PEDRO VILLARREAL

PhD (UNAM, Mexico), Senior Research Fellow

villarreal@mpil.de
Tel. +49 (6221) 482-318

Main Fields of Research:

Academic Career:

Since October 2015 - Research Fellow at the MPIL.

2012 - 2016 - PhD degree from the Institute of Legal Research of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), with honors (highest possible).

2009 - 2010 - Masters degree from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), cum Laude (highest possible).

2001 - 2006 - Law degree from the University of Sonora, Mexico.

Languages:

Spanish, English, French (Advanced), German (C1).

Recent Publications

• International Law and Digital Disease Surveillance in Pandemics: On the Margins of Regulation. In: German Law Journal 24, 603-617 (2023). doi: 10.1017/glj.2023.26. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/...
  
• Counter-contestation in global health governance: The WHO and its member states in emergency settings. In: Health Policy 131, 1-11 (2023). doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthpol.2023.104756 (with Thomas Lange, Till Bärnighausen). https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/ar...
  
• The Law of the WHO and COVID-19 Pandemic Reformism. In: German Yearbook of International Law 64 (2021), 11-40 (2022). doi: https://doi.org/10.3790/gyil.64.1.11. https://elibrary.duncker-humblot.com/pdf...
  
• White Paper on One Health. International Law Association 150th Anniversary, 05 January 2023 (with Hélène De Pooter, Gian Luca Burci, Ayelet Berman, Makane Moïse Mbengue, Danielle Yeow). https://www.ilaparis2023.org/wp-content/...
  
• Strengthening the Monitoring of States’ Compliance with the International Health Regulations. In: International Organizations Law Review 19/1, 215-240 (2022). doi: 10.1163/15723747-19010007 (with Roojin Habibi, Allyn Taylor). https://brill.com/view/journals/iolr/19/...
  

[more]

Mending Dispute Resolution under the International Health Regulations. In: International Organizations Law Review 19/1, 241-268 (2022). doi: doi:10.1163/15723747-19010008 (with Steven Hoffman, Roojin Habibi, Sophie Campbell). https://brill.com/view/journals/iolr/19/...


The World Health Organization’s Emergency Powers: Enhancing Its Legal and Institutional Accountability. In: International Organizations Law Review 19/1, 63-89 (2022). doi: doi:10.1163/15723747-19010003 (with Mark Eccleston-Turner). https://brill.com/view/journals/iolr/19/...


Medical Countermeasures for Pandemic Response and Intellectual Property Rights. In: International Community Law Review 24, 233-256 (2022). doi: 10.1163/18719732-bja10081 (with Giorgia Renne). https://brill.com/view/journals/iclr/24/...


Movilidad internacional y COVID-19. In: Ciencias y pandemia: Una epistemología para los derechos humanos, Juan Pablo Bohoslavsky (ed.). EDULP, La Plata 2022, 360-381. http://sedici.unlp.edu.ar/handle/10915/1...


The Fragmented Nature of Pandemic Decision-making: A Comparative and Multilevel Legal Analysis. In: European Journal of Health Law (Special Issue) 29, 1-5 (2022). doi: https://doi.org/10.1163/15718093-bja10072 (with Irene Domenici). https://brill.com/view/journals/ejhl/29/...


The Multilevel Dimension of Rules-Based Disease Surveillance beyond the State. In: European Journal of Health Law 29, 7-32 (2022). doi: https://doi.org/10.1163/15718093-bja10070. https://brill.com/view/journals/ejhl/29/...


Travel restrictions and variants-of-concern: global health laws need to reflect evidence. In: Bulletin of the WHO 100/3, 178-178 (2022). doi: 10.2471/BLT.21.287735 (with Benjamin Mason Meier, Judith Bueno de Mesquita, Gian Luca Burci, Danwood Chirwa, Stéphanie Dagron, Mark Eccleston-Turner, Lisa Forman, Lawrence Gostin, Roojin Habibi, Stefania Negri, Alexandra Phelan, Sharifah Sekalala, Allyn Taylor, Alicia Ely Yamín, Steven Hoffman). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/article...


Pandemic Risk and International Law: Laying the Foundation for Proactive State Obligations. In: Yearbook of International Disaster Law 3, 154-179 (2022). doi: 10.17104/0044-2348-2021-1-89. https://brill.com/downloadpdf/journals/y...


Pandemics, Expertise and Deliberation at the International Level. In: Pandemocracy in Europe: Power, Parliaments and People in Times of COVID-19, Matthias Kettemann, Konrad Lachmayer (eds.). Hart Publishing, Oxford 2022, 227-242. https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/pandemocra...


