International Law and Affairs Group
About us
Seeking to combine insights from both International Law and International Relations scholarship, the International Law and Affairs Group (ILAG) provides a forum for research and discussion for those interested in issues of public international law, broadly defined, at The City Law School.
These include the areas of international human rights, international economic law, and international criminal law. Reflecting its interdisciplinary approach to the study of the subject, the group also collaborates with a number of academics from the Department of International Politics at City University London.
We combine the research expertise and educational excellence of ILAG members to develop thorough and specialised educational courses at both undergraduate and postgraduate level.
We offer a wide range of elective models available to LLB students and Graduate Entry LLB (GELLB) students. These include Public International Law, Human Rights Law, International Criminal Law, International Economic Law and International Commercial Arbitration. We also run an intensive and specialised LLM programme in Public International Law, using small-group teaching and providing modules in different fields.
Members
Academics
Dr Tawhida Ahmed
Tawhida Ahmed is Reader in Law at The City Law School. Her research interests are in EU law and human rights, specializing in minority rights protection.
Dr Grietje Baars
Grietje Baars is Reader in Law & Social Change Law at The City Law School. Their interests revolve around the role of capital, and the corporation, in global governance, as well as the nature and effects of corporate power in global society, as exemplified by the study of regulation and resistance in the global supply chain.
Dr Mauro Barelli
Dr Barelli is Reader in Law at The City Law School. His interests lie in interdisciplinary approaches to the study of minority groups' rights, the right to self-determination, and global justice. He has written extensively on the question of indigenous peoples' rights in international law. Dr Barelli is an associate of the UK Network on Minority and Group Rights, a collaborative project among scholars based primarily in the UK which organises conferences, roundtables and publications on topical issues surrounding the rights of minority groups.
Professor David Collins
Professor David Collins is a Professor in Law at The City Law School. He is a Fellow of the Institute for Globalisation and International Regulation at Maastricht University, a Visiting Professor at Esade Law School and a Current Development Editor for the Manchester Journal of International Economic Law. He has been a Visiting Fellow at the Institute of International Economic Law of Georgetown University and at Columbia University Law School as well as a number of other academic institutions.
Dr Jessica Corsi
Jessica's work focuses on how the law can prevent and alleviate violence and foster substantive and transformative equality.
Dr Tom Davies
Dr Davies is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of International Politics. His researches focuses on international non-governmental organizations, global civil society and transnational history. He runs the Project on the Evolution of International Non-Governmental Organizations.
Dr Carmen Draghici
Dr Carmen Draghici is Reader in Law at The City Law School. Her research interests concern the practice of the European Court of Human Rights, domestic, EU and UN counter-terrorism regimes, and the responsibility of States and international organisations for breaches of human rights and humanitarian law. She has authored several scholarly articles and chapters published in UK, US and European journals and edited collections. Her current projects include developments in the international guarantees for the protection of the family life of cohabitees, same-sex couples and transgender persons.
Sandhya Drew
Sandhya Drew is a Senior Lecturer in the Bar Professional Training Course at The City Law School. She has a long history of practicing in national and international employment and public law and is a CEDR Qualified Mediator specialising in workplace and sports disputes.
Professor Elaine Fahey
Professor Elaine Fahey is Jean Monnet Chair of Law & Transatlantic Relations and Professor of Law at the Institute for the Study of European Law (ISEL).
Dr Sabrina Germain
Dr Sabrina Germain is a Senior Lecturer in the Law School at City, University of London. Her research interests lie in the many connections between law and public policy. More particularly, Dr Germain is interested in the interaction between the public and private sector and the influence of private entities on the law-making process.
Dr Mazen Masri
Dr Mazen Masri is Lecturer in Law at The City Law School. His research focuses on the interaction between law and broader social, political and economic questions, in particular the legal aspects of the Israeli-Arab conflict.
Dr Jed Odermatt (co-convenor)
Dr Jed Odermatt is a Lecturer at the City Law School, City, University of London. His research interests include public international law, the law of international organizations, and EU external relations law.
Dr Kseniya Oksamytna
Kseniya’s research interests are international organisations, peacekeeping and peacebuilding, and international norms.
Dr Madura Rasaratnam
Dr Madura Rasaratnam is a Senior Lecturer in Comparative Politics in the Department of International Politics at City, University of London. Her research interests are situated in the areas of comparative politics, conflict, conflict management and international interventions with a regional focus on the countries of south Asia, specifically India and Sri Lanka.
