International Law

On 29 September 2016, the first meeting of the International Law in Africa Network took place at College Court, Leicester. The network was established by Dr Eki Omorogbe of University of Leicester’s Law School in late 2015 to promote discussion, debate, and collaborative interdisciplinary research on International Law and Policy in Africa. At present, the group has more than 85 members. These are academics, practitioners, and NGOs located mainly in Europe and Africa. If you would like to know more about this group or are interested in joining it, e-mail eyo1@le.ac.uk

Focusing on recent cases in Europe, the United States, and Israel, the session will analyze the circumstances under which courts have been willing to adjudicate issues relating to military deployment. It will also assess the operational impact of this trend toward the judicialization of military deployment decisions.

Session video

In many jurisdictions, the executive branch has historically conducted military operations with limited interference from the judicial branch. Modern interpretations of human rights and the rule of law, both at the level of national and international law, have resulted in increased judicial engagement with executive decisions to use armed force. This trend has raised serious concerns among some governments about whether more judicial involvement might overly constrain military operations or even make decisions to use force impossible in the first place. Militaries have also encountered practical challenges in planning and conducting operations, for example in the context of detention, targeting, and civilian casualties. At the same time, some have noted that judicial involvement can promote desirable outcomes such as providing a remedy for civilians harmed by military operations and promoting better integration of human rights considerations into military planning and operations. This session explores these and other issues in a comparative context.

Moderators: Katja Ziegler, University of Leicester Law School

Speakers:

• Major General Thomas Ayres, Judge Advocate General’s Office, U.S. Army

• Eyal Benvenisti, Tel Aviv University, University of Cambridge Faculty of Law

• Claire Landais, French Ministry of Defense

• Douglas Wilson, UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Dr Onder Bakircioglu will talk about his book 'Islam and Warfare' on Tuesday, 10 May, 4.00pm, JGR.

The question of how Islamic law regulates the notions of just recourse to and just conduct in war has long been the topic of heated controversy, and is often subject to oversimplification in scholarship and journalism. This book traces the rationale for aggression within the Islamic tradition, and assesses the meaning and evolution of the contentious concept of jihad. The book reveals that there has never been a unified position on what Islamic warfare tangibly entails, due to the complexity of relevant sources and discordant historical dynamics that have shaped the contours of jihad. Onder Bakircioglu advocates a dynamic reading of Islamic law and military tradition; one which prioritises the demands of contemporary international relations and considers the meaning and application of jihad as contingent on the socio-political forces of each historical epoch. This book will be of great interest to scholars and students of international law, Islamic law, war and security studies, and the law of armed conflict.

Reviews "With admirable scholarly mastery, Onder Bakircioglu, explores the nature of jihad in Islamic thought about war and peace, demonstrating conclusively that there is no authoritative doctrine available to resolve interpretative controversies so central to current debates about Islamic extremism. An indispensable study for legal specialist, and indeed, for anyone concerned with a deep understanding of the bearing of Islam on the regulation of warfare." - Professor Richard Falk (Professor emeritus of international law at Princeton University)

"This is a scholarly, rigorous, thoroughly documented and intellectually honest account of the ambiguity and complexity of the Islamic doctrine of jihad. By persuasively demonstrating that war and peace are always outcomes of human agency, this book is an eloquent call to moral choice and political action, beyond stale polemics of absolute text or abstract doctrine." - Professor Abdullahi A. An-Na’im (the Charles Howard Candler Professor of Law at Emory University School of Law)

Time and Date: Tuesday, 10 May 2016, 4.00pm
Venue Jan Grodecki Room, Law, Fielding Johnson Building

CELI, jointly with the Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law, organised a high profile conference on the fourth anniversary of the Brighton Declaration of April 2012. The event provided an opportunity to hear leading experts consider how the Strasbourg Court has evolved in recent years and reflect upon its longer-term future. Speakers also considered how the reform process has informed debate in the UK about the European Court/Convention system and a possible British Bill of Rights.

A summary report of the conference is now available (pdf)

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This conference will look at how the European Court of Human Rights has developed its approach to substantive decision making over the last five years, which is of relevance to the current debate about reform of the Human Rights Act. It will be an opportunity to hear from leading experts on the process of convention reform, including the important report on the convention’s ‘Longer-term Future’ (December 2015). Dominic Grieve QC, the former Attorney General and Sir Nicolas Bratza QC (former President of the Court) are amongst the speakers.

Leicester Law School was founded in 1966, the same year that the UK accepted the jurisdiction of the Strasbourg Court. The Conference will provide an opportunity to take stock of the position of the Court at another critical moment in its history. The conference is part of Leicester Law School’s Jubilee celebrations (1966-2016) and is being held with the Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law (London).

The Conference continues on from ‘The UK and European Human Rights: A Strained Relationship?’ a two day event held in Leicester in May 2014 – which led to a major publication by Hart, edited by Prof Katja Ziegler, Prof Liz Wicks and Dr Loveday Hodson.

Full conference details and booking (via Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law)
Conference poster (pdf)

Human Rights research at Leicester Law School

Centre for European Law and Internationalisation

Details

Date: 3:30–5:00pm, 14 May, 2014

Venue: Jan Grodecki Room, first floor, Fielding Johnson Building (Maps and directions)

Details

Date: 1:30–-3:00pm, 7 May, 2014

Venue: Jan Grodecki Room, first floor, Fielding Johnson Building (Maps and directions)

A sandwich lunch will be provided from 1:00pm

Contact: For more information please contact loveday.hodson@le.ac.uk

‘Robust Peacekeeping, Gender and the Protection of Civilians’, Dr. Gina Heathcote (SOAS, University of London)

Dr Eki Omorogbe of the University of Leicester Law School will present ‘The African Union and the International Criminal Court: Conflict or Cooperation?' on Wednesday, 29 January 2014, 3:30–5:00pm in the Jan Gredecki Room (Fielding Johnson 164)

Dr Troy Lavers and Dr Loveday Hodson will convene a workshop on the feminist international judgments project. The workshop will focus on a discussion for those who have expressed an interest in participating in the project and three invited speakers. 21 June (tbc).

Discussion with Professor David Bonner on his recent article, 22 May, 1pm in the Jan Grodecki Room.

Stephen Humphreys and Yoriko Otomo, SOAS will present and discuss their joint paper: ‘Natural Seduction: Development and International Environmental Law’ on 8th May, 2-4 pm in room FJ L66.