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ACIL Newsletter July 2019
ACIL Newsletter July 2019
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Featured research
The struggle for peasant human rights
The struggle for peasant human rights
Corina Heri is researching the human rights claims made by peasants and rural workers (and recently recognized by the UN) as a critical project exposing normative and implementation gaps in international human rights law and contesting neoliberal policies in the agricultural context. On 30 September she will be presenting her work at an ACIL Luncheon. For more on her research, visit the project page.
Looking back on selected ACIL events
Richard Harvey (Senior Legal Counsel, Greenpeace International) recently gave an ACIL-ICL guest lecture on litigation of environmental destruction. In this interview Richard speaks with us about his long career as human rights lawyer, working with the deprived and discriminated in post-colonial areas around the world, his switch to environmental litigation and the link he sees between human rights and environmental rights.
As the UK’s representative to one of the ICC Assembly of States Parties, Shehzad Charania (now at Attorney General’s Office UK) learnt a lot about influencing, negotiating and the importance of timing and seizing the moment. Read our full interview with him, following his ACIL-ICL guest lecture on "The International Criminal Court and the role of states" earlier this year.
Following her guest lecture on 'The Future of International Law in an Age of Nationalist Populism,' Karen J Alter speaks to us about redundancy, regime complexity and universality in international law. She also explains how she uses heuristics and shares with us analytical tricks that help her to develop her thinking.
Christiaan Baardman (Senior Judge at the Court of Appeal The Hague) is one of the Dutch, and perhaps international, pioneers in judging cybercrime. In this interview he talks about the distinguishing characteristics of judging cybercrime and the tension between preventing and investigating crimes and protecting the personal freedom of individuals.
'International Law and its institutions have contributed to high levels of inequality within and between countries.' That is the main thrust of Ingo Venzke's inaugural lecture 'International Law and the Spectre of Inequality' delivered on 16 May 2019. He argues that we should break with the all current policy that focuses on the consequences rather than the causes of inequality. Read an interview with him about his inaugural lecture.
Welcomes
ACIL visiting fellow Hanna Bourgeois (KU Leuven) is pursuing fundamental research into legal issues related to the use of force and the protection of civilians with dedication and enthusiasm. During her stay at ACIL she is working on two new papers which discuss the interpretation and implementation of UN Security Council mandates authorising the protection of civilians and the use of force in mission accomplishment.
Of note
The European Cooperation on Science & Technology (COST) has approved Action JUSTICE360° (Global Atrocity Justice Constellations) which was initiated by Sergey Vasiliev (ACIL) jointly with Barbora Holá (NCSR), Mikkel Jarle Christensen (iCourts) and Kjersti Lohne (UiO). This grant will be used to finance an interdisciplinary consortium bringing together researchers from 32 countries to conceptualize, critically assess and compare the effects which the international criminal justice initiatives and interventions have (if any) on domestic governance structures, societal institutions and local culture. Sergey will serve as a member of the Action management committee.

Jill Coster van Voorhout's project using algorithms to detect human trafficking activities in bank data, has been nominated by Computable Magazine for the Dutch Computable Awards 2019. It was designated as one of the top 10 ICT projects in the Large Enterprise category. The general public has a 50% say in the award procedure. Jill Coster van Voorhout conducted the project together with ABN Amro bank and the Dutch Ministry of Social Affairs. Vote for the project or read more about the project.

On 21 May 2019, Kathryn Greenman defended her PhD research on the topic of 'The History and Legacy of State Responsibility for Rebels 1839-1930: Protecting Trade and Investment against Revolution in the Decolonised World.' Her thesis traces the emergence and contestation of the rules of state responsibility for rebels during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Greenman concludes by arguing that this legacy reveals how international law continues to prioritise the protection of foreign investment against rebels in the decolonised world.

On 5 July 2019, Jelle van Haaster defended his PhD thesis, entitled ‘On Cyber. The utility of military cyber operations during armed conflict.’ At various levels of warfare, there is a palpable lack of understanding of the utility of military cyber operations in conflict situations. This typically results in a reluctance to engage in such operations during armed conflict. To grasp the utility of military cyber operations, it is necessary to consider the context. Jelle van Haaster mapped out that context from five perspectives: political, sociological, technological, military and legal. He concludes that the utility of military cyber operations is at the interface of the five perspectives described in his PhD dissertation. Read an interview with him or read the full dissertation.

