On 17 April 2025, the Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs and United Nations Legal Counsel, Ms. Elinor Hammarskjöld, delivered remarks as the Assembly keynote speaker at the 119th Annual Meeting of the American Society of International Law, in Washington, D.C.
The Legal Counsel addressed the topic of “challenges and possibilities in current international law from the point of view of the United Nations Legal Counsel”. The Legal Counsel noted that international law is facing daunting challenges and emphasized the need to respect international law, including international humanitarian law and international human rights law, in current conflicts. Nevertheless, the Legal Counsel expressed that the possibilities of international law outweigh those threats, as demonstrated by increasing recourse to the International Court of Justice, by the adoption of the BBNJ Agreement in June 2023, and by ongoing processes arising out of work of the International Law Commission.
