During the Winter Courses of The Hague Academy, the Library received a generous book donation from Juan Carlos Portilla Jaimes, author and professor of International Law at the University of La Sabana in Colombia. Below is an English-language summary of his publication:
Can a foreign government, through a mere administrative designation such as the OFAC lists, attribute specific conduct to a sitting Head of State and block that individual’s assets and international transactions without violating customary international law on immunities? This book addresses that crucial question and examines how unilateral sanctions are reshaping contemporary diplomacy.
It also engages the debate surrounding Colombia’s belated withdrawal from the Pact of Bogotá—which had granted jurisdiction to the ICJ and nearly deprived the country of its rights in the Caribbean Sea during the litigation with Nicaragua.
Diplomacy requires profound transformation. International decision‑making should be grounded in verifiable data and measurable outcomes, not solely in the formal fulfillment of treaty obligations. International law must become an instrument of genuine transformation, capable of advancing peace, justice, economic equity, and sustainable development.
Colombia, with its legal tradition and internationalist vocation, is well positioned to lead the new school of thought proposed by the author. This vision combines legal rigor with the use of empirical evidence to evaluate the effectiveness of international law and to contribute to its development. At the same time, it calls for an evidence‑based foreign policy that relies on current data and econometric models, while remaining guided by an ethical framework that translates legal norms into tangible improvements in people’s lives.
International law will be effective when its norms transform the lived reality of individuals—not when States merely assert compliance, but when citizens can affirm that their circumstances have truly changed.
This Spanish title is now available at the Peace Palace Library. For more information, please send a message to library@peacepalace.org
