Interest Groups


The ASIL Interest Group program is a benefit of ASIL membership that allows members to affiliate and work with one another based on areas – substantive or otherwise – of common concern. The Society offers over 30 groups whose foci range from subtopics in the field – such as dispute resolution and human rights – to demographics – such as new professionals and women in international law – and geographic – such as the Pacific Rim Region and the Southeastern United States.
Interest groups have unique logos within the online ASIL Community, based on their acronyms and a color coding system.

  • orange logos have a private sector focus;
  • berry colored logos are for groups with an institutional focus;
  • blue is for public sector related groups;
  • purple is for rights focused groups;
  • forest green is for geographically based groups; and
  • olive green for groups based on professional demographics.
To ensure receipt of emails from the Interest Group program, ASIL members should add the addresses info@asil.org and donotreply@asil.org to their "Safe Sender" list.
Manage Interest Group Memberships
 

Interest Group Awards

The Interest Groups of the American Society of International Law may choose to recognize individuals within the field of international law for contributions, scholarship, or activities. These awards are announced each year at the Society's Annual Meeting, during the Annual Assembly.

Dispute Resolution Interest Group:

  • Best Article in International Dispute Resolution: Fuad Zarbiyev, "On the Judge Centredness of the International Legal Self"

International Legal Research Interest Group:

  • 2022 Jus Gentium Award: The ICC Legal Tools Database

International Refugee Law Interest Group:

  • Student Writing Competition: Laurence LeBlanc, "Taking Protests Seriously"

Lieber Society on the Law of Armed Conflict:

  • Richard R. Baxter Military Prize: Ronald Alcala, "Cultural Evolution: Protecting 'Digital Cultural Property' in Armed Conflict"
  • Francis Lieber Book Prize: Ka Lok Yip, The Use of Force against Individuals in War under International Law – A Social Ontological Approach
  • Francis Lieber Article Prize: Yahli Shereshevsky, "International Humanitarian Lawmaking and New Military Technologies";
    Honorable Mention: Marco Longobardo, "The Duties of Occupying Powers in Relation to the Prevention and Control of Contagious Diseases through the interplay between International Humanitarian Law and the Right to Health"

Women in International Law Interest Group:

  • Prominent Woman in International Law: Gillian Triggs
  • WILIG Scholarship Prize (Article): Ramona Vijeyarasa, "Quantifying CEDAW: Concrete Tools for Enhancing Accountability for Women's Rights"
  • WILIG Scholarship Prize (Book): Valerie Oosterveld, Indira Rosenthal, and Susana SáCouto (co-editors), Gender and International Criminal Law
    Honorable Mention: Catherine O'Rourke, Women's Rights in Armed Conflict under International Law

International Legal Research Interest Group:

  • 2022 Jus Gentium Award: NATLEX

International Legal Theory Interest Group 2022 scholarship prize and honorable mention:

  • Honorable Mention: Melissa Stewart, “A New Law on Earth' Hannah Arendt and the Vision for a Positive Legal Framework to Guarantee a Right to Have Rights”
  • Scholarship Prize: Tom Dannenbaum, “Siege Starvation: A War Crime of Societal Torture”

International Refugee Law Interest Group :

  • Student Writing Competition: Charlotte Labrosse, “Humanitarian Visas as a Legal Pathway to International Protection in Europe”

Lieber Society on the Law of Armed Conflict:

  • Richard R. Baxter Military Prize: SGM Asaf Lubin, “The Reasonable Intelligence Agency”
  • Francis Lieber Book Prize: Jelena Plamenac, Unravelling Unlawful Confinement in Contemporary Armed Conflicts
  • Francis Lieber Article Prize: Tilman Rodenhäuser, “Partnering in Detention and Detainee Transfer Operations,” Research Handbook on Human Rights and Humanitarian Law

Women in International Law Interest Group:

  • Prominent Woman in International Law: The Honorable Fatou Bensouda

Disaster Law Interest Group:

  • Third International and Comparative Disaster Law Essay Contest: Rhys Carvosso, "Techniques for Regulating Disasters across the Breadth of International Law: Disapplication, Exculpation, and their Shortcomings."

