Colloquia
Upcoming events
CTLD Colloquium with Augustine Hungwe - Wednesday 7 December 2011
'Human Rights - China and the United States in Africa'
In this presentation, Augustine Hungwe will look will look at contesting perceptions of human rights between China (the 'Beijing Consensus') and the United States("the Washington Consensus'') in Africa and will cite relevant examples to highlight this emerging trajectory. The presentation will also give an African perspective to this emerging human rights discourse. The leading (Swahili) proverb in his presentation ('When two Elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers") already indicates the direction Augustine Hungwe will take.
Register by sending an email to law.ctld@tilburguniversity.edu before 2 December 2011
Past events
CTLD Colloquium with Dr. Daniel Augenstien - Wednesday 29 June 2011
'Beyond the Territoriality/Extraterritoriality Divide: Economic globalisation and the Trans-nationalisation of Human Rights Protection'
Territoriality is a powerful imaginary in contemporary debates on the relationship between State-based paradigms of human rights protection and economic globalisation. It reigns over the very language of the debate: while business entities are said to operate globally, States act either inside or outside their own territory. The paper suggests that while recent debates on extra-territorial human rights obligations have usefully drawn attention to the de facto human rights impacts of State action on individuals located outside the State’s territory, they run the risk of reifying the territoriality/extraterritoriality divide as a primary device for allocating human rights obligations to States. In response, the paper draws on some recent case-law of the European Court of Human Rights to critically scrutinise the descriptive value and normative appeal of the imaginary of territoriality in relation to human rights protection. My main contention is not that the emerging picture represents the best possible interpretation of the Court’s case-law on (extra-) territorial human rights obligations; rather, it is that what the best possible interpretation amounts to depends on the weight one accords to the territoriality/extraterritoriality divide in establishing such obligations.
CTLD Colloquium with professor David Kinley (University of Sidney) - Wednesday 18 May 2011
'The Hand Made Visible: Human Rights and Global Finance'
The paper develops arguments as to how global finance might be made part of the solution to greater human rights protection, not just part of the problem. It examines the relationship between human rights and many of the features of global finance, such matters as the bond markets, commodities markets, foreign direct investment, debt forgiveness, the management of sovereign wealth funds, innovative development financing, philanthrocapitalism, and the critical differences and connections between the real and paper economies. The relative capacities of global finance to do great harm to human rights as well as its potential to do great good are canvassed, and the role that human rights law and policy does and might play analyzed and assessed.
CTLD Colloquium with Jasper Sluijs - Wednesday 13 April 2011
Jasper Sluijs will discuss whether and to what extent European fundamental rights law has an effect on the Network neutrality debate, an inquiry that forms just one part of his extensive PhD Research.
Network neutrality concerns a heated debate on the role of Internet Service Providers (ISPs) as a potential gate keeper for Internet access of end-users and online content providers. In line with standard practice in European telecommunications policy the European regulatory response to the issue of network neutrality has been framed mainly in economic terms. At the same time, European civil society organizations have interpreted network neutrality in terms of fundamental rights, particularly freedom of expression. However, there is little, if any, substantial legal research on whether and to what extent European fundamental rights law has an effect on the network neutrality debate. The presentation relates network neutrality to the rich body of art. 10 ECHR case law, and asks to what extent this jurisprudence is of relevance to network neutrality discussions. Moreover, this research investigates how network neutrality can shed new light on a number of ongoing doctrinal debates in ECHR scholarship, such as positive obligations, Drittwirkung and the margin of appreciation of National courts concerning commercial expression.
