The role of the UN International Law Commission of the UN in the 21st century

It is widely acknowledged that the International Law Commission played a pivotal role in laying the groundwork for fundamental pillars of international law. Examples include the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, the Articles on Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts, and the Rome Statute for the International Criminal Court, among others. This lecture will analyze  to what extend through, progressive development and  codification of International Law ,  the ILC is responding to new challenges posed by emerging issues such as climate change, environmental degradation, sea-level rise, pandemics, cyber threats, artificial intelligence, and autonomous weapons systems. historical practice assists in navigating these complexities while striving to advance international law.

About the speaker

Claudio Grossman is Professor of Law, Dean Emeritus, and the Raymond Geraldson Scholar for International and Humanitarian Law at American University Washington College of Law (WCL). He is a renowned authority in the field of international law. Throughout his career, Grossman has worked tirelessly to promote legal education, human rights, and the rule of law in a variety of leadership capacities in both international and domestic organizations and has published widely on such issues.

As Dean of WCL between 1994-2016, Grossman presided over the remarkable expansion of WCL, including international and national programs, curricular developments, research and service in Human Rights, Law and Government, Clinics, Trade, Intellectual Property, LLM’s, SJD’s, and Dual Degree programs. During his time as Dean, he was recognized as one of the top 25 most influential people in legal education.

Grossman was elected by the General Assembly of the UN as a member of the International Law Commission (ILC) for 5 years (2017-2021) and re-elected for an additional period until 2027. In 2019 he was elected chair of the ILC’s Drafting Committee and since 2023, he has served as Special Rapporteur on Immunity of State Officials from Foreign Criminal Jurisdiction and member of the ILC study group on Sea Level Rise. In 2024, Grossman was appointed by the Government of Canada to the Independent International Panel on Arbitrary Detention in State-to-State Relations.

He was also elected to the L’Institut de Droit International (Institute of International Law) in 2019, becoming a full member in 2023, and was appointed to its 12th Commission on Epidemics and International Law. Since 2023, he has also been member and former vice-president of the Technical Committee on Admissibility for Chile’s constitutional development. Grossman served as both member and chairperson of the UN Committee Against Torture (CAT) and was elected chair of the UN Human Rights Treaty Bodies for a one-year term (2013-2014). In May 2009, he was named to the judging panel for the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award by the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Human Rights, and in May 2010 he was appointed to the Center's Board of Directors.

From 1993-2001, he served on the Inter-American Commission for Human Rights (IACHR) and twice served as IACHR President. He was the IACHR's first Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Women as well as Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Populations. He participated in landmark human rights cases and developments within the Universal and Inter-American legal systems, including the adoption of CAT General Comment 3 on reparations, decisions against discrimination, freedom of expression, rape as torture, extraordinary renditions, disappearances, indigenous populations, amnesties, and reparations. Grossman has served as Agent for Chile in Obligation to Negotiate (Bolivia v Chile) from 2016-2018 and as Co-Agent from 2013-2016, and in 2014, as Advocate on the Case Concerning Maritime Dispute (Perú v. Chile) before the International Court of Justice.

Grossman’s contributions to international law have earned him distinctions around the world. In 2020, he received the Goler T. Butcher Medal awarded by the American Society of International Law, as a “distinguished person for outstanding contributions to the development or effective realization of international human rights.”