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This event will take place in person from 13:00 to 16:00 BST.

ÎçÒ¹¾ç³¡ (ÎçÒ¹¾ç³¡) welcomes to the Aga KhanA title granted by the Shah of Persia to the then Ismaili Imam in 1818 and inherited by each of his successors to the Imamate. Centre on Tuesday 13 October 2026. Dr Bernasconi is Secretary General of the (HCCH).

Dr Bernasconi will deliver the lecture “Towards a New Global Multilateralism: Greater Inclusivity and Mutual Respect”. The afternoon also marks the global launch of Contemporary Trends in Sharia: Critical Debates in Historical Contexts, co-authored by and , with a foreword by Dr Bernasconi.

About the lecture

Dr Bernasconi will reflect on the challenges facing multilateralism at a time when the international system is becoming increasingly diverse and multipolar. He will argue that effective global cooperation can no longer be built primarily on the assumption that different societies and legal traditions will gradually converge around a single model. Rather, a genuinely global multilateralism must be capable of accommodating diversity, while identifying areas of common interest and building practical forms of cooperation on the basis of equality, mutual respect, and trust.

Drawing in particular on the experience of The Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH), he will explore how this can work in practice across different regions, cultures, and legal traditions. The work of the HCCH is, in many respects, about building bridges between different legal systems: creating greater uniformity in the rules of private international law while respecting the diversity of the underlying substantive laws and legal traditions. This balance is particularly important and visible in the field of international family law, but it is also relevant to the HCCH’s work in international commercial and civil matters.

From the foreword

Dr Bernasconi wrote the foreword to Contemporary Trends in Sharia. The book raises questions that sit at the heart of his argument: how different legal and intellectual traditions respond to social and economic change; how tradition and modernity can engage creatively with one another; and how meaningful dialogue can take place without requiring one tradition simply to assimilate into another.

The book offers an important illustration of a wider proposition underlying the lecture: greater global interconnectedness need not lead to greater uniformity. On the contrary, the legitimacy and effectiveness of international cooperation may increasingly depend upon our ability to recognise diversity while finding common ground.

About the book

Contemporary Trends in Sharia: Critical Debates in Historical Contexts situates sharia in its historical, sociological, cultural, and political contexts. The book offers a critical introduction to modernist and progressive approaches, covering constitutional design, human rights, gender justice, bioethics, religious freedom, criminal justice, and economic life.

open access via Bloomsbury.