Where is the Lawyers TED Talk being held?

The Lawyers TED Talk is being held in Bangkok, Thailand.

What is the eligibility level for participants?

The eligibility for participants is at the college level.

What is the format of the event?

The event is structured as a TED Talk, focusing on the role of Thai lawyers in international law competition.

Lawyers TED Talk: The Role of Thai Lawyers in International Law Competition (Inaugural)

Name: Lawyers TED Talk: The Role of Thai Lawyers in International Law Competition (Inaugural)
Start: 2026-02-19 00:00:00+00:00
End: 2026-02-19 00:00:00+00:00
Location: Bangkok

Feb 19, 2026Bangkok, ThailandIn-person

Registration open

The Lawyers TED Talk: The Role of Thai Lawyers in International Law Competition is an inaugural event held in Bangkok, Thailand. This conference focuses on the critical role of legal professionals from Thailand in the broader landscape of international law and competition. It aims to highlight their contributions and challenges within the international legal arena.

Committees & topics

UN Women
UN Women: Advancing Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment
United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
World Health Organization (WHO)
World Health Organization (WHO)
Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)
United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)
United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF)
United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)
World Food Programme (WFP)
World Food Programme (WFP)

Why it matters

As global interactions intensify, the need for diverse legal perspectives and skilled practitioners becomes paramount. The conference provides a forum to explore how Thailand's legal community can effectively navigate and contribute to international legal frameworks, which is crucial for fostering global cooperation and resolving disputes. This inaugural event signifies a growing recognition of Thailand's legal expertise and its potential to influence international legal discourse.

The event's location in Bangkok, Thailand, also positions it as a regional hub for discussions on international legal matters. By bringing together legal minds, the conference facilitates the exchange of ideas and best practices, ultimately strengthening the capacity of legal professionals to address complex international legal challenges. This is particularly relevant for college-level participants who are at the formative stages of their legal careers.

How to prepare

To prepare effectively for this conference, participants should engage in a thorough review of contemporary issues in international law, particularly those with relevance to Southeast Asia and Thailand. Understanding the nuances of international legal frameworks and their application in a regional context will be beneficial. Participants should also consider how to articulate their perspectives concisely and persuasively, drawing inspiration from the TED Talk format.

Familiarity with concepts such as "engagement-strategies" and "dynamic-analysis" can help in understanding how legal professionals influence and adapt to evolving international norms. Additionally, exploring "hidden-stakeholders" in international legal disputes can provide a more comprehensive understanding of the complexities involved. Given the college-level eligibility, a strong foundation in international law principles will be advantageous.

Country perspectives

Where the most-relevant 1 countries stand on the core issues in play. Click through for the full country profile.

Thailand

Actively seeking to enhance its legal professionals' role in international law.

Role in topic

Thailand is the host country for this inaugural event, demonstrating its commitment to fostering a strong international legal community within its borders and contributing to global legal discourse. The conference specifically examines the role of Thai lawyers in this context.

Topics & background

The background behind each topic and the actors that shape it.

UN Women: Advancing Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment

UN Women was established in July 2010 through General Assembly Resolution 64/289, consolidating four previous UN entities (DAW, INSTRAW, OSAGI, and UNIFEM) into a single body charged with accelerating progress on gender equality and women's empowerment. Its mandate draws on landmark instruments including the 1979 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and the 1995 Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, which set the global agenda on women's rights. UN Women supports the Commission on the Status of Women, drives implementation of SDG 5, and works on the ground in over 90 countries on issues from political participation to economic empowerment and ending gender-based violence. Thirty years after Beijing, progress has been uneven and, in several areas, reversed. The 2025 Beijing+30 review found that no country is on track to achieve full gender equality by 2030, with rising backlash against women's rights, conflict-related sexual violence in Sudan, Ukraine, and the DRC, and the systematic exclusion of Afghan women and girls from public life. Legal protections against gender-based violence remain absent for roughly one in four women worldwide, and the gender pay gap persists at approximately 20 percent globally. Current debates focus on financing the gender equality agenda, integrating a feminist lens into climate and AI governance, protecting women human rights defenders, and operationalizing the Women, Peace and Security agenda under UNSC Resolution 1325. Tensions persist between states advocating expansive sexual and reproductive health and rights frameworks and those pushing back on grounds of cultural or religious sovereignty.