International Pandemic Lawmaking: Conceptual and Practical Issues, Final Report. Online Symposium, Verfassungsblog/Bill of Health, 15 November 2021 (with Alicia Ely Yamín, Joelle Grogan). https://petrieflom.law.harvard.edu/resou... international-pandemic-lawmaking-november-2021---final-v1.pdf (PDF, 979.4 KB)


International Health Law and Pandemics: Will COVID-19 be a Watershed?. In: Global Health Law Disrupted: COVID-19 and the Climate Crisis. Royal Netherlands Society of International Law. Pre-Adviezen. Asser Press, Leiden 2021, 131-159. https://www.asser.nl/ihcl-platform/about...


The role of interstate adjudication in public health emergencies: Incompatible at the core. In: Questions of International Law 85, 29-45 (2021). www.qil-qdi.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/04_Litigating-Global-Crises_VILLARREAL.pdf


COVID-19-Impfstoffbeschaffung. In: Handlexikon der Europäischen Union, 6. Auflage, Jan Bergmann (ed.). Nomos, Baden-Baden 2022, 240-243. https://www.nomos-shop.de/nomos/titel/ha...


Pandemic: Building a Legal Concept for the Future. In: Washington University Global Studies Law Review 20/3, 611-626 (2021). https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/law_gl...


The Oxford Compendium of National Legal Responses to COVID-19. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2021, online p. (editor with Jeff King, Octavio Ferraz, et al). https://oxcon.ouplaw.com/home/occ19


The Role of International Law in Vaccinating against COVID-19: Appraising the COVAX Initiative. In: Heidelberg Journal of International Law (ZaöRV) 81, 89-116 (2021). doi: 10.17104/0044-2348-2021-1-89 (with Armin von Bogdandy). https://www.nomos-elibrary.de/10.17104/0...


The Security Council and COVID-19 – Towards a Medicalization of International Peace and Security. ESIL Reflections, 26 February 2021. https://esil-sedi.eu/esil-reflections-co...


Public Health Emergencies and Constitutionalism Before COVID-19: Between the National and the International. In: Constitutionalism Under Extreme Conditions, Richard Albert, Yaniv Roznai (eds.). Ius Gentium: Comparative Perspectives on Law and Justice. Springer, Cham, Switzerland 2020, 217-238. https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007%2...


Die Weltgesundheitsorganisation in der COVID-19 Pandemie. Über internationale öffentliche Gewalt in der Krise. In: ZaöRV 2, 293-324 (2020) (with Armin von Bogdandy).


Differential treatment in the International Health Regulations: Towards a nuanced perspective. In: Migration and Medicine, Florian Steger, Marcin Orzechowski, Giovanni Rubeis, Maximilian Schochow (eds.). Karl Alber, München 2020, 157-171.


Solidarity in the wake of COVID-19: reimagining the International Health Regulations. The Lancet, 19 June 2020 (with Allyn Taylor et al). https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lance...


Peru - Agricultural Products Case. In: Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law May 2020 (2020). https://opil.ouplaw.com/view/10.1093/law...


India - Agricultural Products. In: Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law May 2020 (2020). https://opil.ouplaw.com/view/10.1093/law...


Critical Features of International Authority in Pandemic Response: The WHO in the COVID-19 Crisis, Human Rights and the Changing World Order. Max Planck Research Paper Series, 14 May 2020 (with Armin von Bogdandy). https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?...


Statement of the Global Health Law Committee of the International Law Association regarding the COVID-19 pandemic. International Law Association - Global Health Law Committee, 05 April 2020 (with Brigit Toebes^Ellen t'Hoen et al Frederick Abbott). http://ilaglobalhealth.org...


European Tribunal on State Immunity. In: Max Planck Encyclopedia of International Procedural Law November 2019 (2019). https://opil.ouplaw.com/view/10.1093/law...


Pandemias y derecho: una perspectiva de gobernanza global. Instituto de Investigaciones Jurídicas/UNAM, Mexico, 2019, 285 p., Dissertation https://biblio.juridicas.unam.mx/bjv/det...


El derecho a la salud en lo individual y en lo colectivo: la calidad en los servicios de salud a partir de Poblete Vilches vs. Chile. In: Interamericanización del derecho a la salud: Perspectivas a luz del Caso Poblete de la Corte IDH, Mariela Morales Antoniazzi, Laura Clérico (eds.). Instituto de Estudios Constitucionales de Querétaro, México 2019, 279-314.


Public International Law and Human Health: Bridging Conceptual Gaps Through Governance. In: German Yearbook of International Law 61, 45-72 (2018).


