Events and Announcements: October 27, 2013

Events

• On November 12, the T.M.C. Asser Instituut in The Hague will launch the International Crimes Database (ICD). This platform offers a comprehensive database on international crimes adjudicated by national, international and internationalized courts and will provide access to a range of information not just for lawyers and judges but also for students, academics, families and communities of victims of crimes, among others. The launch will include speeches from the Dutch Ministry of Security and Justice, the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism (ICCT) – The Hague, ICD team members, the ICD steering committee, a presentation of the website itself, a keynote speech on international crimes by Judge Fausto Pocar (ICTY) and a reception for all those attending. If you would like to attend please send an e-mail to conferencemanager@asser.nl before 7 November. The flyer can be found here and the announcement here.
• The Lieber Society Interest Group of the American Society of International Law is sponsoring a panel discussion from 5:30 – 7:00 pm on November 12th, in Washington, D.C. about the Court-Martial of US Army Sgt Bales for the murder of 16 Afghan civilians entitled “Military Justice, International Criminal Accountability and Cross-Cultural Contexts: US v. Bales“.  The case presents a unique opportunity to explore the challenges in both investigating and prosecuting a case involving crimes in a remote area of a war zone, differing cultural perceptions of accountability and justice, and the relationship between military justice and international criminal justice.Speakers include  Lt. Col Jay Morse, chief, Trial Counsel Assistance Program, US Army, and lead prosecutor in the Bales case; Ms. Morwari Zafar, Afghanistan Subject Matter Expert, Defense Intelligence Agency; Sandra Hodgkinson, Vice President, Chief of Staff of DRS Technologies; former Special Assistant (Chief of Staff) for Deputy Secretary of Defense and William J. Lynn, former Deputy Ambassador for War Crimes Issues, US Dept of State. It will be moderated by Jennifer Daskal, Assistant Professor of Law, Washington College of Law, American University.
• The Columbia Journal of Transnational Law, Columbia Law School Human Rights Institute, the Roger Hertog Program on Law and National Security, and the Lieber Society of the American Society of International Law present: From Gettysburg to Guantanamo: 150 Years of the Lieber Code and the Law of Armed Conflict, a conference on November 21st at Columbia Law School. Drafted by Columbia Professor Francis Lieber and signed by President Lincoln in 1863 as General Order No. 100, the Lieber Code regulated the conduct of U.S. soldiers during wartime. While the Code was limited to Union forces, the rules were based on customary law of the time and strongly influenced subsequent international codification of the law of armed conflict. The Code grappled with issues involving the regulation of armed conflicts between states and non-state groups that remain pressing today. This conference celebrating its 150th anniversary will explore the origins and import of the Lieber Code in its Civil War context, its impact on the development of international humanitarian law, and its continued significance to modern challenges in armed conflict. Confirmed speakers can be found here, the conference schedule here.
• On November 28th, the London Review of International Law features a celebratory lecture by Gerry Simpson entitled “The Sentimental Life of International Law” at the London School of Economics. For more information, click here.
• ALMA and the Radzyner School of Law of the Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) have announced the next session of the Joint International Humanitarian Law Forum. The session will be held on October 30, 2013, at 18:30. In this session Adv. Yaniv Roznai, PhD candidate at LSE will present his new paper: “Cracking the Nuc” in the Legal Field: An Israeli Attack on Iran’s Nuclear Facilities From an International Law Perspective.” More information, including about registration, can be found here.

Calls for Papers

• JURIST, the online legal news and commentary publication run by students and staff at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, is issuing a call for submissions for its ongoing Feature on ERISA. Deadline for thesis statements: November 1, 2013. Contributors should feel free to examine ERISA from any angle or perspective, so long as the entire piece contains a legal thesis that primarily addresses or incorporates ERISA.  At this time, please send a brief thesis statement of no more than 100 words to academiccommentary@jurist.org by the aforementioned deadline of November 1, 2013.  Thesis statements will then be reviewed by JURIST’s commentary staff.  Successful final submissions will be between 1,000 and 1,500 words, will not have been previously published online or in print, and will not include footnotes.  Instead, submissions will include links to primary and secondary sources available online.
• The North Carolina Journal of International Law and Commercial Regulation is accepting submissions of articles related to International Law and National Security issues. Submissions will be considered for Issue 4 of Volume 39 to be published in Spring 2014. Authors are invited to attend the journal’s symposium on International Law issues in National Security on January 31, 2014. Submissions should be at least around 8,000 words and well-cited. Submissions and questions can be directed to NCILJ@unc.edu. The submission deadline is December 31, 2013.

Announcements

• Transnational Dispute Management has published its new issue entitled: “Art and Heritage Disputes in International and Comparative Law.” In this TDM special on Art and Heritage Disputes in International and Comparative Law guest editors Prof. Hildegard Schneider (Maastricht University) and Dr. Valentina Vadi (Lancaster University) aim to identify, map and critically assess key themes and features of the numerous art and heritage disputes which have arisen in the past decades. In the introduction article the editors map the key features of these disputes and assess the contribution that these cases offer to the development of international law in both its public and private dimensions. A separate volume to be published early 2014 will focus on intangible heritage disputes.

Last week’s events and announcements can be found here. If you would like to post an announcement on Opinio Juris, please contact us.