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 Global Health. In: Global Health Essentials, Mario Raviglione, Fabrizio Tediosi, Simone Villa, Núria Casamitjana, Antoni Plasència (eds.). Sustainable Development Goals Series. Springer Nature, Cham 2023, 451-455 (with Claudia Nannini). https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.100...
  
• Jenseits der Nominalisierung: zu einem situationsadäquaten rechtlichen Begriff der Quarantäne. In: Quarantäne, Isolation, Abschottung, Andrea Kießling (ed.). Campus, Frankfurt/New York 2023, 219-234. https://www.campus.de/buecher-campus-ver...
  
• Navigating the Overlap between the International Health Regulations and the Pandemic Instrument, Averting a Collision Course? Beyond the Pandemic Instrument and the International Health Regulations Geneva, 26.04.23. Global Health Centre, Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva, 2023, 26 p. (with Hélène De Pooter, Elisa Morgera, Daniel Warner) https://repository.graduateinstitute.ch/...
  
• The Principles and Guidelines on Human Rights and Public Health Emergencies. SSRN, 21 May 2023 (with Roojin Habibi, International Commission of Jurists, Global Health Law Consortium). https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?...
  
• 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/...
  

[more]

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/...


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