April 17, 2025

President Mélida N. Hodgson opened the American Society of International Law (ASIL) Annual Meeting Assembly at 5:00 p.m. E.T. in Columbia Rooms 5–8 of the Washington Hilton Hotel in Washington, D.C. After welcoming attendees, President Hodgson recognized Executive Director Michael D. Cooper and the rest of the staff at Tillar House for their outstanding organization of the Annual Meeting.

President Hodgson then remembered the leaders and members of the Society who were lost since the last Annual Meeting. Lori Fisler Damrosch offered a tribute in memory of Richard B. Bilder, and Michael Cooper offered a tribute in memory of Felice Gaer. The special tributes were then followed by a general tribute to several other members of the Society who passed during the previous year.

At 5:10 p.m., President Hodgson called the Annual General Meeting to order. She began by recognizing outgoing officers and Executive Council Members and thanking the co-chairs and members of the Annual Meeting Committee. She then announced the co-chairs of the 2026 Annual Meeting Committee—Karima Bennoune, Charles di Leva, and Caroline Richard—and proposed the following members to serve on the 2025–2026 Nominating Committee: Chiara Giorgetti (chair), Olabisi Akinkugbe, Catherine Amirfar, Saira Mohamed, Jeremy Sharpe, and Harlan Cohen (alternate). It was moved and seconded to elect the proposed members to the 2025–2026 Nominating Committee. The motion passed.

Nominations for the 2025–2026 Officers, Executive Council Members, and Counsellors were as follows:

It was moved and seconded to approve the slate. The motion passed.

President Hodgson then turned to consideration of a proposed Resolution on Slavery and the Slave Trade. The resolution was proposed by Professor Patricia Viseur Sellers and endorsed by Judge Patrick Robinson, Judge Gabrielle Kirk-McDonald, Professor Henry Richardson, Professor Adejoké Bagington-Ashaye, and Professor Darin Johnson. The Executive Committee considered the proposal and an accompanying report at its sessions on March 1 and 8, 2024, and concluded that the proposal was admissible, referring it to the Executive Council. On April 3, 2024, the Executive Council deliberated on the proposed resolution and accompanying report. During the discussion, several observations were noted, and the Council, acting under Section XI of the Society’s Regulations, requested that the President convene an ad hoc subcommittee chaired by Margaret deGuzman to revise the proposal and accompanying report. The subcommittee subsequently presented a revised text and report to the Executive Council for consideration at its Midyear Meeting in Chicago on November 15, 2024. The Executive Council unanimously approved the proposed resolution and referred it to the Society for consideration. Society Regulations provide that the Executive Director must ensure that members are informed expeditiously of the resolution ahead of the vote for its adoption. To that end, the Society created a public webpage for the resolution and invited questions and comments. The text of the resolution has also been distributed to members on several occasions, including via an ASIL Insight drafted by two of the resolution’s proponents.

President Hodgson then invited Patricia Sellers and Margaret deGuzman to present the resolution ahead of the membership vote. The vote was conducted electronically, and the resolution was passed.

The Annual General Meeting adjourned at 5:18 p.m. E.T.

President Hodgson then recognized eight new emeritus members and turned to the Interest Group Prizes.

The International Criminal Law Interest Group awarded its inaugural scholarship prize to Patryk Labuda for his article “Countering Imperialism in International Law: Examining the Special Tribunal for Aggression Against Ukraine through a Post-Colonial Eastern European Lens,” published in the Yale Journal of International Law in 2024.

The Dispute Resolution Interest Group awarded its Best Article in International Dispute Resolution Prize to Fabian Eichberger for his article “Informal Communications to the International Court of Justice in Cases of Non-appearance” published in The Law and Practice of International Courts and Tribunals.

The Francis Lieber Prize for outstanding article in the field of international humanitarian law (IHL) was awarded to Blair Kuplic and Jonathan Sawmiller for their article “Humanity on the Final Frontier: Challenges in Applying International Humanitarian Law to Modern Military Space Operations,” published by the International Review of the Red Cross in 2024. They also awarded two Honorable Mentions. The first was to Ben Farley and Alka Pradhan for “Establishing a Practical Test for the End of Non-International Armed Conflict,” published in the International Review of the Red Cross in 2024. The second Honorable Mention was awarded to Hannes Jöbstl and Dean Rosenberg for “The Humanization of War Reparations: Combatant Deaths and Compensation in Unlawful Wars,” published in the Michigan Journal of International Law in 2024. The Francis Lieber Prize for an exceptional book in the field of the law of armed conflict was awarded to Alexander Wentker for Party Status to Armed Conflict in International Law, published by Oxford University Press in 2024. The Lieber Society’s Richard R. Baxter Military Prize for exceptional scholarship in the field of IHL by a member of the armed forces was awarded to Major Steven van de Put and Major Anne-Rixt Siemensma, “A Giant Leap for Humankind: Bridging Space Law and International Humanitarian Law,” published in The Military Law and Law of War Review in 2024.

The International Legal Research Interest Group selected the International Cyber Law Toolkit as its 2025 Jus Gentium Award recipient. The Cyber Law Toolkit is a dynamic interactive web-based resource for legal professionals who work with matters at the intersection of international law and cyber operations, and consists of thirty-two hypothetical scenarios.

The Intellectual Property Law Interest Group selected Marketa Trimble as the 2025 recipient of the Best Published Work Prize for her book The EU Geo-blocking Regulation: A Commentary, published by Edward Elgar in 2024. They also awarded an Honorable Mention to Christine Haight Farley for her chapter “Furthering Interests Abroad: Advancing Trademark Rights in the Americas in the First Decades of the Twentieth Century,” published in the edited book The Silent Peacemaker: Intellectual Property Rights and the Interwar International Legal Order, 1919–1939, published by Brill Nijhoff in 2025.

