PROFILE
 

PhD, Graduate Institute of International Studies and University of Geneva
Professor Emeritus of International Law at the Geneva Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in which he thought between 1995 and 2022, Member of the Institut de Droit International and its Secretary-General between 2015 and 2024. Founder of the Latin American Society of International Law and its first Director-General. Judge ad hoc of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea for the “Zheng He” case . He has acted as advocate and counsel in contentious and advisory proceedings before the International Court of Justice and the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea. Arbitrator in more than twenty international investment tribunals. Rapporteur of the Council of Europe, the International Law Association and the Institut de Droit International on matters of succession or jurisdictional immunity of States. He is one of the co-founders of the Geneva LLM dispute resolution program (MIDS). Author of more than hundred publications in French, English and Spanish in the field of International Law, including his book Possession contestée et souveraineté territoriale (Adverse Possession and Territorial Sovereignty) (Presses universitaires de France, 1997) awarded the Paul Guggenheim Prize in 1997. 

Personal website: https://marcelokohen.net  

EXPERTISE DETAILS
 

• Conflict Resolution
• General theory of international law;
• Territorial and border disputes;
• Judicial settlement of international disputes.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

Books

• Institut de Droit international. 150 ans de contributions au développement du droit international/150 Years of Contributing to the Development of International Law. Justitia et Pace (1873-2023), Paris, Ed. A. Pedone, 2023, 1053p. (co-editor with Iris van der Heijden)
• The Institute of International Law's Resolution on State Succession and State Responsibility: Introduction, Text and Commentaries (co-author with Patrick Dumberry), Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2019, 250 p.
• Research Handbook on Territorial Disputes in International Law (co-ed. with Mamadou Hébié), Cheltenham, Edward Elgar Publ., 2018, 476p.
• Territoriality in International Law (ed.), Cheltenham, Edward Elgar Publ, 2016, 704p. 
• Las Malvinas entre el Derecho y la Historia. Refutación del folleto británico 'Más allá de la historia oficial. La verdadera historia de las Falklands/Malvinas' (with Facundo Rodríguez), Buenos Aires, Editorial Universitaria de Buenos Aires (Eudeba), 2015, 304p. English version: The Malvinas/Falklands between History and Law. Refutation of the British Pamphlet : ‘Getting It Right : the Real History of the Falklands/Malvinas’,  CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2017, 234p. (also available at : www.malvinas-falklands.net)  
• Diplomatic and Judicial Means of Dispute Settlement, Leiden, M. Nijhoff, 2013, xv+337p. (co-editor with Laurence Boisson de Chazournes & Jorge Viñuales).
• La promotion de la justice, des droits de l’homme et du règlement des conflits par le droit international : Liber Amicorum Lucius Caflisch (ed.), Leiden: Martinus Nijhoff, 2006, xxviii+1228 p.
• Secession. International Law Perspectives (ed.), Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2006, xxxvi+510p. (paperback edition: 2012)
• State Practice Regarding State Immunities (co-ed. with Gerhard Hafner and Susan Breau), Leiden, M. Nijhoff and Council of Europe, 2006, xxviii+1100p.
• La pratique et le droit international, Société française pour le droit international, colloque de Genève (co-ed. with Laurence Boisson de Chazournes and Gionata Buzzini), Paris, Pedone, 2004, 308p.
• Possession contestée et souveraineté territoriale. Paris, P.U.F. (collection de l'Institut universitaire de hautes études internationales), 1997, xxv+582 p. Paul Guggenheim Prize1997.

Reports

• "State Succession in Matters of State Responsibility. Final Report", Annuaire de l’Institut de Droit international, Session de Tallinn, 2015, vol. 76, pp. 509-606.  

