Events and Announcements: 17 March 2024

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Calls for Papers

Call for Panel Proposals: ABILA ILW 2024: The American Branch of the International Law Association (ABILA) is pleased to invite panel proposals for International Law Weekend 2024 (ILW 2024)—the premier international law event of the fall season. ILW 2024 will take place October 24-26, 2024 in New York City. The ILW Organizing Committee invites panel proposals to be submitted online by April 15, 2024. The unifying theme for ILW 2024 is Powerless law or law for the powerless? 

ILW 2024 will explore a variety of issues through a diverse set of engaging and provocative sessions addressing both public international law and private international law topics. Consistent with the aim of furthering discussion, ILW 2024 will move away from classic panel presentations and lectures and instead embrace more interactive formats like roundtables, fireside chats, practica/simulations, and other, more inclusive and interactive forms of engagement. ILW 2024 will promote representation and dialogue among diverse voices. Per the ILA Guidelines for Diversity of Conference and Panel Speakers, all panels must contain gender parity. Further, the Committee will give preference to panels that include representation of historically underrepresented groups and promote dialogue across different professional perspectives, including scholars and practitioners. Please send any questions to ilw@ila-americanbranch.org.

New Horizons in Air and Space Law – Treaties, Technologies, and Tomorrow’s Challenges: Advanced supersonic aircraft, remotely-piloted cargo drones, and even flying taxis are on the horizon. But all these developments necessitate a re-evaluation of traditional air law. Similarly, space, once the exclusive realm of governmental agencies, is now bustling with private activity. And plans for asteroid mining and lunar tourism suggest vast commercial potential. But they also bring to the fore crucial questions of international law and space governance. This conference – jointly organized by the Centre for Technology, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence and the Law and the EW Barker Centre for Law and Business, both of the Faculty of Law, National University of Singapore, and the Institute of Air and Space Law, of the Faculty of Law, McGill University – will address these questions. Selected papers from the conference will be published in Volume XLIX of the Annals of Air and Space Law. For full details – and to submit an abstract of no more than 400 words by 23:59 GMT, 30 April 2024 – please see here or contact Jack Wright Nelson, Editor the Annals of Air and Space Law, at jack.nelson@mcgill.ca.

Workshop – ‘From Protection to Coercion: the Limits of Positive Obligations in Human Rights Law’: 3-4 October, Lund, Sweden, organized by Dr Vladislava Stoyanova, Associate Professor, Lund University, Faculty of Law, and Dr David McGrogan, Associate Professor, Northumbria Law School. Positive obligations in human rights law appear to be relentlessly expanding, and far beyond what was envisaged by the drafters of the relevant treaties. Given the extensive regulatory functions of the State and the enormous breadth of state activities, any harm could potentially be a ground for making an argument that the State failed to fulfil its positive human rights obligations by failing to prevent or mitigate harm or risk. As a result, it is rather unclear under which conditions positive obligations may be triggered and how far-reaching they may be, given how difficult it is to draw the limits of state responsibility for omissions. The difficulties we experience in determining and delimiting the role of the State in contemporary society contribute to this uncertainty. Given the pervasiveness of positive obligations, it is important to ask whether there are any limits as to when and how they should be developed. Relatedly, what considerations should guide the development of such limits? What considerations should be relevant in determining whether a State is responsible under human rights law for omissions? Please submit proposals by 31 March 2024.