Programme
2nd October: Welcome reception
18:00, Locarno Suite, Foreign & Commonwealth Office, King Charles Street, SW1A 2AH
Address by
3rd October: Day 1
08.30-09.15 Registration
09.15-09.30
Introductory remarks
Rt Hon the Baroness Hale of Richmond DBE, President of The Supreme Court
11.00-12.30 Panels
Climate change and conflict – addressing vulnerabilities through international refugee, humanitarian and human rights law
Environmental pressures stemming from climate change are increasingly a driver of conflict and an additional source of vulnerability for affected communities. Such pressures may also contribute to the displacement of individuals both within their own country and across borders. What protections are offered by international humanitarian law, international refugee law and international human rights law for victims of conflict who are contending with environmental degradation, disasters and damage? And, with respect to international refugee law, how do debates about its relevance to climate change sit within broader developments on global governance for displacement and migration, in particular the recently adopted UN Global Compacts for refugees and for migration?
Chair: Dr Chaloka Beyani, Associate Professor, London School of Economics; UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons (2010-2016)
Panel:
Dr Catherine-Lune Grayson, Head of Climate Change Policy, ICRC
Professor Françoise Hampson, Emeritus Professor, University of Essex
Panel Location: Level 4, Frobisher 1
A look to the horizon: where will trade and investment law, investment protection and investor-state dispute settlement be in 10/20 years?
This panel will bring together experts in the law of international investment and international commercial law to consider past, present and future perspectives of international investment law and dispute resolution, including evolution and likely conclusions of current debate around development of investment protections, future of Investor-State Dispute Mechanisms, and the impact of Brexit. The panel will consider how learning from the obstacles faced by WTO in the past 20 years can help identify workable solutions to challenges today in the investment context and how the international system might be improved or changed in future.
Chair: Sir Daniel Bethlehem KCMG, QC, Twenty Essex
Confirmed panel:
Allie Renison, Head of EU & Trade Policy, Institute of Directors
Cherise Valles, Deputy Director, Advisory Centre on WTO Law
Guglielmo Verdirame QC, Professor of International Law at King’s College London and Twenty Essex
Eric White, Consultant, Herbert Smith Freehills
Panel Location: Level 4, Frobisher 5
What is the use of the ICC?
The Rome Statute has just turned 20. But has the International Criminal Court lived up to expectations, and are they set unrealistically high by States, civil society, victims groups and the Court itself? This panel will assess the performance of those actors ultimately responsible for the Court’s success – the institution itself as well as States Parties, and consider which aspects of the Court’s functioning and the Rome Statute system more broadly are ripe for radical reform. This session will be conducted as a moderated discussion allowing an interactive conversation to take place between the panelists.
Panel:
Judge Silvia Fernández, former ICC President
James Stewart, Deputy Prosecutor, ICC
The Hon. Peter Wilson CMG, HM Ambassador to the Netherlands
Panel Location: Level 4, Frobisher Auditorium 2
13.30-15.00 Panels
The prohibition on the use of force – development or erosion?
International lawyers consider the prohibition on the use of force in Article 2(4) of the UN Charter to be a foundation of the international order. The Charter system, to which Article 2(4) is so central, can claim many successes. But that system remains largely a horizontal system amongst sovereign States, in which UN Security Council action can be constrained for political reasons. In contrast much violence in the world today does not take place at the inter-State level, but rather at the level of non-State groups (including some that can now more easily also organise and operate transnationally with potentially devastating effect) taking up arms against a State, or at the level of oppressive States taking up arms against elements of their own populations. In the context of the problems of the contemporary world, are the Charter provisions adequate to allow for the countering of violence as well as the preservation of international peace and security? What is the right approach to the interpretation of Article 2(4)?
Moderator: Elizabeth Wilmshurst CMG, Distinguished Fellow, International Law, Chatham House
Panel:
Larissa van den Herik, Vice Dean of Leiden Law School, University of Leiden
Steve Pomper, Senior Director of Policy, International Crisis Group
Panel Location: Level 4, Frobisher 1
Developing accountability in business and human rights: compliance by states and non-state actors
This panel will focus on the current efforts aimed at closing the accountability gap in the business and human rights sector, both at national and international levels. While the third pillar of the UN Guiding Principles on business and human rights calls for access to remedies, including judicial remedies, for violations of human rights linked to the corporate sector, such remedies are often not available to victims. The issue of corporate accountability for human rights violations is particularly challenging in the supply chain. The panel will discuss the role of states and international organisations in ensuring that business enterprises do conduct human rights due diligence in order to prevent human rights abuses, including in the supply chain.
