Who Makes International Law? The Case of the Law of Armed Conflict

Speaker: Professor Sandesh Sivakumaran (The University of Nottingham)
Chair: TBC
Series: Current Legal Problems 2017-18

About the lecture

Who makes international law? That is the subject of this lecture, focusing on the particular case of the law of armed conflict (international humanitarian law). Is it states and only states? Or are other actors also involved? What is the role of courts and tribunals? And where does the work of the International Committee of the Red Cross fit? The lecture will examine these questions and argue that it is the community of international humanitarian lawyers which makes international humanitarian law. It will identify the composition of the community, test the argument against key reference points in the law of armed conflict, and examine the implications of the argument.

Themes and learning outcomes at a glance

• Understand the sources of international law and the law of armed conflict
• Insight into the making and shaping of international law in practice
• Analysis of the actors in the international legal system

About the speaker

Sandesh Sivakumaran is Professor of Public International Law at the University of Nottingham School of Law. He is a non-resident research scholar at the United States Naval War College Stockton Center for International Law, a member of the advisory board of Geneva Call, and a member of the working group on non-state armed groups at the Centre of Competence on Humanitarian Negotiation. He is the author of The Law of Non-International Armed Conflict (2012), one of the authors of Oppenheim’s International Law: United Nations (2017) and Cases and Materials on International Law (8 ed., 2015) and co-editor of International Human Rights Law (3 ed., 2017).

About Current Legal Problems

The Current Legal Problems annual lecture series was established over sixty years ago. The lectures are public, delivered on a weekly basis and chaired by members of the judiciary.

The Current Legal Problems (CLP) annual volume is published on behalf of UCL Laws by Oxford University Press, and features scholarly articles that offer a critical analysis of important current legal issues.

It covers all areas of legal sponsorship and features a wide range of methodological approaches to law. With its emphasis on contemporary developments, CLP is a major point of reference for legal scholarship.

Find out more about CLP on the Oxford University Press website

Queries

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