Katherine Reece Thomas
Katherine Reece Thomas is Reader in Law at The City Law School. Her research interests include public international law and company law. She is an expert on the law of state immunity.
Dr Geoffrey Swenson
Dr Geoffrey Swenson is a Senior Lecturer in International Politics (Security). His research focuses on issues related to post-conflict reconstruction, democracy and the rule of law, legal pluralism, international relations theory, and foreign aid.
Dr Andrew Wolman (co-convenor)
Andrew Wolman joined City Law School as a Lecturer in Law in September 2018. Dr Wolman’s research is focused on the development of refugee law and policy in East Asia, the international response to North Korean human rights violations, and the right to leave in the context of irregular migration.
Dr Aldo Zammit Borda
Aldo is a Reader in Law at City, University of London. He previously served as Director of the Centre for Access to Justice and Inclusion at Anglia Ruskin University. His research focus lies in the area of International Criminal Justice.
Dr Tietie Zhang
Dr Tietie “Frank” Zhang is a Senior Lecturer in Law at City, University of London. His main research areas include international commercial arbitration, international trade law, and the Chinese legal system.
Dr Jure Zrilic
Jure’s research interests lie in public international law, international investment law and international arbitration. More specifically, his recent work examines the interplay between international investment law and other bodies of law, such as the law of armed conflict and global health.
Affiliated Research Students
Alexandros-Catalin Bakos
Alexandros's research focuses on the interaction between international investment law and arbitration and economic sanctions. His thesis will focus on three aspects of this interaction.
Aminah Karim
Aminah’s thesis explores the atrocities committed during Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971 and why such atrocities were not identified as a formal genocide by the international community.
Zulker Nayeen
Zulker Nayeen's research focuses on how the competition between investor’s right to profit generation and host country’s expectation to uphold their sustainable development policies can be systematically resolved in investor-state arbitration.
Andrea Pelliconi
Andrea Pelliconi is a PhD researcher at City, University of London. Her research focuses on violations of human rights caused by demographic engineering and forced migration. She is also specialized in refugee law and asylum.
Shahd Qannam
Shahd is a PhD researcher at City, University of London. Her research interests lie in the fields of human rights law, refugee law, statelessness law, and international humanitarian law.
Sahar Sadoughi
Sahar's research focuses on the critical analysis of international legal justice institutions and systems using a background in political philosophy and law. Before commencing her PhD, Sahar completed her Master of Laws at City Law School where her dissertation examined the proceedings addressing the Rohingya Genocide at the International Court of Justice and at the International Criminal Court. Her academic background is in political theory, philosophy, and ethics and supplemented by her Masters at King's College London in Global Ethics as well as a foundation in English Law. In addition to her academic work, Sahar has worked as a legal researcher and translator for various human rights advocacy organisations.
- Santosh Anand (Santosh.Antosh@city.ac.uk)
- Daria Efimova (Daria.Efimove@city.ac.uk)
- Christos Karetsos (Christos.Karetsos@city.ac.uk)
- Tanvir Munim (Tanvir.Munim@city.ac.uk)
- Mustafa Yilmaz (Mustafa.Yilmaz@city.ac.uk)
Events
Upcoming events
Past Events 2021-22
Book Launch: 'Stabilization and Human Security in UN Peace Operations' by Alexander Gilder
9 March 2022, 17:00-18:15
Presenter: Dr Alexander Gilder, University of Reading School of Law
Discussant: Dr Kseniya Oksamytna, City, University of London, Department of International Politics
Chair: Dr Andrew Wolman, City Law School, International Law and Affair Group
In the Name of Islam, the Syariah and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
23 March 2022, 17:00-18:00
Presenter: Nurhalida Mohamed Khalil, Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Law, University of Malaya and Visiting Fellow, City Law School
Chair: Dr Andrew Wolman, City Law School, International Law and Affair Group
The Crime against Humanity of Apartheid: from South Africa to North Korea, Palestine and Myanmar – or: why has nobody been prosecuted (yet)?
