Danae Azaria | State Silence Across International Law: Meaning, Context, and Developments – UK Book Launch

Lecture

Dr Danae Azaria was joined by commentators Professor Jan Klabbers (Whewell Chair of Public International Law, Faculty of Law, University of Cambridge); Judge Phoebe Okowa (International Court of Justice); Sally Langrish (Director General-Legal, Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Legal Adviser); and Professor Richard Gardiner (UCL Faculty of Laws) to discuss her new book: State Silence Across International Law (OUP 2025).

The panel (chaired by Professor Veronika Fikfak, UCL Public Policy Department) praised the book for innovatively considering silence as a new lens for reflecting on classic questions about sources of international law. They also noted the book’s insightful and nuanced analysis in this increasingly important area of international law and scholarship, and for inspiring new research agendas on State silence. The panel assessed that this book will be relied on by governments, as well as in codification processes (such as the UN International Law Commission) and by international courts, including the International Court of Justice.

Professor Malgosia Fitzmaurice (QMUL), a contributor to the book, spoke to the experience of collaborating with Dr Danae Azaria in this edited volume, and to what this experience allowed her to learn about her particular field.

The audience included several members of the United Nations International Law Commission, academics at UCL and other universities, practitioners and students from UCL and other universities, as well as school students from London. 140 persons registered for this successful event.