Judge Buergenthal championed the cause of humanization of international law and human rights education at the early level to prevent genocide and crimes against humanity. Here is his 2008 interview in which he discusses the creativity of international courts, the value of provisional measures, the backlog of human rights cases at the regional courts, the complexity of humanitarian intervention, the need to regulate multinational corporations and NGOs in relation to human rights, the role of truth commissions as a complement to criminal courts, and the need for “shame campaigns” to underscore children’s rights. He declares that the world would have benefited from a truth commission for Germany after WWII in order to understand why Hitler came to power; given the current war in Ukraine, his reflections remain timely.
He was my professor of human rights law at GW and it was an honor to have been his student. He assigned the crisis situation of refugees arriving from Haiti as the exam question. He inspired me to challenge my students to analyze contemporary dilemmas and to recognize the need for shared empathy across borders.
IntLawGrrls
Go On!
► Singapore-based Asian Business Law Institute (ABLI) and the Permanent Bureau of the Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH) announced open registration for their third joint webinar: Cross-border Commercial Dispute Resolution – HCCH 1965 Service Convention.
The event will be held online on Tuesday, June 27, 2023, from 4pm to 5:10pm (Singapore time), and is expected to discuss, among others, the actual operation of the Service Convention in practice, how the Service Convention works with the other HCCH Conventions for cross-border dispute resolution, and Singapore’s accession to and upcoming implementation of the Service Convention.
For more information or to register, click here.
Register by May 28, 2023, to enjoy an early bird discount of 15% off.
Read On! Two New International Law books from Hart Publishing
► The European Union and International Investment Law: The Two Dimensions of an Uneasy Relationship by Francesco Montanaro.
This book explores the interaction between the EU and international investment law, both within the EU internal market and externally.
The book shows that the EU has assumed an ostensibly ambivalent attitude towards international investment law and finds that beneath this ambivalence ultimately lies the EU’s attempt to impose its own original model of regulation. It then argues that the EU adopted this approach to support its internal market, enhance its external influence, and, ultimately, pursue long-term ‘federal aspirations’. Finally, the book identifies the obstacles that have curtailed the EU’s efforts at both the internal and external level.
Francesco Montanaro is Legal Officer at the Office of the President of the Italian Republic, Italy.
More details about this title can be found here.
Discount Price: £68 / $92
Order online at www.bloomsbury.com – use the code GLR AP3UK for UK orders and GLR AP3US for US orders to get 20% off! Sign up for their email list to receive updates about new titles.
► The Irish Yearbook of International Law, Volume 15, 2020, edited by Bríd Ní Ghráinne, James Gallen and Richard Collins.
The Irish Yearbook of International Law supports research into Ireland’s practice in international affairs and foreign policy, filling a gap in existing legal scholarship and assisting in the dissemination of Irish policy and practice on matters of international law.
This volume of the Yearbook includes contributions on international humanitarian law, including intersections with international human rights law and the law of state responsibility, the concept of due diligence in international law, and the exercise of international criminal jurisdiction with specific reference to Irish law.
Bríd Ní Ghráinne is Assistant Professor in International Human Rights Law and International Humanitarian Law at Maynooth, Ireland.
James Gallen is Associate Professor in the School of Law and Government at Dublin City University, Ireland.
Richard Collins is Associate Professor at the School of Law at University College Dublin, Ireland.
More details about this title can be found here.
Discount Price: £156 / $212
Order online at www.bloomsbury.com – use the code GLR AP3UK for UK orders and GLR AP3US for US orders to get 20% off! Sign up for their email list to receive updates about new titles.
Write On! International Conference on Realising Children’s Development Rights in De Facto States
The Children’s Rights Research project in collaboration with the Maastricht Centre for Human Rights is proud to announce that we are organising a child-led conference on the rights of children in de facto states. The International Conference on Realising Children’s Development Rights in De Facto States will be held in two stages. An online event will be held on 28 October 2023, followed by an in-person event on 17-18 January 2024 in Northern Cyprus. The online event will be completely child-led and provide input for the in-person event. The in-person event will be led by academics, humanitarians and activists, based on the input provided by children during the online event.
This conference is a child-led conference, designed to encourage the effective and meaningful participation of children in conversations about ways to better realise the development rights of children living in de facto states. The ultimate aim is to have children, academics, humanitarians activists, and others engage in meaningful conversation that will contribute to ensuring that all children – even those in the midst of political and legal conflict – have equal access to development rights. Underpinning the conference is the core principle of the universality of the rights of all children irrespective of their national, ethnic or social origin, birth or other status, including children living in de facto states.
