Surya Prasad Subedi is a British-Nepalese jurist. He is Professor of International Law at the University of Leeds, a member of the Institut de Droit International, and a barrister in London. He also is a visiting professor on the international human rights law programme of the University of Oxford. He served as the United Nations special rapporteur for human rights in Cambodia for six years (2009-2015). He also served for five years, starting in 2010, on an advisory group on human rights to the British Foreign Secretary. In 2021, he was appointed legal procedural advisor to the World Conservation Congress of the International Union for Conservation of Nature held in Marseille, France. He has written a number of works on the theory and practice of international law and human rights and acted as a counsel in a number of cases before the international courts and tribunals, including the International Court of Justice. In 2022, he was appointed to the list of arbitrators under a post-Brexit free-trade treaty between the United Kingdom and the European Union - the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA).
Early life and education Subedi was born in the village of Khodi in Nepal, in the foothills of the Himalayas, within the Annapurna mountain range. The medium of instruction in his primary school and lower secondary school was mostly Sanskrit, with some Nepali language instruction. His father, Pandit Hom Nath, was a teacher and his granduncle, Pandit Badri Nath, was the headmaster.
He began his higher education at Tribhuvan University, completing his LLB degree in 1981 and an MA in 1984.
In 1986, as a recipient of the British Council Scholarship (now known as the Chevening Scholarship), he moved to the United Kingdom to study for an LLM (awarded with Distinction in 1988) at the University of Hull. He received the Josephine Onoh Memorial Prize from the University of Hull as best LLM student of the year. Afterwards, Subedi continued his studies at the University of Oxford for a doctorate in law, which he received in 1993. His doctoral thesis won the Dasturzada Pavry Memorial Prize from the University of Oxford.
Career Law practice in Nepal Subedi began his career in law as a public prosecutor in the Office of the Attorney-General of Nepal and, after promotion, proceeded to work for the Royal Commission on Judicial Reform and as Under-Secretary in the International Law Office of the Ministry of Law and Justice. He later served as advisor on international legal matters to King Birendra of Nepal and to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
British academia Subedi began his academic career as a Lecturer in Law in 1993 at the University of Hull. After promotion, he became a Professor of Law in 1999 at Hull. He moved to the University of Leeds to become Professor of International Law.
Subedi was a co-founder and the founding chairperson of the Britain-Nepal Academic Council in 2000, serving in that capacity for ten years.
He was involved in the establishment of the Asian Society of International Law with its head office at the Faculty of Law of the National University of Singapore, and was chairman of the board of editors of the flagship publication of the society – the Asian Journal of International Law – published by Cambridge University Press. Prior to this, he was chief editor of the Asian Yearbook of International Law between 1999 and 2006 published by Martinus Nijhoff in The Hague. In addition, he is editor of a series of monographs on 'human rights and international law' published by Routledge (London/New York).
Subedi was elected to the Institut de Droit International in 2011 and made a Membre Titulaire in 2015. He was a member of the Executive Council of the International Law Association (ILA) between 2014 and 2017.
From 2015 to 2017, Subedi was a member of the Task Force on Investment Policy of the World Economic Forum in Davos and the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development in Geneva. As a result of the work of the Task Force, a report was published in 2016, which was then developed in the World Trade Organization (WTO) and led to the conclusion of negotiations on the text of an Investment Facilitation for Development Agreement in July 2023.
In 2020, Subedi was appointed as a member of the Expert Group on India-Nepal boundary issues. In early 2022, Subedi provided an opinion to the Government of Nepal concerning the U.S. Government’s proposed Millennium Challenge Corporation’s Nepal Compact. He also drafted an interpretive declaration which was used by the Government to ease the process of ratification.
In 2025, Subedi spoke before the Oxford Union, where he argued that the spread of liberal democracy to the Global South has resulted in the widespread advancement and protection of fundamental human rights, notwithstanding the shortcomings in their implementation and enforcement.
He has received a three-year Major Research Fellowship from the Leverhulme Trust to support his project examining the contribution of the Global South to the development of human rights.
