Nearly one year ago, on December 1, 2022, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) released its most recent transboundary waters decision, Chile v. Bolivia, addressing the status of the Silala River and the countries’ legal relations surrounding it under international law. Viewing the case as an important addition to the ICJ’s water law jurisprudence, Wyoming Law Review has prepared a special issue on the decision, with a suite of essays contributed by authors from South America, North America, Asia, and Europe. This event will formally launch the Chile v. Bolivia special issue in sync with the case’s soon-to-arrive first anniversary. Consisting of a keynote address by Dr. Ximena Fuentes—Chile’s agent in the ICJ proceeding and a Professor of Public International Law at the University of Chile—as well as a panel discussion among the special issue’s other contributing authors, the event will explore what the ICJ did and did not decide in Chile v. Bolivia and how, if at all, the decision is significant not only for the two countries’ legal relations, but for the global community and broader evolution of international water law.

About the Speakers:

Introduction
Dr. Klint Alexander, Dean, College of Law, University of Wyoming
Prof. Lutz-Christian Wolff, Dean, CUHK LAW and Wei Lun Professor of Law
Prof. Noah B. Novogrodsky, Carl M. Williams Professor of Law and Ethics, College of Law, University of Wyoming
Dr. Agnes Chong, Assistant Professor, CUHK LAW

Keynote
Dr. Ximena Fuentes, Agent, Counsel and Advocate for the Republic of Chile in ICJ Chile v. Bolivia and Professor of Public International Law, University of Chile

Dr. Ximena Fuentes is a Professor of Public International Law at the University of Chile where she has held an appointment since 2000.  Professor Fuentes took a leave from her academic duties to serve as the Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs in the government of President Gabriel Boric from early 2022 until March 2023.  Between 2015 and 2022, Professor Fuentes was the National Director of Difrol in the Chilean Ministry of Foreign Affairs – a position she held under both Presidents Bachelet and Piñera – and she was the agent for the Republic of Chile in Chile v. Bolivia, the case concerning the Rio Silala before the International Court of Justice.

A graduate of the University of Chile and Oxford University, where her Phd. dissertation was titled, “The Criteria of Equitable Utilization of International Watercourses in General International Law,” Dr. Fuentes has been a past professor in the faculty of law at the University of Talca and Adolfo Ibañez University. 

Panel Discussion
Chair: Ms. Hannah Mink, Editor-in-Chief, Wyoming Law Review 2022-2023 and Associate, Sherman & Howard

Panellists:
Dr. Agnes Chong, Assistant Professor, CUHK LAW
Prof. Joseph Dellapenna, Visiting Professor, Beijing University School of Transnational Law
Dr. Johanna Klein Kranenberg, Chilean Ministry of Foreign Affairs 
Prof. Jason Robison, Carl M. Williams Professor of Law & Social Responsibility, College of Law, University of Wyoming
Ms. Zoe Rosenblum, PhD Candidate, Oregon State University
Prof. Christopher R. Rossi, Professor of International Law and International Relations, University of Tromsø and the Arctic University of Norway

Concluding Remarks
Dr. Ximena Fuentes, Agent, Counsel and Advocate for the Republic of Chile in ICJ Chile v. Bolivia and Professor of Public International Law, University of Chile
Dr. Agnes Chong, Assistant Professor, CUHK LAW