On April 1, 2023, Tohoku University established the Center for International Law and Policy. The aims for the center are to share expert knowledge on international law with society at large as well as to make policy recommendations related to the formulation of international rules.
Prior to the opening of the center, a commemorative seminar was held on March 23. Professor Kuniko Ozaki, who is a former International Criminal Court judge and an expert on international human rights law as well as international criminal law, was invited to give the opening lecture.
The seminar took place both in-person and online and was attended by over 100 participants. Among the audience were law experts and members of the general public, including senior high school students.
Executive Vice President Toshiya Ueki, who serves as the president of both the Japanese Society of International Law and the Japanese Association of World Law, and who will serve as the director of the new center, began the event by speaking about its establishment. He noted that it is rare for a university to produce judges that serve on a wide variety of courts, such as the International Court of Justice, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, and the International Criminal Court. EVP Ueki also expressed his expectation that the university will use its extensive and comprehensive knowledge of the humanities and social sciences, accumulated since its Faculty of Law and Letters was first founded a hundred years ago, to contribute meaningfully to the formulation of international rules and norms.
Specially Appointed Visiting Professor Kuniko Ozaki, who was formerly a professor at Tohoku University’s Graduate School of Law as well as a former judge of the International Criminal Court, then delivered a lecture entitled, “On the Role and Challenges of the International Criminal Court: The Case of Ukraine”. Professor Ozaki discussed the role and challenges of the International Criminal Court in the international community, touching on issues of international law regarding the invasion of Ukraine and the significance of the court’s issuance of an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin. In the Q&A session following Professor Ozaki’s lecture, many questions were asked and answered in detail.
In conjunction with the seminar, the Tohoku University Archives specially opened the International Court of Justice Judge Shigeru Oda Memorial Room for the media. The robes worn by Tohoku University Professor Emeritus Shigeru Oda, who served as a judge of the International Court of Justice for 27 years over three terms – the longest tenure of any judge in the Court’s history – are displayed there.
The Center for International Law and Policy will host symposia and conferences that bring together experts from across Japan and around the world. By organizing such events and producing policy proposals to help solve various global issues, the university hopes that the center will ultimately contribute to the formation and development of a new international order.
【President Hideo Ohno and EVP Toshiya Ueki with the sign for the Center for International Law and Policy.】
【The International Court of Justice Judge Shigeru Oda Memorial Room was opened for the occasion.】
【EVP Ueki gives his introductory remarks.】
【Specially Appointed Visiting Professor Kuniko Ozaki gives the opening lecture.】
【Professor Ozaki and EVP Ueki answered a range of questions from the audience.】
Contact: Center for International Law and Policy
TEL:022-217-5916
E-mail:cilp@grp.tohoku.ac.jp