Universiteit van Amsterdam

This conference wants to question the present state of international law by challenging its pretence to necessity and by better understanding the forces that have shaped it. Put simply with Robert Musil: "If there is a sense of reality, there must also be a sense of possibility.” The overarching aim will be to expose the contingencies of international law’s development by inquiring into international law’s past.

Research within this project revolves around two questions that are deceptive in their simplicity: How might international law have been otherwise? And why did it turn out the way it did?

The Leuven Manual on the International Law Applicable to Peace Operations was launched at the Permanent Mission of the Netherlands to the United Nations in New York, with the participation of the UN Undersecretaries General for Peacekeeping Operations, Office of Legal Affairs and Field Support and with presentations by Prof. T.D. Gill on 19 February 2018.

On 24 May in Geneva Ms. mr. dr. drs. Jill Coster van Voorhout (PhD, LLM, MSc), together with Ambassador Stephen Rapp, former Ambassador of war crimes at-large under the Obama administration, presided over a seminar on “attacks on education”. This seminar, organized by Education Above All, aimed to hold to account perpetrators of not only physical attacks on schools and universities, but also adjustments to curricula for the purpose of incitement to genocide, for example.

T.M.C. Asser Instituut, Amsterdam Center for International Law and The Netherlands Red Cross organized an event entitled Controversial targets: Does contemporary practice stretch the concept of military objectives under international humanitarian law? at the Asser Institute on the 29 May 2018.

On Monday 28 May, ACIL held its annual Research Day at the Industrieele Groote Club in Amsterdam. This was followed by a lecture by Michael Zürn, the Director of the research unit "Global Governance" at the Berlin Social Science Center (WZB).
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This workshop organised by ACIL aimed to explore the position of two actors in the process of forming and identifying customary international law: first, ‘specially-affected states’, as they have been famously termed by the International Court of Justice (ICJ); and, second, international organizations.
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This workshop will ask a question that is deceptive in its simplicity: How might international law have been otherwise? We want to question the present state of international law by challenging its pretence to necessity and by better understanding the forces that have shaped it. Put simply by Robert Musil: "If there is a sense of reality, there must also be a sense of possibility.”

Fleur Johns will present a public lecture on Nonevents in International Law, asking the question: what if international legal scholars were to identify possibility with pattern and formula, storage and transmission, rather than irregularity and insight?

Moyn received a doctorate in modern European history from the University of California-Berkeley in 2000 and a law degree from Harvard University in 2001. His areas of interest in legal scholarship include international law, human rights, the law of war, and legal thought, in both historical and current perspective.
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During this ACIL Luncheon, Pola Cebulak, Assistant professor in European Law, will discuss a forthcoming article on the backlash against international courts.
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The Neoliberalisation of International Law. Emma Luce Scali will discuss her work at this ACIL luncheon. More details to follow
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The present Colloquium, co-hosted by the International Council for Commercial Arbitration (ICCA) and the Amsterdam Center for International Law (ACIL) at the University of Amsterdam (UvA), will provide a high-level forum for the discussion and clarification of issues surround the Achmea decision.
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The Amsterdam Center for International Law (ACIL) of the University of Amsterdam and the T.M.C. Asser Institute are pleased to announce the launch of the summer programme on "International Lawyering in a Public Interest".

Schill, S.
'MFN Clauses as Bilateral Commitments to Multilateralism – A Reply to Simon Batifort and J. Benton Heath'. Amsterdam Law School Research Paper No. 2018-01, Amsterdam Center for International Law No. 2018-01.

Venzke, I.
'The International Court of Justice During the Battle for International Law (1955-1975)—Colonial Imprints and Possibilities for Change'. Amsterdam Law School Research Paper No. 2018-08, Amsterdam Center for International Law No. 2018-02.

Brölmann, C., d'Aspremont, J. & Lythgoe, G.
'Do We Need Another Database of International Law Documents? Blog for EJILTalk! 12 March 2018.

Brölmann, C.
Invited expert to closed consultation for the preparation of the 2018 UN General Assembly Report by the Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation, OHCHR Geneva, 14-15 May 2018.

Brölmann, C.
Participant in the expert meeting of the project The partnership of international organisations for effective rule-making (under the auspices of the OECD), Geneva, 13 April 2018

Brölmann, C.
‘The activation of the crime of aggression in the ICC regime: between a contractual and an institutional approach’, Club de Droit International, The Hague, 5 April 2018.

Coster van Voorhout, J.
'Seminar on education-related violations of international law'. Geneva, 24 May 2018.

Coster van Voorhout, J.
“Mensensmokkel is niet het grootste kwaad" - Interview regarding a proposal on a tribunal that tries migrant smugglers and human traffickers. Movement Platform over Migratie. 14 May 2018.

