PIL Discussion Group: Immunities and the Crime of Aggression - A Search for Normative Coherence
Professor Tom Dannenbaum, The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University
Notes & Changes
Please register using the link above if you would like to join this event, either in person or online. If you specify that you will join online, you will be sent a Teams link prior to the seminar before the event. Please note that if you do not register before 5:30 pm on Wednesday, 29 January 2025, you may not receive a link.
Lunch will be available in the Wharton Room from 12:15 pm, and the talk will begin in the Old Library at 12:45 pm. We look forward to your participation in what promises to be an insightful event.
Abstract
Since the initiation of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the question of how to overcome immunities has proved to be perhaps the thorniest issue in the mobilization towards a Special Tribunal on the Crime of Aggression. Implicating immunities ratione personae and immunities ratione materiae, the challenge relates both to the nature of the crime and to the character of the possible tribunal. In addition to reviving longstanding debates relating to such immunities, these deliberations have also catalyzed innovative proposals regarding the grounds on which they might be set aside. In reflecting on these arguments, Professor Dannenbaum will consider how to proceed pursuant to a normatively coherent framework of immunity and international crime.
Speaker
Tom Dannenbaum is Associate Professor of International Law at the Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy, where he is Co-Director of the Center for International Law & Governance. Dannenbaum writes on the law of armed conflict, the law governing the use of force, international criminal law, human rights, shared responsibility, and international judging. His articles have appeared in a range of leading journals and have received several awards, including the American Society of International Law’s (ASIL) International Legal Theory Scholarship Prize in 2022 for his work on siege starvation and ASIL’s Lieber Prize in 2017 for his work on the crime of aggression. Prior to joining Fletcher, Dannenbaum taught at University College London and Yale Law School.