Intensive Course: International Organizations as 'Law-Makers' (LAW782H1S)

Note: The add/drop date for this course is Monday, January 6 at 10:00 PM.

Course Location: Please see the "Intensive Course Schedule" under Schedules and Timetables (http://www.law.utoronto.ca/academic-programs/schedules).

Note: Attendance at intensive courses is mandatory for the duration of the course.  

The ‘turn to institutions,’ particularly the establishment of the UN system after WWII, has had a deep impact on how international law is created, interpreted, and applied.  This course examines select examples, involving the ‘constitutional’ interpretation of the Charters of international organizations, such as peace and security, global health, and human rights, to illustrate changes in the basic ‘sources’ of international law (treaties, custom, general principles) as well as the rise of institutional ‘soft law.’  It will examine the recent roles of, for example, the UN Security Council and General Assembly, actors within the WHO during COVID, the expert body under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), and the International Court of Justice in enabling or resisting legal change.  The course will also examine the larger implications, positive and negative, of the ‘institutionalization’ of international law.  It aims to better prepare those seeking international law careers, whether or not as inside counsel to UN system organizations, as well as those seeking to understand the limits of such organizations in resolving specific current challenges, particularly the persistent one of making states, individuals, and the organizations themselves accountable for violations of international law.