Ducheine, P.
'Cyber dreiging en moraliteit in de liberale democratie.' D66 Senate Scientific Body, 24 May 2018.

Heri, C.
'Peasant Rights Claims and their Implications.' Monthly Human Rights Centre Meetings, Ghent University. 24 May 2018.

Kuijper, P.J. and Vidigal, G.
'The WTO jurisprudence and the EU’s Trade Policies', Workshop on Law and Practice of the Common Commercial Policy: The first 10 years after the Treaty of Lisbon, at the Centre for European Policy Studies , Brussels, on 7-8 June 2018.

Meguro, M.
"Going Beyond State vs non-State Dichotomy in International Law", Kyoto Kokusaihou Kenkyukai (京都国際法研究会 International Law Seminar by Kyoto Study Group), University of Kyoto, Japan (12-May-2018).

Meguro, M. (Organizer)
Expert Workshop: "Creation of Legal Bindingness in International Environmental Law", University of Amsterdam (8-May-2018)

Meguro, M. (Organizer/Chair)
Expert Workshop: "Japan and International Law", University of Kobe, Japan (18-May-2018)

Nijman, J. E.
“The Critical Potential of International Legal History”, Faculty Seminar, the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva, 26 April 2018.

Nijman, J. E.
“Taking distrust seriously: towards a trustworthy multilateral system”, at a seminar co-organised by the Asser Institute and the Austrian Embassy in The Hague on “The Future of Multilateralism – Beyond Current Distrust”, Austrian Residence, The Hague, 7 May 2018.

Nijman, J. E.
“Cities at the United Nations: where urban and global governance meet?”, Governance and Inclusive Development, Amsterdam Institute for Social Science Research UvA, Amsterdam, 15 May 2018.

Nijman, J. E.
“The Global City from an International Law Perspective”, joint-seminar of ‘Cities of Refuge’ and Asser’s Global City team, Middelburg, 23 May 2018.

Nijman, J. E.
Speaker at “The Reception and Integration of Refugees: A Task for Local Authorities?”, panel with Martha Davis and James Hathaway, discussion moderated by Barbara Oomen, co-organised with the Cities of Refuge project in Middelburg, 23 May 2018.

Oldfield, J.

Outline of PhD topic: Smuggling in international law. International Humanitarian and Criminal Law Platform, Asser Institute. 25 May 2018.

Schill, S.
Law-Making in International Arbitration: What Legitimacy Challenges Lie Ahead?, Moderation of Opening Plenary Panel, 24th Congress of the International Council for Commercial Arbitration, Sydney, 15-18 April 2018.

Schill, S.
EuGH, C-284/16 - Achmea - Zur Unvereinbarkeit von Investor-Staats-Schiedsverfahren unter intra-EU BITs, Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law, 9 April 2018.

Schill, S.
A (Comparative) Constitutional Framework for Private-Public Arbitration and Its Legitimacy, Conference "International Commercial Dispute Resolution for the 21st Century: Australian Perspectives", The University of Sydney, 19 April 2018

Schill, S.
Achmea, BITs, and the Netherlands: Reining in Investor-State Dispute Settlement, Panel Participation, Asser Institute, The Hague, 3 May 2018.

Schill, S.
A Celebration of the 100th Meeting of the Working Group on the Law of International Economic Relations, Introduction and Moderation, University of Amsterdam, 17 May 2018.

Schill, S.
Cold Feet or Considered Deference? The Curious Case of Investment Arbitration's Engagement with the Global Financial Architecture, Seminar "Protection of Investors, Financial Regulation and the State's Possibility to Intervene to Protect Macroeconomic Stability", University of Oslo, 30 May 2018

Schill, S. and Vidigal, G.
'Evolution of Investor-State Dispute Mechanisms in Recent International Trade and Investment Treaty Practice', RTA Exchange, at the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development, Geneva, on 13 June 2018.

Venzke, I.
Conference Lecture: The Copenhagen Declaration and the challenges to human rights in contemporary Europe, Conference on ‘Copenhagen, Elsinore and the Future of Europe: Assessing the Danish Chairmanship of the Council of Europe’, Copenhagen, 17 May 2018.

Venzke, I.
Lunch seminar: With the benefit and bias of hindsight: looking back at the path of international law, iCourts, Copenhagen.

de Vlaming, F.
'25 Jaar Joegoslavië tribunaal: hoe juristen geschiedenis schreven.' Militaire Spectator. 24 May 2018.

de Vlaming, F.
'Accountability for war crimes in East Ghouta/Syria.' UvA Law Faculty. 2 May 2018.

de Vlaming, F.

'Accountability for war crimes in East Ghouta/Syria.' Amnesty International/Humanity House, The Hague. 14 May 2018.