International Legal Studies Program

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Charney Lectures

The Jonathan I. Charney Distinguished Lecture in International Law honors Professor Charney, one of the world's preeminent experts on international law, who held the Lee S. & Charles A. Speir Chair at Vanderbilt Law School until his death in 2002. The series funds academic lectures and other presentations on international law by distinguished figures in the field.

2024-25 Jonathan I. Charney Distinguished Lecture in International Law

Ambassador Roger Carstens, “Ending Hostage Diplomacy"

Ambassador Roger D. Carstens was the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs (SPEHA) at the U.S. Department of State from 2020-2025. Prior to assuming this role, Mr. Carstens was a Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor. Ambassador Carstens will be joined by Matthew Heath, a former U.S. Marine corporal from Knoxville, Tennessee, who was wrongfully detained in Venezuela in 2020. 

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Previous Lectures

  • 2023-24: Gautam Rana, U.S. Ambassador to the Slovak Republic

    Gautam Rana '97 discussed the EU’s recently passed Disinformation Act and differences in the ways various governments restrict free expression in his 2023 Jonathan I. Charney Distinguished Lecture in International Law titled “The Fight Against Disinformation”

    Read the event recap.

  • 2022-23: Pramila Patten Pramila Patten, United Nations Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict and Under-Secretary General of the United Nations

    Pramila Patten, Special Representative of the Secretary-General, the United Nations Office of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, "Evolution and Impact of the Mandate on Conflict-Related Sexual Violence."

    Read the event recap.

  • 2019-20: Paul C. Ney, Jr. '84

    Paul C. Ney, Jr. '84 (MBA'84), General Counsel at the Department of Defense, "The Rule of Law in International Security Affairs: A U.S. Defense Department Perspective"

  • 2018-19: Judge Howard Morrison

    Judge Howard Morrison, International Criminal Court based in The Hague, Netherlands, "International Criminal Justice - The Road Less Traveled"

  • 2016-17: Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein

    Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, "Global Challenges to Human Rights"

  • 2014-15: Sir Michael Wood

    Sir Michael Wood, a senior fellow at the University of Cambridge’s Lauterpacht Centre for International Law and a member of the International Law Commission, London, “International Organizations and Customary Law”

  • 2012-13: Fatou B. Bensouda

    Fatou B. Bensouda, Chief Prosecutor, International Criminal Court, The Hague, "Reflections from the International Criminal Court Prosecutor"

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