Justiciability of Environmental Health Concerns - Global Health Law Committee - 2018 Conference Report, Developing International Law in Challenging Times - ILA Biennial Conference Sydney, Australia, 8/19/18-8/24/18. International Law Association, Sydney, Australia, 2018, paras. 47-51 p. (with Frederick Abbott, Brigit C A Toebes, Xavier Seuba, Ellen t Hoen)


The World Health Organization´s Governance Framework in Disease Outbreaks: A Legal Perspective. In: The Governance of Disease Outbreaks - International Health Law: Lessons from the Ebola Crisis and Beyond, Leonie Vierck, Pedro Villarreal, Katarina Weilert (eds.). Nomos, Baden-Baden, Germany 2017, 243-272. http://www.nomos-shop.de/30292...


The Governance of Disease Outbreaks - International Health Law: Lessons from the Ebola Crisis and Beyond. Nomos, Baden-Baden, Germany, 2017, 393 p. (editor with Leonie Vierck, Katarina Weilert). http://www.nomos-shop.de/30292...


The WHO’s Institutional and Legal Role in Communicable Disease Epidemics: From Pandemic Influenza to Zika. Völkerrechstblog, 2016. http://voelkerrechtsblog.org/the-whos-in...


La protección contra epidemias y pandemias como manifestación del derecho a la salud desde una perspectiva de gobernanza global. In: Gobernanza global y cambio estructural del sistema jurídico mexicano. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México - Instituto de Investigaciones Jurídicas, México 2016, 339-364. http://biblio.juridicas.unam.mx/libros/l...


La emergencia sanitaria por el virus del Zika en el marco de la OMS: un panorama plagado de incertidumbres, 2016. http://biblio.juridicas.unam.mx/revista/...


Zika virus as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern: Insights from previous cases, 2016. https://ghlgblog.wordpress.com/2...


Pandemic Declarations of the World Health Organization as an exercise of International Public Authority: The possible legal answers to frictions between legitimacies. In: Göttingen Journal of International Law 7, 95-129 (2016). http://www.gojil.eu/...

Blogposts

• “We’re In This for the Long Haul”: The End of the Public Health Emergency of International Concern Due to COVID-19. EJIL:Talk!, 08 May 2023. https://www.ejiltalk.org/were-in-this-fo...
  
• Punishing Compliance with International Law: The Omicron Variant and the International Health Regulations (2005). EJIL:Talk!, 02 December 2021. https://www.ejiltalk.org/punishing-compl...
  
• Scientific Innovation in International Pandemic Lawmaking. Verfassungsblog, 18 October 2021. https://verfassungsblog.de/scientific-in...
  
• Politicizing National Pandemic Surveillance: Mexicos Epidemiological Traffic Light. Lex-Atlas: Covid-19, 05 October 2021. https://lexatlas-c19.org/politicizing-na...
  
• COVID-19 and Police Powers Beyond the State. IACL-AIDC Blog, 30 September 2021. https://blog-iacl-aidc.org/covid19-futur...
  

[more]

Beware of Procedural Perils: Towards a Treaty on Pandemic Preparedness and Response. Völkerrechtsblog, 14 April 2021. https://voelkerrechtsblog.org/beware-of-...


Human Rights and Public Health in the COVID-19 Era: In Search of Contextual Balance. Human Rights in Context, 06 April 2021. https://www.humanrightsincontext.be/post...


El 'vacunacionalismo' contraproducente de la UE y el Reino Unido. Agenda Pública, 08 February 2021 (with Armin von Bogdandy). https://agendapublica.es/el-vacunacional...


The EUs and UKs self-defeating vaccine nationalism. Verfassungsblog, 30 January 2021 (with Armin von Bogdandy). https://verfassungsblog.de/the-eus-and-u...


Assessing the WHO’s COVID-19 Pandemic Response. Global Health and Global Governance, 16 July 2020 (with Armin von Bogdandy). https://www.bigghgg.cn/p/bogdandy.html


The governance of disease outbreaks in international health law: From Ebola to COVID-19. Völkerrechtsblog, 13 July 2020 (with Leonie Vierck, Katarina Weilert). https://voelkerrechtsblog.org/articles/t...


Pandemic Intrigue in Geneva: COVID-19 and the 73rd World Health Assembly. EJIL:Talk!, 22 May 2020. https://www.ejiltalk.org/pandemic-intrig...


“Can They Really Do That?” States’ Obligations Under the International Health Regulations in Light of COVID-19 (2 parts). Opinio Juris, 31 March 2020. http://opiniojuris.org/2020/03/31/covid-...


Is the spread of Coronavirus already a pandemic? Unpacking a (legal) definition. Völkerrechtsblog, 09 March 2020. https://voelkerrechtsblog.org/is-the-spr...


