03 Dec 2019
Professor Jack Beard, Brian Lepard, Matt Schaefer and Frans von der Dunk presented at the American Branch of the International Law Association’s (ABILA’s) International Law Weekend hosted by Fordham University. The theme for the weekend was “The Resilience of International Law.”
Professor Beard, an ABILA board member, chaired a panel on the “Growing Risk of War in Space: What Role Will International Law Play?” The panel covered a wide range of legal and policy issues. Given the Woomera Manual representation on the panel, the audience also showed considerable interest in the work of the Woomera Manual project and the issues and methodology adopted by the project.
Professor Lepard and Professor von der Dunk presented on the panel themed “At a Crossroads: Can Customary International Law Provide a Stabilizing Influence in a Fractious World?” The panel explored the challenges posed by rising nationalism and factionalism to the ability of customary international law to generate consensus-based norms that can effectively regulate politically charged problems such as the use of outer space, international investment, and human rights. It examined whether customary international law can meet this challenge, and how it can provide a stabilizing influence in a fractious world.
Professor Schaefer chaired a panel presentation entitled “The Resilience of the International Law of Outer Space in Light of Technology, Business and Military Developments.” This panel discussed the hard and soft international laws governing the increasingly competitive, congested and contested outer space domain.