Kevin Jon Heller has been appointed to the Expert Panel of Trial Watch, a joint project of the Clooney Foundation for Justice and the American Bar Association. As a member of the Panel, he will be responsible for training trial monitors and assessing the fairness of various domestic trials. Kevin Jon Heller has been appointed to the Expert Panel of Trial Watch, a joint project of the Clooney Foundation for Justice and the American Bar Association. As a member of the Panel, he will be responsible for training trial monitors and assessing the fairness of various domestic trials.
Events
The ACIL lecture series for the winter semester 2019/2020 will start on 16 September 2019 with a lecture by Grietje Baars on ‘Corporation, Law and Capitalism.’ The other lecturers in the series will be Isabel Feichtner (joint SGEL lecture), Robin Geiß, Nicolas Lamp and Margot Salomon.
Calender
Sep
13
New frontiers in forensics in international criminal justice
The International Criminal Law Master’s Programme 2019-2020 will be kicked off on Friday 13 September from 15.00 - 17.00 hrs with the event ‘New frontiers in forensics in international criminal justice?’

Sep
16
ACIL lecture: The Corporation, Law and Capitalism
In "The Corporation, Law and Capitalism: A Radical Perspective on the Role of Law in the Global Political Economy," Grietje Baars (City, University of London) offers a radical Marxist perspective on the role of law in the global political economy. Closing a major gap in historical-materialist scholarship, they demonstrate how the corporation, capitalism’s main engine from city-state and colonial times to the present multinational, is a masterpiece of legal technology. Read more.

Sep
20
Governance of International Courts and Tribunals: Ensuring Judicial Independence and Accountability
Niels Blokker & Sergey Vasiliev’s ‘International Judicial Governance' project will be launched with a conference on the ‘Governance of International Courts and Tribunals: Ensuring Judicial Independence and Accountability.’ The conference will take place on 20-21 September 2019 in Leiden. Programme & location tbc.

Sep
30
SGEL guest lecture by Isabel Feichtner (University of Würzburg)
Details on the SGEL lecture by Isabel Feichtner (University of Würzburg) to be determined.

Oct
1
ACIL-ESIL guest lecture by Robin Geiss (University of Glasgow)
Details of the ACIL-ESIL guest lecture by Robin Geiss (University of Glasgow) to be determined.

Nov
4
ACIL lecture by Nicolas Lamp (Queen's University)
Details on the guest lecture by Nicolas Lamp (Queen's University) tbd.

Nov
14
International Economic Law And Security Interests Conference
ACIL and the ‘International Economic Law Interest Group’ of the European Society of International Law will host a conference on ‘International Economic Law and Security Interests.’ Besides a roundtable on the adjudication of the security exception, the Conference will feature panels on the different aspects of the topic. The conference will take place on 14-15 November 2019 at the University of Amsterdam. Call for proposals open now.

Nov
25
ACIL lecture by Margot Salomon (LSE)
Details of the ACIL lecture by Margot Salomon (London School of Economics) tbd.
Research output
Latest SSRN
Heri, C.
‘Shaping Coercive Obligations through Vulnerability: The Example of the ECtHR’ (17 June 2019). Forthcoming in: Natasa Mavronicola and Laurens Lavrysen (eds.), 'Towards a Coercive Human Rights Law? Positive Duties to Mobilise the Criminal Law under the ECHR;' Amsterdam Law School Research Paper No. 2019-22; Amsterdam Center for International Law No. 2019-11; Law and Justice Across Borders Research Paper No. 2019-02.

Vidigal, G.
WTO Adjudication and the Security Exception: Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed – Something Blue?’ (7 June 2019). Final version published in: 46(3) Legal Issues of Economic Integration (2019); Amsterdam Law School Research Paper No. 2019-21; Amsterdam Center for International Law No. 2019-10.
Articles, Inaugural Lecture & PhD theses
Donders, Y.
‘Ahunbay e.a. t. Turkije,’ European Human Rights Cases, Afl. 6, jaargang 20, juni 2019, pp. 341-345, Sdu, The Hague

Gill, T.D.
‘Some thoughts on the ICRC Support Based Approach,’ Questions of International Law, 31 May 2019

Greenman, K.J.
PhD thesis on ‘The history and legacy of state responsibility for rebels 1839-1930 – Protecting trade and investment against revolution in the decolonised world,’ defended on 21 May 2019, University of Amsterdam
(Link to abstract)

Haaster, J. van
PhD thesis on ‘The utility of military cyber operations during armed conflict,’ defended on 5 July 2019, University of Amsterdam

Heri, C.
Case note ‘Navalnyy v. Russia (Eur. Ct. H.R.)’, in: 58(2) International Legal Materials, Cambridge University Press, 25 April 2019

