Announcements: UN Audiovisual Library of International Law; CfP The League of Nations Decentred; Cynical International Law? Conference

1. New Additions to the UN Audiovisual Library of International Law. The Codification Division of the UN Office of Legal Affairs has added the following lectures to the UN Audiovisual Library of International Law website: Dr. Anthea Roberts on “Is International Law International?” and Mr. Dire Tladi on “The African Peace and Security Architecture”. The UN Audiovisual Library of International Law provides high quality international law training and research materials to users around the world free of charge.

2. Call for Papers – The League of Nations Decentred: Law, Crises and Legacies. Melbourne Law School is hosting a conference on 18 – 19 July 2019 which intends to bring together scholars working in law, history, international relations, and political theory to think critically about the League of Nations, law, institutions, practices, ideologies and technologies in relation to or with a view from the South. Abstracts of no more than 350 words should be submitted to Dr Ntina Tzouvala (konstantina.tzouvala {at} unimelb.edu(.)au) by 30 of November 2018.

3. Cynical International Law? Conference: Abuse and Circumvention in Public and Private International law, as well as European Law. The conference departs from the idea that cynicism in international law appears to be ubiquitous. Actors seem to abuse international law or circumvent the purpose of its rules on many occasions. This is particularly evident where illiberal, populist or autocratic actors try to profit from the legitimacy of lawful conduct, while arguably acting against the spirit of the law. Situations in which states advance international legal arguments of self-determination and humanitarian intervention in this manner in order to justify the use of force have received much attention. Further, one could call it cynical when states undermine international organizations, e.g. by obstructing the election process of the organizations’ organs, or when international standards are eroded due to minimalist implementation, e.g. by reducing climate law’s ‘nationally determined contributions’ to zero. Likewise, non-state actors might use international law in a cynical way. Examples include the potential abuse of investment protection mechanisms and of strategic litigation before international judicial bodies.