute settlement mechanisms, in the context of UNCITRAL’s Working Group III, where States are debating well-developed proposals for a permanent tribunal for international investment disputes, and a permanent appellate tribunal.
 
The International Procedural Law Research Hub (IPLR Hub), a network of scholars and practitioners working on procedural law issues, met at the University of Glasgow and online on 12-13 February 2026 to discuss certain procedural implications of pursuing multilateral goals through international courts. By examining four distinct topics, namely provisional measures, intervention, advisory proceedings and case management, IPLR Hub members sought to draw out the implications of using international courts in this way, in light of the fact that they were designed with a bilateral dispute settlement model in mind.
 
The workshop followed a collaborative knowledge-exchange model, whereby participants contributed to thematic, semi-structured discussions. Rather than having in mind the goal of presenting papers, participants brought their pre-existing knowledge and professional experience to the table to critically examine the main theme of the workshop. In this way, the focus of the workshop was on process, rather than on outcome, as we work to establish the IPLR Hub as a focal point for research on procedural law in the future.
 
As such, the following is not a reproduction of the discussions, or an output in any traditional sense, but rather one illustration of an issue from each session that we had in mind when organizing the workshop.
 
Beginning with provisional measures, we noted that recent changes to the Article 78 of the Court’s Rules (which makes States’ reports relating to their compliance with provisional measures available to the public) potentially introduce a new, multilateral dimension into otherwise bilateral proceedings. Through being provided access to such reports, the international community as a whole can monitor the observance of binding obligations, and potentially play a bigger role in bringing to bear, for example, political pressure on States. Although, it has already been noted, the amendment might in practice have unintended consequences.
 
Similarly, with regard to attempts to utilize intervention for multilateral purposes, we envisaged that, beyond  ‘mass intervention’ under Article 63 of the Court’s Statute in cases like Ukraine v Russia, there is also the potential to introduce multilateral concerns through Article 62 interventions, with regard to erga omnes obligations – something that the Court has not addressed to date.
 
Thirdly, concerning the Court’s advisory jurisdiction, we imagined that multilateral considerations would perhaps lend themselves most easily to the pursuance of multilateral concerns, given that such requests do not come about as a result of a purely bilateral process, and participation is not limited to States. Nevertheless, much discussion the recent use of the around the Court’s advisory jurisdiction has centred on how and whether bilateral disputes fit within it.
 
We were also keen to put the issue of case management on the agenda, in light of the ICJ’s full docket and the opportunities and challenges that greater and more diverse use of its contentious and advisory jurisdiction present. For instance, we have already seen how the ICJ has begun to address the newfound popularity of intervention, in particular with respect to Article 86(2) of its Rules which gives the ICJ discretion as to whether Article 63 interveners will present observations in the oral proceedings. But how is it to deal with a simultaneous increase in requests for provisional measures or advisory proceedings which are given priority over other cases? And more importantly, how will it protect other procedural values such as efficiency, equality of arms, and the good administration of justice.
 
If one thing emerged from discussions in person and online, it was that there is an intriguing mixture of new rules and new practice with regard to some of the issues considered. As we write not too long after the end of almost three weeks of oral proceedings in Gambia v Myanmar, and with South Africa v Israel perhaps not too far behind, we will watch with great interest how some of the procedural ramifications of the pursuance of multilateral concerns through international adjudication will play out, and look forward to further considering them in future activities of the IPLR Hub in Glasgow and elsewhere.

ESIL Membership 2026: Renew Now!

Starting from 1 November 2025, scholars, practitioners, judges, researchers, and students are once again invited to join or renew their membership and become part of ESIL’s vibrant international law community throughout 2026 and beyond.
 

Why join ESIL in 2026?
 

Connect with a dynamic, global network of international law professionals.

Save with reduced registration fees at ESIL’s annual conference — your gateway to cutting-edge debates and partnerships.

Engage with one or more of ESIL’s 22 specialised Interest Groups and collaborate with peers who share your interests.

Contribute and stay informed with regular updates, newsletters, and member-only opportunities — publish your reflections, share events, and take part in mentoring programmes.

Shape the future — as a member, you have the right to vote in ESIL Board elections and help guide the Society’s direction.

Ready to join or renew?

➡️ Learn more at ESIL Membership General Information

➡️ Purchase or renew your membership for 2026 via the ESIL membership online payment platform

ESIL Rapid Response Roundtables

ESIL Rapid Response Roundtables facilitate timely, expert-driven discussion of pressing developments in international law.

