International science law

Can there be scientific and technological practice and progress without a public international law of science and technology, and without corresponding international institutions ? What, for example, should a public international law on artificial intelligence look like, and how can we avoid (self-)" regulation " by private research,public-private" governance " or the use of so-called " ethical "standardsin this field ? In another field, biomedicine, hasn't the time come to ensure the effectiveness of the right of equal access to scientific research and its applications, for example in the field of vaccines, including through the institutionalization of international cooperation in scientific matters, and by giving priority to this human right over competing intellectual property rights ?

Conversely, what role should scientists play in the development and implementation of international law ? For example, is the influence of the IPCC and generally of all forms of scientific expertise on the development of international environmental law legitimate ? Is this an example to be followed in other international law regimes, such as international health, food, energy or space law ? What are we to make of the alleged objectivity, neutrality and universality of " scientific diplomacy " in a world in need of multilateralism ?

And, when all is said and done, what " international law " and " science " are we talking about ? Is there a way beyond the international legal categories shaped by contemporary technoscience, such as the precautionary principle, scientific causality and environmental impact assessments ? And what are we to think, conversely, of the individualistic, a-cultural and a-historical conception of " la " science in the singular conveyed by many contemporary international law regimes, such as international health or biodiversity law, and as can be observed in the above all instrumental and proprietary treatment reserved therein for indigenous or local knowledge ?

This year's lecture opens a multi-year cycle of lectures on the international law of science. Its title, , is a double entry: it will deal both with " droit international en science " and with " science en droit international ". Our aim is to grasp the relationship between international law and the sciences, particularly in terms of their normativity and universality, as well as the relationship between the two in the future. The lecture will focus first and foremost on the role that international law plays and should play in the public institution of an autonomous and universal science, or at least in the guarantee of a public, egalitarian international normative and institutional framework common to all forms of science - notably through the human right to participate in and benefit from science, a right universally declared in 1948 but largely ignored since. Conversely, the lecture will also examine, again critically, the growing normative involvement of science and technology in international law, notably through the scientific conditionality of many decisions and procedures, the regularly renewed invocation of the " laws of science " or even " of nature " and, more generally, the recourse to epistemic authority in the face of uncertainty, and the questions of validity and legitimacy of international law that this raises. In this respect, the notion of " droit de la science " takes on an even fuller and more complex meaning than its accepted meaning, since the latter usually characterizes above all the relationship between law and science, with law on the one hand limiting science more than instituting it and guaranteeing its autonomy and diversity, and science on the other informing law more than transforming or replacing it. In international law, and in addition to these latter questions, it is above all the questions of law (notably the so-called " natural ") as a science and, by extension, of the science of law that have occupied the thinkers of modern international law. However, these different relationships between science and international law have never before been addressed in the more comprehensive way proposed here, or at least not in a systematic way that avoids both the Charybdis of legal scientism and the Scylla of scientific legalism at the international level. This is a pressing issue, given the now global scale of many scientific practices and the threats they face ; the increased economic and military, and therefore legal, competition between states, but also, as a result of the privatization of research, between private groups, and even between them ; deepening inequalities in access to and participation in science and its applications ; and, finally, the acceleration of scientific and technological developments with dual use or, at least, with a high and lasting impact on the human being, his world and the law, such as geo-engineering, biotechnology and artificial intelligence.

The lecture will cover a wide range of topics, including the human right to participate in science, the International Law of Scientific Public Goods, and the strengths and weaknesses of intergovernmental scientific institutions such as UNESCO, the OECD or specialized UN or EU agencies, and non-governmental or mixed institutions such as the ISC, iAP or IAC, the legal status of indigenous and local knowledge, the place of scientific diplomacy and the role of scientific advice and expertise within international organizations, procedures and tribunals, and the relationship between science and international democracy. Some of these themes will be taken up again at this year's seminar.