The International Civil Service and the Future of International Organisations

Event Details

Sixty-five years ago, in his celebrated lecture The International Civil Servant in Law and in Fact, UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld argued that the integrity and independence of international officials were integral to institutionalised cooperation between States. He warned that compromising the international civil service threatened the future of international organizations and risked worldwide instability. 

Today as international organizations confront geopolitical fragmentation, challenges to their legitimacy, institutional and financial retrenchment, the relevance of this argument is renewed. This event asks what secures the future of international organisations as effective and enabling international actors, rather than merely an arena for interstate rivalries? The hundred-year-old encounter between the treaty-based attributes of international officials and the administrative authority of international organisations - referred to as 'international administrative law' - offers one answer: a tested but neglected legal framework empowering international organisations to act independently, legitimately and impactfully.

Chair

Sir Tim Eicke KC, Barrister, Essex Court Chambers and former Judge, European Court of Human Rights

Speakers:

• Peter Quayle, Senior Fellow, Centre for International Governance and Dispute Resolution, King's College London
• Alice Lacourt, Legal Counsel, Commonwealth Secretariat
• Dorota Lost‑Sieminska, Director, Legal Affairs and External Relations Division, International Maritime Organization
  
  

Event convened by Dr Jean-Pierre Gauci, Arthur Watts Senior Research Fellow in Public International Law (BIICL).

Pricing and Registration

This event is free of charge for BIICL members. For non-members, the registration fee is £50, whether attending in person or online.
  

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