More details on next sessions and recordings of the previous sessions "What Next for International Law? Discussing the Implications of Recent U.S. Actions" and "Corporate Global Governance? President Trump’s Board of Peace & International Law" are now available on the ESIL website.

ESIL Flagship Events

The 2026 ESIL Research Forum, set to take place on 9–10 April 2026 in Kraków, will be hosted by the Centre for Advanced Sustainability Studies and the Jagiellonian University.

This unique forum is designed to foster rich discussions on “Sustainable International Law. Reconciling Stability and Change”, and it will delve deep into how international law can maintain legal certainty while effectively regulating the social, economic, and environmental transformations of our volatile world.

Visit the ESIL Research Forum 2026 website for the programme and for more information on the 2026 ESIL Research Forum.

The preparations for the 21st Annual ESIL Conference are well underway.

The Programme Committee is working diligently to ensure an engaging and enriching program that reflects the Society’s commitment to excellence in international law scholarship.

Visit the ESIL Annual Conference 2026 website for more information.

We look forward to welcoming you and fostering meaningful discussions during this important event.

ESIL Joint and Supported Events

ESIL Lectures

The ESIL Lecture Series hosts broadcasts of presentations on international law topics held at partner institutions, allowing the presentation to reach a wider audience of ESIL members and non-members alike.
Recordings of the ESIL lectures are available on the ESIL YouTube Channel.

To propose an ESIL lecture, please refer to the Guidelines.

 

Watch the latest contribution to the ESIL Lecture Series: Adam Bodnar's keynote lecture on Reconstructing International Law at the opening of the ESIL Annual Conference 2025.

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ESIL Teaching Corner and Teaching Corner Webinars

In today’s era of permacrisis, engaging new generations in the study of international law is more important than ever.

The ESIL Teaching Corner Webinar Series seeks to fill a critical gap: while much attention is given to what should be taught, very little focuses on how to teach international law effectively. These webinars will explore innovative teaching models—such as moot courts, legal clinics, and even creative approaches like films and theatre—while fostering academic dialogue on pedagogy.

The next ESIL Teaching Corner Webinar on "Movies, TV Series and Teaching International Law" is scheduled on 30 March 2026. Click here for more information, and visit this page for the recordings of the previous sessions.

ESIL Book Series

ESIL Book Series publishes high-quality volumes on various international law themes. The good news is that the ESIL Board has broadened the scope of the ESIL Book Series beyond the themes of ESIL Annual Conferences and ESIL Joint Events.

Proposals based on IG events, other ESIL events, and ESIL members' proposals within the scope of the Book Series are welcome. Potential editors are welcome to contact the General Editor to help shape the future of ESIL scholarly publications.

ESIL Proceedings

ESIL Reflections

The ESIL Proceedings feature papers presented at ESIL events (Annual Conferences, Research Fora, and Interest Group events).

Publication in the ESIL Proceedings enables authors to disseminate their work widely and reach broader audiences without the usual delays associated with more traditional means of publication. Publication in the ESIL Proceedings does not prevent the subsequent publication of papers in academic journals or edited collections.

ESIL Proceedings are included in the EUI CADMUS Research Repository, and all the papers presented at previous events until 2024 are available here.

For further information, please do not hesitate to write to esil.papers@gmail.com.

The ESIL Reflections offer up-to-date reflections on current issues in international law in the form of short papers that at argue one particular point that may trigger further debate in the scientific community.

The Reflections cover a wide range of topics relating to current developments in international law and practice as well as theoretical reflections in a way that is relatively accessible to non-experts. The aim is to foster discussion between ESIL members and international law scholars and practitioners more generally – in Europe, but also beyond. ESIL
 

ESIL Members who have an interest in contributing are encouraged to visit the dedicated webpage for further information.

ESIL Interest Groups
Pre-Research Forum Workshops 2026

In the context of the ESIL Research Forum 2026 in Kraków, ESIL Interest Groups are organising online workshops occurring in the days preceding the Forum.

More information is available here.

ESIL Interest Groups
Pre-Annual Conference Workshops 2026

In the context of the ESIL Annual Conference 2026 in Málaga, ESIL Interest Groups are inviting submissions for their pre-conference workshops and agora panel proposals.

More information is available here.

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