3 November 2021, 17:00-18:00
Presenter: Dr Carola Lingaas, Associate Professor of Law, VID Specialized University (Oslo, Norway)
Chair: Dr Andrew Wolman, City Law School, International Law and Affairs Group
Book Talk: ‘Minorities and the Making of Postcolonial States in International Law’
17 November 2021, 17:00-18:15
Presenter: Professor Mohammad Shahabuddin, Birmingham Law School, University of Birmingham
Discussant: Aminah Karim, City Law School, International Law and Affairs Group
Chair: Dr Andrew Wolman, City Law School, International Law and Affairs Group
General and Complete Disarmament: Contemporary Perspectives on World Peace Through World Law
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Session 1: Reforming the UN for Decisive Action in the Security Field
1st September 2021, 16:00-18:00 UK time
Matthew Bolton – Pace University
Ian Hurd – Northwestern University
Cecilie Hellestveit – Norwegian Academy of International Law
Session 2: The Establishment of a UN Peace Force
15th September 2021, 16:00-17:30 UK time
Chiara Ruffa – Uppsala University
Alexander Gilder – Royal Holloway, London
Lenneke Sprik – Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Session 3: Making World Courts Fit for General and Complete Disarmament
29th September 2021, 16:00-17:30 UK time
Jason Ralph – University of Leeds
Emilia Justyna Powell – University of Notre Dame
Cecilia Marcela Bailliet – University of Oslo
Session 4: General and Complete Disarmament as a Near Term Objective Without UN Reform
13th October 2021, 16:00-17:30 UK time
Henrietta Wilson – University of Bristol
Clara Portela – University of Valencia
Benoît Pelopidas – Sciences Po
Dan Plesch – SOAS
Past events 2020-21
Book Launch - ‘The Interplay between the EU's Return Acquis and International Law’ by Tamás Molnár
5.00pm - 6.15pm, 16th June 2021
Discussants: Professor Paul James Cardwell, University of Strathclyde, Professor Elspeth Guild, Queen Mary, University of London
Chair: Dr Andrew Wolman, City Law School, International Law and Affairs Group
Legal Justifications for Gender Parity on the Bench of the International Court of Justice
5.00pm - 6.00pm, Wednesday 26th May 2021
Speaker: Jessica Corsi, City Law School and City's Violence and Society Centre
Chair: Jed Odermatt, City Law School
Discussant: J. Jarpa Dawuni, Associate Professor of Political Science at Howard University
Making and Unmaking the Post-colonial State – Kashmir as the Wild Zone of Sovereignty
5.00pm - 6.15pm, Wednesday 28th April 2021
Speaker: Rohini Sen, Jindal Global Law School, O.P Jindal Global University
Chair: Jed Odermatt, City Law School
Webinar: Human Rights, Poverty, and Capitalism: Exploring the Value of an Institutionalist Approach
5.00pm - 6.15pm Wednesday 17th March 2021
Speaker: Dr Anna Chadwick, University of Glasgow
Discussant: Dr Grietje Baars, Reader in Law & Social Change, City Law School
Chair: Jed Odermatt, City Law School
Webinar: The Litigation of Community Interests before the ICJ: From Belgium v. Senegal to The Gambia v. Myanmar
5.00pm - 6.15pm Wednesday 17th November 2020
Speaker: Dr Marco Longobardo, University of Glasgow
Chair: Jed Odermatt, City Law School
Discussants: Andrea Maria Pelliconi and Aminah Karim (City Law School)
Webinar: The European Union’s External Action and International Law: A View From the Outside
12 Jun 2020
The City Law School, International Law and Affairs Group (ILAG) and the ESIL Interest Group on the EU as a Global Actor will host a webinar on ‘The European Union’s External Action and International Law: A View From the Outside’ on 12 June 2020.
The event will be convened by Jed Odermatt, City Law School, and Ramses A. Wessel, University of Groningen.
Webinar: The Law of Facebook: Borders, Regulation and Global Social Media
15 May 2020
Speakers: Dr. Stephen Allen, Queen Mary University of London School of Law; Professor Elaine Fahey, City Law School, City, University of London; Dr. Kate Klonick, St. Johns University Law School, author of ‘Creating Global Governance for Online Speech: The Development of Facebook’s Oversight Board’, 129 YALE L. J. (forthcoming 2020); Professor Andrew Murray, London School of Economics Law Department; Dr. Jed Odermatt , City, University of London;Dr. Maria Tzanou, Keele University School of Law
A Tale of Two Duties: Comparing the scope and effectiveness of UK and French National Law on Supply Chains and Fundamental Rights
29 January 2020
Speakers: Professeur Sarah Bros, Ms Sandhya Drew
Justice for All, and How to Achieve It
30 October, 2019
Speakers: Sir Geoffrey Nice, QC
Chair: Jed Odermatt, City Law School
How global is cyber law regulation?
