Conference | On Law and Power: Can international law still be saved?

The international legal order is undergoing a period of profound erosion. Key principles of international law – in particular the prohibition of the use of force, respect for state sovereignty, the protection of human rights and the subordination of state power to the law – are increasingly being undermined by economic and security interests, as well as by the selective application and enforcement of norms.

This short conference will examine whether and how international law can continue to function as a binding, rules-based international order in a context of strategic rivalry. Two panels will each feature four short (6–7-minute) keynote presentations, followed by a moderated discussion amongst the panellists, the moderators and the audience.

3 .00–3.10 pm: Brief opening remarks by the Fritz Bauer Forum (Dr Irmtrud Wojak)

3.10–4.20 pm: Panel I: The future of security policy in Germany and Europe

The panel will analyse the foundations of international law and current tensions within the international and transatlantic security framework, as well as the role of the EU and Germany within it.

• Germany in the United Nations: Aspirations, Influence, Reality (Prof. Dr Pierre Thielbörger, Executive Director of the IFHV, RUB)
• Energy as a Question of Power: How Sovereign Are Europe and Germany in Terms of Energy Supply? (Prof. Dr Philipp Overkamp, Director of the Institute for Mining and Energy Law, RUB)
• Old friends, new interests? Europe and the USA (Tobias Cremer, MEP)
• Between Alliance Loyalty and International Law: Opportunities and Limits of a Much-Cited but Vaguely Defined Concept (Joel Bella, IFHV)

4.20–4.40 pm Coffee break

4.40–5.50 pm: Panel II: Human Rights and Humanitarian Aid in a Geopolitical Stranglehold

This panel will examine the question of how sustainable human rights obligations and humanitarian aid still are in a world that, in the face of numerous conflicts, is increasingly turning its attention to other issues.

• Women’s rights under attack: progress at risk? (Prof. Dr Silke Laskowski (University of Kassel) (tbc)
• Refugees and Migration in an Age of Populism (Gönül Eḡlence, Member of the State Parliament)
• Everything everywhere all at once – but without funding? Humanitarian aid in a crisis of existence (Dr Katrin Radtke, IFHV, RUB)
• Genocide: The eternal ‘enfant terrible’ of international law (Dr Gerd Hankel, Hamburg Institute for Social Research)

17.50–18.00: Closing remarks by IFHV & FBF

Followed by: Finger food and sparkling wine 

The conference is intended as a contribution to a critical assessment and the further development of international law, the global order based on the UN Charter, and transatlantic relations. It is aimed at scholars, legal and administrative professionals, students, and members of the public interested in legal policy. At the heart of the conference is the conviction that the defense of (international) law is not a matter of political expediency, but rather one of legal and political responsibility.