The International Bar Association (IBA) has warned that the rules-based international legal order is facing unprecedented pressure, urging lawyers across the world to defend the rule of law against the growing influence of power politics.
The warning dominated the opening of the IBA 2026 Annual Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, where IBA President Claudio Visco, Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen and former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Prince Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, called for greater commitment to international law, human rights and accountability.
The conference, which opened on Sunday at the Bella Center, has brought together more than 6,000 members of the global legal community from more than 130 jurisdictions, making it one of the largest gatherings of international lawyers.
A large number of Nigerian lawyers are also attending the conference, with the Nigerian delegation being led by the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, SAN.
The participation of the Nigerian delegation has added a strong national presence to the global gathering, which is bringing together legal practitioners, judges, policymakers, academics and representatives of governments and international institutions to discuss developments affecting the legal profession and the rule of law.
In his presidential address, Visco warned that the fundamental architecture of the post-war international order was under strain, with the danger that a “might makes right” approach could become the operating principle of international affairs.
“We are living through a period in which the fundamental architecture of the post-war order is under strain,” Visco said, warning that “the risk is that the ‘might makes right’ approach becomes the operating principle of international affairs.”
He said the legal profession could not remain passive in the face of such developments, stressing that lawyers had a responsibility to speak up, create awareness and educate society about the rule of law.
According to Visco, the profession must organise across borders and political divides to hold those in power to account.
He also placed the question of sovereignty at the centre of his address, declaring that “sovereignty is not something to be bought, traded, or coerced.”
The concerns over the international legal order were given a direct geopolitical dimension by the controversy surrounding Greenland, the autonomous territory within the Kingdom of Denmark.
Visco disclosed that an IBA delegation had travelled to Greenland shortly before the Copenhagen conference to engage with members of the local legal community.
He said the IBA did not want to convene its annual conference in Copenhagen without first doing what it could to support Greenlanders and the Danish government at what he described as a difficult juncture.
The Greenland issue also featured prominently in the address by Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen, who participated in negotiations surrounding a recent defence and security agreement involving Denmark, Greenland and the United States.
Rasmussen argued that the agreement demonstrated that international law remained capable of providing practical solutions to complex geopolitical and security challenges.
He said the agreement was “about Greenland, but also with Greenland,” stressing the importance of the Greenlandic people’s role in determining the territory’s future.
“Even when interests are significant, disagreements are real, and security concerns are pressing, diplomacy based on international law can actually deliver results,” Rasmussen told delegates.
He stressed that the rule of law should not be regarded as an abstract legal principle, arguing that it was deeply practical because societies governed by law were more predictable and prosperous.
Rasmussen also linked the rule of law to public confidence in institutions, saying Denmark’s efforts to strengthen access to justice were ultimately about maintaining trust between citizens and the institutions that govern them.
The Greenland issue has become an important test of those principles following months of tension over the Arctic territory.
The United States, Denmark and Greenland signed a defence agreement in September that updates a 1951 US-Danish defence pact and provides for additional US military access in Greenland.
The agreement expressly recognises sovereignty, territorial integrity and the Greenlandic people’s right to self-determination, with international law experts describing the negotiated settlement as an example of middle powers using treaty-based diplomacy to resist coercive pressure.
Prince Zeid Calls For Moral Courage
Delivering the keynote address, Prince Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, President of the International Peace Institute and former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, brought a human-rights and moral dimension to the debate.
Drawing on his experience in diplomacy, peacekeeping, international criminal justice and human rights, Prince Zeid called for greater decency, moral consistency and courage in public life.
He urged those committed to justice and human rights to speak up when confronted with abuses of power, particularly in an international environment where “might makes right” threatens to undermine established legal norms.
“Moral consistency and clarity” were essential to effective advocacy for human rights and the law, Prince Zeid said, arguing that such qualities could help win over people who regarded the rule of law as merely an ideological slogan.
His address was followed by a conversation with Visco and IBA Executive Director, Dr Mark Ellis, focusing on the changing international order and its implications for human rights, international law and the legal profession.
Prince Zeid had been announced by the IBA as the keynote speaker because of his more than three decades of experience spanning diplomacy, the United Nations, the Security Council, the International Criminal Court and the international human rights system.
Lawyers As Defenders Of The Legal Order
The opening ceremony also underscored the IBA’s view that defending the rule of law cannot be left solely to governments and international institutions.
Visco said lawyers had a responsibility to educate the public, defend legal principles and work collectively across jurisdictions when those principles were threatened.
The message was reinforced by the launch of the IBA Rule of Law Educational Project, developed in partnership with the Danish Bar and Law Society.
The initiative involved more than 400 students aged between 15 and 19 from seven Danish secondary schools. The students explored the practical meaning of the rule of law and produced videos illustrating its principles, with five projects selected for professional production. (IBA)
The initiative reflects the IBA’s broader concern about declining respect for legal institutions globally. The association cited World Justice Project findings that the rule of law declined in 68 percent of countries between 2024 and 2025, marking the eighth consecutive year in which more countries experienced deterioration than improvement.
Global Legal Community In Copenhagen
The 2026 IBA Annual Conference, which runs from October 4 to 9, is the first time the organisation’s flagship annual gathering is being held in Copenhagen.
The conference is expected to feature more than 200 working sessions covering international law, dispute resolution, human rights, artificial intelligence, legal services and other developments shaping the profession.
The IBA had earlier projected more than 5,000 delegates representing more than 2,700 law firms, corporations, governments and regulators from over 130 jurisdictions, while Danish legal authorities said more than 6,000 lawyers were expected in Copenhagen.
With Greenland, sovereignty and the future of the rules-based international order dominating its opening discussions, the conference has placed the legal profession at the centre of one of the defining questions of contemporary international affairs: whether law will continue to restrain power—or whether power will increasingly determine the law.