He has taught and published in international human rights law, international investment law, WTO law, the law of the sea and international environmental law. His publications include:
'The Workings of Human Rights, Law, and Justice: A Journey from Nepal to Nobel Nominee' (Routledge, London/New York, 2022). Drawing on the personal experience of a leading international jurist, this book offers insights into the powers bearing on international law and policymaking, the dynamics of human rights negotiations with governments, and the effects of their outcomes on the lives of their citizens. ‘Human Rights in Eastern Civilisations: Some Reflections of a Former UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights’ (Edward Elgar Publishing, England, 2021). It analyses the values of Eastern civilisations and their contribution to the development of the UN human rights agenda. ‘Unilateral Sanctions in International Law’ (Hart Publishing, Oxford, 2021). It explores whether there are any rules in international law applicable to unilateral sanctions and if so, what these rules are. ‘The Effectiveness of the UN Human Rights System: Reform and the Judicialisation of Human Rights’ (Routledge, London/New York, 2017). It "creates a modern vision of the United Nations that could function better in a multipolar world to help secure a better mode of living for more people around the world". ‘International Investment Law: Reconciling Policy and Principle’ (Hart Publishing, Oxford). First published in 2008, as of 2024, it was in its 5th edition. It includes a critical overview of the law of foreign investment and deals with the tension between the law of foreign investment and other competing principles of international law, including human rights and environmental protection. 'Land and Maritime Zones of Peace in International Law' (1996), Oxford Monographs in International Series, Clarendon: Oxford University Press, Oxford. This book provides a comprehensive and scholarly treatment of the attempts made during the Cold War period both inside and outside of the UN to create ‘zones of peace’ in various parts of the world. It examines the creation and status of zones of peace in the light of state practice and the relevant principles of international law. Based on this examination, the book identifies, through an analysis of certain already extant and emerging rules of international law, situations under which both land and maritime zone of peace could be created. 'International Watercourses Law for the 21st Century: The Case of the River Ganges Basin' (Ashgate Publishing, UK, 2005). It presents a comprehensive and comparative view of the law of international watercourses with special reference to the issues facing the Ganges River basin. It provides an analysis of the development of international watercourses law and outlines the essentials of the UN Convention on non-navigational uses of international watercourses. Focusing on relations between three riparian states of the Ganges River and the potential for cooperation among these states, this volume also examines the domestic legal regimes of the area and the political dimension to the issues of sharing, managing, and conserving the waters of the river.
International law practice Subedi is a barrister practicing out of Three Stone Chambers in London. He is a member of Middle Temple, one of the Inns of Court in London. He has appeared before the Crown Court and the Court of Appeal in England. Subedi has been a member of the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA) since 2014. In April 2021, the flagship magazine of the Bar Council of England published a feature article on Subedi.
Subedi has advised governments in different countries on international legal matters and acted as a counsel in several cases before international courts and tribunals, including the International Court of Justice and the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID). Cases in which Subedi acted as a counsel include: Axiata Investments (UK) Limited and Ncell Private Limited v. The Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal – Arbitration under the Rules of the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID Case No. ARB/19/15) Application of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (Qatar v. United Arab Emirates) before the International Court of Justice Appeal Relating to the Jurisdiction of the ICAO Council under Article 84 of the Convention on International Civil Aviation (Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates v. Qatar) before the International Court of Justice Appeal Relating to the Jurisdiction of the ICAO Council under Article II, Section 2 of the 1944 International Air Services Transit Agreement (Bahrain, Egypt and United Arab Emirates v. Qatar) before the International Court of Justice
In 2004, he was appointed by the WTO to the Roster of Panelists of its Dispute Settlement System. In 2012, he was designated to serve on the Panels of Conciliators and of Arbitrators of ICSID.See also, Subedi, Professor Surya P., "WTO Dispute Settlement Mechanism as a New Technique for Settling Disputes in International Law (2010). International Law and dispute Settlement: New Problems and Techniques", pp.173–190, Duncan French, Matthew Saul, Nigel D. White, eds., Hart Publishing, Oxford, 2010 In 2024, he was nominated as a conciliator and arbitrator under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea by Nepal.
United Nations Special Rapporteur The United Nations Human Rights Council voted unanimously for Subedi to be the UN Special Rapporteur for human rights in Cambodia at the 10th Session of the Council in 2009. On his appointment, Subedi said: "The main task would be to cast an impartial expert eye on the overall human rights situation in Cambodia and offer constructive advice to the Government to address the problems that exist with regard to the overall situation in the country". When he commenced his human rights work in the county, the Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, asked publicly Subedi to go back to his own country and sort out the political issues in the country rather than lecturing the Government of Cambodia on how to improve the situation of human rights. The Prime Minister had been irked by the reports of Subedi stating that the judiciary and electoral commission were not independent in the country. Subedi was on the verge of being declared a persona non-grata in Cambodia by the Government. However, Subedi received support for his UN work from the international community, including the US President Barack Obama and the European Parliament.