LSE - London School of Economics - Department of Law - Staff

Christine Chinkin Christine Chinkin

Email: c.chinkin@lse.ac.uk
Administrative support: Susan Hunt
Room: New Academic Building 6.15
Tel. 020-7955-6393

Christine Chinkin is Professor of International Law at the LSE and a barrister, a member of Matrix Chambers. Together with H. Charlesworth, she won the American Society of International Law, 2005 Goler T. Butcher Medal 'for outstanding contributions to the development or effective realization of international human rights law'. She is an Overseas Affiliated Faculty Member, University of Michigan and has been a Scholar in Residence for Amnesty International (2005), as well as Visiting Professor at Columbia University (2004) and at the Arts and Humanities Research Centre, Australian National University (2003).

Research interests

Current research interests are international law-making; gender and post-conflict reconstruction. The second is funded by a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Research and Writing Award that has been running since 2000.

I am also a Member of a Study Group on A Human Security Doctrine for Europe. The Group was convened by and reported to Javier Solana. It prepared the Barcelona Report of the Study Group on Europe's Security Capabilities, 2004 and has been reconvened 2006, funded by the Finnish Government.

I have a joint research grant from Rowntrees Trust and Peacerights (£100,000) to study the 'International Law of Peace' focusing on addressing the current incoherence in international law, particularly in post-conflict situations.

External activities

Law Editor, Encyclopaedia of Globalization
Editor, American Journal of International Law
Advisory Board, Leiden Journal of International Law; European Journal of International Law; British Yearbook of International Law
Director of Studies, International Law Association, 2004 onwards
Member External Gender Forum, Asian Development Bank 2002-3
Expert Consultant, Stop Violence against Women, Amnesty International, 2005
UN Division for the Advancement of Women Expert Consultant on 'Peace Agreements and Gender' (prepared background paper for an Expert Group Meeting, UN Doc. EGM/PEACE/2003/BP.1, available website of the Division), 2003 (see Reports/Discussion papers, above, for link)
Consultant, Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Peru, Gender and Torture, 2002-3.
UN Division for the Advancement of Women, Expert Consultant on Secretary-General's study on Violence against Women 2005.
UN Office High Commissioner of Human Rights, consultant on Human Rights and Human Trafficking, 2002;
OSCE and OHCHR, 2005, consultant on Trafficking against Women.
UNDP, consultant on Gender Mainstreaming and CEDAW Reporting, 2005.
Norwegian Institute for International Affairs, August 2004, collaborative project on Post-Conflict Reconstruction in Africa
Member of the UN Human Rights Council Fact-Finding Mission to Gaza established under resolution S-9/1 of the Council
Scientific expert to the Council of Europe Ad Hoc Committee on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence which has a mandate to to prepare one or more legally binding instrument(s), as appropriate,1 to prevent and combat:
- domestic violence including specific forms of violence against women
- other forms of violence against women
- to protect and support the victims of such violence and prosecute the perpetrators.

Teaching

Books

The Making of International Law (with A. Boyle) (Oxford University Press, Foundations of Public International Law, 2007), 338pp.

This is a study of the principal negotiating processes and law-making tools through which contemporary international law is made. It does not seek to give an account of the traditional - and untraditional - sources and theories of international law, but rather to identify the processes, participants and instruments employed in the making of international law. It accordingly examines some of the mechanisms and procedures whereby new rules of law are created or old rules are amended or abrogated. It concentrates on the UN, other international organisations, diplomatic conferences, codification bodies, NGOs, and courts.

Every society perceives the need to differentiate between its legal norms and other norms controlling social, economic and political behaviour. But unlike domestic legal systems where this distinction is typically determined by constitutional provisions, the decentralised nature of the international legal system makes this a complex and contested issue. Moreover, contemporary international law is often the product of a subtle and evolving interplay of law-making instruments, both binding and non-binding, and of customary law and general principles. Only in this broader context can the significance of so-called 'soft law' and multilateral treaties be fully appreciated.

