Announcements: International Law in Courts Talk; CfP International Dispute Resolution Oversight; CfA UN Minority Rights Regime; Criminal Justice and HR E-Learning; CfP Ukraine and International Law; Shamima Begum CELI Lecture; Universal Declaration of HR Conference; Law of Council of Europe Summer School; CfP ILW; CfN Outstanding Achievement Award; CfN ABILA Book Awards; FGV Workshop; Spanish International Legal Podcast; Lund University Vacancy; Treaties & Private IL Conference; CfP International Criminal Justice

3. Call for Abstracts: REFORM of the UN Minority Rights Regime. The Minority Rights Solidarity Network in conjunction with the Sussex Centre for Human Rights Research invites abstracts for a workshop to be held on 11 May 2023 at the University of Sussex on the topic of REFORM of the UN minority rights regime. Deadline for abstracts is 31 March. More information and the call for papers can be found here.

4. 2023 E-Learning Program of the Siracusa International Institute for Criminal Justice and Human Rights. This e-learning program targets International Criminal Law, International Cooperation in Criminal Matters, Human Rights and Criminal Justice. It is designed for recent graduates in law, political science, international relations, or related fields and young professionals and practitioners within the international legal/political field, but it is open to all. Each course will last 3 days for a total of 12 hours and will be broadcast live on Zoom. The E-learning Program will consist of 5 courses, but more courses might be announced in the next months: Genocide (23-25 June); International Criminal Evidence (7-9 July); Digital Rights (21-23 July); International Law and the Conflict in Ukraine (6-8 October); and, Understanding Modes of Individual Criminal Responsibility (20-22 October).  Further information and the registration form are available here. 

5. Call for Papers: Ukraine and the Post-Liberal International Order after the Zeitenwende. University of Zurich, 15-16 June 2023. This conference will examine how states, regional actors and non-state actors have used and abused international law in responding to the war in Ukraine, and what this tells us about the state of the global legal order. Moving beyond generalisations and master narratives about the ‘West v. Rest’, ‘the rise of the Global South’, or ‘the revival of the Western alliance’, this conference aims to analyse how state, regional and non-state actors have responded to the war in different areas of international law, for instance in the jus ad bellum and international humanitarian law, sanctions, food and energy security, accountability for crimes and human rights violations, migration governance, nuclear proliferation, climate change and environmental protection. In addressing these questions, the conference is an opportunity to consider questions, such as: to what extent the war in Ukraine is a transformational moment for the legal order? Will post-2022 reforms help decentralize global governance in selected areas of international law or, conversely, resurrect multilateralism? What new and old cross-regional and intra-regional alliances are likely to form? For details, see here.

6. CELI Annual Lecture 2023: Shamima Begum and the Future of British Citizenship. CELI is organising its Annual Lecture 2023, hosting Professor Matthew Gibney (University of Oxford) who will be looking at the case of Shamina Begum and the prospects for security of British citizenship over the coming decade. The case of Shamima Begum highlights the UK’s citizenship-stripping practices, and its more frequent use of citizenship-stripping powers than any other liberal democratic state. Despite this, Prof. Gibney argues that British citizenship is likely to become more secure over the coming decade for reasons that lie in politics and changing international circumstances. The lecture will take place on 27 April 2023, 16:00-18:30 BST, at Fielding Johnson Council Suite, University of Leicester Law School, P.C. LE1 7RH. More information can be found here.

7. Conference: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights’ 75th Anniversary. This conference will take place on 28 April 2023, 09:45-16:45 BST, at Fielding Johnson Council Suite, University of Leicester Law School, P.C. LE1 7RH. More information (and registration) can be found here.

8. First Summer School on the Law of the Council of Europe. Between 3 – 14 July 2023, School of Law and Social Justice of the University of Liverpool will be hosting the First Summer School on the Law of the Council of Europe. This summer school will bring together key decision-makers from the Council of Europe and leading scholars to discuss the ways in which the Council of Europe system can stand up to various challenges. These include rising illiberal democracies, the Russian aggression against Ukraine, and the consequent expulsion of the Russian Federation from the Council of Europe, but also climate change, public health emergencies, such as the one caused by COVID-19, and economic crises. The deadline for application is 14 April 2023. There are scholarships to support those in need. More information is here.

9. Call for Panel Proposals: International Law Weekend 2023. The American Branch of the International Law Association’s International Law Weekend Organizing Committee is pleased to invite panel proposals for ILW 2023, which will take place 19 – 21 October 2023 in New York City. The unifying theme for ILW 2023 is Beyond International Law, and it will explore this theme through a diverse set of engaging and provocative panels on a broad array of both public international law and private international law topics in each time slot. Deadline: 17 April 2023. For more information, see here.

10. Call for Nominations: ABILA 2023 Outstanding Achievement Award. The American Branch is now accepting nominations for the 2023 Outstanding Achievement Award to recognize outstanding contributions in the field of international law. The inaugural winner of this award, established in 2021, was former International Criminal Court Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda. The 2022 winner was Justice Richard Goldstone. Recipients of this annual award need not be current members of the American Branch. Deadline: 1 July 2023. For more information, see here.

