Professor Milena Sterio presented at a book roundtable at Temple University’s Beasley School of Law on December 11 in Philadelphia.  The book roundtable centered around Professor Harold Hongju Koh’s new book, The National Security Constitution in the 21st Century. Professor Koh, Yale Law School, is former Legal Advisor to the U.S. State Department and one of the most prominent scholars of international law worldwide. 

Professor Sterio’s remarks, on the topic of “Koh’s Mirror Approach as Restraint on Presidential Power in Matters of National Security,” focused on Professor Koh’s proposal, as described in his book, to require the same degree of congressional involvement when it comes to treaty withdrawal or exit as was required for joining the same treaty.  Professor Sterio’s remarks will be published in the form of a law review article by the Temple Journal of International and Comparative Law in 2026.

Professor Milena Sterio participated in the International Criminal Court’s Assembly of States Parties in The Hague, Netherlands, from December 1-5.  Professor Sterio participated as a delegate of the Public International Law and Policy Group, a Washington D.C.-based NGO (the ICC’s Assembly of States Parties is open to states and their delegates, as well as accredited NGO delegates). 

During the Assembly, Professor Sterio presented on a panel on the topic of “Practical Measures to Protect the International Criminal Court.”  Her remarks focused on the recent U.S. sanctions against three prosecutors as well as six judges at the ICC.  

Professor Sterio (top center) with other members of the Crimes Against Humanity Study Group at the American Branch of the International Law Association.

Professor Milena Sterio published a book review titled “The ‘End of Immunity’ for Leaders who Commit International Crimes?” on Lawfare Blog.  Lawfare is one of the most prestigious blogs in international law; book reviews are authored by expert invitation.  

Professor Sterio reviewed former International Criminal Court Judge Chile Eboe-Osuji’s book,  “The End of Immunity: Holding World Leaders Accountable for Aggression, Genocide, War Crimes, and Crimes Against Humanity” (Prometheus, 2024).  Judge Eboe-Osuji’s book espouses the view that customary international law rejects the principle of personal immunity before international criminal courts for sitting political and military leaders who commit atrocity crimes.  This view, which Judge Eboe-Osuji had adopted and advanced as an ICC judge, is shared by some scholars but rejected by others who argue that sitting heads-of-state waive immunity only if they are judged before an international tribunal whose jurisdiction their respective states have agreed to.  Judge Eboe-Osuji’s book addresses an important scholarly as well as practical topic.  It also provides a comprehensive historical analysis of various international negotiations, agreements, and other instruments as proof, according to Judge Eboe-Osuji, that customary law rejects personal immunity as a bar to prosecution of atrocity crimes before an international court.  

According to Professor Sterio’s review, “The strengths of ‘The End of Immunity’ lie in its elegant language, its thorough recounting of historical developments regarding immunity, and its passionate call to action for accountability for heads of state who commit atrocity crimes. It thus reflects Judge Eboe-Osuji’s long-standing quest to establish accountability for high-ranking officials and represents a kind of intellectual culmination of his career. In Eboe-Osuji’s words, “[a]ny argument for immunity of heads of state is effectively a protest against the judicial process[.]”

Professor Milena Sterio organized and participated in a side event at the United Nations 6th Committee during International Law Week, on Friday, October 31.  The event, “The Right to Equal and Inclusive Participation and the International Court of Justice: Where are the Women,” focused on the need for gender parity at the International Court of Justice.  The event was hosted by the Gender Parity at the International Court of Justice Project (Professor Sterio serves on the Steering Committee), and the American Branch of the International Law Association’s Gender Justice in International Law Committee (Professor Sterio co-chairs this Committee, which she also co-founded).  In addition, the event was co-sponsored by the United Nations Permanent Missions of Canada, Mexico, Sweden, and Singapore.  

Since its inception in 1945, there has been only six female judges on the bench of the ICJ.  In the upcoming ICJ judicial elections, out of eleven candidates thus far nominated by states, only three are women.  The side event, which featured remarks by a slate of distinguished panelists, stressed the need for equal and inclusive participation for women on the ICJ’s judicial bench, as a fundamental human right.  Professor Sterio moderated the discussion along with Dr. Jessica Corsi (University College London).  Expert panelists included Karen Ong, Deputy Permanent Representative of Singapore to the United Nations, Prof. Nilufer Oral, International Law Commission, Prof. Jelena Pia-Commella, Member of the Commission of the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women Committee, Jelena Crncevic, Special Counsel, Withers Worldwide, and Akhila Radhakrishnan, End Gender Apartheid Campaign.  