The Children’s Rights Convention recognises “the inherent dignity and the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family” and the Sustainable Development Goals are supposed to “leave no one behind”. However, despite this, one group of children have remained largely invisible to the international community, namely: children living in de facto states. Among the most vulnerable groups in the world, children living in de facto states receive little (if any) attention in international bi-lateral and multilateral fora, because they fall beyond the state-centric structure of the international community. Unfortunately, they generally do not fare any better in academic research. Since the goal of the UN is to provide access to justice for all, and to build effective and inclusive institutions at all levels, these children should not be left behind.
Registration
Academics, humanitarians, activists, and other persons interested in attending are welcome to register for this conference. All who sign up are expected to attend two conferences: the online event (28 October 2023), and the in-person event (17-18 January 2024, northern Cyprus). During the online event, we listen to children who are living in de facto states. During the in-person event, academics, humanitarians and activists can attend either as speakers or as audience members.
Speakers are invited to submit a max 500 word abstract. Please read this call for abstracts for more details, and submit your abstract using this form. Please note that the deadline for submitting abstracts is 11 June 2023.
We will consider abstracts in English on all subjects relating to the theme of the conference, using any methodology/ies. While we welcome abstracts on all kinds of related topics, the following list of themes/topics serves as an inspiration:
- The situation of children in a specific de facto state (e.g. “education in Somaliland”);
- The effects of conflict and political upheaval on children’s development rights;
- Human rights duty bearers in relation to children in de facto states;
- Your (organisation’s) experience in working on human rights in, or with, de facto states;
- Fragmentation and the realisation of children’s rights;
- The United Nations, regional regulatory bodies (e.g. African Union), and human rights in de facto states;
- Normative rules and children’s rights in de facto states, in law and/or other normative orders.
Audience members who would like to attend without presenting, are invited to fill in this registration form. Please note that we ask you to write a brief “expression of interest”.
Fee & Scholarship
The registration fee for the International Conference on Realising Children’s Development Rights in De Facto States is 300 EUR. We offer partial and complete scholarships. For more information, please see the conference website.
Reminder service
If you are not yet sure whether you can attend the conference, you can enter your email address here. You will receive two-weekly reminders until you either sign up or sign off.
Introducing Camille Marquis Bissonnette
It is our pleasure to introduce our new contributor. Camille Marquis Bissonnette, LL.D, is a lecturer and postdoctoral fellow in Law at McGill. Her research interests lay principally in public international law, international security, criminal law, migration law and human rights. Her postdoctoral research focuses on the impacts of the indeterminacy of terrorism on the protection of refugees. She wrote her doctoral thesis on the intersections of international security law and the legal protection of human beings. Camille also completed a LL.M at the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights and interned at the United Nations International Law Commission. She is very active in human rights education and outreach, and she is dedicated to making a difference for human rights at every level, both within and outside academia.
Heartfelt welcome!
Write On! Call for Papers: Trade, Law and Development Journal
This installment of Write On!, our periodic compilation of calls for papers, includes calls to submit at National Law University, Jodhpur, as follows:
► National Law University, Jodhpur, India’s Trade, Law and Development Journal, which covers International Trade Law and International Economic Law is inviting unpublished manuscripts for publication of its 15th Special Issue (Vol. 15 No.1, Summer’23 Issue) focusing on the theme of “Sustainability and Inclusivity: Evolving Paradigms of the Global Economy“. Submissions are welcome in the form of Articles, Notes, Comments and Book Reviews. The Journal has been consistently ranked as the best law journal in India across all fields and the 10th best journal in the field of World Trade globally by the Washington and Lee University Rankings (USA).
► For more information on submissions, please see below or go here.
Go On! 6th Biennial Responsibility to Protect in Theory and Practice Conference
Go On! makes note of interesting conferences, lectures, and similar events.
►The Faculty of Law at University of Ljubljana, Slovenia is hosting the 6th biennial RESPONISBILITY TO PROTECT IN THEORY AND PRACTICE CONFERENCE on May 11-12, 2023. The conference series is set up as an interdisciplinary debate between scientists, experts and practitioners offering a forum for discussions and innovative thinking on the principle of Responsibility to Protect (R2P) in this part of the world. The conference will host 86 panelists and poster presenters coming from different parts of the world, addressing a wide range of topics related to the R2P principle from the legal nature of the concept to practical case studies of (non)implementation in various crises around the world. The conference will also include interesting panels on R2P and the protection of children, the role of women in implementation of R2P and deployment of artificial intelligence systems and R2P.