Some Selected Recent Articles

• “Does General International Law Incorporate the Concept of Social Justice?”, in G. Politakis, T. Kohiyama & Th. Lieby (eds), ILO 100, Law for Social Justice, Geneva, International Labour Organization, 2019, pp. 91-100.
• New Introduction to Jennings’ The Acquisition of Territory in International Law, Manchester, Manchester University Press, 2017, pp. 1-13.
• « À propos de « L’autodétermination de petits territoires revendiqués par des États tiers » de Denise Mathy (1974-I et 1975-I) : quatre décennies plus tard », Revue belge de droit international, 2015, vol. 1-2, pp. 310-318.
• « L’utilisation du précédent devant la CIJ : les immunités pénales des détenteurs de fonctions officielles à la lumière des affaires Yerodia et Djibouti c. France », in Société française pour le droit international, Le précédent en droit international. Colloque de Strasbourg, Paris, E. A. Pedone, 2016, pp. 109-115.
• « Conclusions », in Société française pour le droit international, Droit des frontières internationales/The Law of International Boundaries, Paris, E. A. Pedone, 2016, pp.  319-319.
• “Is the Internal Waters Regime Excluded from the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea ?”, in Del Castillo, Lilian (ed.), Law of the Sea, from Grotius to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea. Liber Amicorum Judge Hugo Caminos, Brill, Leiden, 2015, pp. 110-124.
• “‘Considerations about What is Common’: the I.C.J. and Specialised Bodies”, in d’Argent P. & Combacau, J. (eds), Considérations sur ce qui est privé : essais sur les limites du droit international / Reflections on what remains private : essays on the limits of international law. Liber amicorum Joe Verhoeven, Bruylant, 2014, pp. 287-299.
• “The Court’s Contribution to Determining the Content of Fundamental Principles of International Law”, in G. Gaja & J. Grote Stoutenburg (eds), Enhancing the Rule of Law through the International Court of Justice, Leiden, Brill-Nijhoof, 2014, pp. 139-150.
• “La relation titres/effectivités dans la jurisprudence récente de la Cour international de Justice (2004-2012)”, in D. Alland et al. (eds), Unité et diversité du droit international. Ecrits en l’honneur du Professeur Pierre-Marie Dupuy, Leiden, M. Nijhoff, 2014, pp. 599-614.
• “La portée et la validité des clauses contractuelles exorbitantes de renonciation à l’immunité des Etats”, in M. G. Kohen & D. Bentolila (eds), Mélanges en l’honneur du professeur Jean-Michel Jacquet, Le droit des rapports internationaux économiques et privés, Paris, LexisNexis, 2013, pp. 201-213.

See all

Courses and seminar

Lectures recorded by the United Nations Audiovisual Library of International Law:

• (1) The Relationship between Titles and Effectivités in Territorial Disputes ("La relation titres-effectivités dans le contentieux territorial") (in French)
• (2) Uti Possidetis and Maritime Delimitations (in English)
• (3) Practice and Theory of the Formation of International Law ("La  práctica y la teoría de las fuentes del derecho internacional") (in Spanish)
• (4) The Institute of International Law (in English)
• (5) L'institut de Droit International (French)

Conference given at the Great Hall of the International Court of Justice on "The ICJ in the Service of Peace and Justice", contribution 'La contribution de la Cour à la détermination du contenu des principes fondamentaux du droit international',  23 September 2013 [video 23':37"]

Apart from general courses in public international law:

• The International Legality. General Course of Public International Law (2013, 2014, 2015)
• The creation and transformation of the State in contemporary international law (in French & Spanish) HEI: 1995-1996, 1996-1997, 1999-2000. IHEI Paris: 2000. Instituto Universitario Ortega y Gasset, Madrid: 2001, 2002.
• The legal recomposition of European space (in French) European Institute of the University of Geneva: 1997-1998.
• The peaceful settlement of international disputes (in French) HEI: 1997-1998, 1998-1999, 2001-2002, 2002-2003, 2005-2006.
• The time factor in public international law (in French) HEI: 1999-2000, 2000-2001, 2007.
• Globalisation, State and international law (in French) HEI: 2000-2001, 2001-2002. Università degli studi di Lecce, Istituto Superiore Universitario di Formazione Interdisciplinare: 2004.
• The individual and territorial conflicts (in Spanish) The Organization of American States, Rio de Janeiro, 2001.
• The State in contemporary international law (in French) HEI/HEID: 2005-2006, 2006-2007, 2008-2009.
• Territorial conflicts and contemporary international law (in French, Spanish and English) HEI/HEID: 2001-2002, 2002-2003, 2003-2004, 2009-2010, 2010-2011. Instituto Universitario Ortega y Gasset, Madrid : 2003 and 2004. Universidad Complutense Madrid, Law Faculty: 2004. The Hague Academy of International Law, 32nd External Programme in Phnom-Penh: 2004. Université d'Aix-en-Provence, Law Faculty, Second Year Masters in International Law: 2005.
• Territorial Sovereignty (in French) Law Faculty, Università degli studi di Trento: 1996.
• Creation of States and contemporary international law (in Spanish) Castellon, Cursos Bancaja de Derecho Internacional, 2002.
• Current Problems of International Law (in French) Seminar at the Hague Academy of International Law: 2002. HEI: 2002-2003.
• The foundations of International Law (in French) HEI/HEID:2003-2004, 2009-2010, 2010-2011.
• The International Court of Justice: Questions concerning its competence and procedure (in Spanish) Instituto Universitario Ortega y Gasset, Madrid : 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008.
• Judicial Settlement of Inter-State Disputes (in French and in English) HEI/IHEID: 2006-2007, 2007-2008, 2009-2010, 2010-2011. The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (in English) IHEID: 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014. General Course II (ICJ, procedural aspects), LLM in International Dispute Settlement (in English) MIDS: 2008-2009, 2009-2010, 2010-2011.
• The Maritime Delimitation in International Law (in French) IHEID: 2012, 2015.
• Fundamental Principles of International Law (2018, 2020)
• The Sources of International Law (2019)