Events and Announcements: September 14, 2014

Events

• The Raoul Wallenberg Legacy of Leadership event will take place in New York on September 18^th at Yeshiva University’s Cardozo School of Law. The event will include a panel discussion about the responsibility to prevent genocide and mass atrocities as well as keynote addresses by Jan Eliasson, Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations, Irwin Cotler, former Canadian Minister of Justice, and Luis Moreno Ocampo, former Chief Prosecutor for the International Criminal Court. The event will take place September 18, 2014, 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm at the Moot Court Room, Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, 55 5^th Avenue, New York. Interested persons can register online by clicking here.
• The American Society of International Law and the New York Law School Panel Discussion on “The Need for a Disability Rights Tribunal in Asia and the Pacific,” Monday, September 29th at 185 West Broadway, New York, New York, 10013. The existence of regional human rights courts and commissions has been an essential element in the enforcement of international human rights for persons with disabilities in those regions of the world where such tribunals exist. The lack of a court or commission in Asia and the Pacific has been a major impediment in the movement to enforce disability rights. The need for such a body has further intensified since the ratification of the United Nations’ Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). The creation of a Disability Rights Tribunal for Asia and the Pacific (DRTAP) would be the first necessary step leading to amelioration of the deprivation of civil rights of people with disabilities. Panel Members include Eva Szeli, former director of European Operations for Mental Disability Rights International, and co-author of International Human Rights Law and Comparative Mental Disability Law: Cases and Materials (Carolina Academic Press 2016); Maya Sabatello, lecturer on human rights and co-author of Human Rights and Disability Advocacy (U. of Pennsylvania Press 2013); Michael Stein, Harvard Law School & William and Mary Law School; co-director, Harvard Law School Project on Disability; and Moderator, Michael L. Perlin, New York Law School, Director, International Mental Disability Law Reform Project. For more information contact Michael Perlin (mperlin@nyls.edu).

Calls for Papers

• The International Organizations Interest Group of the American Society of International Law will hold a works-in-progress workshop on Friday, December 12th, 2014, in New York City.  Authors interested in presenting a paper at the workshop can submit an abstract to David Gartner (David.Gartner@asu.edu), Julian Arato (arato.julian@gmail.com), and Sarah Dadush (sdadush@kinoy.rutgers.edu)  by the end of the day on October 1, 2014. Abstracts should be a couple of paragraphs long but not more than one page. Papers should relate to the topic of international institutions and governance.  Papers should not yet be in print so that authors will have time to make revisions based on the comments from the workshop. 
• The Utrecht Journal of International and European Law is issuing a call for papers on ‘Privacy under International and European Law’. Relevant issues may have broader implications, including: the responsibility of private actors under international law; privacy as a human right; the conflict between State interests and individual rights; the internet and territorial limits; data protection; diverging national approaches to the protection of privacy and the rise of The Board of Editors will select articles based on quality of research and writing, diversity and relevance of topic. The novelty of the academic contribution is also an essential requirement. Prospective articles should be submitted online via the website and should conform to the journal style guide. Utrecht Journal has a word limit of 15,000 words including footnotes. For further information please consult the website or email the editors at utrechtjournal@urios.org. Deadline for Submissions: 30 September 2014.
• The Board of Editors is pleased to announce Government Procurement as the theme for its next Special Issue (Vol. VII, No. 1). The Plurilateral Agreement on Government Procurement (‘GPA’) aims to promote transparency, integrity and competition in the purchase of goods and services by government agencies. Preferential treatment for domestic goods and services are envisaged as trade barriers. Participating governments are also required to put in place domestic procedures by which aggrieved private bidders can challenge procurement decisions and obtain redress in the event of inconsistency with the GPA. However, States have political and economic interests in promoting their own small and medium scale industries. Therefore, the attempt to harmonize these objectives raises issues with reference to market access and the benefits of “good governance” under the GPA. Existing literature is inadequate to effectively equip policymakers to deal with such issues. The Board of Editors is pleased to invite original and unpublished submissions for the Special Issue on Government Procurement for publication as ‘Articles’, ‘Notes’, ‘Comments’ and ‘Book Reviews’. Manuscripts may be submitted via e-mail, ExpressO, or the TL&D website. For further information and submission guidelines, please visit the Journal’s website: www.tradelawdevelopment.com. The last date for submission of manuscripts is 15^th February, 2015. In case of any queries, please feel free to contact us at: editors[at]tradelawdevelopment[dot]com.

Announcement

• The upcoming session of the Leiden University Advocacy and Litigation Training Course is now open for registration. The training will be held in The Hague from 24 November to 28 November 2014. During this 5-day course the participants will be trained in the skills of case theory, opening statements, direct examination (examination-in-chief), cross-examination, re-examination, closing statements and legal submissions skills. Students will be engaged in role play and practical exercises. The course will be concluded with a mock trial at the end of the week.  Apart from the theory and the practical exercises, the course offers visits to the International Criminal Court and the Special Tribunal for Lebanon. The training will be given by two experienced defence counsels who have worked on high profile cases before international criminal tribunals. The course fee amounts to €1100. Graduate students and professionals who wish to improve and develop their advocacy skills are invited to register through the Grotius Centre website.

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.