Schill, S.W.
'The European Union’s Foreign Direct Investment Screening Paradox: Tightening Inward Investment Control to Further External Investment Liberalization' (2019) 46 Legal Issues of Economic Integration 105–128

Venzke, I.
'International Law and the Spectre of Inequality,' inaugural lecture, delivered on 16 May 2019, University of Amsterdam

Venzke, I.
‘Social justice in the Treaty of Versailles: a very brief history,’ Socialeurope.eu, 27 June 2019

Venzke, I.
'Soziale Gerechtigkeit im Versailler Vertrag,' Verfassungsblog.de, 28 June 2019

Vidigal, G.
'The Return of Voluntary Export Restraints? How WTO Law Regulates (And Doesn’t Regulate) Bilateral Trade-Restrictive Agreements' (2019) 53 Journal of World Trade, Issue 2, pp. 187–210

Vidigal, G.
‘WTO Adjudication and the Security Exception: Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed – Something Blue?’ (2019) Legal Issues of Economic Integration 46 203–224
Books & Book chapters
Heri, C. & Keller, H.*
‘The Committees on Human Rights and Economic, Social and Cultural Rights,’ in: Chesterman, S., Malone, D. M. & Villalpando, S. (eds.), ‘The Oxford Handbook of United Nations Treaties,’ Oxford University Press

Schill, S.W. and Gülay, K.
'Approaches to Foreign Direct Investment in Legal Research' in M Krajewski and RT Hoffmann (eds), 'Research Handbook on Foreign Direct Investment' (Edward Elgar 2019) 39-71

Vasiliev, C, Cryer, R., Robinson, D.*
‘An Introduction to International Criminal Law and Procedure,’ 2019, Cambridge University Press

*Sequence of authors altered. ACIL researchers listed first.
Presentations and societal impact
Bartels, R.
Respondent to Colleen Murphy's lecture on ‘Peace and Justice? The Case of the International Criminal Court,’ as part of the Public Ethics Talks, 25 April 2019, Leiden University

Bartels, R.
Discussant of Cale Davis's paper ‘Playing with Prosecutorial Discretion,’ ICC Scholars Forum, 21-22 June 2019, Grotius Centre, Leiden University, The Hague

Donders, Y.
Member of panel, book launch event ‘The Transforming Power of Cultural Rights,’ by Prof. Helle Porsdam, 19 June 2019, Centre for Global Knowledge Studies, University of Cambridge

Brölmann, C.
Co-organizer and moderator of ‘An Ambivalent Engagement: International Organisations and the International Rule of Law,’ 3 April 2019, ESIL Interest Group on IOs Workshop, at the occasion of the ESIL Research Forum 2019, 3-5 April 2019, Göttingen

Brölmann, C.
Presentation on ‘IOs and the Sources of International Law,’ 15 April 2019 at ‘ILO 100: Law for Social Justice’ conference, 15-17 April 2019, International Labour Organisation, Geneva

Brölmann, C.
Presentation on 'Is the classical paradigm of state practice and opinio juris still valid today?' at First ECTPIL and TRICI-Law Conference on ‘The Theory and Philosophy of Customary International Law and its Interpretation,’ 24-25 May 2019, University of Groningen

Brölmann, C.
Presentation on ‘International Organizations Coming of Age as International Legal Actors and the Implications for IFIs,’ 21 June 2019, Asian Infrastrusture Investment Bank, Office of the General Counsel, Beijing

Brölmann, C.
Presentation on ‘Contractual freedom and institutional constraint - lawmaking in IOs at the cutting face of the law of treaties and institutional law,’ 27 June 2019, Chinese University of Political Science and Law, Beijing

Brölmann, C.
Moderator of the ‘Noblesse et servitude’ presentation by and interview with H.E. Philippe Couvreur, leaving the Registry of the International Court of Justice, 10 July 2019, Peace Palace, The Hague, organised by Asser Institute and Le Club de Droit International

Donders, Y.
Lecture on ‘Human Rights and Cultural Heritage: Living apart Together?’ Summer School International Cultural Heritage Law, 24 June 2019, University of Geneva

Donders, Y.
Presentation of report on ‘The right to take part in cultural life’ at the inter-sessional meeting, ILA Committee on Participation in Global Cultural Heritage Governance, 2-3 July 2019, University of Oxford

Gill, T.D.
Presentation on ‘Lawfare’ at CCW Conference: The Conduct of War - Past, present and Future,' 26 - 28 June 2019, Changing Character of War Centre, Pembroke College, Oxford

