Events and Announcements: June 1, 2014

Calls for Papers

• Following a successful conference organised by the Qatar University, College of Law and the Qatari Branch of the ILA on the Syrian Crisis and International Law they now plan for a special issue of the International Review of Law on the same theme.  To this end, they are looking for contributions discussing: public international law, including collective security and the use of force as well as papers exploring the applicability of the Responsibility to Protect theory; international humanitarian law and international human rights law including the relationship of the two bodies of law in the Syrian context; international criminal law – procedural and substantive aspects; refugee protection and the international ramifications in the Arab region. The International Review of Law is a bilingual (English & Arabic content), open-access, peer-reviewed international law journal published by QScience.com. Those interested in contributing are requested to respond to this call for papers by sending in their submissions by August 15^th, 2014. More information is here.
• The University of Virginia School of Law’s Human Rights Program and the Virginia Journal of International Law are calling for papers for the Virginia Law Human Rights Student Scholars Writing Competition (HRSSWC). This global competition is designed to encourage student scholarly inquiry into human rights topics and afford emerging student scholars an opportunity to develop their research and contributions by interacting with Virginia’s pre-eminent international law faculty. The HRSSWC welcomes all student papers relating to human rights law from current J.D., LL.M., and S.J.D. students from the United States and abroad. May 2014 graduates may also submit papers written as part of their law school curriculum. Entrants are encouraged to view this topic broadly, submitting any work that furthers understanding of a substantive area of human rights law. The student author of the top paper will receive a cash prize of $500 and expedited consideration for publication in the Virginia Journal of International Law. Additionally, the winning author will be invited to present his or her paper at a special Human Rights Student Scholars Workshop involving Virginia’s international law faculty, VJIL editors, and Virginia law students. The deadline for submission is June 27, 2014. More information is here.
• The Russian-Armenian (Slavonic) University (RAU) in cooperation with the International and Comparative Law Center and the Delegation of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Armenia announce the 7^th Yerevan International Conference for Young Researchers on International Humanitarian Law, which will be held from October 30 to November 1, 2014 in Yerevan, Republic of Armenia and will be dedicated to the 150^th anniversary of adoption  of the First Geneva Convention. Young researchers in the field of IHL under the age of 35 are invited to take part in the Conference participants pre-selection process. In order to apply the applicants should complete the application form by September 14, 2014 and submit a research paper strictly within the scope of the announced conference topics presented in the Call for papers. See also the Conference’s Facebook page.

Events

• On 14 June 2014, Edge Hill University (UK) is hosting an international conference titled “The ‘Cross-Fertilization’ Rhetoric in Question: Use and Abuse of the European Court’s Jurisprudence by International Criminal Tribunals”. Speakers will discuss the outcomes of the presentations made by the participants in a workshop held at Edge Hill the day before. The main purpose of this initiative is to critically assess the manner in which human rights standards developed by the European Court of Human Rights have been used (or misused) by international criminal tribunals. The programme is here.
• On Friday 20 June 2014 the Society of Legal Scholars International Law Section and the British Institute of International and Comparative Law will co-host the 23rd Conference on Theory and International Law. The theme of this year’s conference is Sovereignty in the 21st Century. This conference will address aspects of both the theoretical and practical dimensions of sovereignty in the 21st century. Further details (including a link to the conference programme) are available here.
• To commemorate the 150th anniversary of the first Geneva Convention, the Geneva Academy is holding a panel on Challenges Raised by Increasingly Autonomous Weapons on June 24, 6-8pm, at the Maison de la Paix, rue Eugène-Rigot 2 in Geneva. More information is here.
• The Academy on Human Rights and Humanitarian Law at American University’s Washington College of Law is organizing various panels for its 2014 Human Rights Month. For those of you outside DC, you can watch the panels via live webcast here.
• From June 27-28, 2014, Bangor Law School and the Bangor Centre for International Law will host a conference on proof in international criminal trials, kindly supported by the British Academy. You can find the programme here, and register online here.

Announcements

• Oil, Gas & Energy Law has issued a special issue on the Energy Community. Energy Community is the primary instrument in EU external energy policy. The large number of contributions to this special on the Energy Community edited by Dr Dirk Buschle (Deputy Director and Head of Legal of the Energy Community Secretariat) illustrate the diversity and complexity of the topic. Instead of providing a coherent account of where the Energy Community stands today, this special provides numerous tie-ins for the future debate. It provides for an inspiring reading on the current issues and future options for the Energy Community.

Last week’s events and announcements can be found here. If you would like to post an announcement on Opinio Juris, please contact us with a one-paragraph description of your announcement along with hyperlinks to more information.