JANUARY 19, 2021 - Unblocking the United Nations Security Council

In 2020 the United Nations celebrated its 75^th anniversary and the rules-based international order it created in the aftermath of the Second World War. However, the past two decades have witnessed a surge in global armed conflicts, while massive human rights violations are perpetrated by governments with a renewed sense of impunity. At the core of the problem lies the dysfunction of the primary organ responsible for the maintenance of international peace and security, the fifteen-member UN Security Council, whose five permanent members carry a veto over the body’s decision-making.

Join us for the launch of Professor Jennifer Trahan’s ground-breaking new book, Existing Legal Limits to Security Council Veto Power in the Face of Atrocity Crimes, in which she challenges the legality of the veto where the Council is called upon to address situations of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. She has made an extraordinary call for states to request an Advisory Opinion from the International Court of Justice on this critical issue.

Panelists

• Jennifer TRAHAN is a Clinical Professor at New York University’s Center for Global Affairs, and Director of their Concentration in International Law and Human Rights. She has published two digests on the case-law of the ad hoc tribunals, as well as scores of law review articles and book chapters, including on the International Criminal Court’s crime of aggression. Her new book, Legal Limits to the Security Council Veto Power in the Face of Atrocity Crimes, is published by Cambridge University Press.
• Irwin COTLER is the Chair of the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights, Emeritus Professor of Law at McGill University, former Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, and international human rights lawyer who has served as counsel for such prominent prisoners of conscience as Andrei Sakharov and Nelson Mandela.
• Allan ROCK is President Emeritus of the University of Ottawa, and a Professor in its Faculty of Law, where he teaches International Humanitarian Law and Armed Conflict in International Law. From 1993 to 2003 he served as Canada’s Minister of Justice and Attorney General, Minister of Health and Minister of Industry and Infrastructure, as well as Canada’s Ambassador to the United Nations.

The panel will be moderated by

• Andrew CARSWELL, Director of the International Rule of Law Initiative and HRREC Fellow at the University of Ottawa.