Toppling heads: regime change and immunity in international law

What happens to international law when it is ignored, and regime change is driven by force rather than democracy? What limits, if any, do multilateral institutions still impose on powerful states and the immunity of leaders?

The past few years have seen a significant erosion of multilateralism, and the international legal order has been put under tremendous strain. One vivid indicator of this new era was the capture by United States forces of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, in a military operation in Caracas on 3 January 2026. President Trump announced that the United States would 'run' Venezuela pending a 'safe, proper and judicious transition' of power, while the Department of Justice published indictments seeking their prosecution before a New York court.

In this lecture, Professor Philippa Webb, one of the leading scholars and practitioners of international law, situates that episode within a wider context of geopolitical rupture: the paralysis and disengagement confronting the United Nations as it marks its 80th anniversary, and the resurgence of crimes against humanity and genocide eight decades after Nuremberg. What remains of the legacy of the United Nations and Nuremberg, and how might their principles be re-deployed, rather than merely commemorated, in today’s international relations?

Organisers

This is the 22nd Ruth Steinkraus-Cohen International Law Lecture, jointly organised by the Centre for International Studies and Diplomacy (CISD) at SOAS University of London, United Nations Association UK (Westminster branch), and Bar Council of England and Wales.