XClose

UCL Faculty of Laws

Menu

UCL Laws’ State Silence Project launches pioneering new course on State Silence in International Law

28 April 2025

An important milestone for the ERC-funded State Silence project hosted at UCL, the newly developed course on State Silence in International Law was shaped at UCL in collaboration with students and learners from leading universities and is now being taught internationally.

Seven people dressed in business attire pose for a group photo in a conference room, with Dr Azaria standing on the far left. Some are smiling, and a woman on the right holds a teal book. Tables with papers and bottles are visible in the foreground.

We are delighted to share news of a recent milestone for the State Silence Education project: a new LLM course on State Silence in International Law, shaped by  early career researchers of the State Silence project at UCL, as well as UCL students in collaboration with peers from NYU and Michigan Law Schools. This course is the first of its kind to explore how silence by states functions in international law-making, dispute settlement, and its relationship to substantive equality.

Directed by Dr Danae Azaria, Principal Investigator of the ERC-funded State Silence project, the education strand of the project has brought together in workshops LLB, LLM, and PhD students  leading to a collaborative curriculum development.  This important initiative has helped establish UCL as a global hub for education on this emerging area of public international law.

While not offered as part of UCL’s LLM programme, the new course draws directly on research developed by the State Silence team at UCL and aims to equip students with key legal and analytical skills to thrive in practice and research concerning the legal effects of State silence in international legal processes.

In January-February 2025, Dr Azaria delivered the course as Visiting Professor at the Law School of Paris-Nanterre. Taught as part of the prestigious Master: Théorie et Pratique du Droit International et Européen (Masters in Theory and Practice of International and European Law), the course was hosted by the Centre de droit international de Nanterre (CEDIN).

We are especially grateful to the master’s students at Nanterre Law School for their deep engagement with the subject, to all participants in the State Silence Education project, and to Professors Anne-Laure Chaumette and Mathias Forteau, co-directors of the Nanterre programme, for their kind invitation to teach the first LLM course on State Silence in International Law.

“This new course is a testament to how externally funded and innovative research can shape higher education, how large research teams can pair with students and a broad group of learners globally to lead and create student-led curriculum, and how research-led education can spark new legal thinking”, said Dr Azaria.

Dr Azaria and Professor Forteau, co-director of 'Master: Théorie et Pratique du Droit International et Européen’ and member of the International Law Commission.

About the State Silence project

The State Silence project explores what happens in international law when states say or do nothing. It investigates when silence by states has legal effects in areas like international law-making, state responsibility, and dispute settlement. Funded by the European Research Council (grant ID: 850706), the project analyses legal reasoning around state inaction, why states remain silent, and the legal interpretation of State silence. Drawing on state practice from across the UN regional groups and decisions from various international courts and bodies, this research breaks new ground in understanding silence as a form of legal expression.

Find out more:

Related News