Announcements: Sixth Annual Junior Faculty Forum for International Law; Annual Conference on WTO Law; CfP Law in transition; Venice Academy of Human Rights; BIICL Event Private Security and Human Rights; Silent Leges Inter Arma? Conference; Workshop on Refugee Rights; New additions to the UN Audiovisual Library of International Law; CfA – Assistant on MOOC in International Investment Law; Disaster Risk Reduction and International Law Symposium; International Law Weekend Extended Deadline

1. Sixth Annual Junior Faculty Forum for International Law: University of Nottingham, May 8, 9 and 10, 2017. Over coming days, Dino Kritsiotis (Nottingham), Anne Orford (Melbourne) and JHH Weiler (NYU) will convene the Sixth Annual Junior Faculty Forum for International Law at the University of Nottingham.

2. Annual Conference on WTO Law. Registration is now open for the Annual Conference on WTO Law, a two-day conference jointly organised by Georgetown Law and the Graduate Institute, Geneva. It has its origins in the partnership created in the year 2000 between University Professor John H. Jackson of Georgetown, and Professor Sir Francis Jacobs, KCMG, QC, a Trustee of BIICL, and has a longstanding affiliation with the Journal of International Economic Law (JIEL), published by the Oxford University Press. The Annual Conference on WTO Law pursues cutting-edge issues of interest to academics and practitioners alike. The 2017 Conference will be held in Geneva on 9-10 June 2017. The programme can be found here.

3. Call for Papers: Law in Transition – Interacting Legal Orders and Changing Actors. The conference ‘Law in transition – Interacting legal orders and changing actors’ arranged by the INTRAlaw (INternational and TRAnsnational tendencies in LAW) Research Centre will take place on 28 and 29 September 2017 in Aarhus. Proposals should be submitted by  1 June 2017.  The underlying idea of the conference is the fact that sovereign states are no longer the only actors in charge of establishing, implementing and enforcing legal norms. To an increasing extent, legal norms are established as a result of activities in international and supranational organizations, transnational corporations and through collaboration between public law and private law entities at national, supranational and international levels. The aim of the conference is to shed light on the impact of these new tendencies on legal regulatory mechanisms, on the role of the traditional legal actors, and on the subsequent challenges for legal research.

4. Venice Academy of Human Rights. The Venice Academy of Human Rights will take place from 3-12 July 2017 on the topic “Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights as an Answer to Rising Inequalities”.  The faculty includes a distinguished opening lecture by Branko Milanović, a general course by Olivier De Schutter as well as lectures and discussion sessions with Wilfried Altzinger, Andreas Føllesdal, Dzidek Kędzia, Miloon Kothari, Manfred Nowak, Kate Pickett and Heisoo Shin. The Venice Academy of Human Rights 2016, in co-operation with PluriCourts – Centre of Excellence for the Study of the Legitimate Roles of the Judiciary in the Global Order, discusses the prospects for economic and social justice against the background of rising inequalities. The course is aimed at academics, practitioners, PhD/JSD and master students. A selected number of participants will have the opportunity to present their own ‘work-in-progress’ to faculty members and peers. Please see the call for applications and the detailed programme for more information.

5. BIICL Event ‘Private Security and Human Rights’. On 24 May 2017, BIICL is hosting an event titled ‘Private security and human rights’. This event will look at implementation of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights by private security providers. It will provide an overview of the regulatory framework and international developments, consider the role of certification bodies and discuss common challenges along with emerging practices to address them. The private security sector operates in widely varied and often complex environments with frequent human rights risks. These issues extend to companies in other sectors which require private security services. In addition, private security’s core operations often involve the protection of human rights such as the right to life, security of the person and property, even if not expressed in human rights terms. Please see the event flyer. Further information is available online.