Key players

United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)

UNESCO was founded in November 1945 in the aftermath of World War II on the premise, enshrined in its Constitution, that "since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defences of peace must be constructed." Headquartered in Paris, it works across education, the sciences, culture, and communication, and administers landmark instruments including the 1972 World Heritage Convention, the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage, and the 2021 Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence — the first global standard-setting instrument on AI ethics. UNESCO has long been a politically contested body. The United States withdrew in 1984, rejoined in 2003, withdrew again in 2018 alongside Israel over alleged anti-Israel bias, and rejoined in 2023. The admission of Palestine as a full member in 2011 triggered a funding crisis that reshaped the organization's budget. More recently, UNESCO has navigated disputes over the inscription of contested World Heritage sites, the deliberate destruction of cultural property in Ukraine, Gaza, Syria, Mali, and Yemen, and the protection of journalists, with UNESCO serving as the lead UN agency on press freedom and journalist safety. Key current debates include the governance of generative AI and digital platforms under the Recommendation on AI Ethics, education recovery from pandemic learning losses and conflict, the return of cultural property to countries of origin, climate threats to World Heritage sites, and the protection of cultural and educational infrastructure in armed conflict under the 1954 Hague Convention.

Key players

World Health Organization (WHO)

The World Health Organization was established on 7 April 1948 as the UN's specialized agency for international public health. Its constitutional mandate is the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of health, and it operates through the World Health Assembly, where all 194 member states set policy and adopt binding instruments such as the International Health Regulations (IHR, last substantively revised in 2005 and amended in 2024) and the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (2003), its only treaty to date. The COVID-19 pandemic exposed deep weaknesses in global health governance, triggering negotiations on a new pandemic instrument. After more than three years of talks, the World Health Assembly adopted the WHO Pandemic Agreement in May 2025, with implementation now in its early phase. Core disputes center on the Pathogen Access and Benefit-Sharing System (PABS), technology transfer to developing countries, and equitable access to vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics. In parallel, the United States announced its intention to withdraw from WHO in early 2025, creating significant funding uncertainty. Beyond pandemic preparedness, WHO faces converging crises: non-communicable diseases now account for roughly three-quarters of global deaths and were the subject of the 2025 UN High-Level Meeting; antimicrobial resistance is projected to cause millions of additional deaths annually; and health systems in Gaza, Sudan, Ukraine, and the Sahel face active attack. Climate change, mental health, and the regulation of digital health technologies round out a crowded agenda.

Key players

United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)

UNFPA was established in 1969 as the UN Fund for Population Activities and became operational under General Assembly authority to address population and reproductive health concerns globally. Its mandate was decisively shaped by the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in Cairo, whose Programme of Action redefined population policy around individual rights, gender equality, and access to sexual and reproductive health services. UNFPA works in more than 150 countries on maternal health, family planning, ending female genital mutilation and child marriage, and responding to gender-based violence in humanitarian crises. The agency has long operated under political strain because of its work on sexual and reproductive health. The United States has repeatedly withheld funding under successive applications of the Mexico City Policy and the Kemp-Kasten Amendment, most recently from 2017 to 2021 and again from 2025. Despite these constraints, UNFPA reports that every year skilled birth attendance and modern contraceptive use it supports avert hundreds of thousands of maternal deaths and unintended pregnancies. The ICPD30 review in 2024 reaffirmed the Cairo consensus but acknowledged that roughly 800 women still die every day from preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth. Current debates focus on financing reproductive health in the face of donor retrenchment, demographic divergence between rapidly aging societies and high-fertility regions, protection of SRHR in conflict zones including Sudan, Gaza, and Ukraine, and resistance from a coalition of states seeking to narrow references to comprehensive sexuality education and reproductive rights in UN outcome documents.

