Programme

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:

Professor Dapo Akande, Professor of Public International Law and Co-Director of the Oxford Institute for Ethics, Law and Armed Conflict (ELAC), University of Oxford

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

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:

Professor Michael Addo, Professor of Law and Director of the Notre Dame London Law Program, University of Notre Dame Law School

Rae Lindsay, Partner, Litigation & Dispute Resolution, Clifford Chance

Sarah Macrory, Assistant Legal Adviser, Foreign & Commonwealth Office

Lise Smit, Senior Research Fellow in Business and Human Rights, British Institute of International and Comparative Law

Anneke Van Woudenberg, Director, RAID

Panel Location: Level 4, Frobisher Auditorium 2

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

Professor Seline Trevisanut, Professor of International Law and Sustainability, Utrecht University School of Law and Senior Research Associate, Netherlands Institute for the Law of the Sea (NILOS)

Panel Location: Level 4, Frobisher 5

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

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:

Sarah Cleveland, Louis Henkin Professor of Human and Constitutional Rights, and Faculty Co-Director, Human Rights Institute, Columbia University Law School

Amal Clooney, Doughty Street Chambers

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

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:

Professor Mathias Forteau, Professor of Public International Law, University of Paris Ouest, Nanterre La Défense

Sir Christopher Greenwood, GBE, CMG, QC, Judge of the Iran-United States Claims Tribunal and International Arbitrator

Dr Kate Parlett, Twenty Essex

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 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

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

Dr Leslie Vinjamuri, Head of the US and the Americas Programme, and Dean of the Queen Elizabeth II Academy, Chatham House

Farhana Yamin, International climate-change lawyer, activist and associate fellow at Chatham House