International Legal Research Interest Group:

International Refugee Law Interest Group:

  • 7th Annual International Refugee Law Student Writing Competition: Yogi Bratajaya, "404 Services Not Found: The Human Rights of Refugees in the Digital Welfare State"

Lieber Society on the Law of Armed Conflict:

  • Richard R. Baxter Military Prize: Lt Commander Dennis E. Harbin, U.S. Navy, "Targeting Submarine Cables"
  • Francis Lieber Book Prize: Giovanni Mantilla, Lawmaking Under Pressure: International Humanitarian Law and Internal Armed Conflict (Cornell University Press, 2020)
  • Francis Lieber Article Prize: Kathryn Hampton, "Born in the Twilight Zone: Birth Registration in Insurgent Areas," Int'l Review of the Red Cross
  • Francis Lieber Article Prize (Honorable Mention): Ross Brown, "Conflict on the Final Frontier: Deficiencies in the Law of Space Conflict Below Armed Attack, and How to Remedy Them," Georgetown Journal of International Law

Women in International Law Interest Group:

  • Prominent Woman in International Law: The Honorable Gabrielle Kirk McDonald
  • WILIG Scholarship Prize: Irini Papanicolopulu, Gender and the Law of the Sea (Brill, 2019)

International Legal Research Interest Group:

International Refugee Law Interest Group:

  • 6th Annual International Refugee Law Student Writing Competition: Delphine Rodrik, "Rights Not Recognized: Applying ICCPR Article 16 to Migrants Pushed Back from International Borders"

Lieber Society on the Law of Armed Conflict:

  • Richard R. Baxter Military Prize: Captain Cort S. Thompson, U.S. Army, "Avoiding Pyrrhic Victories in Orbit: A Need for Kinetic Anti-Satellite Arms Control in the 21st Century"
  • Richard R. Baxter Military Prize (Honorable Mention): Commander Wilson VornDick, U.S. Navy Reserve, and Major Jahara Matisek, U.S. Air Force, "Bitcoin's Blockchain Technology for Hybrid Warfare: Laws to the Rescue?," the Journal of Information Warfare
  • Francis Lieber Book Prize: Aniel Caro de Beer, Peremptory Norms of General International Law (Jus Cogens) and the Prohibition of Terrorism (Brill Nijhoff, 2019)
  • Francis Lieber Article Prize: Ryan Liss, "Crimes Against the Sovereign Order: Rethinking International Criminal Justice," American Journal of International Law

Women in International Law Interest Group:

  • Prominent Woman in International Law: The Honorable Elizabeth Odio Benito, Inter-American Court of Human Rights
International Refugee Law Interest Group
  • Student Writing Competition: Emilia Truluck, "Colonizing Queerness: Determining LGBT credibility in the UK asylum system"
Lieber Society on the Law of Armed Conflict
  • Francis Lieber Prize (Book): Rouba Al-Salem, Security, Rights and Law: The Israeli High Court of Justice and Israeli Settlements in the Occupied West Bank (Routledge Press)
  • Francis Lieber Prize (Article): Polina Levina Mahnad, "Protecting Cultural Property in Syria: New Opportunities for States to Enhance Compliance with International Law" (Int'l Rev. Red Cross 2018)
  • Richard R. Baxter Military Prize: Capt. John Thomas Bennett, "Reaping the Whirlwind: The norm of reciprocity and the law of aerial bombardment during World War II"
  • Honorable Mention, Richard R. Baxter Military Prize: Maj. Trent Powell, Lt. Col. Shane Reeves, and Col. David Wallace, "Revisiting Belligerent Reprisals in the Age of Cyber"
Women in International Law Interest Group
  • Prominent Woman in International Law 2019: Tracy Robinson, Senior Lecturer, Deputy Dean at the University of the West Indies

Interest Groups

The Africa Interest Group (AIG) is committed to examining and organizing events that foster dialogue on contemporary legal and socio-political issues that directly impact the character and well being of African states and African people on the Continent and in the Diaspora.
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The rise of corruption-related civil protest, law enforcement, and corporate compliance around the world has spawned a robust debate on the aims and impact of anti-corruption law. This Interest Group will create a forum, situated between the ivory tower and the compliance seminar, in which scholars, practitioners, and advocates can mutually engage. Topics may include bribery, money laundering...

Just as the Mediterranean was to the Roman world, and the Atlantic to the "modern" world, so shall the Pacific be to the "post-modern" world. This Interest Group brings together lawyers, scholars and others interested in the topic to inform each other of developments relating to international law and international relations in this vast and important region. Topics include such diverse areas...

ASIL-Midwest, a pilot project launched in February 2010, is designed to enhance the Society's regional presence. ASIL-Midwest will bring together Midwestern attorneys, academicians, judges, students, and others interested in international law and its subfields. Planned activities range from sponsorship of conferences to hosting of panel discussions and resource sessions. The aim of the group...

