ILS International Law and Practice Course 2026 | May – November 2026, Sydney and Online
Session 4 – Professor Surya Deva
Session 4:
Cost of Conflicts: a course correction rooted in the right to development
Despite a significant increase in global military expenditure since 2015, we are witnessing the highest number of conflicts since the World War II. Who is benefitting from these conflicts? Who is suffering? Evidence is clear in showing that more weapons do not result in more peace. The world community needs a course correction. Drawing on his forthcoming UN General Assembly report, “Peace for development”, Deva will make a case why states and companies should move away from funding war economies. He will talk about the role of the right to development – in particular participation, disarmament and international cooperation – in a course correction towards investing in human rights-based peace.
Date
Tuesday,
4 August 2026
Time
7:45 am - 9:00 am
AEST
Location
To be confirmed
Meet the Speaker
Professor Surya Deva
Professor Surya Deva is the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to development. He is also a Professor at the Macquarie Law School and Director of the Environmental Law Research Centre at Macquarie University. Deva is an internationally recognised scholar in the field of business and human rights.
He served on the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights (2016-22) and was one of the founding Editors-in-Chief of the Business and Human Rights Journal. He also researches in the areas of comparative constitutional law, international human rights law, sustainable development, climate change and gender equality. Deva is an elected Vice President of the International Association of Constitutional Law (2022-26). Two of his UN reports were cited by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in its advisory opinion on climate emergency and human rights.