ILA 2010 OPENS ON AN INSPIRATIONAL NOTE From the Editor

The ILA 2010 conference has started off on an inspirational tone. The speakers at the formal opening panel had set out to emphasize the broader social context in which the conference is taking place and how this should shape one’s understanding of the goals of the conference.

As Eduardo Grebler, the outgoing president of the ILA pointed out, the meaning of the theme of the conference: De Iure Humanitatis (The Law of Humanity): Peace, Justice and International Law had to be understood against the background of the present state of international affairs, which he considered to have - frankly speaking - worsened since the last ILA conference in Rio in 2008.

The evidence, he stated, was there for all to see: economic turbulence that has damaged the economy of many countries leading to rising unemployment, currency devaluations and insolvency in the governmental and private sectors; the growth of regional tensions in the Middle and Far East, the looming threat of armed conflict even in some parts of the world where peace had previously reigned, a spread of intolerance rooted in cultural differences and religion, e.t.c.

All this, he pointed out, meant that more had to be done by international lawyers to advance the view that the values of civilization have to be respected as the law of humanity - as international law.

And how exactly the conference was going to help in this process was eloquently elaborated on by Ernst Hirsch Ballin, the Minister for Justice of the Netherlands. It was, he pointed out, naïve to assume that books and conferences alone can guarantee the rule of law. The value of ILA 2010 therefore, he considered, lay not only in advancing an understanding of how international law can advance peace and justice, but also increasing our commitment to promote its humanitarian values.

Because if international lawyers truly believe in the values of the international system, they should actively promote them. They should be able to monitor the relevant developments in their jurisdictions and explain, for example, why international law does not allow us to treat others differently because they are different from us, that democracy and justice go hand in hand, that freedom of expression and religion are cornerstones of democracy and that upholding human rights is not an obstacle to political goals, but rather a goal to which we have committed ourselves with total conviction. International lawyers, he went on, need to counter the view that international law is simply something imposed from outside – they need to point out that its values are values that are also enshrined in national constitutions. They should in particular prevent a gulf existing between the academic and political development of international law.


Minister Hirsch Ballin also considered the conference to be an opportunity for fostering dialogue between actors from all over the world on international law’s humanitarian values, and for supporting the efforts of state ministers who have to implement those values and who must not be left to fight alone. The need for such dialogue, he noted, was made even more cogent considering that political and economic governance would need to be adjusted in line with the shifting balance of power from the West to the East. He also shared his conviction that the future of international law lay in developing the law of States towards serving humanity; that how far international law achieves this aim will be the yardstick for determining whether the world’s citizens can place their confidence on international law.


Both Minister Hirsch Ballin and Nico Schrijver, President of the Netherland Society of International Law and Chair of the ILA 2010 had also noted that standing up for international law was a moral as well as legal obligation for the Netherlands, since the Dutch Constitution places a duty on the Dutch government and its armed forces to promote the development of the international legal order.