An important question posed by any examination of international law-making structures is the extent to which we can or should make judgments about their legitimacy and coherence, and if so in what terms. Put simply, a law-making process perceived to be illegitimate or incoherent is more likely to be an ineffective process. From this perspective, the assumption of law-making power by the UN Security Council offers unique advantages of speed and universality, but it also poses a particular challenge to the development of a more open and participatory process observable in other international law-making bodies.

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Dispute Resolution in Australia (with H. Astor) (Butterworths 2nd edition Butterworths, 2002), 462 pp

A critical treatment of processes of alternative dispute resolution currently adopted within Australia. Dispute resolution methods (in particular those adopted in commercial, family, discrimination and international disputes) are considered in a theoretical and evaluative light.

The Boundaries of International Law: A Feminist Analysis (with H. Charlesworth), (Manchester University Press, 2000), 414pp. (Translated into Japanese, 2004).

Halsbury's Laws of Australia, Volume 14 : Foreign Relations paras 215-5 – 215-110; (Butterworths: Sydney, 1994; 2nd edition 2001).

Third Parties in International Law (Oxford University Press, Monograph Series in International Law, 1993), 385pp.

Selected articles
and chapters in books

'Panel Discussion: Has International Law Civilized Conflicts since 1907?' (Chinkin, C.; Tomuschat, C.; Ronzitti, N.) Veroffentlichungen - Walther Schucking Instituts fur Internationales Recht an der Universitat Kiel Vol. 173 (2009) pp. 509-520

'An International Law Framework with Respect to International Peace and Security' in Marlies Glasius and Mary Kaldor, A Human Security Doctrine for Europe (Routledge 2006) 173-199.

Evaluation of the role of international law in human security doctrine, in particular the principles of jus ad bello, jus in bellum and human rights law.

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'Feminist Approaches to International Law: Reflections from Another Century', in Doris Buss and Ambreena Manji (eds), International Law Modern Feminist Approaches (Hart Publishing, 2005) 17-47 (with H. Charlesworth and S. Wright).

This chapter revisits our prize winning article 'Feminist Approaches to International Law, 85 American Journal of International Law (1991) 613. It considers how developments in international law and procedures, global politics and economic globalization have impacted on the transformative potential of international law for the empowerment of women.

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'Post Conflict Reconstruction and Rehabilitation', in Radhika Coomaraswamy and Dilrukshi Fonseka (eds), Peace Work (Women Unlimited/ICES, 2004) 208-37.

Examination of gender roles in post-conflict reconstruction and constitutionalism.

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'Regulatory Frameworks in International Law', in Christine Parker, Colin Scott, Nicola Lacey and John Braithewaite (eds), Regulating Law (Oxford University Press, 2004) 246-268 (with H. Charlesworth)

An examination of international law as a regulatory regime, in particular in the context of post-conflict reconstruction, using Bosnia-Herzegovina and Timor Leste as case studies.

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'Feminist Reflections on International Criminal Law', in Andreas Zimmermann (ed.), International Criminal Law and the Current Development of Public Iinternational Law (Duncker and Humblot, 2002) 125-60.

A feminist analysis of developments in international criminal process and jurisprudence that questions whether there have been significant advances in taking account of women's perspectives.

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The United Nations Decade for the Elimination of Poverty: What Role for International Law? 54 Current Legal Problems, 553-589 (2001)

An examination of how poverty can be recast as a violation of human rights and the evolution of human rights law to address it.

Reports / discussion papers

Gender, Minorities and Indigenous Peoples, (with F. Banda) (Minorities Rights Group, 2004) 36pp (translated into at least eight languages).

A study of the concept of intersectionality in international human rights law, in particular between issues of race, ethnicity and gender).

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Peace Agreements as a Means for Promoting Gender Equality and Ensuring Participation of Women (UN Doc. EGM/PEACE/2003/BP.1)

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