Statement of CCIL President Charles-Emmanuel Côté in support of the Statement of ASIL President regarding the United States and the International Rule of Law

21 February 2025

As President of the Canadian Council on International Law (CCIL), I wish to express my support for the Statement of President Mélida Hodgson of the American Society of International Law (ASIL), regarding the United States and the international rule of law. The vision of international relations based on law and justice that has been spearheaded by ASIL since its foundation remains an inspiration and a shared aspiration for the CCIL. It has also governed the long-standing friendship and strategic and economic partnerships between Canada and the United States, all of which have been premised on respect for international law and resort to peaceful means of dispute settlement when required.

The unprecedented assaults on basic principles of international law and comity – in both the rhetoric and actions of the new US administration – have not spared Canada, and have shaken the very foundations of the relationship between our two countries. I wish to take the opportunity of President Hodgson’s statement to reaffirm the friendship between the CCIL and ASIL, and the value of our tradition of scholarly cooperation through initiatives aiming to promote the international rule of law and the principles that underlie it. President Hodgson’s statement is a strong reminder of the importance of those principles, and a testament to the crucial role played by international law societies in their promotion.