Annual Kirby Lecture on International Law
Established to recognise the long passion and service to International Law by The Hon Michael Kirby, this lecture series is delivered each year by notable experts and key legal office holders.
Past events
- Professor Anne Orford
The 2022 Annual Kirby Lecture in International Law, hosted by the Centre for Public and International Law, will be delivered by Professor Anne Orford (Melbourne Law School).
- Professor Fleur Johns
The 2021 Annual Kirby Lecture in International, hosted by the Centre for Public and International Law, will be delivered by Professor Fleur Johns (UNSW Sydney).
- Sir Kenneth Keith
- Justice Melissa Perry, Federal Court of Australia
Water is key to the existence of life. From the nourishment of our physical selves, to sanitation, health, agriculture, and energy production our existence and way of life depends upon access to adequate and reliable supplies of fresh-water.
- Justin Gleeson SC, Solicitor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia.
- Professor Gerry Simpson, The University of Melbourne
On 12 October 1915, an English nurse, Edith Cavell was executed by the Germans in Brussels and partly as a result, there emerged an almost entirely novel way of thinking about international law. Defeated enemies became ‘war criminals’, atrocities became ‘crimes against humanity’ and (a certain sort of) war became ‘aggression’.
- Professor Andrew Byrnes, University of New South Wales
Historically and in established positive law the power to make international law and to interpret it authoritatively has been a prerogative claimed and exercised primarily by States. It is commonplace to note that the formal and informal participation of non-State actors (including civil society actors) in the making of international law is to be seen in many areas.
- Emeritus Professor Gillian Triggs, President, Australian Human Rights Commission
Professor Triggs graduated in Law from the University of Melbourne in 1968 and gained a PhD in 1982. She has combined an academic career with international commercial legal practice and worked with governments and international organizations on human rights law.
- Judge Christopher Weeramantry, Former Judge of the International Court of Justice
Judge Christopher Weeramantry, AM is a former Judge of the International Court of Justice(ICJ) (1991 to 2000) serving as Vice-President of the ICJ from 1997 to 2000. Prior to that service, Justice Weeramantry was a Judge of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka from 1967 to 1972 and a Professor at Monash University. He is currently an Emeritus Professor at Monash University.
