City Bar Announces Seven-Part International Rule of Law Forum

Collaboration with Bingham Centre
for the Rule of Law

The New York City Bar Association has announced a seven-part International Rule of Law Forum beginning on June 8, 2021.

The “International Rule of Law Forum: Priorities for U.S. Recommitment to International Law and Institutions” is a collaboration between the City Bar – through its Task Force on the Rule of Law, United Nations Committee and Council on International Affairs – and the Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law.

Spread over the spring and fall, the forum’s sessions will focus on the increasingly urgent threats to the international rule of law and priorities for the new U.S. administration to help rebuild the international legal system and the institutions intended to make that system effective.

The Forum’s first two sessions, on June 8 and June 22, will be entirely remote on Zoom. The fall sessions, running from September through November, are expected to be both in-person and on Zoom. The spring sessions will run from 1:00 – 4:00 p.m.; the fall in-person sessions will run in the evening. All sessions will allow ample time for a moderated question and comment period.

The international forum follows the Rule of Law Forum focusing on domestic issues the City Bar produced in fall 2020.

Topics to be considered in the sessions include rising authoritarian movements in the U.S. and abroad; Chinese human rights practices; international corporate conduct (including advancing Goal 16 of the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development); global migration; U.S. participation in multilateral bodies and the system of global governance; and the status of treaties, conventions and customary international law. Individual sessions will analyze the major areas of concern within each topic and identify specific actions that the Biden Administration, the global community and U.S. lawyers, citizens and institutions can take to preserve both democratic institutions and fundamental human rights while confronting challenges to international security, the environment and growing social and economic inequity.

Schedule of the International Rule of Law Forum: Priorities for U.S. Recommitment to International Law and Institutions

Session 1: The Rule of Law and Authoritarian Ascendance: the Nature and Scale of the Threat, and Legal, Policy and Societal Responses to that Threat
Tuesday, June 8, 2021 | 1:00 – 4:00 p.m.

Session 1 Program:
Welcome: Sheila S. Boston, President, New York City Bar Association
Keynote Address: Ken Roth, Executive Director, Human Rights Watch
Moderator: Ulysses Smith, Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law
Speakers: Schona Jolly, QC, Bar Human Rights Committee of England and Wales
Phillippe Sands, University College London; Ilona Szabo, Igarape Institute;
Audience Questions and Comments

Session 2: Cooperation, Competition or Confrontation: China, the U.S. and the Rule of Law
Tuesday, June 22, 2021 | 1:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Session 3: The United States and Multilateralism – Analyzing the United States’ Engagement with Multilateral Institutions and Exploring How Global Governance Must Evolve to Remain Relevant
September 14, 2021

Session 4: Human Mobility: Global Leadership to Meet a Global Challenge
September 29, 2021 (tentative)

Session 5: Treaties, Conventions and Customary International Law
October 3, 2021

Session 6: Navigating Murky Waters: Perils and Opportunities in Business Defending and Supporting the Rule of Law
November 15, 2021

Session 7: Conclusion: The Role of the United States and U.S. Lawyers, Citizens and Institutions in Defending the International Rule of Law – A Call to Action
November 30, 2021