How States Use the UN General Assembly to Create International Obligations

Resolutions adopted by the UN General Assembly are often framed in normative language. Yet, they acquire legal significance only to the extent that states find it desirable or convenient. In her talk on her new book, Empirical and Theoretical Perspectives on International Law: How States Use the UN General Assembly to Create International Obligations (Cambridge University Press 2022), Professor Rossana Deplano, who directs the Centre for European Law and Internationalisation at Leicester Law School, sheds light on the processes through which UN General Assembly resolutions acquire legal significance through state practice. She shows how states attribute legal significance to resolutions in three different contexts: at the time of adoption, within domestic law and in international practice. The insights are quintessential to understand the making and politics of public international law.