ASIL-Southeast, a pilot project launched at the 2012 Midyear Meeting in Georgia, is designed to provide a regional hub for ASIL members throughout the southeastern United States. ASIL-Southeast will bring together in the southeastern United States attorneys, academicians, judges, students, and others interested in international law and its subfields. Potential future activities range from...

The international law of cultural heritage and the arts has typically been concerned with artistic objects and cultural property, yet in a broader sense the law of cultural heritage also applies to intangible aspects of culture, or “living” cultural heritage, which involves the customs and practices of traditional and indigenous cultures.

Some of the focal points in this area of...

Given the embryonic state of scholarship in this area, ASIL’s International and Comparative Disaster Law Interest Group will serve as a central catalyst for debate and reflection. The group will initiate and facilitate a global knowledge exchange among academics, policymakers and practitioners from a variety of disciplines who share a common belief that law can--and must--serve an important...

The Dispute Resolution Interest Group was established to explore issues of the avoidance and settlement of private economic disputes through agreed and efficient procedures, focusing specifically on international trade and investment, and on the increasing role of trade in services in the international economy. The Group provides an active forum for the exchange of fresh ideas and new theories...

Global health law is a growing and dynamic field that encompasses all the actors, institutions, and applicable legal frameworks that operate with the goal of achieving "the highest attainable standard of health as a fundamental right of every human being". Responding to an increased interest among international law practitioners and academics, the purpose of the Interest Group in Global Health...

The Government Attorneys Interest Group will provide a forum for the discussion of international legal issues of particular interest to international lawyers or other foreign affairs professionals working for the United States Government or other governments and international organizations, including diplomats posted to embassies, missions or consulates in Washington, New York, and elsewhere....

Within the human rights revolution that is affecting and changing the world, the members of the Human Rights Interest Group work in the interface between research and activism, between law teaching and law practice, and between observation and participation. The HRIG provides a means for communication between hundreds of human rights academics, advocates and practitioners before...

Intellectual property rights are one of the most discussed global topics of today. There has been a generalized focus within the Interest Group on the intersection of intellectual property and trade law because, in addition to being a stand-alone issue, intellectual property is also increasingly being addressed as a trade issue under the global trade framework. The IPIG serves to bring members...

The Interest Group on International Courts and Tribunals focuses on the work of the many existing and proposed international judicial and arbitral bodies. Its aim is to monitor and provide information and commentary on the work of all international courts and tribunals, as well as hybrid and international tribunals. Our focus includes the International Court of Justice, the International...

The International Criminal Law Interest Group has a primary purpose of facilitating networking on research, studies, drafts and proposals of a private or governmental nature concerning international criminal law and institutions, specifically the most severe international crimes such as genocide, war crimes, and other crimes against humanity, and issues of international criminal tribunals vs....

The International Economic Law Interest Group of the American Society of International Law is devoted to the study and practice of international economic law. It engages in various activities, including conferences and study projects, and seeks to assist in fostering greater understanding and education in international economic law. It publishes a newsletter and maintains an e-mail listserv...

This Interest Group was formed to examine issues of development and implementation of international environmental law such as environmental governance, climate change, globalization and environmental law, water law, and the effect of war on the environment. The group emphasizes the inter-disciplinary nature of environmental law and its presence as a core area of international law, and looks at...

In both international law and the American Society of International Law, there is a long and distinguished history of interdisciplinary scholarship connecting social science theories and methods to the practice of law. The organized interest section on International Law and Social Science is designed to bring together analysts employing a range of empirical methods, qualitative and quantitative,...

The International Law and Technology Interest Group (ILTechIG) focuses on the implications of technological advances across a range of international law disciplines. Technology has become an important issue in almost every area of international law practice and scholarship. International trade treaties are increasingly focused on questions of data flows, privacy, and digital products and...

The purpose of the International Law in Domestic Courts Interest Group is to promote dialogue among scholars and lawyers who are interested in issues pertaining to the application of international law and foreign relations law in domestic courts. The Group convenes a meeting once a year, generally in the fall or winter, to provide an opportunity for those interested to present works-in-...

The International Legal Research Interest Group (ILRIG) is dedicated primarily to its members' professional development in the areas of foreign, comparative, and international law (FCIL). ILRIG provides a forum for discussion among legal information professionals, legal scholars, and attorneys. ILRIG enhances its members' opportunities to share their knowledge about available FCIL resources,...