Gill, T.D.
Particpation in expert meeting on ‘Cyber Intervention and International Law,’ 1-2 July 2019, Chatham House, London

Heri, C.
Presentation on ‘Loyalty, Subsidiarity, and Article 18 ECHR: Responses to Human Rights Limitations with Ulterior Motives,’ at the conference on ‘Loyal Co-Operation within the System of the European Convention on Human Rights’ 10-11 May 2019, ILHRU, International Law and Human Rights Unit (ILHRU), University of Liverpool

Heri, C.
Presentation on ‘Peasants as the Emissaries of Community Interests: New Developments Concerning Peasant Human Rights,’ at the conference on ‘Protecting Community Interests under International Law: Challenges and Prospects for the 21st Century,’ 3 June 2019, University of Oslo
 
Heri, C.
Presentation on ‘Vulnerability-based coercive obligations as an impetus for more victim-oriented perspectives,’ ICON-S Annual Conference: ‘Public Law in Times of Change?’ 3 July 2019, Santiago de Chile
 
Kjos, H.E.
Jury member for the PhD Defence by Relja Radovic, ‘Demystifying Consent: The Jurisdictional Framework of Investment Treaty Arbitration Revisited,’ 20 May 2019, University of Luxemburg

Kjos, H.E.
Closing Address and conclusions at the ‘Comparative Procedure in State-to-State Disputes’ conference, 28-29 May 2019, Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies, Leiden University

Meguro, M.
Presentation on ‘The false fiction behind opinio juris: A State as a complex cannot believe in customary international law’ at the ECTPIL and TRICI-Law Conference, 24-25 May 2019, University of Groningen

Meguro, M.
Presentation on 'Going Beyond State vs non-State Dichotomy in International LawA response to the deformalization of law and sources,' Annual Conference 2019, Japanese Association of World Law 世界法学会), 19 May 2019, Tokyo.

Schil, S.W.
Presentation on 'Fair and Equitable Treatment' at the 'International Investment Law: An Analysis of the Major Decisions' workshop, 6-7 June 2019, Max Planck Institute Luxembourg

Schil, S.W.
Presentation on 'EU Law and Investor-State Dispute Settlement: Conflict or Complementarity?' at the ESIL-CJEU Symposium 'Adjudicating the International Responsibility of the EU,' 14 June 2019, Court of Justice of the European Union, Luxembourg

Vasiliev, S.
Chair of roundtable on ‘ICC and Perils of the Present’ at ‘International Criminal Justice at the Crossroads’ conference, 17 May 2019, Center for International Criminal Justice, VU Amsterdam
 
Vasiliev, S.
Lecture on ‘ICC in Crisis: Where to from Here?’ 8 July 2019, VU Summer School on International Criminal Justice, VU Amsterdam

Venzke, I.
Presentation on 'Investitionsschutzrecht nach 1945' [Investment law after 1945], at the conference on ‘(Post-)Koloniale Rechtswissenschaft’, 10 May 2019, Humboldt Universität Berlin

Venzke, I.
Invited Lecture on ‘Judges as Members of Small Groups: Dynamics of Deliberation and Groupthink Bias,’ Judicial Speech Acts Workshop, 29 May 2019, University of Pennsylvania (together with Philipp Günther).

Venzke. I.
Presentation on ‘International Economic Law and Policy in the Shadows of the Second World War’, Law and Society Association (LSA), Annual Conference, 31 May 2019, Washington D.C.

Vidigal, G.
Keynote speech on ‘Rules-Based Trade Under Fire: the EU Customs Union in Uncertain Times' at the EFS conference '50 Years of the EU Customs Union and EU VAT System: Developments, Challenges and Alternatives,' 14 February 2019, European Fiscal Studies Foundation, Erasmus University Rotterdam
 
Vidigal, G.
Interview with Brazilian newspapaper Valor Econômico: ‘Com Trump, Comércio Administrado Ganha Impulso,’ 20 May 2019
 
Vlaming, F. de
Presentation of the policy brief ‘Legal Obstacles to Housing, Land and Property Rights in Syria’ at the NGO Platform meeting on 'Idlib and refugee returns,' 11 June 2019, Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, The Hague. The policy brief was published by PAX, Syria Legal Network and the War Reparations Centre.
 
Vlaming, F. de
Co-organiser of the second training event for Syrian lawyers on Dutch family law, 18 June 2019, University of Amsterdam. The training was jointly organised by the Syria Legal Aid Project, the War Reparations Centre and the Syria Legal Network.
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