The International Refugee Law Interest Group selected Ahmad Ibrahim as the winner of its Student Writing Competition for his paper “Administrative and Judicial Biopolitics – Analysing the Special Prohibitions on Marriage Between Bangladeshis and Rohingya Refugees.”

President Hodgson then announced inaugural prizes awarded by the International Law and Social Sciences Interest Group. The prize for Best Article was awarded to Ezgi Yildiz and Umut Yüksel for “The Defocalizing Effect of International Courts: Evidence from Maritime Delimitation Practices,” published in the Review of International Organizations in 2024. An Honorable Mention in that category was awarded to Leslie Johns and Francesca Parente for “The Politics of Punishment: Why Dictators Join the International Criminal Court,” published in International Studies Quarterly in 2024. Their prize for Best Book on International Law and Social Science (ILASS) was awarded to Prize for Best Paper Presented at the first ILASS Research Conference (June 2024), for her book The Regulation of Prostitution in China: Law in the Everyday Lives of Sex Workers, Police Officers, and Public Health Officials, published by Cambridge University Press in 2024. The Prize for Best Paper Presented at the first ILASS Research Conference in June 2024 was awarded to two people this year. The first was Janka Deli for her paper “Economic Growth Despite the Erosion of the Rule of Law?” The second was Myung Jung Kim for her paper “The Narrowing Path: Rebel Leader Exile in the Age of Accountability.”

The winner of the International Law and Technology Interest Group scholarship prize was Jack Wright Nelson, for his article, “Large Language Models and the Treaty Interpretation Game,” published in the Cambridge International Law Journal in 2024. An Honorable Mention was awarded to Pierre Walkers, Christine Frison, and Sylvain Aubry for their work, “A Roadmap to Equity in Pandemic Preparedness, Prevention, and Response,” featured in the Journal of Global Health.

This year’s Women in International Law Interest Group (WILIG) Scholarship Prize Committee, consisting of Valerie Oosterveld, Jaya Ramji-Nogales, Susana SáCouto, Irini Papanicolopulu, and Kate Parlett, awarded its prize for best book to Rebecca Cook for her book Frontiers of Gender Equality: Transnational Legal Perspectives, published by University of Pennsylvania Press in 2023. The award was formally presented during the WILIG business meeting on Friday, April 18. The 2025 Prominent Woman in International Law Award was presented at the WILIG Luncheon to Viviana Krsticevic, Executive Director of the Center for Justice and International Law, a civil society organization that works throughout the Americas to promote human rights using international law and the Inter-American System for the Protection of Human Rights.

President Hodgson then announced the 2025 recipients of the Arthur C. Helton Fellowships. Fatima Ahmed, who will work in Bangladesh with the organization Justice For All to shine a light on the genocide of the Rohingya people. Khulud Alhamazani, who will travel to Turkey to interview Syrian women who have been trafficked across borders into Turkey. Youssef Aziz, who will examine the impact of SLAPP suits on access to justice and legal empowerment in South Africa, in partnership with the Centre for Applied Legal Studies at the University of the Witwatersrand. Foti Vito, whose work will focus on strengthening international human rights protections in Kosovo through legal research and advocacy, in collaboration with Youth Initiative for Human Rights Kosovo.

President Hodgson then turned to the 2025 book awards, thanking the Book Awards Committee, chaired by Victoria Sahani. The Certificate of Merit for a pre-eminent contribution to creative scholarship was awarded to Godwin Eli Kwadzo Dzah for his book, Sustainable Development, International Law, and a Turn to African Legal Cosmologies, published by Cambridge University Press in 2024. The Certificate of Merit for “high technical craftsmanship and utility to practicing lawyers and scholars” was awarded to Matiangai V.S. Sirleaf, for her book Race and National Security, published by Oxford University Press in 2023. The Certificate of Merit in a specialized area of international law was awarded to Natalie Jones for her book Self-Determination as Voice, published by Cambridge University Press in 2024. Finally, the fifth Robert E. Dalton Award for Outstanding Contribution in the Field of Foreign Relations Law was awarded to Sean D. Murphy and Edward T. Swaine for their book, The Law of U.S. Foreign Relations, published by Oxford University Press in 2023.

President Hodgson then invited Susan Spencer to present the David D. Caron Prize for the best paper presented at the ASIL Midyear Meeting to Sebastian von Massow for his paper “Redrawing Trade Routes Through Litigation: Phosphates and the Front Polisario in Panama and South Africa.”

President Hodgson then invited Patricia Sellers to present the Francis Deák Prize, awarded by the Editorial Board of the American Journal of International Law (AJIL), to a “younger author for meritorious scholarship published in the Journal.” This year’s award was presented to Rabiat Akande, for her article An Imperial History of Race-Religion in International Law, published in Volume 118, Issue 1 of AJIL.

The Student Deák award, given by the International Law Students Association (ILSA), was presented by Steven Schneebaum, Chair of the ILSA Board and member of the ASIL Executive Council, to Sydney Robson, for her Comment, A Common Law Corporate Crisis: The Status of Common Law Criminal Immunities for Foreign State-Owned Enterprises in a Post-Halkbank Era.

President Hodgson then conferred the Honors of the Society. The Honorary Member Award was presented to James Thuo Gathii. The Goler T. Butcher Medal was awarded to Leila Nadya Sadat. The Manley O. Hudson Medal was awarded to Joseph H.H. Weiler.

President Hodgson then introduced Elinor Hammarskjöld, Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs and UN Legal Counsel, to deliver keynote remarks.

Following the keynote remarks, President Hodgson made several announcements regarding initiatives of the Society.

The Assembly concluded at 6:30 p.m. E.T.