6. ‘Silent Leges Inter Arma? Conference, Bruges, 20-22 September 2017. The Belgian Group of the International Society for Military Law and the Law of War is pleased to announce its ‘Silent leges inter arma?’ conference. This international conference, organised with the support of the Law Schools of the University of Exeter and the University of Melbourne, will be hosted at the Grand Hotel Casselbergh in the centre of the historical city of Bruges (Belgium) from 20 – 22 September 2017. This conference will bring together practitioners and academics active in the field of security and defence with parliamentarians and their collaborators, to discuss a variety of topical, including the initiative for a new multilateral treaty for mutual legal assistance and extradition for domestic prosecution of crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, the UN Charter and the legal bases to resort to the use of force in light of contemporary security challenges, parliamentary oversight and democratic control over armed forces, legal considerations pertaining to the use of armed forces in domestic situations in support of counter-terrorism efforts, targeting in complex situations, the legal challenges in hybrid warfare, and a commentary on the ICRC commentaries on the Geneva Conventions. For more information please see here.

7. Workshop on Refugee Rights. Brunel University London and the Jean Monnet Chair in EU Law at City, University of London, in collaboration with the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, are organising a brainstorming workshop on refugee rights (convenors: Professor Alexandra Xanthaki and Professor Panos Koutrakos). This workshop is interdisciplinary (bringing together academic lawyers, political studies specialists, media experts, NGOs), intra-disciplinary (the speakers include international, EU, and human rights lawyers), and practice-oriented (presentations will focus, amongst others, on experience on the ground). Presentations will be short and focused on specific arguments and perspectives. The workshop will take place at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies on Friday 19 May 2017. Attendance is free but places are limited. You may find the programme of the workshop and sign up here.

8. New additions to the UN Audiovisual Library of International Law. The Codification Division of the UN Office of Legal Affairs is pleased to announce the completion of the International Law Handbook, which contains a collection of instruments used by the Codification Division as study materials for its training courses under the Programme of Assistance in the Teaching, Study, Dissemination and Wider Appreciation of International Law. This publication was prepared to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the establishment of the Programme in 2015 and to promote the teaching and dissemination of international law around the world. The International Law Handbook is intended to be used as a general work of reference and comprises of four books, which can be accessed under the Research Library pillar of the UN Audiovisual Library of International Law website free of charge. Additionally, a new lecture has been added to the UN Audiovisual Library of International Law website by ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda on “The Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court: Successes, Challenges and the Promise of International Criminal Justice”.

9. Call for Applications: Assistant on a MOOC in International Investment Law – University of Louvain (UCL). Starting date: June / July 2017. The University of Louvain has recently launched a MicroMaster in international law. Four courses are offered in this MicroMaster: public international law, international human rights law, international humanitarian law and international investment law. The University of Louvain is currently recruiting an assistant to help on the MOOC in international investment law. The selected candidate will work on the preparation of the MOOC; the candidate will also be expected to be active on the forum of the MOOC once it is on-line. The selected candidate will be fluent in English and preferably have already some knowledge of international investment law. For further information and to apply, please contact Professor Yannick Radi (yannick.radi {at} uclouvain(.)be).

10. Disaster Risk Reduction and International Law Symposium 2017. The current global landscape governing disaster risk reduction (DRR) is in a significant period of evolution. In response to this, the University of Reading (School of Law and the Walker Institute) together with the ASIL Disaster Law Interest Group is organising a significant symposium between 29 June and 1 July 2017. The symposium, which will be framed around the principles and objectives underpinning the Sendai Framework is a unique opportunity to discuss, debate, inform and progress the development of law, policy and practice governing DRR and disasters at the national, regional and international levels. The symposium is designed to bring together a multinational spectrum of participants drawn from across governmental, intergovernmental, private, NGO/civil society, academic and media sectors. Participants will comprise a mixture of those contributing papers and non-contributors informing wider discussions and debate. For further information and registration please see here.

11. International Law Weekend: Extended Deadline for Panel Proposals. The deadline for panel proposals for International Law Weekend 2017 has been extended until May 15.  International Law Weekend 2017 will take place from October 19 – 21 in New York City. This conference is jointly sponsored and organized by the International Law Students’ Association and the American Branch of the International Law Association. More information about the conference, its theme, and procedures about panel submissions is available here.