CTLD Colloquium with Christine Eckes, Wednesday 16 March 2011
Christina Eckes will discuss the complex relationship between international and European law post Kadi, with a particular emphasis on counter-terrorist policies
Christina Eckes is an assistant professor in European law at the Amsterdam Centre for European Law and Governance (ACELG), University of Amsterdam. She joined ACELG as a post doctoral researcher in September 2008. Prior to this, she wrote her PhD at King's College London and worked as lecturer at the University of Surrey, Guildford. Her research interests are the External Relations of the European Union, the relationship between international and EU law, and EU constitutional law. She has widely published on EU external relations and EU counter-terrorist sanctions
CTLD Colloquium with José Gutiérrez-Fons, Wednesday 23 February 2011
José Gutiérrez-Fons will discuss the different approaches towards market integration in the US and the EU, with particular emphasis on the European Court of Justice and the United States Supreme Court
José A. Gutiérrez-Fons is legal assistant at the European Court of Justice, cabinet of Judge Lenaerts, and visiting lecturer at the Unviersidad Autnoma de Madrid. His doctoral dissertation, on which the following presentation is partially based, is entitled "The Contribution of the United States Supreme Court and the European Court of Justice to the Vertical and Horizontal Allocation of Powers.
CTLD Colloquium with Conny Rijken - Wednesday 2 February 2011
Conny Rijken will discuss the preliminary outcomes of the EU funded project 'Combating THB for labour exploitation".
A human rights based approach to trafficking in human beings (THB) is advocated at EU level. The prosecution of traffickers and the protection of victims of THB are two of the main features of this approach. The project addresses these features in an integrated and interrelated way with a specific focus on the cross-border aspects of THB for labour exploitation and the consequences thereof.
Intervict/CTLD colloquium with Stephan Parmentier - Thursday 9 December 2010
Time: 12.30-13.30 - Venue to be announced
Stephan Parmentier studied law, political science and sociology at the K.U. Leuven (Belgium) and sociology and conflict resolution at the Humphrey Institute for Public Affairs of the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities (U.S.A.). He is a Professor of Sociology of Crime, Law and Human Rights at the Faculty of Law of the K.U. Leuven since 1997.
CTLD colloquium with Robert Howse - Wednesday 24 November 2010
Time: 12.30-14.00 - Venue M 1003
The topic of Robert Howse's presentation will be: 'Beyond the Divide: The Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the World Trade Organization' .
Robert Howse will found his presentation on an earlier published occasional paper, available at http://library.fes.de/pdf-files/iez/global/04572.pdf.CTLD colloquium with Noora Arajärvi - Wednesday 9 December 2009
Time: 12.00-13.00 - Venue ...
The topic of Noora Arajärvi's presentation: 'Customary International Law and International Criminal Law; the Principle of Legality.'
CTLD colloquium with Louis Emmerij, Tom Weiss and Bert Koenders - Thursday 30 June 2009
Time: 14.00-16.00 - Venue T9
Louis Emmerij and Tom Weiss will discuss their contributions to The United Nations' Intellectual History Project'. Bert Koenders, Dutch Minister for Development Cooperation, will comment on their findings.
CTLD colloquium with Marie-José van der Heijden - Wednesday 22 April 2009
Time: 12.00-13.00 - Venue DZ 2
Marie-José van der Heijden will present some of the outcomes of her research on transnational corporations and human rights obligations so far. In particular, she will discuss the 1789 U.S. Alien Tort Statute (ATS), which is the most well-known domestic remedy for holding Western-based transnational corporations liable for human rights violations committed by themselves or their affiliates in developing countries. The provision in 28 U.S.C. 1350 reads as follows:
"The district courts shall have original jurisdiction of any civil action by an alien for a tort only, committed in violation of the law of nations or a treaty of the United States." (June 25, 1948, ch. 646, ' 1, 62 Stat. 934.)
Since the 1980 Filártiga case, the ATS has been frequently used for the enforcement of human rights. In the U.S. Supreme Court's 2004 Sosa v. Alvarez-Machain case, the ATS was scrutinized as a tool for the extra-territorial enforcement of human rights. The presentation will also discuss the scope of this provision, in particular the ATS' concept of the 'law of nations'. However, it is not only the jurisdictional ATS but also the procedural device of class actions that facilitates the corporate human rights litigation.
Global / English