Episode 24 of Borderlines features a rare look behind the scenes at the International Court of Justice with The Honorable Joan Donoghue (’81), recently retired president of the ICJ, in candid conversation with host Professor Katerina Linos. They discuss ongoing disputes, including South Africa v. Israel and the Chagos Archipelago advisory proceeding; key Court functions, such as provisional measures, advisory proceedings, and contentious case resolution between nations; and what it’s like to serve in this preeminent global arena.

Established in 1946 to settle legal disputes between Member States and offer advisory opinions to UN organs and agencies, the ICJ is the United Nations’ top court, also known as the World Court. The International Court of Justice is made up of 15 judges, elected to nine-year terms without regard to nationality by the UN General Assembly and Security Council.

Judge Donoghue remains one of Berkeley Law’s most distinguished alumni in the field of international law. She was selected for her qualifications, including high moral character, impartiality, and integrity, to represent the U.S on the Court in 2010, re-elected in 2014, and chosen by fellow ICJ judges as president in 2021.

Before her judicial appointment in The Hague, Judge Donoghue had a long career at the U.S. State Department, cumulating in her role as Principal Deputy Legal Adviser advising Secretary of State Clinton and President Obama on all matters of international law. She also was Deputy General Counsel of the U.S. Treasury Department, overseeing every aspect including international financial institutions, and lead general counsel for Freddie Mac. She has taught international law courses at several law schools, including Berkeley. Judge Donoghue is the recipient of many awards, including Berkeley Law’s 2015 Riesenfeld Award, and is Honorary President of the American Society of International Law.

For a transcript of this episode, please visit the episode page on Berkeley Law website.

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Episode 23 of Borderlines features our guest host, Chancellor’s Clinical Professor of Law Laurel E. Fletcher (Berkeley), in conversation with Professor of Practice Gabor Rona (Cardozo) on the Israel/Hamas conflict from an international law perspective. Fresh off of speaking at Berkeley Law on 22 February 2024 as part of a Bay Area campus lecture series on the crisis, Professor Rona sat down with Professor Fletcher to discuss the relevant frameworks of international law and its institutions, including the UN Charter and the Geneva Convention on Genocide, as well as current cases before the International Court of Justice regarding Israel/Palestine. Listeners will learn how the laws of armed conflict and international humanitarian law are invoked, how historically pressure is brought to bear on governments from international organizations and actors, and why the Red Cross/Red Crescent has been prevented from aiding both Israeli hostages and Palestinian civilians in Gaza despite human suffering. Students in particular will take away powerful lessons about the need to combat misinformation and to seek “justice for an eye” in their pursuit of peaceful solutions to war and violence.

Professor Rona has worked in armed conflict settings for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), and as International Legal Director at Human Rights First. He now teaches various international law subjects at both Cardozo and Columbia Law Schools. Professor Fletcher is the International Human Rights Law Clinic Co-Director and the Faculty Co-Director of the Miller Institute for Global Challenges and the Law at Berkeley Law.

For a transcript of this episode, please visit the episode page on Berkeley Law website.

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Host Professor Katerina Linos talks with three international law scholars on sanctions and their role in comparative perspective. Berkeley Law Professor Elena Chachko joins Professor Luis M. Hinojosa-Martínez and Professor Carmela Pérez-Bernárdez from the Department of Public International Law and International Relations at the University of Granada, Spain, for a frank look at international sanctions as a legal tool used by self-governing states via bodies like the UN Security Council, European Union, and the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).

Listeners will come away understanding sanctions, and their intended goal to pressure change from countries – as well as individuals, companies, or organizations – causing violent wars, implementing harmful policies, or disregarding international laws. In the 21st century, recommendations have shifted toward restrictive measures, or so-called “smart sanctions,” targeting regimes rather than people. Discussion covers current and historic implementations of sanctions with an incisive review of successes and critiques.

For further study, see, e.g., Enhancing the Rule of Law in the European Union’s External Action, Luis M. Hinojosa-Martínez and Carmela Pérez-Bernárdez (eds.), Edward Elgar, 2023 (Part III.A includes chapters dealing with “sanctions and the rule of law”); and “A Watershed Moment for Sanctions? Russia, Ukraine, and the Economic Battlefield,” Elena Chachko and J. Benton Heath, pp.135-139, and “Ukraine and the Emergency Powers of International Institutions,” Elena Chachko and Katerina Linos, pp. 775–87, in American Journal of International Law 116(4): Symposium on Ukraine and the International Order, AJIL Unbound, 2022; Elena Chachko and Katerina Linos (eds.), published as Open Access articles by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The American Society of International Law.

For a transcript of this episode, please visit the episode page on Berkeley Law website.

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