16 July, 2019
Speakers: François Delerue, Research Fellow in cyberdefense and international law at the Institute for Strategic Research (Insitut de Recherche Stratégique de l’École Militaire– IRSEM) Paris ‘How International law applies to Cyberspace’ (forthcoming with Cambridge University Press), Russell Buchan, Senior Lecturer in International Law, University of Sheffield , Elaine Fahey, City Law School, Robin Sellers, Barrister, Senior Lecturer and External CPD Consultant, City Law School
Regional Approaches to International law
3 July, 2019
Speakers: Lauri Mälksoo, University of Tartu, Estonia , Wim Muller, Maastricht University, the Netherlands, Mauro Barelli, City Law School, Matthieu Burnay, Queen Mary, University of London, Elizabeth O’Loughlin, City Law School (discussant)
Chair: Jed Odermatt, City Law School
Comparative Methodologies and Global Law
18 June, 2019
Speakers: Veronika Fikfak, University of Cambridge, Liora Lazarus, Universty of Oxford, Jacco Bomhoff, London School of Economics, Elizabeth O’Loughlin, City Law School (Chair)
The Corporation, Law and Capitalism: A Radical Perspective on the Role of Law in the Global Political Economy
16th May 2019
Speakers: Professor Susan Marks, Professor of International Law, Department of Law, LSE; Professor Dan Danielsen, Professor of Law and Faculty Director, Program on the Corporation, Law and Global Society, School of Law, Northeastern University; Dr Emily Jones, Lecturer, School of Law, University of Essex And the author; Dr Grietje Baars, Senior Lecturer, The City Law School, City, University of London
Chair: Jed Odermatt, City Law School
The National versus the foreigner in South America: 200 Years of Migration and Citizenship Law
10th April 2019
Speaker: Dr Diego Acosta Arcarazo, University of Bristol
Chair: Jed Odermatt, City Law School
Sanctions: Where Next?
13th March 2019
Speaker: Maya Lester QC, Brick Court Chambers
Chair: Jed Odermatt, City Law School
City Law Alumnae Network Panel Discussion about the Practice of Human Rights Law
6th February 2019
Guest Speakers: Antonia Benfield - Doughty Street Chambers, Megan Goulding - Liberty, Keina Yoshida - Doughty Street Chambers and Basmah Sahib - Bindmans LLP
International Courts and the Populist Onslaught: The Case of the European Court of Human Rights
27th February 2019
Speaker: Prof Mikael Rask Madsen, Director, Centre of Excellence for International Courts (iCourts)
Chair: Jed Odermatt, City Law School
Find out about our past seminars.
Publications
Browse our latest publications on City Research Online
Below is a selection of publications released by group members:
2022
Collins, D. A. 
(2022). Book Review: Incomplete International Investment Agreements by Tae Jung Park. International Trade Law and Regulation,
Collins, D. A. (2022). The UK, the WTO and Global Trade: Leading Reform on Services Trade. Brentford, UK: Politeia.
Draghici, C. (2022). Divorced from Human Rights? English Divorce Law under human-Rights Scrutiny. In: Miles, J., Monk, D. & Probert, R. (Eds.), Fifty Years of the Divorce Reform Act 1969. (pp. 223-242). London, UK: Hart Publishing.
Draghici, C. (2022). Unplanned Fatherhood is Not Sperm Donation: The Unduly Moralistic Approach to Natural Fathers in European Convention Case Law. Child and Family Law Quarterly, 24(2), pp. 123-147.
Fahey, E. (2022). Accession to the Communities, and Compensation under the Common Agricultural Policy: Opinion of Advocate General Warner in Ireland v Council. In: Shaping EU Law the British Way: UK Advocates General at the Court of Justice of the European Union. (pp. 71-77). London, UK: Hart Publishing.
