Diplomats discuss international law at NYU French house
A panel of U.S. and French diplomats discussed the current state of international law and global conflicts at NYU’s La Maison Française Tuesday evening, as part of its two-year partnership with Normandie Pour La Paix.
Organized by Guy Sorman, founder and honorary president of Action Contre La Faim, the event featured four speakers who addressed challenges resolving international conflicts and barriers to integrating democratic ideals in the global south. Françoise-Xavier Priollaud, vice president of the Normandy Region of France, opened the panel by introducing Normandie Pour La Paix — Normandy for Peace — as a platform for engaging students in global peace conversations.
“International law is in danger,” Priollaud said in an interview with WSN. “So the idea at the conference is to see what could be the road for a future system, how we can reorganize the international system.”
After Priollaud introduced the initiative, former U.N. under-secretary-general Jean-Marie Guéhenno spoke on the declining influence of international law in mitigating human rights violations. He referenced Israel’s war in Gaza and the Sudan civil war — which the United Nations has expressly condemned in its reports.
Ambassador and permanent representative of France to the United Nations in New York Jérôme Bonnafont emphasized the sway that superpowers like China and the United States have on global dynamics, and the challenges of maintaining multilateralism. Former Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs Ana Palacio emphasized the importance of considering cultural norms when integrating international law in the global south, which is home to less economically developed countries with a history of colonialism.
Niagalé Bagayoko, chair of the African Security Sector Network, also noted that cultural differences across the continent pose a barrier to integrating international law in the global south. She said that systemic and international policy changes are required to effectively achieve results.
“The liberal principle now appears to many Africans as mere instruments of foreign policy, cynically used under the banner of international law,” Bagayoko said at the panel. “We also have to stop seeing Africans as victims of the international orders. Africans themselves have definitely not shown lots of solidarities as regards the conflict on their own continents.”
The Normandy for Peace initiative was founded by the Normandy regional government in an effort to educate the public about international issues by hosting an annual local peace forum and holding academic conferences at universities around the world. This year’s NYU event marks its fourth panel since 2023.
“International affairs are not only an issue for specialists,” Priollaud told WSN. “There is a really big involvement of young people, but they need to be helped in their desire to engage. So what we do is to give them the material, the intellectual material, and also the connection.”
Contact Eva Mundo at emundo@nyunews.com.
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