High-Level Dialogue on Justice and Capacity-Building in International Law

13 May 2025, Geneva, Switzerland — On 7 May 2025, The United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), in collaboration with the Permanent Mission of the State of Qatar to the United Nations in Geneva and the International Law Association (GCC Branch), hosted a High-Level Dialogue on Justice and Capacity-Building in International Law this week at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.

The event brought together diplomats, legal scholars, and practitioners from around the world to examine how Developing Countries, Least Developed Countries (LDCs), and Small Island Developing States (SIDS) can strengthen their legal capacity to engage with and shape international legal processes. Discussions focused on redefining legal empowerment beyond technical training, emphasizing long-term strategic engagement, litigation readiness, and legal diplomacy as essential tools for states to assert their interests and advance justice.

Opening the event, H.E. Dr. Hend Abdalrahman Al-Muftah, Permanent Representative of Qatar to the United Nations in Geneva, highlighted Qatar’s commitment to legal capacity-building and regional cooperation. Ms. Michelle Gyles-McDonnough, UNITAR Executive Director and UN Assistant Secretary-General, underlined the Institute’s longstanding support for developing countries in accessing and leveraging international legal systems. In her opening remarks, she noted: 

We are living in a time of profound turbulence with complex, interlinked global challenges that span political, environmental, economic, technological and social dimensions, with cascading impacts on people. The international architecture is under enormous strain and international norms are being challenged. Therefore, the work of the United Nations and its Member States to secure peace development and human rights, rooted in international law and shared global norms and values, is more critical than ever.