Chair: Professor Robert McCorquodale, Founder, Inclusive Law, and Professor of International Law and Human Rights, University of Nottingham
Panel:
Rae Lindsay, Partner, Litigation & Dispute Resolution, Clifford Chance
Sarah Macrory, Assistant Legal Adviser, Foreign & Commonwealth Office
Anneke Van Woudenberg, Director, RAID
Panel Location: Level 4, Frobisher Auditorium 2
Roundtable on maritime security
The oceans and seas are a site where national interests can co-exist – or clash – with shared resources, high seas freedoms, and common interests. This roundtable brings together leading academic, government and policy experts to explore responses to contemporary maritime security threats, such as piracy, drug-trafficking, environmental damage, terrorism, weapons of mass destruction and illegal fishing.
Chair: Sir Michael Wood, UN International Law Commission and Twenty Essex
Panel:
Dr Sofia Galani, Lecturer in Law, University of Bristol
Andrew Murdoch, Legal Director, Foreign & Commonwealth Office
Panel Location: Level 4, Frobisher 5
15:30-17:00 Plenary Session
Engaging with International Law
This session speaks directly to the theme of the conference, Engaging with International Law. Speakers representative of academia, practice, and the judiciary, will share their perspective on the use of international law and how their respective field engages with it.
Chair: Dame Rosalyn Higgins, GBE, QC, Former ICJ President
Panel:
Professor Vaughan Lowe QC, Essex Court Chambers
Legal Adviser Engagement:
Sir Iain Macleod KCMG, Legal Adviser, Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Maria Telalian, Head of the Legal Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Athens, Greece
Human Rights Mechanisms:
Judge Tim Eicke QC, UK Judge, European Court of Human Rights
Professor Kate O’Regan, Director, Bonavero Institute of Human Rights, University of Oxford
17:00 Close
18.00 Supreme Court Event
Location: The Supreme Court, Parliament Square, London SW1P 3BD
Seperate registration required
Engaging with the Supreme Court on International Law
As part of its 10th Anniversary celebrations, and in keeping with the conference theme, the Supreme Court welcomes conference participants to the Court to engage with it on international law. Those attending will be invited to join a session delivered by its Justices, and to exchange dialogue on important topics of international law. Full details will be released closer to the conference date.
Places are limited so please register your interest early.
19.30 Conference Dinner
Location: Lancaster House, Stable Yard, St. James’s, London SW1A 1BB
Seperate registration required
4th October: Day 2
09.00-10.30 Plenary Session
A conversation on challenges to human rights
A conversation on challenges to human rights, including suppression of free speech, violations of the right to a fair trial, and the role (and limitations) of international bodies in redressing violations. The speakers will also consider innovative ways to enhance protection of human rights.
Chair: The Right Hon. Lady Arden of Heswall DBE, Justice of the Supreme Court
Speakers:
11.00-12.30 Panels
International law and cyber security: can the law keep pace with technological change?
There is general agreement that international law applies to cyber operations. But in relation to cyber attacks by one state on another state that fall below the threshold of use of force, what is the relevant law? The panel will explore whether the Budapest Convention is fit for purpose in tackling international cybercrime. They will also look at the implications under international human rights law of technology, including the increased use of algorithms in decision making and the use of social media in elections.
Panel:
Nemanja Malisevic, Director, Digital Diplomacy, Microsoft
Harriet Moynihan, Associate Fellow, International Law Programme, Chatham House
Doug, Legal Director, GCHQ
Panel Location: Level 4, Frobisher 1
Modern slavery: a multifaceted challenge for international law
This panel discussion will address the numerous contemporary legal issues associated with modern slavery and human trafficking, including forced labour, cross-border trafficking, barriers to legal accountability and remedies for the victims. The discussion will focus on: (a) the role of international law in addressing modern slavery and human trafficking, highlighting existing gaps and possible improvements and (b) the role of states in combatting modern slavery and human trafficking through, for example, the domestic enforcement of international law standards.
Chair: Shaheed Fatima QC, Blackstone Chambers
Panel:
Baroness Elizabeth Butler-Sloss GBE, House of Lords Independent Peer
Professor Parosha Chandran, One Pump Court and Kings College London
Antonio Zappulla, CEO, Thomson Reuters Foundation
Panel Location: Level 4, Frobisher Auditorium 2
Crisis issues in the environment: the role of international law
This panel discussion will include
- Environmental and climate change justice: identifying the crisis and how to address it.