Fahey, E. (2022). Developing EU cybercrime and cybersecurity On legal challenges of EU institutionalisation of cyber law-making. In: Hoerber, T., Weber, G. & Cabras, I. (Eds.), The Routledge Handbook of European Integrations. (pp. 270-284). Abingdon, UK: Routledge.
Fahey, E. & Poli, S. (2022). The strengthening of the European Technological Sovereignty and its legal bases in the Treaties. Eurojus.it rivista, 2(2), pp. 147-164.
Fahey, E. & Wieczorek, I. (2022). The European Parliament as a Defender of EU Values in EU-Japan Agreements: What Role for Soft Law and Hard Law Powers?. European Law Review, 47(3), pp. 331-352.
Germain, S. & Yong, A. (2022). Ethnic Minority and Migrant Women’s Struggles in Accessing Healthcare During COVID-19: An Intersectional Analysis. Journal for cultural research, doi: 10.1080/14797585.2021.2012090
Germain, S. & Yong, A. (2022). Ethnic minority and migrant women’s struggles in accessing healthcare during COVID-19: an intersectional analysis (City Law School Research Paper 2022/01). London, UK: City Law School.
Mancini, I. (2022). Introduction: Understanding the EU as a good global actor: whose metrics? In: Fahey, E. & Mancini, I. (Eds.), Understanding the EU as a Good Global: Actor Ambitions, Values and Metrics. . Abingdon, UK: Edward Elgar.
2021
Collins, D. A. (2021). Canada Minus: How a UK-EU FTA Incorporating the Withdrawal Agreement and Northern Ireland Protocol would be Inferior to CETA. International Trade Law and Regulation, 27(1), pp. 1-6.
Collins, D. A. (2021). Foreign Investment under the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement: Mitigating Punctuated Equilibrium in Legal Economic Dis-Integration. Manchester Journal of International Economic Law, 18(1), pp. 50-69.
Collins, D. A. , Park, T. J. and Lee, J. H. (2021). A Soft Landing for Developing Countries and Non-Discrimination in Digital Trade: Possible Lessons from Asian Countries. Journal of World Trade, 55(4), pp. 649-665.
Draghici, C. (2021). Assisted dying. In: Loveland, I. (Ed.), British and Canadian Public Law in Comparative Perspective. (pp. 29-74). Hart Publishing. ISBN 9781509931118
Fahey, E. (2021). The European Union as a Digital Trade Actor: The Challenge of Being a Global Leader in Standard-Setting. International Trade Law and Regulation, 27(2), pp. 155-166.
Fahey, E. (2021). Whither transatlantic trade? The future of institutional solutions EU Law Live (Weekend Edition). *
Fahey, E. and Terpan, F. (2021). Torn between institutionalisation and judicialisation: the demise of the EU-US privacy shield. Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies,
Germain, S. (2021). The Role of Medical Professionals in Shaping Healthcare Law During COVID-19 (City Law School Research Paper 2021/06). London, UK: The City Law School.
Germain, S. and Yong, A. (2021). Written evidence from the Gender & Sexualities Research Centre (GSRC) at City, University of London for Women’s Health Strategy (City Law School Research Paper 2021/05). London, UK: City Law School.
Howe, M., Reynolds, B., Collins, D. A. and Webber, J. (2021). The Lawyers Advise: UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement – Unfinished Business? (9781916357556). London, UK: Politeia.
Odermatt, J. (2021). Book Review: The battle for international law: South-North perspectives on the decolonization era. Law Teacher, doi: 10.1080/03069400.2021.1876483
Pelliconi, A. (2021). Unexpected Maritime Crossroads. The ‘duty to rescue’ and the human rights content of the Law of the Sea. International Review of Human Rights Law(6),
Raha, N. and Baars, G. (2021). “The place of the transfagbidyke is in the revolution”: Queer and trans hirstorical imaginaries in contemporary struggles. Third Text, doi: 10.1080/09528822.2020.1864950
Victoria, R., Lydia, B. and Germain, S. (2021). Law Teacher of the Year 2018 and 2019: in conversation with Lydia Bleasdale and Sabrina Germain. The Law Teacher, doi: 10.1080/03069400.2021.1927574
Wolman, A. and Chung, D. (2021). Human Rights Institutionalisation at the Local Level: A Case Study of Sub-National Human Rights Commissions in Korea. Journal of Human Rights Practice,
Contact
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EC1V 0HB
United Kingdom
Media
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