¿Es la crisis del coronavirus una pandemia?. Agenda Pública/El País, 01 March 2020. https://agendapublica.es/es-la-crisis-de...


Responses to the COVID-19 Crisis: The Exposed Limitations of the International Health Regulations. Global Health Law Groningen, 25 February 2020. https://www.rug.nl/rechten/onderzoek/exp...


Qué implica la declaración de emergencia de la OMS por el coronavirus. Agenda Pública/El País, 30 January 2020. https://agendapublica.es/que-implica-la-...


The 2019-2020 novel coronavirus outbreak and the importance of good faith for international law. Völkerrechtsblog, 28 January 2020. https://voelkerrechtsblog.org/the-2019-2...


Public International Law and the 2018-2019 Ebola Outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. EJIL: Talk!, 31 July 2019. https://www.ejiltalk.org/public-internat...


The Direct Justiciability of the Right to Health at the IACtHR. Völkerrechtsblog, 22 October 2018. https://voelkerrechtsblog.org/the-direct...


The Renegotiated NAFTA: What Is In It For Labor Rights?. EJIL: Talk!, 11 October 2018 (with Franz Ebert). https://www.ejiltalk.org/the-renegotiate...


Stretching Abstract Reasoning to its Limits. Völkerrechtsblog, 06 April 2018. https://voelkerrechtsblog.org/stretching...

Working Papers

• Infectious Diseases, in: Elgar Encyclopedia of Human Rights, edited by Christina Binder, Manfred Nowak, Jane A. Hofbauer and Philipp Janig – 2022 (forthcoming). MPIL Research Paper No. 2021-27, 12 December 2021. doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3983435. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?...
  
• Pandemic: Building a Legal Concept for the Future. MPIL Research Paper No. 2021 - 12, 27 May 2021. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?...
  
• The Role of International Law in Vaccinating Against COVID-19: Appraising the COVAX Initiative. MPIL Research Paper No. 2020-46, 19 November 2020 (with Armin von Bogdandy). https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?...
  
• Critical Features of International Authority in Pandemic Response: The WHO in the COVID-19 Crisis, Human Rights and the Changing World Order. Max Planck Research Paper Series No. 2020-18, 14 May 2020 (with Armin von Bogdandy). https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?...
  
• International Law on Pandemic Response: A First Stocktaking in Light of the Coronavirus Crisis. Max Planck Research Paper Series, 26 March 2020 (with Armin von Bogdandy). https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?...
  

Media

Could failure to stop Covid-19 be the catalyst for a pandemic treaty?

Interview by Simone McCarthy, South China Morning Post, 24 May 2021

Social Science Perspectives on COVID-19 Vaccine Equity - A podcast by Sonar-Global

COVID-19 Readings & Audiovisual Resources, Sonar-Global, 01 April 2021

Public International Law and Pandemics: COVID-19 as a Watershed?

Völkerrechtliche Tagesthemen: Spotlight (Episode 9), 10 February 2021, Völkerrechtsblog

Impfstoff-Poker: Wie die armen Länder leer ausgehen

Das Erste - Weltspiegel, 7 February 2021

• Hacia una distribución global más equitativa de la vacuna contra la covid-19. In: El País, 30.12.2020, p. Online. (with Armin von Bogdandy) https://elpais.com/opinion/2020-12-29/ha...
  

[more]

Den Impfstoff fair verteilen. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Nr. 294, 17.12.2020, p. https://www.faz.net/. (with Armin von Bogdandy) https://www.faz.net/aktuell/politik/staa...


Interview - "El Mundo de Biden: ¿Refuerza el multilateralismo? ¿modifica la agenda europea? ¿y la guerra tecnológica?"

Agenda Pública/El País, 14 November 2020

Interview: Pedro Villarreal on Law and COVID-19

Max Planck Law - Perspectives. 24 September 2020

Es geht nicht ohne die WHO. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 24.04.2020, p. https://www.faz.net/. (with Armin von Bogdandy) https://www.faz.net/aktuell/politik/staa...

Further Publications

• Reforms of the World Health Organization in light of the Ebola crisis in West Africa: More delegation, more teeth?, 2015. http://voelkerrechtsblog.com/2015/08/26/...
  
• Cuando los derechos humanos chocan entre sí. Las recomendaciones de la Organización Mundial de la Salud frente a la crisis del Ébola en África de 2013-2015. In: Revista del Posgrado en Derecho de la UNAM Núm. 2, 181-218 (Enero-Junio 2015).
  

Presentations

Teaching

Honours

Memberships

Miscellaneous