Lunch seminar with Kyra Wigard
PROSE - PRObing Stakeholder Engagement: The Role of International Law in Active Conflicts
Abstract
International law has often been criticised for its limited influence on state behaviour. However, recent conflicts, notably in the Ukraine and Gaza contexts, reveal a shift in how states and other actors engage with international legal norms. Rather than being sidelined by geopolitics, international adjudication is increasingly leveraged as a tool in high-stakes political conflicts. PROSE investigates this shift, focusing on how states and actors use judicial processes at the International Criminal Court (ICC) and International Court of Justice (ICJ).
Through a combination of socio-legal methods and legal analysis, PROSE aims to explore how legal submissions, judicial decisions, and stakeholder motivations influence international legal processes. The project has three main objectives: 1) to analyse how various actors, including states, international organisations, and NGOs, utilise international legal proceedings to shape arguments in conflicts; 2) to investigate the rationale behind the choice of legal strategies and venues; and 3) to evaluate the broader impact of these engagements on international law and its enforcement. By examining ICC and ICJ proceedings, particularly in the Ukraine and Gaza contexts, the project aims to shed light on this current phenomenon and understand how and to what extent actors turn to international law to shape outcomes during active conflicts.
Speaker bio
Dr. Kyra Wigard is a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow at the University of Copenhagen with the PROSE project investigating the shift in how states and other actors engage with international legal norms in judicial processes at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and International Criminal Court (ICC), particularly in the situations of Ukraine and Gaza. She is also an Assistant Professor at Utrecht University with the Willem Pompe Institute for Criminal Law and Criminology. Kyra’s work in general focuses on proceedings before the ICJ and ICC and the judicial decision-making processes of the two courts. Her work has appeared in the Journal of International Dispute Settlement, the Journal of International Criminal Justice, and the International Criminal Law Review, as well as international law blogs.
Meeting ID: 616 1056 2092
Passcode: 464008