In light of recent reports on the Biden administration's new policy limiting the use of drone strikes in counterterrorism operations outside war zones, Visiting Professor Mary Ellen O'Connell and Columbia Law's Priyanka Motaparthy will discuss the evolution and the legal and ethical dimensions of the U.S. practice of targeted killings over the past two decades, including how this practice has undermined respect for the prohibition on the use of force. 

Professor Mary Ellen O'Connell is the Robert and Marion Short Professor of Law at Notre Dame, and a current Visiting Professor at UChicago. Professor O'Connell's research is in the areas of international law on the use of force, international dispute resolution, and international legal theory. She is known for her defense of the prohibition on force and continues to focus on U.S. uses of force in the counterterrorism context. 

Priyanka Motaparthy is the Director of the Project on Counterterrorism, Armed Conflict, and Human Rights at Columbia Law's Human Rights Institute. Previously, Motaparthy served as acting Emergencies Director at Human Rights Watch (HRW), where she led the Emergencies Division's investigations and reporting on global atrocities and human rights crises. She brings expertise in documenting human rights abuses in armed conflicts and exposing security force violations from her nine years as an investigator with HRW. 

This event is sponsored by the International Law Society.

Lunch will be provided. 

This convening is open to all invitees who are compliant with UChicago vaccination requirements and, because of ongoing health risks, particularly to the unvaccinated, participants are expected to adopt the risk mitigation measures (masking and social distancing, etc.) appropriate to their vaccination status as advised by public health officials or to their individual vulnerabilities as advised by a medical professional. Public convening may not be safe for all and carries a risk for contracting COVID-19, particularly for those unvaccinated. Participants will not know the vaccination status of others and should follow appropriate risk mitigation measures.

This is a mask-optional convening. We strongly encourage unvaccinated individuals and those preferring to wear masks to do so.

A visitor’s decision to be present on campus and/or in University facilities serves as their acknowledgment and acceptance of the potential risks posed to them by COVID-19.