TFED Gillings Global Series Lecture: Suing Russia for Ukraine at the World Court

Chapel Hill, NC – On March 24th, the Transatlantic Forum for Education and Diplomacy will welcome Professor Harold Hongju Koh — one of the country’s leading experts in international law and human rights — to UNC-Chapel Hill’s campus. Professor Koh will speak at the Nelson Mandela Auditorium in the FedEx Global Education Center on Thursday, March 24th at 5:30 PM ET: “Suing Russia for Ukraine at the World Court.” Koh will take questions from the audience at the end of his talk. This event is free and open to the public. Online attendance is available via advanced registration at this link.

Professor Harold Koh serves on a team of lawyers who recently sued Russia at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) — also known as the World Court –- on behalf of Ukraine. On March 16th, the ICJ returned with a ruling, ordering Russia to halt all military operations in Ukraine. The order summary can be read here. During closing remarks at the ICJ in The Hague on March 7th, 2022, Professor Koh observed that “This court is no stranger to tragedy, but it is rare when you confront a case that combines such callous brutality with such brazen illegality.”

Harold Hongju Koh is the Sterling Professor of International Law at Yale Law School and served as Dean from 2004 until 2009. He served as Legal Adviser to the State Department (2009-2013) and received the Secretary of State’s Distinguished Service Award. He has received seventeen honorary degrees and more than thirty awards for his human rights work, including awards from Columbia Law School and the American Bar Association for his lifetime achievements in international law. Professor Koh holds a B.A. degree from Harvard College and B.A. and M.A. degree from Oxford University, where he was a Marshall Scholar. He earned his J.D. from Harvard Law School, where he was a Developments Editor of the Harvard Law Review. Before coming to Yale, he served as a law clerk for Justice Harry A. Blackmun of the United States Supreme Court.

This programming is made possible through a generous donation made by the late Joan Heckler Gillings, who served as a founding board member of TFED. Additional sponsors for this event include UNC Global, UNC English & Comparative Literature, Center for European Studies, Transatlantic Masters, Honors Carolina, UNC’s Curriculum in Peace, War, and Defense, and the Gillings Global Series.

Speaker Bio

Harold Hongju Koh is Sterling Professor of International Law at Yale Law School and served as Dean from 2004 until 2009. He served as Legal Adviser to the State Department (2009-2013) and received the Secretary of State’s Distinguished Service Award. Professor Koh returned to Yale Law School in 2013.

Koh is one of the country’s leading experts in international law, national security law and human rights. He has received seventeen honorary degrees and more than thirty awards for his human rights work, including awards from Columbia Law School and the American Bar Association for his lifetime achievements in international law. He has authored/co-authored eight books and more than 200 articles, has testified regularly before Congress and has litigated cases involving international law issues in both U.S. and international tribunals. He is a Fellow of the American Philosophical Society and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, an Honorary Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford.

Professor Koh holds a B.A. degree from Harvard College and B.A. and M.A. degrees from Oxford University, where he was a Marshall Scholar. He earned his J.D. from Harvard Law School, where he was an editor of the Harvard Law Review. Before coming to Yale, he served as a law clerk for Justice Harry A. Blackmun of the United States Supreme Court.

TFED’s Gillings Global Series is made possible through a generous donation made by the late Joan Heckler Gillings, who served as a founding board member of TFED. Cosponsors for Professor Koh’s visit to Carolina include UNC’s Office of the Vice Provost for Global Affairs, UNC’s Department of English & Comparative Literature (ECL), UNC’s Peace War and Defense Curriculum (PWAD), and HonorsCarolina.