Marcelo Kohen: Is social justice still a relevant concept in international relations?

The presentation addresses the concept of social justice, and explains that the existing international legal system has incorporated the notion of social justice in its corpus but still much is necessary to be done to implement it in practice.

About Marcelo G. Kohen

Professor Emeritus of International Law at the Geneva Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Titular Member of the Institut de Droit International and its Secretary-General between 2015and 2024. Founder of the Latin American Society of International Law and its first Director-General. He is currently Judge ad hoc at the Intenational Tribunal for the Law of Sea and has acted as advocate and counsel before the International Court of Justice and the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea for various States of Latin America, Asia and Europe.

He has been arbitrator in more than twenty international investment tribunals. Member of the UNCLOS list of arbitrators, Member of the list of candidates likely to be appointed president of arbitral tribunals in the framework of European Union trade agreements, Member of the Argentine-Chilean Permanent Conciliation Commission (2022), Rapporteur of the Council of Europe, the International Law Association and the Institut de Droit International on matters of succession or jurisdictional immunity of States. He is one of the co-founders of the Geneva LLM dispute resolution program (MIDS).

Author of more than 100 publications in French, English and Spanish in the field of International Law, including his book Possession contestée et souveraineté territoriale (Adverse Possession and Territorial Sovereignty) (Presses universitaires de France, 1997) awarded the Paul Guggenheim Prize in 1997. He has contributed numerous times to the United Nations Audiovisual Library of International Law and has taught courses in UN, ITLOS and OAS programs, as well as in numerous universities.

Selected bibliography and documents

• G. Abi-Saab, "Cours général de droit international public", R.C.A.D.I., t. 207, 1987, pp. 9-464.
• R. A. Epstein, Skepticism and Freedom, Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 2003, 311 p.
• F. A. Harper, Liberty: A Path to Its Recovery, Irvington-on-Hudson, N.Y., Foundation for Economic Education, 1949, 159 p.
• F. A. Hayek, Law, Legislation and Liberty, vol. 2: The Mirage of Social Justice, University of Chicago Press, 1978, 210 p.
• Separate opinion of Judge Jessup, South West Africa, Second Phase, Judgment of 18 July 1966, ICJ Reports 1966, p. 426.
• J. Maynard Keynes, Essays in Persuasion, part IV, London, Macmillan, 1931, 376 p.
• M. G. Kohen, “Does General International Law Incorporate the Concept of Social Justice”, in G. P. Politakis, T. Kohiyama, T. Lieby (ed.), ILO 100 Law for Social Justice, Geneva, International Labour Office, 2019, pp. 91-100.
• Ludwig von Mises, Liberalism: In The Classical Tradition, LF ed., 1927.
• G. Scelle, Manuel de droit international public, Paris, Domat-Monchrestien, 1948, 1008 p.
• O. Schachter, “Principles of International Social Justice”, in G.M. Wilner (ed.), Jus et Societas: Essays in Tribute to Wolfgang Friedman, Boston, M. Nijhoff, 1979, pp. 249–277.
• Dissenting Opinion of Judge Cançado Trindade, Obligations concerning Negotiations relating to Cessation of the Nuclear Arms Race and to Nuclear Disarmament (Marshall Islands v. United Kingdom), Preliminary Objections, Judgment, I.C.J. Reports 2016, p. 956, para. 124, footnote 140.
• Emile Vandervelde, La Paix de Versailles. Législation internationale du travail; [Conférence des préliminaires de paix. Commission de la législation internationale du travail.] (Paris: Les Editions internationales, série: La documentation internationale, 1932), pp. 412-413.
• UN, World Conference on Human Rights, Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, 25 June 1993.
• UNGA Resolution 62/10 of 26 November 2007.

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