International Law & Global Justice Initiative
at the Lincoln Alexander School of Law
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Migration
Comparative Private Law
Global Health
Sport, Culture & Human Rights
Climate & Environmental Justice
Social & Economic Rights
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About International Law & Global Justice Initiative
Bridging Academic Theory and Justice Practice
Our initiative is committed to bridging theory and practice through justice-oriented scholarship and public engagement. Our faculty members perceive a deep unity between research, teaching, experiential opportunities, and public service. We encourage students to do the same.
Expanding Perspectives on International Law
Our initiative takes an expansive view of both international law and global justice. Members of the initiative apply themselves to questions of international law, transnational law, elements of Canadian domestic law that touch on global phenomena, comparative law, legal culture and practice, and the interaction of plural legal orders that exist beyond the state.
Uniting Global North and South Scholars
Our initiative is committed to bridging communities of scholars and practitioners from the so-called Global North and Global South. Our initiative is composed of members from around the world, and our commitment stems from a sense of solidarity within the global community. We also recognize that communities of the Global South have long engaged in pathbreaking activism and legal practice, as well as the development of critical legal knowledges. Engagement and dialogue are therefore not only valuable, but necessary.
Engaging Critically with Law
Our members engage with law in ways that are expansive and imaginative – yet also critical and self-aware. “Expansive and imaginative” because we consider how law can be mobilized to address complex, systemic issues, including changes brought about by the emergence of artificial intelligence, the climate emergency, the violation of Indigenous peoples’ rights, poverty and gross economic inequality, and relentless conflict. Critical and self-aware because we remain sensitive to the limitations of law and rights as vocabularies of change, and recognize their use in furthering colonialism, dispossession, and oppression.
Global Initiative with Local Impact
While the initiative is global-facing, we are committed to contributing locally. We intend to collaborate with local community groups, non-governmental organizations, advocacy initiatives and government to make international and comparative law relevant for the pressing justice issues faced by individuals and communities in Canada. Furthermore, we recognize our positionality within a settler colony, and maintain a commitment to decolonization. As such, we will strive to build meaningful relationships with Indigenous scholars, practitioners, and activists.