The purpose of the International Legal Theory Interest Group is to give members an opportunity to exchange and develop ideas on theoretical issues in the fields of international law and international relations, and to stimulate a discussion of these issues within the legal academic community, with scholars from non-legal disciplines, among policymakers, and among members of the general public...

One remarkable change in international law since the end of World War II has involved the formation and growth of multilateral organizations as actors in the international arena. As the role of such organizations expands, the interplay of politics and law in the establishment and enforcement of international practices and norms must be considered. ASIL's International Organizations Interest...

While the plight of refugees and internally displaced persons touches on a number of fields of study, including Human Rights Law, Humanitarian Law, International Criminal Law, and the Law of International Organizations, few resources for interaction exist that have the capacity or legal focus to comprehensively cover all topics of relevance to the ever expanding, complex field of Refugee Law....

The Latin America Interest Group provides a forum on Latin America and international law. The Group promotes discussion and reflection on a broad spectrum of contemporary issues of importance to the region. Toward this end, it organizes roundtables, panels, regular meetings, and other events. LAIG also seeks to collaborate with other ASIL interest groups, especially when its activities...

The Law of the Sea Interest Group (LOSIG) will provide a forum for those involved in or interested in international ocean law issues including maritime navigation and delimitation, jurisdiction over maritime spaces, exploration and exploitation of the seabed, international fisheries, marine pollution, dispute settlement, and the several international institutions focused on the law of the sea....

The Lieber Society serves as ASIL's focal point for the study and dissemination of the law of armed conflict, or international humanitarian law, and other public international law related to the conduct of military operations. The Lieber Society facilitates dialogue by bringing together academics and governmental and non-governmental practitioners, civilian and military, from the United States...

The purpose of the International Migration Law Group is to promote dialogue among scholars and lawyers who are interested in contributing to the development of international migration law as a cohesive field. We welcome contributions on a broad range of international and comparative legal topics, including citizenship, expulsion, irregular migration, labor migration, and trafficking. The Group...

The Minorities in International Law Interest Group (MILIG) was created to promote and enhance the careers of minorities in the field of international law. MILIG supports members of minorities who are already in the field in order to allow the development of their full potential for achievement and leadership, but also supports, encourages, and enhances opportunities for others who are...

The New Professionals Interest Group is comprised of law students and international lawyers new to the field of international law. The group's activities include career development programs, networking events, receptions, and seminars on careers in international law and have featured collaboration with similar groups, such as The International Law Students Association. The New Professionals...
The Nonproliferation, Arms Control, and Disarmament (NACD) Interest Group is designed to serve as a focal point for the study and development of law relating to nonproliferation, arms control, and disarmament. It aims to facilitate exchange between governmental and non-governmental experts on NACD law, between NACD law experts and policymakers, and between NACD law experts and experts in other...

The Private International Law Interest Group was formed for the purpose of exploring the relationship between public and private international law, under the general thesis that they exert reciprocal influence. This exploration involves making developments in the field more readily accessible to members and the general public, providing opportunities for members to have input on the processes...

The Interest Group on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples examines the rights and status of indigenous peoples in international law, helping to bring together scholars and activists to participate in transnational information sharing and cooperation in this vital, yet often overlooked, struggle. In a day and time where reactive, defense issues dominate the interchange of ideas, emancipatory...

The Space Law Interest Group (SpaceIG) serves as a forum, resource, and community for scholars and practitioners of the international law governing the use and exploration of outer space.

Since the dawn of the space age, international law has played an essential role in the peaceful use of outer space by an ever-growing range of actors. The space applications that are ubiquitous...

The Teaching International Law Interest Group provides a forum for those involved in or interested in teaching international law to discuss approaches, methods, and new techniques taking place both in the United States and abroad. The Group operates under the premise that effective teaching leads to increased public awareness and a greater understanding of international law. Although innovative...

The Transitional Justice and Rule of Law Interest Group invites those ASIL members with a clear interest in justice and transition issues in fragile states, post-conflict and post repressive regime societies. Transitional Justice and Rule of Law represent two interrelated legal and political frames within which to assess and operationalize social change. Historically, Transitional Justice...

The Women in International Law Interest Group (WILIG) was created to promote and enhance the careers of women in the field of international law. WILIG not only supports women who are already in the field in order to allow the development of their full potential for achievement and leadership, but also supports, encourages, and enhances opportunities for others who are interested in entering...