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International Law Under Siege: Hathaway Calls for Coalition

11/12/2025

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Summary

Story summary

Oona Hathaway, president-elect of the American Society of International Law, warns that the international legal order faces unprecedented threat.
She cites Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and China’s actions in the South China Sea as challenges to the prohibition on force, a norm in the 1945 UN Charter.
Hathaway calls for a coalition of states to back the International Court of Justice.
She proposes compliance measures.

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Story summary

Oona Hathaway, president-elect of the American Society of International Law, warns that the international legal order faces unprecedented threat.
She cites Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and China’s actions in the South China Sea as challenges to the prohibition on force, a norm in the 1945 UN Charter.
Hathaway calls for a coalition of states to back the International Court of Justice.
She proposes compliance measures.