2-3 September 2019

The Hague, Netherlands

On 2 and 3 September 2019, the Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs and the United Nations Legal Counsel, Mr. Miguel de Serpa Soares, participated in the Second World Meeting of Societies for International Law, held in The Hague, The Netherlands, at the invitation of the Societe francaise pour le droit international, and its President, Mr. Alain Pellet. The Second World Meeting of Societies for International Law provided a forum for international law societies, academics and leading practitioners of international law to exchange ideas on current issues of international law and the role Societies play in furthering its progress.

During this meeting, Mr. Serpa Soares had the opportunity to engage with academics and practitioners on a number of topics in the field of international law. Addressing participants  during the first Plenary Open Table, Mr. Serpa Soares highlighted multilateralism's continued relevance in the creation of international norms and continued state engagement in multilateral fora for the discussion and formation of international law. In this regard, he emphasized treaty negotiations during the Intergovernmental Conference on an international legally binding instrument under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction, and the recent signing of the Singapore Convention on Mediation on 7 August 2019.