Nanda Center Guest Speaker Cecilia Bailliet, U.N. Independent Expert on Human Rights and International Solidarity
November 18, 2026 – 12:00 - 1:00 pm | Sturm College of Law, Room 155
Join the Nanda Center for a discussion with Cecilia Bailliet, U.N. Independent Expert on Human Rights and International Solidarity, on the recent proposal to recognize a Convention on the Right to Peace and its significance for international human rights law.
Lunch will be provided. Please register.
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On September 21, 2026, the International Day of Peace, the Spanish Association for the International Law of Human Rights approved a proposal to recognize a Convention on the Right to Peace. Peace is a universal aim included within the UN Charter, regional instruments, and many national constitutions. Nevertheless, the amount of international and internationalized armed conflicts with transfers of weapons by third states is escalating. The proposal provides a definition of the human right to peace as encompassing more than the absence of violence, broadening the scope to include the right of future generations to sustainable development, full enjoyment of human rights, in harmony with nature. This lecture will discuss the evolution of the law of peace from the prohibition of the use of force and concurrent obligation to resolve disputes peacefully to the current initiative to seek recognition of a justiciable right and corresponding duties of states, corporations, and civil society that includes protection of refugees and conscientious objectors. Given the proposal’s recognition of the right to international solidarity, we will also discuss the Declaration on the Right to International Solidarity that articulates the right of persons to express or take action to include all persons in the enjoyment of human rights. This declaration is expected to be presented to the UN Human Rights Council in June 2027.
About the author:
Cecilia M. Bailliet is Professor Dr. jur., Director of the Masters Program in International Law. She is the UN Independent Expert on Human Rights and International Solidarity. She supported the creation of an International Solidarity Map: Solidarity Actions Around The World. She was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Bailliet has a combined J.D./M.A. (honours) degree from The George Washington University Law School & Elliott School of International Affairs (U.S.A). She received her Doctorate in law from the University of Oslo in Norway. Bailliet has published extensively on transnational and cross-disciplinary issues within international law including general public international law, human rights, refugee law, constitutional law, counter-terrorism, gender/women's rights, solidarity, and peace. She has contributed lectures to the UN AudioVisual Library of International Law. In 2025, She was Co-Chair of the Latin America Interest Group of the American Society of International Law between 2023-2026.She gave the UNESCO Mahatma Gandhi distinguished lecture on peace education.
Bailliet's authored and edited books include: Research Handbook on International Solidarity and the Law (Edward Elgar 2024), The Construction of the Customary Law of Peace: Latin America and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (Edward Elgar 2021); The Research Handbook on International Law and Peace (Edward Elgar 2019), Promoting Peace Through International Law (OUP 2015), The Legitimacy of International Criminal Tribunals (CUP 2017), Non-State Actors, Soft Law, and Protective Regimes (CUP 2012), Cosmopolitan Justice and its Discontents (Routledge 2011), and Security: A Multidisciplinary Normative Approach (Brill 2009).
The use of University of Denver resources or facilities for this event does not constitute an endorsement by the University or the Sturm College of Law of the views of the organizers or speaker(s).
