CGHR Salon: 'Justice, Human Rights and the Changing International Order - Is Cosmopolitan Progress under Threat?'

Speaker: Daniel Wand, University of Leeds

With the rise of emerging powers and the decline of western liberal hegemony, international society is currently undergoing a significant change. This change is likely to have an impact upon the normative consensus amongst states on a wide range of issues including justice and human rights, and their institutional manifestations. Daniel’s talk will seek to address the question of whether such a change in the international order poses a threat to the progress that has so far been achieved in protecting human rights and delivering justice to victims of international crimes. This week’s CGHR salon will focus on this theme, particularly with reference to the situation in Syria and the recent controversy concerning South Africa’s decision to withdraw from the International Criminal Court.

Daniel Wand is a doctoral researcher at the School of Politics and International Studies at the University of Leeds. His research investigates the relationship between the International Criminal Court and the BRICS states as a means of enquiring into the effect of shifting power balances on cosmopolitan moral progress in international society. Daniel also teaches international politics at the School and is a staff member at the newly-founded European Centre for the Responsibility to Protect, based at the University of Leeds, where he coordinates the Centre’s research on relationship between Responsibility to Protect and international criminal justice. Additionally, Daniel holds the position of Teaching and Research Associate at the School of Law, University of Sheffield where he teaches public international law and international human rights law to undergraduate and masters students. Until recently, he was a Visiting Professional at the International Criminal Court, working on the defence team of Mr Jean-Pierre Bemba, and a visiting researcher at the Centre for International Criminal Justice at the VU Amsterdam. Daniel holds an LL.B., LL.M. (with Distinction) and a PgDip in law (with Distinction), and is a barrister at the Bar of England and Wales.