Yale professor says wars in Ukraine and Gaza and threats from Donald Trump risk the ‘total collapse’ of the global courts system
A coalition of states is needed to stop the international legal order falling apart, a distinguished international academic has warned.
Oona Hathaway, the president-elect of the American Society of International Law and a former Pentagon legal adviser, said the core of the postwar global order – the prohibition on taking land by force – was under unprecedented challenge in a “scary moment” for the world.
The Yale Law School professor cited the willingness of the US government to delegitimise institutions that Washington helped create, including the international court of justice (ICJ).
Her intervention comes when the Ukraine and Gaza conflicts have generated global interest in international law possibly not seen since the Nuremberg trials after the second world war.
