2022 Programme

What kind of security system do we need, especially when faced with global existential crises such as those posed by the pandemic and the climate emergency? Is the UN collective security system fit for purpose, when considering these new threats to our very own existence? What is the role of the UN General Assembly and are political decisions helpful in times of emergency?

The panel will review the frameworks for achieving collective security at international, regional and inter-state level and provide an overview of human security as a concept and its operational impact with particular reference to the African region. Panellists will explore how the system works or does not work in reality and the expectation gaps, taking Rwanda as a case study and drawing lessons for other situations.

Chair:

Alice Lacourt, Legal Counsel, Office of the Secretary General, The Commonwealth Secretariat

Speakers:

Professor Christian Tams, Professor of International Law, University of Glasgow

His Excellency Johnston Busingye, High Commissioner for Rwanda to the UK

Professor Diane Desierto, Professor of International Law and Global Affairs, University of Notre Dame Law School, USA

Rodney Dixon KC, Barrister, Temple Garden Chambers

Panel Location: Westminster Room (4th Floor)

States may respond to crises and emergencies by seeking to bring matters before international courts and tribunals–but have to deal with the consensual basis of jurisdiction in international law. This panel will discuss such responses, including the ‘shoehorning’ of disputes into seemingly ill-fitting compromissory clauses and how courts and tribunals have in turn responded to the issues of consent. The panel will also look at the role of diplomatic means of dispute settlement and their nature as political means of settlement–are these appropriate tools for dealing with emergencies?

Chair:

Elizabeth Wilmshurst CMG KC, Distinguished Fellow, International Law, Chatham House

Speakers:

Marney Cheek, Partner, Covington and Burling LLP

Sam Wordsworth KC, Essex Court Chambers

Professor Philippe Sands KC , Professor of Public Understanding of Law, University College London

Judge Liesbeth Lijnzaad, Judge, International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, Germany

Panel Location: Churchill Room (Ground Floor)

The manner in which prescriptive jurisdiction over activities at sea are addressed has changed significantly in recent years, becoming increasingly functional rather than zonal in nature. However, enforcement jurisdiction remains essentially unchanged, largely centred on flag/zonal jurisdiction. Panellists will consider whether this dissonance runs the risk of creating a space in which threats to the seas and from the seas, can emerge which might threaten the effectiveness and integrity of ocean governance. The panel will explore current approaches to the assertion of jurisdiction at sea, asking whether there is a need for rethinking more fundamentally our approaches to how jurisdiction is exercised in practice in the light of particular threats.

Chair:

Professor Sir Malcolm Evans, Professor of Public International Law, University of Bristol

Speakers:

Judge Tomas Heidar, Vice-President of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea

Laura Rees-Evans, Counsel, Fietta LLP

Professor Richard Barnes, Professor of International Law, University of Lincoln

Kara Chadwick MBE, Assistant Legal Adviser, Ocean and Overseas Territories Team, Legal Directorate, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

Panel Location: Abbey Room (4th Floor)

The Ukraine crisis has put sanctions back into the news. States can exercise economic pressure on other states in a number of ways: the available toolbox ranges from retorsion to autonomous sanctions to sanctions imposed by the Security Council. This panel will explore the legal framework for sanctions (with an emphasis on unilateral sanctions), sanctions design, the requirements of human rights and due process that apply to sanctions, as well as attempts to counteract sanctions/economic coercion. Along with these more technical issues the panel will pose the question whether sanctions work and how they could be improved.

Chair:

Professor Dan Sarooshi KC, Barrister, Essex Court Chambers; Professor of Public International Law, University of Oxford

Speakers:

Helen Mulvein OBE, Legal Counsellor and Deputy Director, Multilateral and Sanctions Team, Legal Directorate, FCDO

Professor Takis Tridimas, Professor of European Law, King’s College London

Professor Leila Choukroune, Professor of International Law, University of Portsmouth

Dr Holger Hestermeyer, Professor of International and EU Law, King’s College London

Panel Location: Churchill Room (Ground Floor)

In the context of recent high-profile (and, in certain cases, public) withdrawal of lawyers from the representation of states, questions of ethics in the representation of states or in the provision of advice appear of ever-increasing importance. Further issues include the challenges faced by law firms with a presence in sanctioned states, as well as the reaction of scholarly societies to (some) emergencies (but not others).

Chair:

Dame Rosalyn Higgins GBE, KC, Former President, International Court of Justice

Speakers:

Douglas Wilson OBE, Director General, Attorney General’s Office

Amy Sander, Barrister, Essex Court Chambers ​

Professor Philippa Webb, Professor of Public International Law, King’s College London; Barrister, 20 Essex Street

Emma Lindsay, Partner, US Head of International Arbitration and Public International Law, Withers

Panel Location: Abbey Room (4th Floor)

As the on-going conflicts around the world tragically demonstrate the fundamental challenge to the law of armed conflict continues to be that of ensuring respect for the rules – whether in international or internal conflicts. But while the fundamental principles remain clear, new and not-so-new technologies and concepts continue to raise challenges in determining how those principles are to be applied. The risks and uncertainties that this brings to modern armed conflict have accelerated in recent years as the use of cyber technology in warfare has moved from the textbook onto the battlefield, the military application of artificial intelligence raises its own novel questions, outer space re-emerges as another potential domain of conflict and the increasing use of concepts such as “hybrid warfare” risk bringing more confusion than clarity to the application of the law.

This panel will examine some of the key challenges that these technologies and concepts pose to the application of, and respect for, the law of armed conflict and the on-going efforts in both the diplomatic and academic communities to bring clarity and ensure responsible behaviour by actors in a fragmented and fragile international environment.

Chair:

Paul Berman, Legal Director, Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office

Speakers:

Professor Dapo Akande, Professor of Public International Law, University of Oxford

Dr Kubo Mačák, Legal Advisor, International Committee of the Red Cross

Professor Noam Lubell, Professor of International Law; Director of the Essex Armed Conflict and Crisis Hub, University of Essex

Tara D. Brown, Sqn Ldr, UK Royal Air Force; Military Professor, Stockton Center for International Law, US Naval War College

Panel Location: Westminster Room (4th Floor)