Irish Centre for Human Rights Blog

Dr Anita Ferrara is Assistant Professor at the Irish Centre for Human Rights, University of Galway, and the Leader of the Research Cluster on Transitional Justice and Peace Building  (TJPR).

–

On July 15-16 2025, representatives and delegates from approximately 30 nations, along with UN officials such as Francesca Albanese, the Special Rapporteur for the Occupied Palestinian Territories, and Riyad Mansour, the Permanent Observer of Palestine to the United Nations, gathered in Bogotá, Colombia. They were joined by members of civil society from around the world for the Hague Group’s landmark emergency conference, which was convened in response to the ongoing attacks by the US administration on the current multilateral system.

The Hague Group is co-chaired by the governments of Colombia and South Africa, and initially comprised Bolivia, Cuba, Honduras, Senegal, Malaysia and Namibia. It was created in January 2025 to stop the ongoing genocide in Gaza and to pressure states to comply with the International Court of Justice (ICJ) Advisory Opinion on Israel’s Occupation of the Palestinian Territories, the Resolution adopted by the General Assembly as a direct response to the ICJ’s opinion, and the obligations arising for all Members States to implement the ICJ’s provisional measures, issued on 26 January, 28 March, and 24 May 2024 in the South Africa v. Israel case.

The Conference legally and morally condemns the ongoing live-streamed genocide in Gaza and represents a significant choice of location within the Global South. The Bogotá Conference challenges and disrupts the foundations of the current international order, which has been largely defined by powerful states that are increasingly prioritising force and power over the rules they once accepted and helped to form in good faith after 1945. The Conference not only demands the upholding of current international law norms, decisions, and rulings, but also advocates for the establishment of a new legal and political order.The challenges we face today, from climate collapse and digital surveillance to settler colonialism and the decline of multilateralism, demonstrate that the framework of international law is not only in crisis but also in need of profound transformations and reformation.

Choosing Bogotá was significant for several reasons. Colombia’s recent experiences, particularly its peace process and the establishment of an innovative transitional justice framework, have introduced legal innovations that are becoming important examples on a global scale. These mechanisms not only address past violence but also incorporate diverse legal frameworks and approaches to address it. This includes indigenous and Afro-descendant jurisdictions, gender justice, restorative justice, environmental and territorial justice, and the pursuit of historical truth.

The current transitional process in Colombia demonstrates the potential for creating pluralistic and alternative normative systems, while also highlighting the limitations of traditional liberal legality. Other countries in the Global South are leading efforts to reshape a new international legal order. Normative frameworks are emerging from unexpected sources, including the Mapuche constitutional claims in Chile, African regional courts, Caribbean reparations commissions, and decolonial feminist rights networks.

The Bogotá meeting could mark a historic moment in the redesign of the global legal landscape. While it does not provide a roadmap for the future, it offers a counter-hegemonic perspective. As the liberal legal order continues to fall apart, our future will rely on the legal visions we foster as much as on repairing institutions and drafting new agreements. New York, Geneva, and The Hague are no longer the sole centres of international law; in 2025, this focus has symbolically shifted to Bogotá.

In 1948, Bogotá hosted the adoption of the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man, the first international human rights instrument of a general nature. This declaration preceded the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which was adopted on December 10, 1948.

Today, the Bogotá Conference has the potential to initiate a new global legal order aimed at redistributing legal, territorial, and epistemic power.