11. Call for Nominations: 2023 ABILA Book Awards. The American Branch of the International Law Association is now accepting nominations for the 2023 ABILA Book Awards. The Book Awards Committee is pleased to offer three separate awards, as follows: (1) ABILA Book of the Year Award: Awarded each year to the best book published in the previous year on international law or a topic in international law; (2)  ABILA Practitioners Book Award: Awarded each year to the best book published in the previous year on a technical topic in international law or on a topic likely to be of particular interest to practitioners of international law; and (3) ABILA New Authors Book Award: Awarded each year to the best first book published on international law or a topic in international law by an author who has not previously published a book on this or any other subject. Deadline: 1 July 2023. For more information, see here.

12. FGV Workshop: Transforming the Role of International Courts and Tribunals in a New Era of Adjudication. On 16 March 2023, the FGV Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence will host the Workshop ‘Transforming the Role of International Courts and Tribunals in a New Era of Adjudication’. The event will occur in hybrid format,with virtual and in-person presentations, as well as live online broadcasting. The workshop aims at exploring the demands for greater participation, legitimacy and transparency that have gained momentum in recent years. It takes into account the new role of international courts and tribunals in finding balance between States’ rights and the provision of common interests, without ignoring the geopolitical implications of international judgments. The programme features internationally distinguished speakers, such as Laurence Boisson de Chazournes (University of Geneva), Diego P. Fernández Arroyo (Sciences Po Law School), Jean-Marc Sorel (Sorbonne Law School, University of Paris 1), Serena Forlati (University of Ferrara), Miriam Cohen (University of Montreal) and Malcolm Langford (University of Oslo). Register here. See the programme here.

13. Hablemos de Derecho Internacional (HDI) – The International Legal Podcast (Spanish). HDI recently added the following episodes in Spanish: #102: Prof. Nicolás Creus – La Disputa del Poder Global; #103: Dra. Rosmerlin Estupiñan Silva – Crímenes de Guerra; #104: Prof. J.M. de Faramiñán Gilbert: Tres Lacras: Populismo, Noticias Falsas y COVID-19;  #105: José Daniel Rodríguez: Solicitud de Opinión Consultiva a la CIJ – Cambio Climático; #106: Dra. Natalia Torres Zúñiga – La legitimidad de la Corte Interamericana de Derechos Humanos; #107: Prof. Juan Luis Manfredi Sánchez: Una visita a la diplomacia del Siglo 21; and, #108: Sara Palacios Arapiles – La Esclavitud. The Podcast is available on the main platforms: Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or through other podcast applications by searching “Hablemos de Derecho Internacional”. Updated information about the guests and episodes can be found on the website or on HDI’s social media accounts: LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

14. Vacancy: Lund University Post-doctoral Position. Applications for a Post-doctoral position in public international law with a focus on environmental peacebuilding a the Faculty of Law at Lund University in Sweden are open. This is a fixed-term position for a period of two years.  The postdoctoral fellow will be part of a research project examines the role of international law in how natural resource management and environmental protection can be integrated into peacebuilding activities. Applicants should have completed their PhD before the application deadline 4 May 2023. Applicants are not required to speak Swedish. Further details are available here.

15. The Law of Treaties as Applied to Private International Law Conference. The international conference The Law of Treaties as Applied to Private International Law will take place at Catholic University of Milano on 5 – 6 May 2023. The conference, jointly organized by the European Association of Private International Law (EAPIL) and the Italian Society of International and EU Law (SIDI) is concerned with the rules governing the conclusion, interpretation and application of international treaties, as they apply to bilateral and multilateral treaties in the field of private international law. The aim of the conference is thus two-fold: Encouraging specialists of private international law to reassess the importance of issues surrounding the coming into existence of private international law treaties and their operation under public international law, on the one hand; and, discussing whether, and to what extent, the law of treaties applies in the area of private international law in a way that reflects the latter’s peculiar features, on the other. For more information see here. Early bird fees available until 20 March.

16. Call for Papers: Professionals and Professionalism(s) in International Criminal Justice Workshop. International Workshop ‘Professionals and Professionalism(s) in International Criminal Justice’ will take place on Friday 14 July 2023 both in person at the School of Law, University of Leeds and online (Zoom). More information can be found here.  The international workshop is intended to start a conversation on the profession, practice, and role of international criminal lawyers by looking at three main themes: (i) The International Criminal Justice professional: How do diverse practitioners view their role? How consonant is their professional self-perception with their personal motivations for working in the field?; (ii) Professionalism: What values, practices and beliefs animate the notion of ‘professionalism’ for International Criminal Justice practitioners? Who (or what) is excluded by the notion of professionalism? Is there an ‘us’ and ‘them’ to the professional project?; and, (iii) Wider impact: What is the impact on the institutions of International Criminal Justice, and on the discipline, practice (and teaching?) of international criminal law itself, of these conceptions of professional self-perception and professionalism? The workshop is free of charge for all participants. There are a small number of bursaries for those who might need additional financial assistance with travel and/or accommodation.