English version of the Final Statement of the III World Meeting of International Law Societies

 

FINAL STATEMENT

Adopted at the end of the Lima Meeting of International Law Societies

The International Law Societies, meeting in the city of Lima, Peru, on March 23 and 24, 2023 in a series of panels that included the participation of very prominent jurists with the purpose of discussing and debating the challenges of international law and the role of Societies, declare the following:

 

Recognize the importance of the evolution of international law, its perception, the way in which it is conceived and the way in which the subjects communicate its content (language and narrative) as a subject of study and exercise to understand the contemporary role of international law.

 

Highlight the importance of international law to address the effects of climate change, the loss of biodiversity and pollution of the sea and air for the States and peoples of the world, which in some cases pose risks to their own survival, as well as in the enjoyment of human rights, always considering the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities.

 

Reaffirm that States, international organizations and other subjects and actors of international society have the duty and commitment to promote democratic governance and strengthen the national and international rule of law.

 

Intensify the importance of cooperation in the fight against corruption, a scourge that can seriously affect the enjoyment of human rights, and the interaction of the main international instruments in this area, in order to avoid situations of impunity.

 

Remember the problem of international migration and the need for its regulation not to erode governance and expose migrants to situations of immense risk and deprivation or serious violation of their human rights.

 

Reaffirm the importance of the different means of peaceful settlement of disputes, and, in particular, arbitration as an efficient and effective mechanism to resolve various disputes of an international nature. At the same time, they encourage efforts to make the use of languages such as Spanish official in international instances and courts, given the existence of different legal traditions in the world and as an expression of multilingualism.

 

Take into account the new realities that the 21st century poses in the teaching of international law to adapt to new trends, virtual teaching and the implementation of cybersecurity, the use of outer space by the private sector and by governments, the use of artificial intelligence to process and summarize metadata, among others.

 

Verify that armed conflicts have diversified, taking combat from the battlefields to cyberspace with attacks through computer systems, which means a latent risk for the structure of a State. Likewise, new military technologies, such as autonomous weapons and unmanned aerial vehicles, are not fully regulated and pose enormous challenges to the law of war.

 

In summary, the representatives of the International Law Societies specified and ratified that international law is the legal science that encourages peaceful global coexistence, due to its support in inalienable and imprescriptible principles such as self-determination of peoples, respect for the treaties and their codification process, and non-intervention, as well as in the promotion of integration, the reinforcement of multilateralism, the condemnation of aggression and the fact that the conquest does not generate rights, the full equality of human genders, respect for freedoms, legal equality of States, in short, all the foundations enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations and that are renewed and projected in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) so that humanity achieves a welfare society.

 

Ratify the purposes of the Strasbourg (2015) and The Hague (2019) meetings regarding the search for cooperation between our societies: better coordination of work and identification of issues of common interest; joint resource mobilization for important international causes; stimulate exchanges that promote the expression of the pluralism of legal cultures, international law approaches and working methods and better mutual understanding; encourage dialogue with civil society, the media, policy makers, national and international judges and representatives of other academic disciplines; reciprocal promotion of initiatives, works and key publications of academic societies and exchanges between international jurists, particularly the new generations, among others.

 

Agree on the need to strengthen the Global Network of International Law Societies (GNSIL), which was established in 2015, as an appropriate framework to develop synergies between our societies and promote various activities according to needs and opportunities.

 

The participants in the III World Meeting of International Law Societies in Lima express the hope that our academic societies will continue to meet at regular intervals. In this sense, they greet and appreciate the proposal of the Argentine Association of International Law to host the next meeting in 2025.

 

This Declaration has been adopted by consensus at the end of the meeting, its terms being non-binding for the companies or the people who participated in it.