Professor Milena Sterio participated in the International Law Weekend conference in New York City from October 23-25.  International Law Weekend is a premier international law conference organized and hosted by the American Branch of the International Law Association (ABILA).  Professor Sterio serves on the ABILA Board of Directors; Co-Chairs the Gender Justice and the Teaching International Law Committees; serves as Co-Director of Studies; and also served on the ILW Organizing Committee this past year.  

Professor Sterio (far left above) moderated a panel discussion on the topic of “Crimes Against the Environment, Nature, and Biodiversity – Progresses and Gaps in the Law of International and Transnational Crimes.” This panel was sponsored by the ABILA International Environmental Law Committee, and speakers included Prof. David Donat Cattin (NYU); Prof. Cymie Payne (Rutgers University School of Law); Christopher Lentz (Ukraine Register for Damages); and Bryce Rudyk (NYC and Legal Advisor to the Coalition of Small States).  Panelists explored progress and gaps within international environmental law, including ongoing civil and criminal cases and proceedings before international and regional tribunals.  

Professor Milena Sterio presented at a conference at the University of Cambridge on April 28-29.  The conference was organized by the Cambridge Journal of International Law on the topic of Navigating a Multipolar World: Challenges to the Post-WWII Status Quo of International Law. Professor Sterio presented on the topic of Artificial Intelligence and Individual Criminal Responsibility: A Paradox or a Possibility?.  Professor Sterio’s corresponding paper, on the same topic, will be published by the Cambridge Journal of International Law.

Professor Sterio moderated a panel on the topic of “The Right to Equal Participation in the Judiciary and the ICJ: Where are the Women?”  The panel was hosted by the American Branch of the International Law Association (ABILA), and co-sponsored by the American Society of International Law Women in International Law Interest Group, GQUAL, the Working Group for Gender Partiy for the International Court of Justice, and the Institute for African Women in the Law.  The panel was also the inaugural event for the new ABILA committee on Gender Justice, which Professor Sterio co-founded with Dr. Jessica Corsi. 

The panelists included Dr Jessica Corsi, Senior Law Lecturer at The City Law School at City St George’s, University of London; Prof. Margaret deGuzman, Temple University Beasley School of Law & Judge, International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals; Prof. Valerie Oosterveld, Western Law School (Canada) and Former ICC Advisor on Crimes Against Humanity; Prof. J. Jarpa Dawuni, Howard University; Corinne Detmeijer, Vice Chair of the CEDAW Committee to End Discrimination against Women; and Prof. Claudia Martin, American University Washington College of Law.  

The right to equal participation in decision making is a fundamental human right enshrined in international law, including in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Covenant on Economic Social, and Cultural Rights, and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. In its General Recommendation 40 (GR40) issued in October 2024, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (the CEDAW Committee) made it clear that this right applies to international judiciaries. GR40 notes that despite the fundamental nature of this right, States do not enforce it. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) is one such example. In the almost 80 years of the court, only 5.22% of its permanent judges have been women, the rest men, and no data is known regarding other genders. Justice systems should reflect the diversity of the societies they serve, and the ICJ is no exception. Known as the ‘World Court’, the historical and ongoing overrepresentation of one gender on its bench demonstrates its lack of representativeness. This panel discussion focused on the need for gender parity on the ICJ bench from a human rights lens with a special focus on the right to equal participation in decision making and in the international judiciary. Panelists discussed the causes and consequences of women’s absence from the ICJ bench and assessed barriers to ICJ judicial gender parity and how to overcome them. The discussion also addressed gender-based discrimination and gendered barriers to the fulfillment of other human rights that may impede the effective exercise of judicial participation rights for women. One year on from GR40, and one year away from the November 2026 ICJ judicial election, it is time to turn the recommendation into reality.  

The Panel recording is available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5yeCXM0GNc

Professor Sterio served as peer reviewer for the Journal of International Dispute Settlement, a prestigious peer reviewed academic journal published by Oxford University Press.  Professor Sterio reviewed an article on self-determination and the International Court of Justice’s 50-year-old Advisory Opinion in the Western Sahara case.