Key players

United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF)

United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)

UNICEF was created on 11 December 1946 by General Assembly Resolution 57(I) as a temporary emergency fund to assist children in post-war Europe and China. In 1953 it was made a permanent part of the UN system, retaining its original acronym. Its mandate is anchored in the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child — the most widely ratified human rights treaty in history — and it operates in more than 190 countries and territories on child survival, education, protection, nutrition, water and sanitation, and humanitarian response. UNICEF is unique among UN entities in being funded almost entirely by voluntary contributions. The organization today faces what it has described as an unprecedented convergence of crises affecting children. More than 470 million children — roughly one in six globally — live in conflict zones, with acute emergencies in Gaza, Sudan, Ukraine, the DRC, Haiti, and Myanmar. Famine conditions have returned to parts of Sudan and Gaza, and UNICEF's 2024 reporting documented record numbers of grave violations against children verified under the UN Monitoring and Reporting Mechanism. Routine immunization coverage has not fully recovered from pandemic-era backsliding, leaving millions of "zero-dose" children unvaccinated. Key debates concern humanitarian access and the protection of children in armed conflict (including parties listed in the Secretary-General's annual report), education in emergencies, the digital rights of children including online safety and AI, climate impacts on children, and the financing gap as several major donors reduce aid budgets. The United States remains the largest single donor but has signaled significant reductions.

Key players

World Food Programme (WFP)

The World Food Programme was established in 1961 by the UN General Assembly and the FAO Conference and became fully operational in 1963. It is the world's largest humanitarian organization addressing hunger, delivering food assistance in around 120 countries and territories, and serves as the logistics backbone of the broader UN humanitarian system. WFP was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2020 for its efforts to combat hunger and its role in preventing the use of hunger as a weapon of war. Like UNICEF, it is funded almost entirely by voluntary contributions. Global hunger has risen sharply since 2019. WFP estimates that more than 340 million people face acute food insecurity, with famine conditions confirmed in parts of Sudan in 2024 and credible warnings of famine in Gaza and parts of the Sahel. The drivers are interlocking: armed conflict, climate shocks, economic disruption from the war in Ukraine — which constrained global grain and fertilizer markets after the collapse of the Black Sea Grain Initiative in July 2023 — and a severe financing shortfall. WFP has been forced to cut rations for refugees and displaced people in multiple operations, including in East Africa and the Middle East. Current debates center on protecting humanitarian workers and convoys (with record numbers of aid workers killed since 2023), invoking UNSC Resolution 2417 on conflict and hunger, sustaining grain corridors and trade flows, adapting food systems to climate change, and reforming the humanitarian financing model amid donor fatigue and major cuts from the United States and several European states in 2025.

Key players

Resources

News, lessons, and country profiles to prep for Lawyers TED Talk: The Role of Thai Lawyers in International Law Competition (Inaugural).

Recent reporting to ground your prep

India's 131st Amendment Bill

Modi's Delimitation Bill

Mifepristone Ruling Sparks 2026 Political Tug

India's Women's Quota Bill Fails

Lessons

Bite-sized lessons to build the basics

Gender Dynamics Across Cultures

Hidden Stakeholders

Engagement Strategies

Dynamic Analysis

Courses

Guided courses that go deeper on the topic

Cross-Cultural Communication

Advanced Negotiation

Multilateral Negotiation

Policy Brief Writing

Thailand College February 2026

By committee

Frequently asked questions

Lawyers TED Talk: The Role of Thai Lawyers in International Law Competition (Inaugural)

Feb 19, 2026Bangkok, ThailandIn-person

Registration open

Committees & topics

UN Women
UN Women: Advancing Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment
United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
World Health Organization (WHO)
World Health Organization (WHO)
Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)
United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)
United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF)
United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)
World Food Programme (WFP)
World Food Programme (WFP)

Why it matters

How to prepare

Country perspectives

Where the most-relevant 1 countries stand on the core issues in play. Click through for the full country profile.

Thailand

Actively seeking to enhance its legal professionals' role in international law.

Role in topic

Topics & background

The background behind each topic and the actors that shape it.

UN Women: Advancing Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment

Key players

United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)