►For the full program and registration, please visit www.R2Pconference.com and see attachments below.
Emerging Leaders Advisory Board of Human Rights First
Announcement for young people passionate about using their creativity, knowledge and skills to promote and protect human rights:
The Emerging Leaders Advisory Board (ELAB) of the New York-based NGO Human Rights First is recruiting new members to join them. “Human Rights First recognizes the imperative to fully integrate talented young professionals at all levels of the organization, applying fresh ideas to hold oppressors accountable and free people from injustice.” Launched in late 2022, ELAB taps the creativity, energy, experiences, skills and social media savvy of young people to inform, support and advance the work of Human Rights First.
To apply to be a member of the advisory board, click here.
Question: Do I have to live in New York to be a member of the Emerging Leaders Advisory Board of Human Rights First?
Answer: No. ELAB currently has board members based across the globe. All of the board meetings are held virtually. We do hold in-person events in NY/DC in which Advisory Board members may participate, but attending them is not a requirement for serving on the board.
Question: What is the role of Emerging Leaders Advisory Board members? What is expected of a member if appointed to ELAB?
Emerging Leaders Advisory Board members are expected to attend bi-monthly virtual meetings and support ELAB with its various initiatives. This may include, but is not limited to, contributing to ELAB’s blog, helping to plan events, and promoting our events and initiatives on their social media pages. They are also expected to serve on one of our three committees, which highlight our core competencies and streamline our priority initiatives: Advocacy; Fundraising; and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (D.E.I.). Each committee hosts its own meetings, virtually, at the discretion of the committee chair. These typically occur bi-monthly. Committee overviews:
Advocacy Committee
In November 2022, ELAB published an introductory blog post outlining the importance of young leaders and how our board upholds that history. In 2023, we continue to use our voices to publish op-eds on Human Rights First’s site to further educate audiences on the human rights issues that show up in our various lives. We encourage members across our committees to submit proposals for topics, and we will be publishing these op-eds during the year.
Fundraising Committee
ELAB’s Fundraising Committee connects with new generations of donors, highlighting the work of Human Rights First through in-person events and online media campaigns. We launched our first individual fundraising drive on Human Rights Day (December 10), shortly after ELAB was established.
DEI Committee
ELAB’s Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Committee is currently spearheading recruitment to the Advisory Board. The committee is also actively engaged in planning events. A recent example is our Women’s History Month event, which took place in New York City on March 28, 2023. The committee is also collaborating with Human Rights First in drafting several protocols and initiatives to ensure diversity, equity, and inclusion in all aspects of our operations.
‘It is terrible to be alone’ and the (dis)remembered obligation
Like Seamus Heaney’s republic of conscience international human rights law is wrought from ‘tears’ we wept when it became clear what we were capable of and what was at stake. Not solitude, as Hannah Arendt explains, but loneliness or ‘not belonging to the world at all‘.
contrarian suggestions
Though its root source resonates in our bones, the law’s words do not yield their intent easily. Like art, it seems to be:
For in my experience, seemingly everywhere, in the global north and south, its meaning, is not merely screened by its legal bearings, but coloured by suggestion. It is susceptible to being revered as a referent of Justice herself or immutable law. Or conversely dismissed as a philosophic or legal abstraction. To being narrowed in scope and reduced in complexity. To being disregarded as law, parried as an import and censured as unnecessary or ineffective. So its meaning becomes blurred, leaving space for more threatening suggestions to gather affective and effective power.
Continue readingGo On! Summer School ‘Human Rights & Persons Deprived of Liberty’
The ERC-IMPACTUM team, the Programme for Studies on Human Rights in Context, the Human Rights Centre, Ghent University, and the Global Campus on Human Rights are pleased to invite highly motivated postgraduate students (masters, LLM, PhD) as well as staff of civil society organisations and policymakers in the fields of law, political sciences, public health and criminology to the 2nd Edition of the Summer School ‘Human Rights & Persons Deprived of Liberty’. The course will be held in a virtual format via Zoom from 27 June to 30 June 2023. Participants, who intend to deepen their knowledge of structural problems around prisons and issues related to the human rights of persons deprived of liberty, will have the opportunity to interact with world-leading academics from Europe, Africa and North & South America.
The call for applications is now open until 2 May 2023. For information, visit Human Rights in Context News.
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