- Accountability, extent of and urgency of the challenge and how this has been, and could be further, enshrined in international law.
- Key actors, key obligations under international agreements.
- Dispute resolution mechanisms in the Paris agreement: interpretation and how they can be used by states and other actors to promote, and enforce, compliance.
Chair: Professor Alan Boyle, Essex Court Chambers
Panel:
Jacob Werksman, Principal Adviser, Directorate-General for Climate Action, European Commission
Panel Location: Level 4, Frobisher 5
13.30-15.00 Panels
Aiding and assisting – the parameters of state responsibility
Armed conflicts are increasingly undertaken in coalition. States lend airbases, cooperate on drone operations and give each other intelligence information. They also cooperate in counterterrorism operations. This panel will examine the law governing states’ responsibility for assisting another state in actions that are in violation of international law. The panel will discuss Article 16 of the Articles on State Responsibility, international humanitarian law and international human rights law, and the extent to which governments are under a duty to check in advance the circumstances in which their assistance will be used.
Chair: Professor Phoebe Okowa, Professor of Public International Law, Queen Mary, University of London
Panel:
Jennifer Gibson, Staff Attorney, Reprieve
Dr Miles Jackson, Associate Professor of Law, University of Oxford
Alison Macdonald QC, Matrix Chambers
Chanaka Wickremasinghe, Legal Counsellor, UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office
Panel Location: Level 4, Frobisher 1
Effective advocacy in inter-state litigation
International litigation is on the rise: established judicial institutions such as the ICJ and the PCA have seen a marked resurgence of cases and, at the same time, there has been increasing use of arbitral tribunals to resolve inter-State disputes. The subject-matter of disputes which are being referred to international courts has diversified and States are increasingly litigating cases which are factually, technically and scientifically complex. Against this background, this rapid response Q&A panel will discuss effective advocacy in inter-State litigation, focussing on oral hearings.
Chair: Professor Philippa Webb, King’s College London
Panel:
Sir Christopher Greenwood, GBE, CMG, QC, Judge of the Iran-United States Claims Tribunal and International Arbitrator
Amy Sander, Essex Court Chambers
Professor Yukiko Takashiba, International Law, Seinan Gakuin University
Samuel Wordsworth QC, Essex Court Chambers
Panel Location: Level 4, Auditorium 2
International energy law
International energy law raises important issues of security of supply, connectability, transit and competition. The panel will discuss: the current state of international and EU energy law and litigation; arbitration of intra-EU claims in the energy sector post-Achmea; proposed reform of investor-state dispute settlement under the Energy Charter Treaty; and the Energy Community’s role in securing an integrated pan-European energy market.
Chair: Professor Catherine Redgwell, University of Oxford
Panel:
Clara Brillembourg, Partner, Foley Hoag
Dr Markus Burgstaller, Partner, Hogan Lovells
Andreas Gunst, Panel Expert, Energy Community Secretariat
Chrysoula Mavromati, Legal Adviser, UK Department for International Trade
Panel Location: Level 4, Frobisher 5
15:30-17:00 Plenary Session
Withdrawal from multilateralism: global governance challenges
Concluding the London Conference, this plenary session will address the central theme of “engaging with international law” by considering the current challenges to the 1945 settlement, an international order founded on a rules based system. The discussion will cover matters economic (trade, foreign investment) and environmental (climate change and oceans), as well as particular country perspectives (US) and broader systemic challenges (law-making and enforcement, including dispute settlement). The session will comment on the apparent disconnect between certain high profile examples of disengagement and other examples of increased engagement, both bilaterally and multilaterally, and give different perspectives on the challenges that lie ahead for international law and the established system of global governance.
Chair: Philippe Sands QC, Professor of Law, University College London and Matrix Chambers
Panel:
Professor Andrew Lang, Professor of International Law and Global Governance, Edinburgh Law School
Farhana Yamin, International climate-change lawyer, activist and associate fellow at Chatham House
17:00 Closing remarks from Sir Frank Berman, KCMG QC
Refreshments will be provided between sessions and lunch will be served between 12:30 and 13:30 on days 1 and 2.
Unless othewise stated, sessions will take place in the Barbican Cinema on level -2. Concurrent panels take place on the 4th floor.