Sir Kenneth Bailey Memorial Lecture: Past Lectures
2024 Annual Lecture
Dr Nilufer Oral — International Law and the Multilateral System in Face of Climate Change and Threats to the Ocean
The world is facing multiple threats to the environment, among which climate change dominates. Australia and Oceania are especially vulnerable to the adverse impacts of climate change, in particular, harm to the marine environment and sea level rise. Climate change is a collective threat that requires collective action. The question is whether international law and the current multilateral system can meet the challenges of climate change? Can the seemingly fractured and cacophonic world of the United Nations rise above the daily commotions of crisis and find solutions to pressing problems facing the world?
International cooperation is at the heart of the United Nations Charter as expressed in Article 1, paragraph 3 of the UN Charter. The lecture will discuss cases in which the multilateral system through international law has rallied to address threats to the marine environment, including sea level rise, focusing on the work of the United Nations International Law Commission on sea level rise, the advisory opinion request presented to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea by the Commission on Small Island States (COSIS) and that presented to the International Court of Justice by the General Assembly, at the initiative of Vanuatu.
The lecture was presented at the Melbourne Law School on 19 September 2024.
2023 Annual Lecture
Mr Les Malezer — Breaking Laws and Making Laws on Indigenous Peoples: From the National to the International
In this lecture, Mr Malezer draws on his extensive experience working in local, national and international organisations on the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to consider the contemporary challenges to changing laws and doctrines regarding the status of Indigenous peoples in Australia. He recounts his personal perspectives on the way in which international processes on the rights of Indigenous peoples can supplement the national processes to enhance the goals of justice and equality for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
The lecture was presented at the Melbourne Law School on 6 September 2023.
2022 Annual Lecture
Associate Professor Rain Liivoja — Marching in the Rear and Limping a Little? International Law's Response to the Development of Autonomous Weapons and Cyber Capabilities
Throughout history, technological changes have reshaped the character of warfare. In some instances, major developments in military technology have precipitated changes in the law that governs warfare. Over the past decade, major debates about the adequacy of the currently legal regulation of armed conflict have focused on the impact of two technological shifts – the increased autonomy in weapon systems and the proliferation of cyber capabilities.
Despite their interconnectedness, these debates have proceeded in different fora and along rather different trajectories. At the same time, both debates have highlighted the challenges that the international legal system faces when dealing with technological change in the peace and security context. This lecture seeks to provide a general account of the similarities and differences of these two regulatory debates, and what these might mean for the future of the law of armed conflict and arms control law.
The lecture was presented at the Melbourne Law School on 24 May 2022.
2020 Annual Lecture
Professor Gerry Simpson — The Atomics
How might international law respond to the prospect of nuclear annihilation? With abolitionist fervour? Technocracy? Legalism? Insouciance? In this lecture, Professor Simpson delivers a report on international legal nuclearism.
The lecture was presented at the Melbourne Law School on 11 March 2020.