U.S.-Asia Law Institute:

The Future of the United Nations: A Conversation with Professor Bing Bing Jia

Tuesday, February 7, 2023
7:00 PM - 8:00 PM (Eastern Time)

via Zoom only

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About the Event

Many experts have expressed fears about the paralysis of the United Nations system following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which has deadlocked the permanent five members of the UN Security Council. Professor Bing Bing Jia, one of China’s leading international law scholars, takes a more optimistic view.  He argues that the UN continues to show its unique and irreplaceable strengths as a forum for diplomacy and for breaking political stalemates through the application of international law.  In conversation with USALI Faculty Director José E. Alvarez, Jia will discuss how, in his view, the UN is able to represent the international community and deal with challenges to international law more effectively than smaller groupings such as the G-20 or European Union.

About the speakers

Bing Bing Jia is a professor of international law at Tsinghua University and an associate member of l’Institut de Droit International. He is also a member of the Curatorium of The Hague Academy of International Law and the executive council of The Chinese Society of International Law. His research focus is public international law (law of peace, dispute settlement, law of armed conflict, international criminal law) and comparative law. He is recipient of the Bessel Award from the Humboldt Foundation, Germany (for contributions to the law of the sea and international criminal law). He has served on the editorial boards of numerous international law journals including the American Journal of International Law, Ocean Development and International Law, Chinese Yearbook of International Law, and Journal of International Criminal Justice. In addition to teaching, he has served as a counsel and advisor in inter-State judicial or arbitral proceedings, providing legal advice and drafting legal documents. His full CV and a list of his publications can be found here.

José E. Alvarez is the Herbert and Rose Rubin Professor of International Law at New York University School of Law and the faculty director of USALI. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, the Institut de Droit International, and the Council on Foreign Relations. He is a former president of the American Society of International Law and previous co-editor-in-chief of the American Journal of International Law. He teaches courses on international law, foreign investment, and international organizations. His more than 140 articles and book chapters and six books have made substantial scholarly contributions to a wide range of subjects within international law, including the law-generating rules of international organizations, the challenges facing international criminal tribunals, the boundaries between “public” and private,” and the legitimacy issues surrounding the international investment regime. His most recent books include The Impact of International Organizations on International Law (2017) (originating from his General Course offered at the Xiamen Academy of International Law), International Investment Law (2017), and The Boundaries of Investment Arbitration (2018).