International Bar Association: Global Insight podcast

As AI increasingly becomes ingrained in many aspects of everyday life, there’s a danger that important safeguards and risks are sidelined. In this Global Insight podcast, IBA Multimedia Journalist Alice Johnson speaks to leading international human rights lawyer and technology law specialist, Susie Alegre, about human rights concerns, regulations and why AI can’t solve all the problems of the criminal justice system. 

The approach to international institutions, cooperation and development from the current US administration has significant implications for areas such as soft power and global justice. The speakers discussing the issues in this Global Insight podcast, taken from an IBA webinar earlier this year, include those with senior experience in previous US administrations. With: Beth Van Schaack, Senior Fellow, Center for Human Rights and International Justice, Stanford; former US Ambassador-at-Large for Global Criminal Justice; John Bellinger, Co-Chair, Global Law and Public Policy Group, Arnold & Porter, Washington, DC; former Legal Adviser to the US Department of State and Senior Associate Counsel to President George W Bush; and Mark Ellis, Executive Director, IBA Alberto Mora, Former Senior Fellow, Harvard Carr-Ryan Center for Human Rights, former General Counsel, US Navy

Today’s economic and political climate presents the BRICS countries with a number of challenges and opportunities – from internal cooperation, to BRICS Pay, to navigating relations with the US. Considering the issues in this Global Insight podcast are: Michael Diaz, Global Managing Partner, Diaz Reus; Mihaela Papa, Director of Research leading the BRICS Lab, MIT Centre for International Studies; and Hans-Dieter Holtzmann, Project Director for Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay at the Friedrich Naumann Foundation.

After over 20 weeks of hearings, the High Court in London recently ruled that the UK government acted lawfully in continuing to supply F-35 jet parts to Israel through a global pool. While acknowledging the parts could be used in ways that breach international humanitarian law, the judges said the issue is one for the executive, ‘not for the courts’. The case, brought by Palestinian NGO Al-Haq, challenged the UK’s decision to exempt the parts when it suspended 30 arms export licences to Israel in September. Though dismissed, the case has spotlighted UK arms exports and the government's assessment of Israel’s actions in Gaza. In this Global Insight podcast, IBA Multimedia Journalist Alice Johnson speaks to Jennine Walker, senior lawyer at Global Legal Action Network and part of the team who represented Al-Haq in the case, and Sara Elizabeth Dill, an international human rights lawyer and officer of the IBA’s War Crimes Committee. Additional comment comes from David Lammy MP, UK Foreign Secretary, at a Foreign Affairs Committee meeting.

Digital assets such as cryptocurrencies and NFTs emerged as disruptors, designed to challenge traditional financial systems and sidestep conventional regulation. But, as these technologies have developed, so too have legal frameworks. At the end of 2024, MiCA (Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation) entered into force in the EU, and the US House of Representatives is set to consider three crypto-related bills in summer 2025, including the GENIUS Act, which seeks to establish the first comprehensive federal framework for the issuance, regulation and oversight of payment stablecoins in the United States. In this Global Insight podcast, four experts — who spoke at the IBA’s Annual Conference in Mexico — explore the effect regulation can have on digital assets: Luis Urrutia, Deputy General Counsel, International Monetary Fund; Lee Pascoe, Special Counsel, Norton Rose Fulbright; Drew Hinkes, digital assets partner at Winston & Strawn;  Jon Frost, Head of Innovation and the Digital Economy unit at the Bank for International Settlement;