Professor Jean-Marc Thouvenin, Secretary-General of The Hague Academy of International Law, Discusses Role of Academy in International Law
April 5, 2018
The American University Washington College of Law was pleased to welcome Hague Academy of International Law Secretary-General Jean-Marc Thouvenin April 5 for a discussion of the Academy, and its role in the future of international law.
Thouvenin, professor at Paris-Nanterre University, was appointed by the Academy’s Curatorium to position of secretary-general in January 2017. The Hague Academy is known for its renowned courses in both public and private international law, and draws both students and professors from countries all over the globe.
The program was presented by the Center for Human Rights & Humanitarian Law and the Academy on Human Rights and Humanitarian Law.
Thouvenin has “tremendous legal knowledge, and an exceptional ability to link facts to the law with a strategic vision,” said Dean Emeritus and Professor Claudio Grossman, who introduced Professor Thouvenin and recently returned from The Hague where he participated in a case with Professor Thouvenin before the International Court of Justice, the United Nations’ highest Court for disputes between nations.
“The concept of the academy was to have two institutions, the (International Criminal Court) and the Hague Academy, working in the same sense,” Thouvenin said. “The idea was that the Criminal Court would implement the law and settle disputes, and the Academy will explore the questions that must be answered when it comes to the issues involving international relations.”
Thouvenin explained that at the Academy, there is no “exclusive approach” or doctrine, but rather visiting professors from numerous countries provide to students their own perception and interpretation of what international law is about through lectures on various topics.
Along with describing various program’s the Hague Academy offers, Thouvenin announced the Academy’s inaugural three-week winter session, which will take place in January 2019.
“The courses and lectures are very much focused on the problems of our time,” he said. “The courses are anticipating the evolution of international law, and in anticipation of the evolution, perhaps they will help these evolutions happen.”
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