In this episode we set out fearlessly to tackle another acronym that we have heard of, but know little about: the International Law Commission (ILC). It’s an expert bit of the UN, set up by the United Nations General Assembly in 1947, and professors and diplomats get elected to it in order to consider how international law should change and advise states accordingly.

It has 34 members. The elections are this month November. And despite representing all the world’s different legal traditions, it has an abysmal record of electing women.

We caught up with two candidates (both professors) – Dapo Akande and Phoebe Okowa – and asked them about diversity, racism and neo-colonialism. They told us they like to run (Phoebe) and watch football (Dapo) and have been reading and listening to, including Colson Whitehead’s The Underground Railroad and podcasts Talking Politics and Planet Money