Announcements: Geneva Summer School; ESIL Law of the Sea Panel; Oxford Clarendon Law Lectures; Salzberg Summer Session

1.  The Geneva Summer Schools at the University of Geneva is excited to announce a 2014 summer school on “International Protection of Cultural Heritage in the 21st-Century”, 16 June to 27 June 2014. The two-week course taught in English in Geneva is aimed at BA and MA students interested in cultural heritage law, and will include lectures from faculty from international institutions and organizations. The summer school offers an overview of the international and comparative law for the protection of cultural heritage. The course aims to develop the students’ awareness of the main substantive themes of cultural heritage law, namely: the protection of cultural property in times of war; the restitution of artworks lost as a result of theft, illicit excavations and illicit trade; the protection of the built heritage and of the human rights associated to the tangible and intangible heritage. In order to offer an up-to-date glance at cultural heritage law, the summer course will also focus on the different ideological positions of the relevant stakeholders and on its complex relationship with other fields of law – namely general international law, human rights law, intellectual property law, and international investment law – and with the issue of dispute settlement. Finally, this course aims to bring out the challenges to cultural heritage that emanate from old and new threats. To name but a few: armed conflicts; reduced protection of sites and monuments due to lack of public money and political support; natural catastrophes; and damage to cultural sites caused by human activities.Students must apply online with a short letter of motivation and a CV. Course places are limited and enrollment is on a rolling basis so students are encouraged to apply early.

2.  On the occasion of the 10th Anniversary Conference of the European Society of International Law taking place in Vienna, the ESIL Law of the Sea Interest Group will convene a panel on ‘International Law… and the Sea’, which will take place on 3 September 2014. See the call for papers here.

3.  Professor Harold Koh will be giving this year’s Clarendon lectures at the University of Oxford, speaking about Law and Globalization.” The lectures will take place over three evenings and are open to everyone: Tuesday 6th May, 5-6:30pm, Pichette Auditorium, Pembroke College (Followed by a drinks reception in the foyer by the auditorium 6:30-7:30pm). Thursday 8th May, 5-6:30pm, The Gulbenkian Lecture Theatre, Faculty of Law, St Cross Building. Tuesday 13th May, 5-6:30pm, The Gulbenkian lecture theatre, Faculty of Law, St Cross Building. Harold Hongju Koh is Sterling Professor of International Law at Yale Law School. He returned to Yale Law School in January 2013 after serving for nearly four years as the 22nd Legal Adviser of the U.S. Department of State.

4.  The Salzburg Law School on International Criminal Law, Humanitarian Law and Human Rights Law (SLS) welcomes applications for its Sixteenth Summer Session, “International Criminal Law at the First World War Centenary — From Consolidation Towards Confrontation?”, Sunday 3 to Friday 15 August 2014. The SLS is a two-week summer programme aimed at postgraduate students, young academics and practitioners. This year’s session will scrutinize principles and procedures of international criminal law, their origins and contemporary challenges to their enforcement. In this context, there will be a special thematic focus on the principle of irrelevance of official capacity under international customary law and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) as well as on controversies stemming from the Court’s cases against sitting heads of States, proposed changes to the Rome Statute and policy considerations determining the selection of situations and cases. Other topics include the Kampala amendments to the Rome Statute, the rights of the defence in international criminal proceedings, the role of international investigation commissions, as well as recent decisions and judgements of the ICC and the ICTY. Further information on the academic programme and a preliminary list of speakers are available here. The application period ends on Friday 9 May 2014.