Events and Announcements: 22 February 2021

Events

Virtual Event on “Why Mechanisms and Not Tribunals?”: The NYU School of Professional Studies (NYUSPS) Center for Global Affairs is pleased to announce a virtual event on “Why Mechanisms and Not Tribunals? – What the Syria, Iraq, and Myanmar Investigative Mechanisms say about the current state of International Justice.” Join practitioners and critical thinkers in the field of international justice in a discussion of the impact on international criminal justice of the recent trend to create investigative, rather than accountability, mechanisms in situations such as in Syria, Myanmar, and Iraq. The panel will examine the question of whether such mechanisms indicate a shift for the international community, away from the creation of more international or hybrid criminal tribunals and towards such mechanisms, which compile and prepare evidence for prosecutions but have no ability themselves to conduct prosecutions. The panel will also look at the impact of this trend on international criminal justice as being able to play a credible role in supporting international peace and security. Topics to be discussed will include whether this development represents a retreat for the field of international justice, if it is isolated or part of a broader trend, and, if this represents a retreat, whether it can be reversed. The discussion will also examine whether the US, under the new Administration, can reclaim a leadership role in the field of international justice, including through furthering the creation of new international and/or hybrid criminal tribunals.

Panelists include: Yasmin Sooka, Chairperson, Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan; Executive Director, Foundation for Human Rights, S. Africa; Trustee, Desmond Tutu Peace Center; Ambassador Stephen J. Rapp, Senior Fellow at US Holocaust Memorial Museum and Oxford Univ. Peace & Security Program, former US Ambassador for Global Criminal Justice; Brenda J. Hollis, International Co-Prosecutor, Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia; Professor Cécile Aptel, Director of Policy, Chief, Rule of law and Democracy Section, UN – Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights; Professor of Practice of International Law, The Fletcher School at Tufts University; and Professor Jennifer Trahan, Clinical Professor and Director of the Concentration in Human Rights & International Law, NYUSPS Center for Global Affairs. The event will be moderated by Andras Vamos-Goldman, Clinical Adjunct Professor, NYUSPS Center for Global Affairs; former Executive Director and Founder, Justice Rapid Response. This event is being offered in conjunction with the book launch of The Future of Global Affairs written by CGA faculty.

The virtual event will take place on Friday, February 26, 2021 at 9:00 AM – 10:30 AM CST. To RSVP for the event, go here.

CJIL 2021 Symposium: The Transformation of International Law Scholarship: The Chicago Journal of International Law has announced that on Friday, February 26th, from 1 pm to 6 pm CST, it will hold a symposium titled, “The Transformation of International Law Scholarship.” The event will feature more than a dozen leading scholars from across the globe. Opening the symposium will be University of Chicago Law School’s Tom Ginsburg, Daniel Abebe, and Adam Chilton, who will present a lead essay on the social science approach to international law. Panelists will then offer their reactions and share their own perspectives on international law scholarship, how it developed, and where it will go in the future. In addition, Eric Posner and Jack Goldsmith will offer reflections on their book, The Limits of International Law. The symposium will be held over Zoom. Additional information and the registration link can be found here.

Call for Papers

The Military Law and Law of War Review: The Editorial Board of The Military Law and the Law of War Review / Revue de Droit Militaire et de Droit de la Guerre (MLLWR) is pleased to invite submissions for the upcoming Volume 59, due for publication in 2021. The Review’s editorial board welcomes submissions that come within the broader scope of the Review, including military law, law of armed conflict, law on the use of force, as well as international criminal law and human rights law (inasmuch as related to situations of armed conflict). For Volume 59 issue 1, the deadline for submission is March 20, 2021. Submissions after this date will be considered for Volume 59 issue 2. Submissions should be sent to mllwr[at]ismllw[dot]org and will be subject to double-blind peer review. Articles should normally not be longer than 15,000 words (footnotes included), although longer pieces may exceptionally be considered. Inquiries as to whether a possible submission comes within the scope of the Review can be sent to the above mentioned email address. Volume 58, the first to be published under the new collaboration between the International Society for Military Law and the Law of War and Edward Elgar Publishing, was launched in print and online in December 2020. Volume 58, Issue 2 is temporarily free to read on Elgaronline here.

German Yearbook of International Law: The Editors of the German Yearbook of International Law (GYIL) invite submissions of papers for consideration in the General Articles section of Volume 64 (2021) of the GYIL. The call is open to everyone. Manuscripts dealing with any topic of interest in the field of Public International Law will be considered, and early submissions are welcome. All papers submissions must be in English and will be subject to a double-blind peer review process. Additionally, manuscripts should be 10,000-12,500 words inclusive of footnotes and must conform with the house style of the GYIL (which is available on our website). Submissions, including a brief abstract, statement of affiliation, and confirmation of exclusive submission, should be sent by 1 September 2021 to the Assistant Editor of the GYIL via e-mail: yearbook[at]wsi[dot]uni-kiel[dot]de. Additional enquiries can be made to the same email address.

Twenty-fifth Anniversary of the UN Yearbook: The Max Planck Yearbook of United Nations Law is preparing to celebrate its twenty-fifth anniversary. To mark this milestone, we are producing a special retrospective edition to look back on the key developments in the United Nations’ activities in the field of international law since 1997, and to contemplate the challenges ahead. This special volume will not only celebrate our publication, but we also want to pay tribute to its founders, em Profs Jochen Frowein and Rüdiger Wolfrum. They created the UN Yearbook as the first academic journal to focus on the law and practices of the United Nations. We welcome submissions from academics and practitioners in various areas of international law.

The UN Yearbook typically comprises two sections. The first contains articles on the UN institutions as well as its agencies, programmes and bodies. Issues such as UN membership, the UN Charter, its statutes and practices are covered here. The second section examines legal issues related to the objectives of the United Nations, such as humanitarian assistance, sustainable development, counter-terrorism, disarmament, democracy, human rights, the rule of law, and gender equality, to name but a few. You can consult previous volumes of the Yearbook here.

Contributions may be between 8,000 and 15,000 words in length and are peer-reviewed. We would kindly ask you to submit your article by 31st October 2021. Submissions will be considered on a rolling basis and the volume will be published in the second half of 2022. If you are interested in contributing, please send an abstract of no more than 500 words to the Yearbook’s Managing Editor, Katherine Dagg, at unyb[at]mpfpr[dot]de.

If you would like to post an announcement on Opinio Juris, please contact John Heieck at eventsandannouncements[at]gmail[dot]com with a one-paragraph description of your announcement along with hyperlinks to more information. Failure to provide said information may result in delayed posting of your announcement. Thank you!